Review search
Mr Romanov’s Garden in the Sky (Robert Newton, Puffin)
Released March 2017
Thirteen-year-old Lexie lives in a grey housing commission flat in Melbourne and dreams of starting a new life on the Sunshine Coast. She’s struggling to deal with her junkie mum,... Read more
A Walk in the Bush (Gwyn Perkins, Affirm Press)
Released March 2017
Iggy has to be coaxed out of his various hidey holes to visit the great outdoors. With his keen guardian (possibly a grandfather), Iggy is taken to the bush and... Read more
1, 2 Pirate Stew (Kylie Howarth, Five Mile Press)
Released March 2017
This book is all about the joy of playing in a cardboard box, which seems to have been largely replaced these days by more complicated activities, but is still a... Read more
And Then I Found Me (Noel Tovey, Magabala Books)
Released March 2017
Noel Tovey has led an amazing life. He went from a terrible childhood of deprivation and abuse to become one of Australia’s great artistic exports, before returning home to be... Read more
No Way But This: In Search of Paul Robeson (Jeff Sparrow, Scribe)
Released March 2017
Paul Robeson (1898-1976) was an African-American singer, actor and political activist. His father was a slave, yet Robeson was able to carve out an acting and music career despite facing... Read more
Jean Harley Was Here (Heather Taylor Johnson, UQP)
Released March 2017
Heather Taylor Johnson’s second novel Jean Harley Was Here is an exploration of grief, with each chapter presenting a different glimpse into the aftermath of the character Jean Harley’s death,... Read more
The Green Bell: A Memoir of Love, Madness and Poetry (Paula Keogh, Affirm Press)
Released March 2017
Paula Keogh suffers a breakdown following the death of her best friend Julianne. It is while undergoing treatment in M Ward—the psychiatric unit of Canberra Hospital—that she meets the poet... Read more
Gus Dog Goes to Work (Rachel Flynn, illus by Craig Smith, Working Title)
Released February 2017
Gus Dog Goes to Work chronicles all the tremendously exciting things a well-meaning sheepdog could possibly get involved with when (inexplicably) his owner doesn’t follow the usual routine of taking... Read more
Our Dog Benji (Pete Carter & James Henderson, EK Books)
Released February 2017
Many kids are fussy eaters; many dogs are not. With this simple premise Pete Carter sets up his picture book, ably supported by illustrator James Henderson. Benji, the little boy’s... Read more
Diamond Jack: History Mysteries Book One (Mark Greenwood, Puffin)
Released February 2017
Even as World War II rages, Jack Palmer spends his time on his boat wandering up and down the coast of Western Australia. Meanwhile, the Imperial Japanese army are on... Read more
Lisette’s Paris Notebook (Catherine Bateson, A&U)
Released January 2017
When Lisette arrives in Paris for the summer, she thinks she’s prepared. She has a great wardrobe, she’s staying with her mother’s psychic, and surely before long she’ll be checking... Read more
Valentine (Jodi McAlister, Penguin)
Released February 2017
A strange, black-as-midnight horse appears during a party. Frustratingly good-looking Finn throws a horseshoe at it, scaring it off before Marie can pat it and adding to the list of... Read more
Barking Dogs (Rebekah Clarkson, Affirm Press)
Released February 2017
Barking Dogs is a novel in stories from short-story writer Rebekah Clarkson, set in the fictional Mt Barker, a once sleepy country town being engulfed by the outer suburbs. Each... Read more
Crimson Lake (Candice Fox, Bantam)
Released February 2017
Candice Fox, winner of two Ned Kelly Awards and co-author with the bestselling James Patterson, has unleashed another taut, gripping crime thriller that is as accomplished as her publishing history... Read more
The Dangers of Truffle Hunting (Sunni Overend, HarperCollins)
Released January 2017
Kit Gossard thinks her life is on track. She’s a photographer for an internationally renowned food magazine, and is engaged to a man who can provide a secure future. So... Read more
The Golden Child (Wendy James, HarperCollins)
Released February 2017
Beth’s blogging alter-ego Lizzy may seem to have the perfect life, but Beth’s reality is far messier. Following the family’s relocation to Newcastle from the US, conflict seems to be... Read more
Gwen (Goldie Goldbloom, Fremantle Press)
Released February 2017
Gwen, Goldie Goldbloom’s uneven but engaging new novel, takes a panoramic approach to familiar territory. Set mainly in London and Paris at the turn of the 19th century, it chronicles... Read more
Loopholes (Susan McCreery, Spineless Wonders)
Released December 2016
Shakespeare once said that ‘brevity is the soul of wit’; the genre of microfiction takes this advice to heart. To succeed, microfiction must combine efficiency of text with immediacy of... Read more
One Leg Over: Memories of Love, Fun and a Few Tears (Robin Dalton, Text)
Released February 2017
In 2015, Text reissued Robin Dalton’s 1965 memoir Aunts up the Cross as part of its ‘Text Classics’ series. The book offered a humorous glimpse into Dalton’s bohemian childhood in... Read more
A Perfidious Distortion of History (Jürgen Tampke, Scribe)
Released February 2017
This book from German-born, Australia-based historian Jürgen Tampke is a great example of revisionist history. It’s a popular historical conceit that the end of World War I and the Treaty... Read more
