ZEYNAB GAMIELDIEN Learned Behaviours. Reviewed by Sally Nimon
The new novel from the award-winning author of The Scope of Permissibility examines assumptions about class, connection and culpability. A common question on forums like Reddit goes something like this: What moment in your life was so pivotal that everything since has...
TIM AYLIFFE Dark Desert Road. Reviewed by Viv Ronnebeck
Tim Ayliffe’s new thriller Dark Desert Road delivers claustrophic tension as twin sisters navigate extremists in the outback. The prologue to Tim Ayliffe’s Dark Desert Road begins with a woman trapped in a stranger’s suitcase, but the even more arresting detail...
CAMERON SULLIVAN The Red Winter. Reviewed by Robert Goodman
Australian Cameron Sullivan’s debut fantasy features a demon, a monster, dark humour and a reimagining of French history. While romantasy is having a moment, another corner of the fantasy world – ‘grimdark’ – is also in good shape. Grimdark is a subgenre of fantasy...
MICHAEL BURGE Dirt Trap. Reviewed by Karen Chisholm
Twenty years have passed since the brutal death of James Brandt’s beloved cousin. Will an inquiry into gay hate-crimes offer any resolution? In 2021 journalist Michael Burge released his first novel Tank Water, a coming-of-age thriller that tackled the issue of...
JUDITH NANGALA CRISPIN The Dingo’s Noctuary. Reviewed by Ann Skea
Judith Nangala Crispin fuses poetry, prose and striking works of art in this illustrated account of her journeys across Australian deserts. But still, at night, I imagine the caravans of the Mongrels pausing under the Pleiades’ heliacal rise – on the eve of winter,...
JARED POON City of Others. Reviewed by Robert Goodman
Set in Singapore, Jared Poon’s first novel is fantasy fiction that asks whether our brains only register what we want to see around us. Over the last few years there has been a proliferation of Asian authors drawing on their own cultures to make significant inroads...
2025 Readers’ Favourites
With the new year barely begun, take a look back at our top ten reviews of 2025. It’s always fascinating to see which reviews have attracted the most interest from readers. While this 2025 list leans slightly more towards fiction than non-fiction, it does...
LYN DICKENS Salt Upon the Water. Reviewed by Ann Skea
Lyn Dickens’s award-winning debut novel of an independent woman in colonial South Australia explores prejudice, power and identity. Salt Upon the Water is an historical fiction; also, according to the blurb on the back cover, ‘an epic love story’. Both are true, but...
STUART EVERLY-WILSON The Maskeys. Reviewed by Catherine Pardey
Set in a small Australian town dominated by a family of drug dealers, Stuart Everly-Wilson’s new novel is full of memorable characters. Possibly you’ve always been intrigued by the kind of people who feature prominently in Stuart Everly-Wilson’s The Maskeys, but never...
ALIX E HARROW The Everlasting. Reviewed by Robert Goodman
Alix E Harrow’s time-travelling new novel asks questions about our most cherished national myths and what might happen if they were to change. Alix Harrow’s latest fantasy is a story about the power of stories. And while there have been plenty of these, this is a...
THOMAS SCHLESSER Mona’s Eyes. Reviewed by Ann Skea
Art historian Thomas Schlesser brings 52 artworks to life in this fable-like story of a grandfather discussing art with his granddaughter. Mona is a ten-year-old French girl living in Paris with her parents, Camille and Paul, and near to Dadé, her beloved grandfather,...
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FRANCIS SPUFFORD Nonesuch. Reviewed by Robert Goodman10 March 2026Award-winning author Francis Spufford’s new novel is a historical fantasy set [ … ]
ZEYNAB GAMIELDIEN Learned Behaviours. Reviewed by Sally Nimon5 March 2026The new novel from the award-winning author of The Scope of Permissibility [ … ]
TIM AYLIFFE Dark Desert Road. Reviewed by Viv Ronnebeck3 March 2026Tim Ayliffe’s new thriller Dark Desert Road delivers claustrophic tension [ … ]
CAMERON SULLIVAN The Red Winter. Reviewed by Robert Goodman26 February 2026Australian Cameron Sullivan’s debut fantasy features a demon, a monster, dark [ … ]