Reviews
Adult fiction
A Single Witness (Christine Balint, Spinifex)
Released May 2026
Christine Balint's gripping historical fiction, A Single Witness, is based on the true story of Anna Maria Bonon, a girl from a poor 1750s Italian rural village who works in a mill by day and farms silkworms at night. Violently assaulted and sexually abused by her father, she looks for help from her grandmother, her local… Read more
The Secrets of Strangers (Jess Kitching, S&S)
Released May 2026
Despite brimming with suspects, lies and a cast of clichéd small-town characters, The Secrets of Strangers by Jess Kitching (The Life Experiment) is anything but a stereotypical “cosy crime” novel. Set in the picturesque English countryside, this crime thriller explores the psychological effects of loss, rejection and obsession, while offering insight into the healing power… Read more
Adult nonfiction
The Attention Recovery Plan: How to Win the Battle for Focus in a World Built to Break It (David Gillespie, Macmillan)
Released May 2026
David Gillespie (Sweet Poison, Toxic at Work) has built a reputation for distilling complex research into clear, useful guidance. His latest book, The Attention Recovery Guide: Winning the Battle for Focus in a World Built to Break It, feels like a natural extension of his earlier work, Teen Brain and Brain Reset, with a focus on the increasing issue of… Read more
You’re Welcome!: A Baking Celebration with a Southeast Asian Twist (Raymond Tan & Audrey Payne, Murdoch)
Released May 2026
Raymond Tan and Audrey Payne’s You’re Welcome!: A Baking Celebration with a Southeast Asian Twist is a joyful, generous cookbook – one to pore over, plan from and build celebrations around. Tan’s journey into baking began with homesickness. After moving from Malaysia to Melbourne for university, he found himself craving the flavours he grew up… Read more
Children's picture books
The Fast Lane (Pip Harry, illus Katrin Dreiling, Larrikin)
Released May 2026
The Fast Lane by Pip Harry (August & Jones, Because of You) is a lively and funny story about Daisy, a fast-swimming and competitive pig who struggles to share the fast lane at the local pool with Frank, an easy-going, slow-swimming frog. Their clashing approaches to swimming set the stage for a humorous and realistic… Read more
Bella Grows a Bicycle (Lellie Lopter, illus Chiara Franceschetti, Five Mile)
Released May 2026
In Bella Grows a Bicycle, Lellie Lopter delivers a warm and imaginative picture book about creativity, sustainability and problem-solving. Bella dreams of owning a new bicycle, but after her dad explains it is too expensive he helps her find an alternative way to make her dream come true. What follows is a gentle tale of… Read more
Younger readers
The Wild Unknown (Emily Gale, Text)
Released May 2026
In The Wild Unknown by Emily Gale (Outlaw Girls), the year is 2045, and Eddie’s world is completely run by technology. From household devices to classroom support systems and the AI bot constantly whispering in his ear, tech is woven into every part of life. When local boy Theo goes missing, Eddie assumes the police… Read more
The Clueless Guide to Solving a Mystery (Clueless #1) (Samera Kamaleddine, illus Hykie Breeze, HarperCollins)
Released May 2026
In The Clueless Guide to Solving a Mystery, the first instalment in the Clueless series, Samera Kamaleddine (The Sideways Orbit of Evie Hart) introduces readers to Claudia. She is temporarily living at Boonside Heights Retirement Village with her grandma and pop while her parents are on a once-in-a-lifetime cruise. Between Irish dancing and being told… Read more
Young adult
My Wonderful Disgrace (Angourie Rice & Kate Rice, Walker)
Released May 2026
My Wonderful Disgrace by Angourie Rice and Kate Rice (Stuck Up & Stupid) is a darkly comic tale of misjudgements set around the most anticipated night of the year for a graduating class – the school ball. Amy Middleton has spent months imagining the perfect evening and has planned everything: the perfect designer dress, the… Read more
Tearing Myself Together (Anna Whateley, A&U Children’s)
Released May 2026
Anna Whateley’s raw, authentic representations of neurodivergent young women in Tearing Myself Together offer the kind of windows and mirrors that are still too rare in Australian young adult fiction. Drawing on lived experience, Whateley (author of the CBCA-shortlisted Peta Lyre’s Rating Normal) explores the endurance required to navigate a society that often lacks understanding… Read more
Recently released titles
A Far-flung Life (ML Stedman, Penguin)
Released March 2026
From the acclaimed author of The Light Between Oceans comes A Far-flung Life, ML Stedman’s much-anticipated second novel. Set in rural Western Australia in 1958, the story follows the MacBride family, who have lived and worked on the sprawling sheep station at Meredith Downs for generations. Phil and Lorna MacBride and their three children, Warren,… Read more
Haze (Sam Elliott, Macmillan)
Released March 2026
Samuel Elliott’s debut novel, Haze, introduces constable Dahlia Turner, newly returned to her coastal hometown of Broughlet – a place defined by terrible surf, an ice problem and the unsettling presence of The People’s Cleansing Light cult. While evacuating homes ahead of an approaching bushfire, Dahlia discovers that her best friend and his husband have… Read more
