Review search
Summer of Shipwrecks (Shivaun Plozza, UQP)
Released September 2024
Award-winning children’s author Shivaun Plozza’s Summer of Shipwrecks is a vividly real, heartfelt middle-grade novel that explores the capriciousness of tween friendship. Sidney has been waiting all year for her... Read more
Anomaly (Emma Lord, Affirm)
Released September 2024
Anomaly, the debut YA novel by Emma Lord, is fast-paced, compelling and confidently plotted. In 2020, Piper Manning awakens 52 days after a virus has wiped out her town—and perhaps... Read more
Protecting Indigenous Art (Colin Golvan, MUP)
Released September 2024
Scepticism is probably reasonable, at first, reading a book about Indigenous art written by a non-Indigenous person. Colin Golvan, however, has earned his bona fides by working as a barrister... Read more
Jasper Cliff (Josh Kemp, Fremantle)
Released September 2024
Western Australian author Josh Kemp’s debut novel, Banjawarn, won several prestigious awards, including the Dorothy Hewett Award, a Ned Kelly Award, and a Western Australian Premier’s Prize. For his second... Read more
The Best Present Ever (Zoë Foster Blake, illus Lucinda Gifford, Puffin)
Released September 2024
The most delightful stories can often stem from the simplest of ideas, as seen in The Best Present Ever, a playful celebration of creativity, imagination and the joy of giving.... Read more
In the Margins (Gail Holmes, Ultimo)
Released September 2024
Inspired by the life of Frances Wolfreston, a book collector who preserved the earliest part of Shakespeare’s legacy, Gail Holmes’s elegant debut speaks about the injustices and lack of freedom... Read more
Translations (Jumaana Abdu, Vintage)
Released August 2024
Translations is a powerful, character-driven debut novel by Jumaana Abdu. It follows young mother Aliyah and her daughter, Sakina, who leave Sydney for a property in the Northern Rivers region... Read more
Dragonfire: 18,000 Holes in the Universe (Adam Wallace & Lisa Foley, illus James Hart, HarperCollins)
Released August 2024
Tee off into the surreal world of Dragonfire: 18,000 Holes in the Universe, the first book in a new graphic novel series by Adam Wallace and Lisa Foley, with imaginative... Read more
Chae: Korean slow food for a better life (Jung Eun Chae, Hardie Grant)
Released August 2024
Originally from Seoul, South Korea, chef Jung Eun Chae worked in the renowned Melbourne restaurant Cutler & Co before opening her cosy six-seater restaurant, Chae, in her Brunswick apartment. Her... Read more
Girl Falling (Hayley Scrivenor, Macmillan)
Released August 2024
Girl Falling is the second novel by award-winning crime writer Hayley Scrivenor. Three women—Daphne, Magdu and Finn—head out for a day of rock climbing in the Blue Mountains, but only... Read more
The Girl with No Reflection (Keshe Chow, Penguin)
Released August 2024
The Girl with No Reflection by Keshe Chow is a debut YA historical fantasy novel set in Imperial China, drawing on Chinese mythology. The story begins with Ying, a young... Read more
Bird (Courtney Collins, Hachette)
Released August 2024
Following the success of her first novel, The Burial, Courtney Collins’s new dual-narrative novel, Bird, centres on the titular 14-year-old girl. The story is told in alternating chapters differentiated by... Read more
Tiny: A memoir about love, letting go and a very small house (Louise Southerden, Hardie Grant Explore)
Released August 2024
Award-winning travel writer Louise Southerden’s first memoir, Tiny, tackles some big topics. Ostensibly an account of her experience of building a tiny house with her partner, Max, Tiny is so... Read more
Dung Beetle on a Roll (Sandra Severgnini, CSIRO Publishing)
Released August 2024
Dung Beetle on a Roll by Sandra Severgnini (Meet Mim, Grub) follows an ambitious dung beetle who is working on his best dung ball yet. But what exactly is a... Read more
Between Husbands and Wives (Susannah Glenn, Pantera)
Released August 2024
Jennifer’s life is changed after her vehicle crashes into a car carrying a woman in labour, killing the mother and her unborn child. Escaping jail time but wracked with guilt... Read more
Dirrayawadha (Anita Heiss, S&S)
Released August 2024
Dirrayawadha is a work of searing historical fiction set during the Wiradyuri wars in 1820s Bathurst and centring on a love story between a young Wiradyuri woman and an Irish... Read more
Kev & Trev #1: Snot Funny Sea Stories (Kylie Howarth, Affirm)
Released August 2024
Kev and Trev are determined to become famous. They’ve tried it all, from talent contests and cooking shows to an attempt to fake it 'til they make it, but now... Read more
Liars (James O’Loghlin, Echo)
Released August 2024
In James O’Loghlin’s murder mystery Liars, every character has secrets to hide. The novel is set in the fictitious Bullford Point, a coastal town on NSW’s Northern Beaches, untouched by... Read more
Captured: How neoliberalism transformed the Australian state (ed by Philip Toner & Michael Rafferty, SUP)
Released August 2024
Privatisation, deregulation and fiscal restraint are some of the major hallmarks of neoliberalism. Each is an intervention taken by governments in economics and public policy to privilege free markets and... Read more
Stickboy (Rebecca Young, illus Matt Ottley, Scholastic)
Released August 2024
From the multi-award-winning creators of Teacup comes a lyrical new picture book about a young boy’s hope and determination in the face of adversity. In a dry and barren land... Read more
