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Stone Girl (Eleni Hale, Penguin)
Released May 2018
Sophie grows up saddled with a missing dad and an unreliable alcoholic mother. At the tender age of 12, she finds her mother dead and blames herself. As there is... Read more
Neverland (Margot McGovern, Random House)
Released April 2018
Like Alice through the looking glass, Dorothy in Oz and Wendy in Neverland, Kit Learmonth’s childhood was full of fantastical adventures: pirates, witches, fairies and battles with terrible monsters. But... Read more
Waiting for Elijah (Kate Wild, Scribe)
Released June 2018
In Armidale, NSW, in 2009, 24-year-old Elijah Holcombe was shot and killed by a police officer. Elijah was described by all who knew him as a sweet, sensitive and artistic... Read more
Traumata (Meera Atkinson, UQP)
Released May 2018
Trauma and the events that provoke it involve a complex web of personal experience, history and society, but most books on the topic seem to sit squarely in either the... Read more
Staying: A Memoir (Jessie Cole, Text)
Released May 2018
Jessie Cole’s Staying is a well-written, extremely moving memoir that steers resolutely clear of stereotypes and self-pity. The ‘staying’ of the title refers to how Cole resumes control of her... Read more
The Making of Martin Sparrow (Peter Cochrane, Viking)
Released May 2018
Martin Sparrow is an ‘expiree’, a convict who has served his time and been granted a plot of land. When the terrible 1806 flood destroys his crops, he’s forced to... Read more
Ironbark (Jay Carmichael, Scribe)
Released May 2018
Ironbark brings to disturbing life three years in the life of Marcus, a young, gay country man. He has a casually supportive father, platonic girlfriends, an interest in poetry, a... Read more
Small Wrongs (Kate Rossmanith, Hardie Grant)
Released June 2018
Part memoir, part cultural study, Small Wrongs is a unique look into the role remorse plays in both public and private spheres. With the observational spirit of Helen Garner and... Read more
The Way Things Should Be (Bridie Jabour, Echo)
Released May 2018
Claudia has returned to her hometown to get married. She should be happy, but instead she feels confused and sad, and running the gauntlet of her dysfunctional family in the... Read more
Flames (Robbie Arnott, Text)
Released May 2018
Flames opens with a moment of transformation: ‘Our mother returned to us two days after we spread her ashes over Notley Fern Gorge.’ This arresting first line sets the tone... Read more
Miss Ex-Yugoslavia (Sofia Stefanovic, Viking)
Released May 2018
Miss Ex-Yugoslavia is a coming-of-age memoir that brims with warmth, curiosity and a genuine affection for commonplace family drama. Written by Serbian-Australian writer and filmmaker Sofija Stefanovic, who describes herself... Read more
Into the Night (Sarah Bailey, A&U)
Released June 2018
When a homeless man is stabbed in a Carlton park, Detective Sergeant Gemma Woodstock is the first homicide officer there. Walter Miller has no enemies, not many friends and only... Read more
Welcome to Country: A Travel Guide to Indigenous Australia (Marcia Langton, Hardie Grant)
Released May 2018
Welcome to Country goes beyond other Australian travel guides; it’s also an introduction to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, culture and places of interest. Its author, Marcia Langton, is... Read more
The Motherhood (ed by Jamila Rizvi, Viking)
Released May 2018
All new mothers need to read this book—when they have time, of course, and are not insanely tired, which is a long shot. However, it is no exaggeration to say... Read more
Balancing Acts: Women in Sport (ed by Justin Wolfers & Erin Riley, Brow Books)
Released May 2018
Amid the growing conversations surrounding the under-representation of women in sport in Australia, Balancing Acts deepens and personalises these discussions with more than 20 essays by a diverse range of... Read more
The Love That I Have (James Moloney, HarperCollins)
Released June 2018
James Moloney’s latest novel, The Love That I Have, is a heartbreaking, harrowing and deeply hopeful story that delves into the horrifying realities faced by hundreds of thousands of prisoners... Read more
Fleshers: Newport City Book One (Alison Croggon & Daniel Keene, Newport Street Books)
Released June 2018
Dez is a ‘flesher’, a naturally born human of the subclass now subjugated by ‘pinkers’, the cloned elite. Dez lives in the inner district of Newport, which is relatively safe... Read more
Eggshell Skull (Bri Lee, A&U)
Released June 2018
Blending memoir with social commentary, Bri Lee’s Eggshell Skull is a book about trauma, culpability and retribution. Unlike recently published personal narratives that are used as a launchpad to explore... Read more
Small Spaces (Sarah Epstein, Walker Books)
Released April 2018
As a child, Tash Carmody witnessed the kidnapping of Mallory Fisher. Yet nobody would believe her account of the event—that Mallory was abducted by Tash’s imaginary friend Sparrow. Nine years... Read more
Amelia Westlake (Erin Gough, Hardie Grant Egmont)
Released April 2018
After her Ampersand Prize-winning debut The Flywheel, Erin Gough’s second novel has been eagerly anticipated. Amelia Westlake has been worth the wait. This is a brilliant social satire with a... Read more
