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Talking Baby: How to Help Your Child Discover Language (Margaret Maclagan & Anne Buckley, Finch)
Released March 2016
Language development in children is a fascinating process, as any parent or carer will attest. In Talking Baby, experts Anne Buckley and Margaret MacLagan cover the years from birth to... Read more
Ink in Her Veins: The Troubled life of Aileen Palmer (Sylvia Martin, UWA Publishing)
Released March 2016
Aileen Palmer was the first child of Australian writers Vance and Nettie Palmer, born in London in 1915. The new family moved back to Australia, where Vance and Nettie were... Read more
Enemy (Ruth Clare, Viking)
Released March 2016
Domestic abuse and PTSD in returning soldiers are two issues the Australian media is only starting to raise awareness about, especially after high-profile campaigners Rosie Batty (A Mother’s Story) and... Read more
The Long Run (Catriona Menzies-Pike, Affirm Press)
Released March 2016
While distance running has become popular with women today, incredibly, women didn’t run the Olympic marathon till 1984 and were barred from entering the Boston Marathon until 1972. Catriona Menzies-Pike... Read more
Lemons in the Chicken Wire (Alison Whittaker, Magabala)
Released March 2016
Alison Whittaker is a Gomeroi woman from Gunnedah, who was awarded a black&write! Indigenous Writing Fellowship in 2015. This debut collection of poetry introduces her as a force to be... Read more
Sing Fox to Me (Sarah Kanake, Affirm Press)
Released March 2016
In her debut novel, Sarah Kanake deals in so many Gothic tropes—ghosts, implied incest, a stark natural landscape and the legacy of an earlier generation’s follies—that an alternative title for... Read more
The Midnight Watch (David Dyer, Hamish Hamilton)
Released March 2016
On the night the Titanic sank, another ship, the Californian, saw her distress flares but did not respond. Her captain, Stanley Lord, denied that he was informed, testimony contradicted in... Read more
A Loving, Faithful Animal (Josephine Rowe, UQP)
Released March 2016
Josephine Rowe’s first novel follows her acclaimed story collections How a Moth Becomes a Boat and Tarcutta Wake. Like her stories, A Loving, Faithful Animal distils the small incidents of... Read more
The Light on the Water (Olga Lorenzo, A&U)
Released March 2016
Recently divorced Anne Forster heads to Wilson’s Promontory on an overnight bushwalk with her six-year-old autistic daughter Aida and returns home alone. Although no body is found, Anne is charged... Read more
Ghost Girls (Cath Ferla, Echo)
Released March 2016
Ghost Girls is a promising debut that defies easy categorisation. Set in the sometimes sketchy world of adult English-language colleges in inner Sydney—a scene the author clearly knows very well—it... Read more
Hold (Kirsten Tranter, Fourth Estate)
Released March 2016
Hold is Kirsten Tranter’s third novel and like her second, A Common Loss, it deals with the grief of unexpectedly losing a loved one and the strange places that grief... Read more
The High Places (Fiona McFarlane, Hamish Hamilton)
Released February 2016
After receiving international accolades for her Miles Franklin-shortlisted debut novel The Night Guest, Fiona McFarlane follows up with a short-story collection laden with wry wit and a deceptive simplicity. The... Read more
All These Perfect Strangers (Aoife Clifford, S&S)
Released March 2016
Pen Sheppard is recovering at her rural family home after an assault she won’t discuss with anyone, let alone her psychologist. As she prowls the house, avoiding everyone inside and... Read more
Wordburger (David Astle, A&U)
Released December 2015
Best known (by kids) as the dictionary man on TV’s ‘Letters and Numbers’ and (by adults) as the chief crossword creator for Fairfax publications, David Astle is a self-confessed full-time... Read more
George the Bilby Chef and the Raspberry Muffin Surprise (Jedda Robaard, The Five Mile Press)
Released January 1970
Given the popularity of television cooking shows, most children will be familiar with chefs demonstrating their culinary skills and will relate to this gentle story of George the Bilby, an... Read more
New Year Surprise! (Christopher Cheng, illus by Di Wu, NLA)
Released January 1970
The whole family is excited about the New Year Spring Festival. Everybody has their special jobs, and Little Brother is anxious to know what his will be. He knows he... Read more
The Marvellous Funambulist of Middle Harbour and Other Sydney Firsts (Hilary Bell, illus by Matthew Martin, NewSouth)
Released January 1970
Hilary Bell’s first book with Antonia Pesenti, Alphabetical Sydney, was a stylish guide to the city’s lesser-known iconic features (such as T for Terrace houses and F for Frangipanis). The... Read more
Arthur and the Curiosity (Lucinda Gifford, The Five Mile Press)
Released January 1970
Written and illustrated by the winner of the inaugural Five Mile Press Illustrator Prize Lucinda Gifford, Arthur and the Curiosity depicts an unusual school trip. Arthur’s class is on an... Read more
Lady Helen and the Dark Days Club: Book One (Alison Goodman, HarperCollins)
Released October 2015
High-society orphan, 18-year-old Lady Helen, is to be presented to the queen when the disappearance of a housemaid sees her drawn into the shadows of Regency London. Here she learns... Read more
Australia to Z (Armin Greder, A&U)
Released January 2016
Alphabet books have provided insight into our priorities for many years, and Armin Greder’s certainly captures an Australia that will strike a chord with many. His word choices combine more... Read more
