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Maya and Cat (Caroline Magerl, Walker Books)
Released August 2018
Caroline Magerl has a very distinctive style of illustration and this book does not disappoint. It’s full of cats. ‘On a roof, as wet as a seal, as grey as... Read more
How Did I Get Here? (Philip Bunting, Scholastic)
Released August 2018
At some point the little kid in your life will venture to ask the question feared by most adults: ‘How did I get here?’ The history of life is a... Read more
Backyard (Ananda Braxton-Smith, illus by Lizzy Newcomb, Black Dog Books)
Released August 2018
Backyard is a gentle reminder that to experience nature, you don’t need to venture much further than out the back door. Set in a city ‘that is like other cities’,... Read more
Trace (Rachael Brown, Scribe)
Released August 2018
Journalist Rachael Brown’s ABC podcast Trace, which earned comparisons to the global sensation Serial, investigated the cold-case murder of Melbourne bookshop owner Maria James. The 38-year-old single mother was stabbed... Read more
Teacher (Gabbie Stroud, A&U)
Released July 2018
Gabbie Stroud always wanted to be a teacher. Her childhood teachers changed her life, and she wanted to do the same for others. This memoir weaves together a broader look... Read more
Happy Never After (Jill Stark, Scribe)
Released August 2018
Picking up where her debut bestseller High Sobriety left off, journalist and author Jill Stark’s Happy Never After charts the period from her breakdown in October 2014 to her ensuing... Read more
Always Another Country (Sisonke Msimang, Text)
Released August 2018
A coming-of-age memoir brimming with no-holds-barred honesty, Always Another Country is a story about love, survival, politics and home. Sisonke Msimang charts various stages of her life, observing her surroundings... Read more
Too Much Lip (Melissa Lucashenko, UQP)
Released August 2018
The title of Melissa Lucashenko’s latest book—both an accusation and a lament—speaks of hunger, greed, desperation, destruction and redemption. Central to the novel are themes of rage, incarceration, and generational... Read more
A Superior Spectre (Angela Meyer, Peter Bishop)
Released August 2018
Angela Meyer’s A Superior Spectre is an eerie, gothic work that is both a richly detailed historical novel and a chilling prediction of the near future. The book follows Jeff,... Read more
Scrublands (Chris Hammer, A&U)
Released August 2018
In a dying Riverina town that’s suffering a merciless drought, ‘good people fight to retain honour and dignity against unfair odds’. Shockingly, one Sunday morning, the town’s priest opens fire... Read more
Prize Fighter (Future D Fidel, Hachette)
Released July 2018
Isa Alaki is 10 years old, a budding engineer with a loving family in the Congolese city of Bukavu, when a rebel militia descends on his city, slaughtering his family and... Read more
The Fireflies of Autumn (Moreno Giovannoni, Black Inc.)
Released July 2018
The stories in this impressive fictional debut by Moreno Giovannoni cover all aspects of noisy, nosey, gossipy Italian village life. Ninety-year-old Ugo introduces a series of stories from his Tuscan... Read more
The Biographer’s Lover (Ruby J Murray, Black Inc.)
Released August 2018
Ruby J Murray returns with her second novel, The Biographer’s Lover, a book that is as much about the art of biography as it is a fictional story about a... Read more
Beautiful Revolutionary (Laura Elizabeth Woollett, Scribe)
Released August 2018
In this meticulously researched first novel, Laura Elizabeth Woollett tells the story of Jim Jones’ religious cult, the Peoples Temple, infamous for the mass-suicide of nearly a thousand people in... Read more
The Shanghai Wife (Emma Harcourt, HQ)
Released July 2018
Escaping a mysterious past in Australia, Annie Brand dreams of adventures along the Yangtze with her new husband, but soon finds herself ensconced in Shanghai for her own safety. Chafing... Read more
Girltopia (Hilary Rogers, Scholastic)
Released July 2018
Twelve-year-old Clara wakes up one day to a city where all the men and boys are afflicted by a mystery illness that leaves them unconscious and unresponsive but thankfully still... Read more
Mercy Point (Anna Snoekstra, HarperCollins)
Released July 2018
Five teenagers living in a small town become anonymous online friends, without realising they hate each other in real life. The common thread they share is that they all believe... Read more
Hive (A J Betts, Pan)
Released July 2018
Hayley is a beekeeper, content with her place in her small, rigid, underwater world ruled over by a shadowy council. But while her friend Celia dreams of marrying a ‘netter... Read more
Wren (Katrina Lehman, illus by Sophie Beer, Scribble)
Released July 2018
Wren longs for peace and quiet but, alas, his rambunctious family create havoc as naturally as they breathe. When a noisy baby sister joins the clan, Wren puts his foot... Read more
Cicada (Shaun Tan, Lothian)
Released July 2018
Shaun Tan has done it again. Cicada is excellent. Although more distinctly a narrative picture book than some of his others, Cicada’s darkness breeds a rich subtext that will serve... Read more
