SAMANTHA MAIDEN Party Animals: The secret history of a Labor fiasco. Reviewed by Bernard Whimpress
Samantha Maiden’s Party Animals is a multi-faceted analysis of the 2019 federal election, the election the Labor party was expected to win – but didn’t. In her introduction, political journalist Maiden offers a depressing thesis: that from recent evidence the...
EMMA ASHMERE Dreams They Forgot: extract
This week we’re delighted to bring you the short story ‘Fallout’ from Emma Ashmere’s debut collection Dreams They Forgot. What haunting stories these are, with their ghosts, betrayals and secrets, ranging back and forth across time and continents. A...
STEVEN CONTE The Tolstoy Estate. Reviewed by Paul Anderson
You don’t need to have read War and Peace to enjoy Steven Conte’s second novel. Steven Conte returns to World War II as the mise en scène for his accomplished second novel, The Tolstoy Estate. His first, The Zookeeper’s War, won the 2008 Prime...
CAOILINN HUGHES The Wild Laughter. Reviewed by Ann Skea
Caoilinn Hughes’s second novel, The Wild Laughter, explores what happens in post-boom Ireland when a father makes a life-altering request of his sons. There is plenty of laughter in this book. Hart (Doharty) Black’s way of telling his story is unique, colourful...
SAM COLEY State Highway One: extract
We’re delighted to bring you an extract from Sam Coley’s debut novel State Highway One, winner of the Richell Prize for Emerging Writers. Told with intimacy and pace, it’s a story of reconnecting with home and confronting the wounds of the past. Alex hasn’t seen his...
JO LENNAN In the Time of Foxes. Reviewed by Michelle McLaren
Predator or prey? Jo Lennan’s debut collection of stories lures the reader into a world where foxes can mean many things. In 2011, when the London Shard was under construction, workers were stunned to discover a fox had taken up residence on the...
TERRY IRVING The Fatal Lure of Politics: The life and thought of Vere Gordon Childe. Reviewed by Braham Dabscheck
Terry Irving charts the politics of early twentieth century Australia through the life of writer and polymath Vere Gordon Childe. Vere Gordon Childe (1892–1957) was one of Australia’s most distinguished scholars and public intellectuals in the first half of the...
MIKEY ROBINS Reprehensible: extract
We’re delighted to bring you a tale of literary forgery and deception in eighteenth-century London in this extract from Mikey Robins’s latest book Reprehensible, an entertaining compendium of disreputable deeds from around the world and down the ages. There’s...
JAY KRISTOFF Truel1f3: Lifel1k3 Book 3. Reviewed by Amelia Dudley.
Truel1f3 delivers a satisfying conclusion to Jay Kristoff’s dystopian Lifel1k3 series, a tale of love, sacrifice and betrayal. ‘You built a world on metal backs. Held together by metal hands. And one day soon, those hands will close. And they’ll become fists.’...
PETER O’BRIEN Bush School and JOHN COOK with JON BAUER The Last Lighthouse Keeper. Reviewed by Ann Skea
These two memoirs of life in remote parts of Australia reveal the challenges of isolation. By the time Easter approached… I was feeling quite desperate: I had no company of my own age, I had an improper diet, I spoke with other adults only on Sunday afternoons...
Special Friday Giveaway
Here’s something to get the weekend off to a great start: a chance to win a swag of great books in our special Friday giveaway. To go in the draw to win all four titles, simply email editors@newtownreviewofbooks.com.au with ‘Friday’ in the subject...
Recent Posts
NADIA WHEATLEY Strange New World. Reviewed by Sandra Hogan16 July 2026Nadia Wheatley charts what happened to the prisoners after the liberation of [ … ]
WAYNE MARSHALL Henry Goes Bush. Reviewed by James Arbuthnott15 July 2026Wayne Marshall gives Australia’s famous bush poet an alternative experience of [ … ]
JORDAN HARPER A Violent Masterpiece. Reviewed by Robert Goodman14 July 2026Jordan Harper’s new novel violently deconstructs the American dream and [ … ]
MARK McKENNA The Shortest History of Australia. Reviewed by Bernard Whimpress9 July 2026Mark McKenna’s short history is both broad and nuanced, demanding a new [ … ]