by NRB | 14 Jan 2025 | Fiction |
Mark Smith’s first novel for adults is both a psychological thriller and an exploration of a shocking moral dilemma. Mark Smith, a Victoria-based educator, is best known as the author of the critically acclaimed YA Winter Trilogy and If Not For Us, a very enjoyable YA...
by NRB | 10 Dec 2024 | Fiction |
Not just for Kylie fans: the editors of this anthology inspired by Kylie Minogue have assembled a diverse range of authors and genres. Each of the 24 writers featured in Spinning Around has taken a Kylie Minogue song – ranging across her repertoire from 1987’s ‘I...
by NRB | 14 Nov 2024 | Fiction |
The author of Love Objects and An Isolated Incident turns to historical fiction to tell the story of a young ninth-century woman whose quest for knowledge will not be denied. Rapture is a romance. Not just because it follows the love and passion of an unconventional...
by NRB | 12 Nov 2024 | Fiction |
Rodney Hall has won the Miles Franklin Award twice (Just Relations, The Grisly Wife); his new novel is a panoramic alternative history of the twentieth century. Queen Elizabeth II visited Brisbane on 9 March 1954 as part of her longest-ever Commonwealth tour. A...
by NRB | 24 Oct 2024 | Fiction, SFF |
Tim Winton’s new novel dives into a post-climate-change world where violence seems the only solution. The opening of Tim Winton’s new novel Juice cannot help but put readers in mind of Cormac McCarthy’s seminal work The Road. A man, possibly an ex-soldier, and a young...
by NRB | 22 Oct 2024 | Fiction |
Emily Tsokos Purtill’s debut novel ranges across continents to tell the stories of five generations of Greek women. Sia’s quick Greek lesson: µári – máti : eye; also a small jewellery charm, usually blue with a black dot, worn to protect the...
by NRB | 1 Oct 2024 | Fiction |
Memories are not merely recounted in Antonia Pont’s novella. How would you like to share someone else’s memories? No, not to just listen to them or read them, but to experience them, to be where they were, do what they were doing, hear what they heard (voices, birds,...
by NRB | 17 Sep 2024 | Fiction |
Comedian Steph Tisdell’s first novel tackles serious issues in this story of growing up in a First Nations family. Set in Brisbane, The Skin I’m In opens with Layla, the youngest daughter of a First Nations mother and a white father, getting ready for her last year of...
by NRB | 3 Sep 2024 | Fiction |
Stephen Downes’ debut The Hands of Pianists was shortlisted for the PM’s Literary Awards. His second ranges across art, violence, folklore and mental illness. This is a strange book. Not just because the narrator is a violent criminal writing his thoughts for his...
by NRB | 22 Aug 2024 | Fiction |
The lyrical second novel from the author of The Burial criss-crosses through time following one girl’s parallel lives. Bird is the pensive, defiant 14-year-old protagonist of Courtney Collins’ new novel. In the opening chapter, she’s living with her family in a...
by NRB | 30 Jul 2024 | Fiction |
Winner of the 2023 Dorothy Hewett Award, photographer Kirsty Iltners’ first novel explores both darkness and light. If you want to freeze something fast, you increase the shutter speed – but it makes the image darker. Tom’s memories of his first encounter with Adeline...
by NRB | 16 Jul 2024 | Fiction |
The second novel from the author of A Lonely Girl is a Dangerous Thing unpeels secrets in the life of a young Taiwanese translator. Fay’s widowed Taiwanese mother brought her to Australia when she was still a baby. Now, Fay is a well-qualified translator, teaching at...
CHER The Memoir Part 1. Reviewed by Naomi Manuell16 January 2025Cher is a genuine superstar who has had an extraordinary career across music, [ … ]
PETER GODWIN Exit Wounds. Reviewed by Ann Skea15 January 2025Peter Godwin’s memoir charts a life of exile, ranging from the horror of civil [ … ]
NRB readers’ favourite reviews of 202419 December 2024Welcome to our most popular reviews of the year. Is your favourite among them? [ … ]