by NRB | 6 Feb 2025 | Crime Scene, Fiction |
In her new novel, Panic, Catherine Jinks provides a timely take on online mobs, conspiracy theorists, and sovereign citizens. Bronte is a young woman who, along with most of her generation, records pretty much everything about her life online. One drunken rant,...
by NRB | 4 Feb 2025 | Non-fiction |
Todd Ley’s account of his time as a tennis prodigy may be one of the most important books you will ever read on tennis. Todd Ley was born into a dysfunctional family. His father, who he refers to as ‘Mad Max’, was ‘a traumatised yet charismatic character,...
by NRB | 30 Jan 2025 | Fiction |
The arrival of a pet rabbit proves confronting as well as comforting for the fractured family in Melanie Cheng’s second novel. Amy, Jin, and their ten-year-old daughter Lucie live in an inner-city suburb of Melbourne. Set towards the end of the pandemic lockdowns,...
by NRB | 29 Jan 2025 | Non-fiction |
Jonathan Watts relates the extraordinary life of scientist, engineer, Gaia theorist and spy, Englishman James Lovelock. James Lovelock is best known as the ‘father’ of the Gaia theory, which claims that the Earth ‘functioned like an organism to maintain a habitable...
by NRB | 28 Jan 2025 | Crime Scene, Fiction |
Martine Kropkowski’s debut crime fiction delves into the devastating consequences of the epidemic of violence against women. Melissa, Bridie and Cassandra are friends, bonded over the sorts of things that connect young mothers – pressure, expectation, exhaustion and...
by NRB | 23 Jan 2025 | Non-fiction |
Helen Garner’s account of a single season of her grandson’s AFL team is about more than football. Helen Garner may have begun her career as a novelist, but she has long been admired for her non-fiction, which has been defined by its fearless honesty and unflinching...
by NRB | 22 Jan 2025 | Fiction |
In Austrian writer Eva Menasse’s new novel, the residents of a small border town are shaken when uncomfortable truths from the past come to light. Darkenbloom is a fictitious small town on the Austrian–Hungarian border: ‘A region where great spiritual, national, and...
by NRB | 21 Jan 2025 | Fiction |
The controversial author of Atomised sets his new – and possibly last – novel in the world of French politics. In Annihilation, Michel Houellebecq scaffolds a political thriller in order to mourn the decay of Western European life. Bodies, relationships and politics...
by NRB | 16 Jan 2025 | Non-fiction |
Cher is a genuine superstar who has had an extraordinary career across music, film and television. Now her memoir recounts how she got there. Cher prefaces Part 1 of her long-awaited memoir by recalling her reaction to seeing Elvis Presley performing at 1956 concert...
by NRB | 15 Jan 2025 | Non-fiction |
Peter Godwin’s memoir charts a life of exile, ranging from the horror of civil war to family eccentricity and life in London and New York. Exit Wounds is a curious title for a memoir, especially when Godwin, early in the book, tells of an illustrated lecture on...
by NRB | 14 Jan 2025 | Fiction |
Mark Smith’s first novel for adults is both a psychological thriller and an exploration of a shocking moral dilemma. Mark Smith, a Victoria-based educator, is best known as the author of the critically acclaimed YA Winter Trilogy and If Not For Us, a very enjoyable YA...
by NRB | 19 Dec 2024 | Fiction, Non-fiction |
Welcome to our most popular reviews of the year. Is your favourite among them? It’s that time of year when we go through our stats to learn which reviews appealed to readers most. Is one of your favourite books on the list? Or perhaps there are a few titles...