LIANE MORIARTY Apples Never Fall. Reviewed by Sally Nimon
The new novel from the author of Big Little Lies and Nine Perfect Strangers delivers a family mystery told from multiple perspectives. Apples Never Fall, the latest novel from New York Times bestselling author Liane Moriarty, opens with a mystery. We witness a...
CHARLOTTE McCONAGHY Once There Were Wolves. Reviewed by Ann Skea.
Charlotte McConaghy follows up her international bestseller The Last Migration with a story of wolves and the Scottish Highlands. When I was eight, Dad cut me open from throat to stomach. Such a dramatic first line promises a dramatic story and Once There Were Wolves...
AMANDA LOHREY The Labyrinth: A pastoral. Reviewed by Linda Godfrey
Amanda Lohrey’s Miles Franklin-winnning novel explores notions of impermanence and healing in a small coastal town. This book’s epigraph is ‘The cure for many ills, noted Jung, is to build something.’ In Part One of this novel, the main character, Erica Marsden,...
NICOLA WEST Catch Us the Foxes. Reviewed by Linda Funnell
Nicola West weaves a conspiracy within a conspiracy in her debut crime novel. Nicola West opens Catch Us the Foxes with the protagonist, 29-year-old Marlowe ‘Lo’ Robertson, being introduced to an enthusiastic crowd at the Sydney Opera House: ‘She’s a bestselling...
CLARE MOLETA Unsheltered. Reviewed by Linda Godfrey
Clare Moleta’s novel canvases big questions as a mother searches for her child in a hostile landscape. The opening scene of Clare Moleta’s debut novel describes two farmers standing in the rain. Their daughter runs towards them – she’s scared; she’s five years...
BRIOHNY DOYLE Echolalia. Reviewed by Amy Walters
The new novel from Briohny Doyle, author of The Island Will Sink and Adult Fantasy, explores motherhood and capitalism. In 2015, 35- year-old mother of seven Akon Guode drove her car into a lake in Melbourne’s outer west, resulting in the deaths of three of her...
CLAIRE THOMAS The Performance. Reviewed by Michelle McLaren
Set during a bushfire, Claire Thomas’s second novel juxtaposes the performance of a play with the inner lives of its audience. We turn to art for strange reasons. We see it as a ticket to help us escape from reality and somehow also as a way to make us more...
EMILY MAGUIRE Love Objects. Reviewed by Linda Godfrey
The sixth novel from the author of An Isolated Incident and Fishing for Tigers explores hoarding, shame and class. Narrated from the points of view of three people from the same extended family, Love Objects is a study of hoarding, violations of private spaces,...
MARIA LEWIS The Rose Daughter. Reviewed by Amelia Dudley
Aurealis award-winner Maria Lewis has created an imaginative world that is both compelling and addictive. ‘All the best characters have scars…not just the villains.’ Set in a fantasy universe shared with her other novels, but still satisfying as a standalone read, The...
ELLA BAXTER New Animal. Reviewed by Linda Godfrey
Grief and its consequences are at the heart of Ella Baxter’s New Animal. Ella Baxter’s debut novel is about a young woman attempting to make sense of her world and her body after she has experienced two serious bouts of grief. This needs to be said upfront...
CASSANDRA AUSTIN Like Mother. Reviewed by Jessica Stewart
Cassandra Austin’s second novel is a page-turner that weaves together themes of motherhood and family secrets. On an ordinary summer’s day in 1969, in a small Australian town, a new mother finds her baby missing from her cot. In this gothic novel, Cassandra...
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