MELISSA LUCASHENKO Edenglassie. Reviewed by Michael Jongen
The new novel from the award-winning author of Too Much Lip entwines Brisbane’s past and present to reveal the impact of colonisation. As I was reading it, Edenglassie received the Victorian Premier’s Literary Award for Fiction. It is an ambitious novel and as I read...
AYESHA INOON Untethered. Reviewed by Ann Skea
Winner of the the ASA/HQ Fiction Prize, Ayesha Inoon’s debut novel explores the experience of moving from Sri Lanka to Australia. It was the silence that she noticed first. As they drove, Canberra unfolded in a series of stunning panoramas … The streets were empty,...
BENJAMIN STEVENSON Everyone On This Train Is A Suspect. Reviewed by Michael Jongen
Benjamin Stevenson’s sharp eye and love of the crime genre are on display in this follow-up to Everyone in My Family Has Killed Someone. After the success of his last novel Everyone in My Family Has Killed Someone, Benjamin Stevenson has returned with a sequel of...
JENNIFER MACKENZIE DUNBAR Missing Pieces. Reviewed by Ann Skea
Jennifer Mackenzie Dunbar’s new novel is inspired by the real-life discovery of a hoard of priceless chess pieces on a remote Scottish island. Directly in front of her, the queen held her hand against her cheek, as if aghast. ‘What have you seen?’ Marianne whispered,...
CHRISTOS TSIOLKAS The In-Between. Reviewed by Jessica Stewart
The new novel from the award-winning author of The Slap and Damascus is a story of starting over. The In-Between is a story of two men, older and scarred by life, who know that they still have much to offer. They are looking to share the second half of their lives...
TRENT DALTON Lola in the Mirror. Reviewed by Michael Jongen
Homelessness, a mother and daughter on the lam – Trent Dalton’s third novel sprinkles magic dust on Brisbane’s grim underbelly. I was bothered by Lola in the Mirror. I enjoyed Trent Dalton’s earlier novels Boy Swallows Universe and All Our Shimmering Skies, and Lola...
MICHAEL FITZGERALD Late. Reviewed by Ann Skea
Evoking Sydney in the 1980s, Michael Fitzgerald’s third novel plays with ideas of identity, celebrity, and mortality. I’m not always Zelda, and Zelda is not always me. The voice is not Zelda’s and yet it is, and this is a very strange book, which is not at all what...
VIDYA MADABUSHI The Days Toppled Over. Reviewed by Sanchana Venkatesh
Exploitative work and striving for a visa: Vidya Madabushi’s novel highlights the plight of international students in Australia. Thirty-six-year-old Malli lives in a home for the elderly in Bangalore. Young and fit, unlike the other residents, her only ailment is her...
JESSICA DETTMANN Without Further Ado. Reviewed by Sally Nimon
Jessica Dettmann’s third novel reinvents a classic tale of romantic complications to enjoyable effect. Jessica Dettmann’s Without Further Ado is based an old story – about 400 years old. It was 1600 or thereabouts when Shakespeare is thought to have written Much Ado...
NADINE J COHEN Everyone and Everything. Reviewed by Jessica Stewart
Encompassing grief, trauma and recovery, Nadine J Cohen’s debut novel is also very funny, navigating its dark themes with wit and compassion. ‘Immersed in water as the sun announces its arrival, I feel weightless. I feel free. It’s how I imagine other people feel all...
BRIOHNY DOYLE Why We Are Here. Reviewed by Sally Nimon
Briohny Doyle’s third novel explores the impact of multiple losses in a single life, exacerbated by the effects of the pandemic. ‘What should survive and how? And how do you know when survival has transpired?’ This is the central question posed in Why We Are Here, the...
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