MEG HOWREY They’re Going to Love You. Reviewed by Ann Skea
The new novel from the author of The Wanderers explores relationships within the New York ballet world. It is clear from the very beginning that Carlisle Martin is a dancer. ‘Feel what I feel,’ she tells us, as she instructs us in the movements that will result in us...
JOHN KERR The Big Folbigg Mistake: extract
Did Kathleen Folbigg kill her babies? John Kerr makes the case for taking another look. In 2003 Kathleen Folbigg was convicted of killing her four children: Caleb, 19 days old (1989); Patrick, 8 months old (1991); Sarah, 10 months old (1993); and Laura, 19 months old...
SHELLEY PARKER-CHAN She Who Became the Sun. Reviewed by Amelia Dudley
Australian Shelley Parker-Chan’s historical fantasy has won a Hugo Award for Best New Writer and two British Fantasy Awards. Shelley Parker Chan’s debut novel reimagines the rise to power of the first emperor of the Ming Dynasty in fourteenth-century China. During the...
SHAUN PRESCOTT Bon and Lesley. Reviewed by Paul Anderson
Sean Prescott’s second novel recounts an escape to the country – or does it? ‘No Australian under 50 has seen a time like this in their adult lives,’ declared a recent op-ed on Black Swan events. That’s one possible way into this intense, Jungian novel. Bon and...
ALICE RYAN There’s Been A Little Incident. Reviewed by Ann Skea
Alice Ryan’s debut novel puts an extended family on the trail of their missing Molly. Molly Black had disappeared … That’s why the whole Black clan – from Granny all the way to Killan on Zoom from Sydney – is huddled together in the back room of Uncle...
RAY NAYLER The Mountain in the Sea. Reviewed by Robert Goodman
Octopuses and artificial intelligence feature in ‘one of the best science fiction novels of 2022’. While there are plenty of great space-battle and apocalypse and time-travel stories out there, some of the best science fiction deals in ideas. Ray Nayler’s...
ANKE RICHTER Cult Trip. Reviewed by Mary Garden
Anke Richter’s stories of New Zealanders’ experiences of cults raise universal questions about the appeal – and danger – of such groups. No one joins a cult. They join interesting groups that make them feel special, that give them solace, hope and answers. In...
BEN SCHNEIDERS Hard Labour: Wage theft in the age of inequality. Reviewed by Braham Dabscheck.
Ben Scheiders examines wage theft and challenges the notion that Australia is a fair-minded society. Ben Schneiders is an investigative reporter with The Age. Since 2015 he has written hundreds of articles on wage theft with colleague Royce Millar. His object in this...
PETER VAN ONSELEN and WAYNE ERRINGTON Victory: The inside story of Labor’s return to power. Reviewed by Bernard Whimpress
This expert analysis of the 2022 federal election examines Labor’s rebuilding process, the six-week campaign, and the challenges ahead. Victory was released for sale just over four months after election day, but it would be foolish to categorise it as a ‘quickie’. It...
MYKAELA SAUNDERS (ed.) This All Come Back Now. Reviewed by Robert Goodman
This anthology showcases the range of First Nations speculative fiction. This All Come Back Now is a collection of speculative fiction by First Nations authors curated by Mykaela Saunders, who observes that First Nations writers in this genre are rarely able to get...
CLAIRE KEEGAN Small Things Like These. Reviewed by Anna Verney
In Claire Keegan’s novella of Ireland in the 1980s, a good man faces a testing decision. In the cosmopolitan Ireland of blockbuster millennial novelist Sally Rooney, the main issues are capitalism and class rather than religion and religious institutions....
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