LUKE KEMP Goliath’s Curse: The history and future of societal collapse. Reviewed by Braham Dabscheck
Human history has seen many civilisations rise and fall. Luke Kemp contemplates the fate of ours in Goliath’s Curse. This is a monumental work of scholarship that raises fundamental questions about who we are, where we are going, and whether or not the next few...
THOMAS SCHLESSER Mona’s Eyes. Reviewed by Ann Skea
Art historian Thomas Schlesser brings 52 artworks to life in this fable-like story of a grandfather discussing art with his granddaughter. Mona is a ten-year-old French girl living in Paris with her parents, Camille and Paul, and near to Dadé, her beloved grandfather,...
CLAIRE NORTH Slow Gods. Reviewed by Robert Goodman
Claire North’s new novel might be science fiction, but the problems her characters face have many resonances with those of our world. Since the time-looping The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August, Claire North has explored many of the more popular corners of...
ERIN HORTLE A Catalogue of Love. Reviewed by Annette Hughes
Neika – scientist, surfer, and irresistible protagonist of A Catalogue of Love – attempts to classify emotions in Erin Hortle’s new novel. Neika is a scientist, an ornithologist studying the migration of the shearwater population of her beloved Bruny Island, where she...
KESHE CHOW For No Mortal Creature. Reviewed by Amelia Dudley
Australian Keshe Chow’s award-winning debut The Girl With No Reflection became an international bestseller. Her second does not disappoint. In her hidden magical village, Jia Liu hasn’t felt as though she belongs for a long time, ever since it became clear...
NICOLA BARKER TonyInterruptor. Reviewed by Ann Skea
Nicola Barker interrogates the nature of honesty, creativity and improvisation with sharp-eyed humour in her new novel. Nicola Barker is a prize-winning author. Several of her books have been long- or shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize, but she is known for...
RICHARD DENNISS Dead Centre: How political pragmatism is killing us. Reviewed by Braham Dabscheck
Richard Denniss provides a chilling analysis of the ploys our politicians use to govern in the interests of everyone but the public. Public choice theory employs basic economic analysis to posit that public officials, such as politicians, are self-interested. There is...
T KINGFISHER Hemlock and Silver. Reviewed by Amelia Dudley
Poison, mirror worlds, a life in danger and a seemingly impossible task – T Kingfisher’s latest fantasy has them all. And a talking cat. Healer Anja isn’t fully comfortable with being called a healer, as her main passion is studying poisons and their antidotes...
MARIANA ENRIQUEZ Somebody is Walking on Your Grave. Reviewed by Ann Skea
No casual tombstone tourist, Mariana Enriquez details her fascination with cemeteries, their histories and their famous residents. Mariana Enriquez is a self-confessed connoisseur of cemeteries: a taphophile. Since 1979, she has travelled the world, visiting...
DAVID PRICE The Shameful Isles. Reviewed by Braham Dabscheck
David Price’s history of Western Australia’s lock hospitals and the ‘treatments’ meted out to Aboriginal people is shocking and important. There are large areas of our nation’s history that non-Indigenous Australians prefer not to think about, regarding them as merely...
BRIAN STODDART Playing the Game: How cricket made Barbados. Reviewed by Bernard Whimpress
Brian Stoddart’s multi-faceted account of a small island’s cricket history is a tribute to a time when it was the powerhouse of the game. The peak years of West Indies cricket, both in the mid-1960s and in a period of unbroken dominance from 1976 to 1995, saw plenty...
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LUKE KEMP Goliath’s Curse: The history and future of societal collapse. Reviewed by Braham Dabscheck4 December 2025Human history has seen many civilisations rise and fall. Luke Kemp contemplates [ … ]
THOMAS SCHLESSER Mona’s Eyes. Reviewed by Ann Skea3 December 2025Art historian Thomas Schlesser brings 52 artworks to life in this fable-like [ … ]
CLAIRE NORTH Slow Gods. Reviewed by Robert Goodman2 December 2025Claire North’s new novel might be science fiction, but the problems her [ … ]