LAURA ELVERY Nightingale. Reviewed by Ann Skea
Award-winning short story writer Laura Elvery’s first novel delivers a vivid portrait of Florence Nightingale and the horrors of war. Bodies fall apart. Things come to an end. Everyone wants to make me comfortable, I know that. How many times have I murmured...
RHETT DAVIS Arborescence. Reviewed by Robert Goodman
The new novel from the award-winning author of Hovering asks big questions about the environment, AI, and what it means to be human. Rhett Davis burst onto the Australian literary scene in 2020 with the Victorian Premier’s Unpublished Manuscript Award for his book...
JENNIFER TREVELYAN A Beautiful Family. Reviewed by Ann Skea
Jennifer Trevelyan’s debut novel is both a coming of age story and a mystery full of secrets set within a 1980s New Zealand beach holiday. All sorts of things might have happened to the girl’s body after it had drowned, Kahu said. It might have been carried out to...
JESSICA DETTMANN Your Friend and Mine. Reviewed by Sally Nimon
The new novel from the author of Without Further Ado and How to be Second Best is a story of friendship and second chances. Margot, you’re my best friend. I will take care of you. You are going to live to be a very old lady in a horrible nursing home where your...
TAN TWAN ENG The House of Doors. Reviewed by Catherine Pardey
Longlisted for the 2023 Booker Prize, Tan Twan Eng’s novel reimagines the events in Penang that inspired a famous Somerset Maugham story. Those familiar with Tan Twan Eng’s writing, and that of Somerset Maugham, will know they are in for pleasant reading when in...
BEN PEEK The Red Labyrinth. Reviewed by Lucy Sussex
Slim but richly imaginative, Ben Peek’s new novella combines dystopia and dark fantasy to hold a mirror to current times. In 1958, Patrick White decried Australian literature’s tendency to be the ‘dreary dun-coloured offspring of journalistic...
SUZANNE DO The Golden Sister. Reviewed by Linda Godfrey
Set on the Australian coast, Suzanne Do’s first novel is both a murder mystery and a story of grief, family and connection. Lili Berry is in her twenties, and her world is a mess of anxiety, dysfunction and pain. Compounding all her day-to-day problems in the...
PATRICK LENTON In Spite of You. Reviewed by Michael Jongen
Patrick Lenton is known for his sharply observed non-fiction; now his first novel delivers a fresh and funny romcom. I have been following Patrick Lenton on social media for many years and I enjoy Nonsense, his Substack featuring queer news and culture. As a...
SILVIA MORENO-GARCIA The Bewitching. Reviewed by Robert Goodman
Silvia Moreno-Garcia mixes Mexican mythology with the history of US witchcraft in this new novel, once again reinventing genre tropes. Silvia Moreno-Garcia is one of the most varied – and consistently interesting – authors in modern fantasy and horror. She is...
HILDE HINTON The Opposite of Lonely. Reviewed by Amelia Dudley
The new novel from the author of The Loudness of Unsaid Things has a lot to say about friendship and the border between eccentricity and red flags. Rose has been struggling for a long time. It’s been hard for her to navigate becoming a single mum and more...
JENNIFER MILLS Salvage. Reviewed by Robert Goodman
The new novel from the author of Dyschronia and The Airways is climate fiction focussed on human adaptability. There is plenty going on in Australia at the moment that reflects the impacts of climate change. Massive bushfires, years-long droughts, tropical cyclones...
Recent Posts
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 [ … ]