AMITY GAIGE Schroder. Reviewed by Rose Powell
A cleverly constructed identity disintegrates in the face of the bond between father and daughter. Schroder is the quiet and brave third novel by Amity Gaige. It explores the long shadows of lies, the short work lies can make of everything you hold dear, and the...KATE ATKINSON Life After Life. Reviewed by Jean Bedford
A fascinating evocation of multiple lifetimes from this innovative and accomplished novelist. Kate Atkinson is known for her playfulness and writerly experimentation. In previous novels she has played with point of view (‘head-hopping’) with such confident...DAWN BARKER Fractured. Reviewed by Kylie Mason
Dawn Barker’s novel is an insightful and devastating story of mental illness. Anna and Tony Patton seem to have it all: great careers, a loving marriage and their beautiful new baby son, Jack. But six weeks after Jack’s birth, he and Anna go missing and Tony is...KATE FORSYTH The Wild Girl. Reviewed by Folly Gleeson
Kate Forsyth’s new novel takes us beneath and beyond the fairytales of the Brothers Grimm. This novel offers the reader an enormous surprise. What seems a simple but richly told story of enduring love arising in childhood opens into an imaginative and wrenching...Crime Scene: MATTHEW CONDON The Toe Tag Quintet and Three Crooked Kings. Reviewed by Annette Hughes
History, mystery, truth and fiction; these two books expose the underbelly of south-east Queensland. In complete control of the genre, Matt Condon adds his own secret herbs and spices to his collection of murder mysteries: an uncanny knack for writing great...MELISSA LUCASHENKO Mullumbimby. Reviewed by James Tierney
This sure, funny novel of an Indigenous woman and her land is alive with the tensions of new ways of belonging. Meaning is a messy act. Its fusing of memory, testimony and narrative is a selective one that shapes cadence and line out of life’s awkward arrhythmia....JESSE BLACKADDER Chasing the Light. Reviewed by Kylie Mason
Three women battle the elements, men and each other in the quest to be the first to set foot on Antarctica. Ingrid Christensen has lived the last twenty years waiting for her husband, Lars, to make good on his promise to take her to Antarctica. In that time, Ingrid...Crime Scene: ROBERT GOTT The Holiday Murders. Reviewed by Karen Chisholm
This novel of murder and military intelligence in wartime Melbourne is inspired by history. While The Holiday Murders isn’t, sadly, a new William Powell book, Robert Gott has delivered another masterful crime novel steeped in Australia’s past. It’s...Crime Scene: ANTTI TUOMAINEN The Healer. Reviewed by Jean Bedford
This dystopian Finnish crime novel is well above the ordinary. The Healer is set in Finland in the near future of drastic climate change. Floods, earthquakes and disease have ravaged most of the world, causing widespread cultural upheaval, the disintegration of...Crime Scene: KATHERINE HOWELL Web of Deceit. Reviewed by Karen Chisholm
The lives of paramedics entwine with a police investigation to remind us just how good Australian crime writing can be. Web of Deceit, the sixth book by ex-paramedic Katherine Howell featuring Detective Ella Marconi, continues to build a solid, clever...C JOSEPH GREAVES Hard Twisted. Reviewed by Peter Corris
Greaves channels Cormac McCarthy in this compelling Depression-era novel of a couple on the run. If, like me, you’ve been waiting impatiently for Cormac McCarthy’s novel The Passenger, which is said to be ‘forthcoming’, Hard Twisted will do until it gets here. The...
Recent Posts
DAVID PRICE The Shameful Isles. Reviewed by Braham Dabscheck6 November 2025David Price’s history of Western Australia’s lock hospitals and the [ … ]
BRIAN STODDART Playing the Game: How cricket made Barbados. Reviewed by Bernard Whimpress4 November 2025Brian Stoddart’s multi-faceted account of a small island’s cricket history is a [ … ]
ANDREW PIPPOS The Transformations. Reviewed by Linda Godfrey30 October 2025The second novel from Andrew Pippos draws inspiration from the epics of ancient [ … ]
JOHN BANVILLE Venetian Vespers. Reviewed by Naomi Manuell28 October 2025Set in Venice in 1899, John Banville’s new novel blends crime and the gothic as [ … ]