VERONICA ROTH Seek the Traitor’s Son
Set in a future Earth, the first instalment of Veronica Roth’s new science-fiction series imagines the consequences of alien gifts. Veronica Roth is probably best known as the author of the popular YA-pitched Divergent series (and the not-as-popular movie series...
FRANCESCA DE TORES Cast Away. Reviewed by Ann Skea
The new novel from the author of Saltblood again traverses the high seas, this time inspired by a real-life Scottish adventurer. When they leave me on the island, I do not scruple to beg. I chase the last boat into the bay, wading and shouting, ‘Sir, sir, mercy, have...
GABRIELE TERGIT The Effingers: A Berlin Saga. Reviewed by Sandra Hogan
A new translation of this German classic tells the story of a Jewish family in Berlin from the nineteenth to the twentieth centuries. In 1932, Gabriele Tergit’s Berlin publisher asked her to write a novel about a Jewish family because middle-class Jews were the best...
CARI THOMAS Threadneedle and Shadowstitch. Reviewed by Amelia Dudley
The first two instalments of Welsh author Cari Thomas’s bestselling fantasy series are full of magic, danger, coercion and rebellion. In the first volume, Threadneedle, Anna’s future is all planned out for her: study hard to become a doctor and have her magic...
BERNICE BARRY The Names of a Hare. Reviewed by Ann Skea
Set during England’s witch persecutions, Bernice Barry’s novel draws on the magical associations of the hare and tips its hat to Lorna Doone. There are things you’ll be wanting to know and I will tell you most of them, but there’s one thing I will not give and...
FIONA WRIGHT Kill Your Boomers. Reviewed by Naomi Manuell
Poet and essayist Fiona Wright’s funny and furious debut novel tackles generational inequality and Australia’s housing crisis. How did it come to this? As one character puts it in Fiona Wright’s new novel Kill Your Boomers, ‘Do you know anyone, literally...
INGA SIMPSON Once We Were Wildlife. Reviewed by Ann Skea
These stories from the author of The Thinning and Understory are driven by human interactions with nature – and nature’s response to us. More meltwater, more bright machines grinding back and forth, marking snow. There is panic in their colony, like the penguins. They...
ALAN FYFE The Cross Thieves. Reviewed by Paul Anderson
Alan Fyfe’s second novel is a zany, punchy, circuitous literary picaresque set in the regional city of Mandurah on the southwest coast of WA. The story of The Cross Thieves works like a strange Rube Goldberg machine. One small act of kindness is followed by a tragic...
EMILY LIGHEZZOLO Life Drawing. Reviewed by Ann Skea
Through the stories of Charlie and Maisie, artist and model, Emily Lighezzolo’s award-winning debut explores body image and its consequences. The publicity for this book describes it as a ‘provocative novel about women’s bodies, sex, autonomy – and the power of the...
FIONA HARDY Old Games. Reviewed by Karen Chisholm
The morally flexible PI team of Alice and Teddy are back in a perfectly bonkers scenario in Fiona Hardy’s new novel Old Games. Alice and Teddy, introduced to readers in the excellent Unbury the Dead, are best mates and private investigators who work for ‘Choker’, a...
KATE MILDENHALL The Hiding Place. Reviewed by Jessica Stewart
Kate Mildenhall’s fourth novel takes a group of progressive urbanites into the bush and exposes the conflicts and contradictions among them. This novel moves from the familiar and domestic to a place of unimaginable horror with an ending that will make you gasp. A...
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CHRISTINE BALINT A Single Witness. Reviewed by Ann Skea14 May 2026Christine Balint’s fourth novel takes inspiration from the courage of a teenage [ … ]
VERONICA ROTH Seek the Traitor’s Son12 May 2026Set in a future Earth, the first instalment of Veronica Roth’s new [ … ]
FRANCESCA DE TORES Cast Away. Reviewed by Ann Skea7 May 2026The new novel from the author of Saltblood again traverses the high seas, this [ … ]
CLARA BRACK The Secret Landscapes: On not pleasing your mother. Reviewed by Sandra Hogan5 May 2026Clara Brack finds her own voice in exploring the differences between her [ … ]