CHRIS FLYNN Orpheus Nine. Reviewed by Robert Goodman
The dystopian new novel from the author of Mammoth imagines a shocking, and ongoing, tragedy to explore grief, community, and anger. Chris Flynn opens his new novel Orpheus Nine with a staggering, horrifying scene. At a children’s soccer game in Gattan, a small...
MELANIE CHENG The Burrow. Reviewed by Sanchana Venkatesh
The arrival of a pet rabbit proves confronting as well as comforting for the fractured family in Melanie Cheng’s second novel. Amy, Jin, and their ten-year-old daughter Lucie live in an inner-city suburb of Melbourne. Set towards the end of the pandemic lockdowns,...
NOVA WEETMAN Love, Death and Other Scenes. Reviewed by Michael Jongen
Nova Weetman’s memoir about the loss of her husband and its impact on her family is both intimate and surprisingly uplifting. Nova Weetman has written a beautiful book about death and being left behind. I was moved by the story of the passing of her partner,...
LIAM MURPHY The Roadmap of Loss. Reviewed by Paul Anderson
Liam Murphy’s debut novel is both a road trip across the US and a journey into the past. It’s tempting to invoke the first stanza of Philip Larkin’s famous poem ‘This Be The Verse’ here. That’s because The Roadmap of Loss is about unresolved childhood psychological...
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...
ISOBEL BEECH Sunbathing. Reviewed by Robyne Young
Isobel Beech’s debut novel explores the grief left behind by a father’s suicide. From the opening scene when the unnamed daughter in Sunbathing crawls into the attic to retrieve her father’s dying cat, Donna, Isobel Beech creates an intimacy with the reader, bringing...
CAROL MAJOR The Asparagus Wars. Reviewed by Linda Godfrey
Stretching from France to the Blue Mountains of New South Wales, Carol Major’s memoir is a meditation on family, grief and love. This memoir by Carol Major comprises three strands woven into one heartbreaking narrative of a woman and her daughter. Written as a...
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...
CHLOE HIGGINS The Girls. Reviewed by Ashley Kalagian Blunt
How do we talk about grief? Chloe Higgins’s memoir reveals her response to the loss of her sisters, and the impact of that loss on her parents. On 31 July 2005, Chloe Higgins’s father, Maurice, was driving home from a weekend ski trip with his two youngest...
Recent Posts
JILL JOHNSON Bella Donna. Reviewed by Karen Chisholm4 June 2026In Jill Johnson’s new novel, Professor Eustacia Rose is done with murder [ … ]
RAY NAYLER Palaces of the Crow. Reviewed by Robert Goodman2 June 2026Ray Nayler shows his versatility in his latest novel, a historical fantasy [ … ]
KATIE KITAMURA Audition. Reviewed by Jessica Stewart28 May 2026The new novel from the author of Intimacies offers different versions of the [ … ]
TOM BARAGWANATH Lucky Thing. Reviewed by Karen Chisholm26 May 2026In Tom Baragwanath’s latest crime novel, Lorraine Henry knows only too well how [ … ]