JULIANNE SCHULTZ The Idea of Australia: A search for the soul of the nation. Reviewed by Braham Dabscheck
Julianne Schultz finds difficult truths – and some hope – in her examination of the Australian psyche. Is it a good thing to be racist? For one group of people to believe they are superior to others and to act accordingly in the name of creating a ‘perfect society’?...
ANN-HELÉN LAESTADIUS Stolen. Reviewed by Ann Skea
Translated from the original Swedish, Stolen reveals the dangers – and prejudice – faced by the reindeer-herding Sami people. This is gentle but strong story about Elsa, a young Sami woman, growing up in her homeland, Sampi, in the Arctic north of Sweden. It is...
KYLIE NEEDHAM Girl in a Pink Dress. Reviewed by Annette Hughes
Kylie Needham’s debut novel contemplates what happens when a muse is also an artist. The ‘girl in a pink dress’ is Frances, a young art student who charms her tutor (twice her age) and becomes his muse. The trope of the older male artist and the younger female...
BRANDON SANDERSON Tress of the Emerald Sea. Reviewed by Amelia Dudley
The first of Brandon Sanderson’s ‘secret novels’ delivers a resourceful heroine on an epic quest. During the pandemic, prolific fantasy author Brandon Sanderson found he had more time on his hands and, as he puts it, ‘Brandon + Time = Stories‘. He...
RONNIE SCOTT Shirley. Reviewed by Jessica Stewart
Ronnie Scott’s second novel explores themes of abandonment, attachment and the idea of home. Characterised from the beginning by a sense of uncertainty, Shirley is a novel where anything can happen, and probably will. Names are ambiguous, sexuality is fluid,...
ELISA SHUA DUSAPIN The Pachinko Parlour. Reviewed by Ann Skea
The new novel from the award-winning author of Winter in Sokcho explores the lives of Koreans living in Japan. At first, the language of this novel seems spare and abrupt, but gradually it draws you into the strange, disconnected life of the narrator. We learn her...
CORMAC MCCARTHY The Passenger. Reviewed by Michael Jongen
The new novel from this iconic writer embraces conspiracies, hallucinations and paranoia in America’s South. The Passenger is an ambitious novel; it is also a little crazy. I was by turns gripped, maddened, bored and intrigued. It is a novel about paranoia and...
AK LARKWOOD The Unspoken Name and The Thousand Eyes: Books 1 and 2 of The Serpent Gates. Reviewed by Amelia Dudley
AK Larkwood’s debut fantasy series combines a death cult, magical artefacts, and an accomplished assassin. ‘Only I am without end, for desolation is my watchword. Yet nothing is to be forgotten that belongs to me. All things that are lost come into my keeping.’...
SD HINTON The Brothers. Reviewed by Karen Chisholm
SD Hinton’s debut novel uses the structure of a thriller to explore myriad responses to trauma. Jake Harlow is a decorated Special Forces veteran, returned from a tour in Afghanistan that went horribly wrong for him. Captured by the Taliban, he was mentally and...
DOMINIC SMITH Return to Valetto. Reviewed by Ann Skea
The new novel from the author of The Electric Hotel uncovers wartime secrets in an Italian village. Hugh Fraser is an American academic whose Italian mother, Hazel, used to take him to her home village in Italy for their summer holidays. He has fond memories of...
REBECCA MAKKAI I Have Some Questions for You. Reviewed by Robert Goodman
Rebecca Makkai’s fourth novel examines our obsession with true crime – and where that can lead. True crime and true crime podcasts are having a moment, not only in the real world but also in fiction. However, in fiction, writers can start to get behind the...
Recent Posts
KERRIE DAVIES Miles Franklin Undercover. Reviewed by Ann Skea13 May 2025Author Kerrie Davies explores Miles Franklin’s life in the decades after [ … ]
SALLY ROONEY Intermezzo. Reviewed by Jessica Stewart8 May 2025Irish writer Sally Rooney is known for her succession of bestselling literary [ … ]
ROBERT MANNE A Political Memoir. Reviewed by Braham Dabscheck7 May 2025Robert Manne’s memoir charts the life of a public intellectual and independent [ … ]
IRMA GOLD Shift. Reviewed by Naomi Manuell6 May 2025Set in South Africa, the new novel from the author of The Breaking is both a [ … ]