MARTINE KROPKOWSKI Everywhere We Look. Reviewed by Karen Chisholm
Martine Kropkowski’s debut crime fiction delves into the devastating consequences of the epidemic of violence against women. Melissa, Bridie and Cassandra are friends, bonded over the sorts of things that connect young mothers – pressure, expectation, exhaustion and...
RONNI SALT Gunnawah. Reviewed by Karen Chisholm
Ronni Salt’s debut is historical crime fiction at its best, with a strong sense of place and time and wonderful characters at its core. Ronni Salt will be well-known to denizens of what was Twitter, now X, and followers of independent media. A pseudonym that has...
JUNE WRIGHT Mother Paul series. Reviewed by Karen Chisholm
June Wright has faded from view, but in 1948 her novel Murder in the Telephone Exchange outstripped sales of Agatha Christie in Australia. Between 1948 and 1966, Australian author June Wright published six mystery books, raised six children, and maintained a marriage...
ANNA DOWNES Red River Road and LISA KENWAY All You Took From Me. Reviewed by Justine Ettler
These two new crime thrillers from Australian writers Anna Downes and Lisa Kenway bring fresh takes to the genre. Writers groups are an increasingly popular way for new and established novelists to workshop and complete their manuscripts. It’s always been difficult...
ANTONIA PONT The Memory Library. Reviewed by Ann Skea
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,...
STEPH TISDELL The Skin I’m In. Reviewed by Linda Godfrey
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...
CLAIRE SUTHERLAND The Crag. Reviewed by Karen Chisholm
In Claire Sutherland’s debut crime novel, a body is found on an isolated track on the Wimmera Plains, where Mount Arapiles towers over all. Anybody who has ever spent any time in the Wimmera around Gariwerd (the Grampians) in Victoria will know how striking the...
COURTNEY COLLINS Bird. Reviewed by Emma Foster
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...
ARIANE BEESTON Because I’m Not Myself, You See. Reviewed by Mary Garden
Ariane Beeston’s memoir chronicles her experience of postpartum psychosis, a devastating but little-understood condition. Because I’m Not Myself, You See casts a spotlight on an issue I knew nothing about. Postpartum psychosis is the most severe form of postpartum...
KIRSTY ILTNERS Depth of Field. Reviewed by Ann Skea
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...
JESSIE TU The Honeyeater. Reviewed by Ann Skea
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...
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