ELIZABETH STROUT Tell Me Everything. Reviewed by Michael Jongen
Pulitzer-winner Elizabeth Strout explores themes of isolation and connection in her new novel featuring two of her most-loved characters. Elizabeth Strout, author of Oliver Kitteridge, My Name is Lucy Barton and Oh William! (among others), has an ability to capture...
GAIL PARENT Sheila Levine is Dead and Living in New York; SARAH ROSE ETTER Ripe. Reviewed by Jessica Stewart
When Gail Parent published Sheila Levine in 1972 it wasn’t called a ‘sad girl novel’; in 2024 Sarah Rose Etter’s Ripe shows the trope’s enduring popularity. Content warning: suicidal ideation Over 50 years ago, Gail Parent wrote a dark satire about a young...
SHARON EMMERICHS Shield Maiden. Reviewed by Amelia Dudley
Sharon Emmerichs gives the legend of Beowulf a makeover from the point of view of Beowulf’s niece. And yes, there is a dragon. Fryda, niece of the legendary King Beowulf, has always dreamed of becoming a warrior herself, despite her father’s refusal to allow her to...
LEIGH BARDUGO The Familiar. Reviewed by Ann Skea
The bestselling creator of the Grishaverse turns to the history of 16th-century Spain for this story of a young woman with magical powers. If the bread hadn’t burned, this would be a very different story. So it would. Luzia would not have used her magical skills, Doña...
MARY GARDEN My Father’s Suitcase. Reviewed by Michael Jongen
Mary Garden’s memoir reveals her physical and mental abuse at the hands of her sister – and an extraordinary case of plagiarism. Mary Garden has written a fascinating and brutally frank memoir of her troubled relationship with her sister and the impact it has had on...
SHUBNUM KHAN The Djinn Waits a Hundred Years. Reviewed by Ann Skea
Shubnum Khan’s magical debut set on the east coast of Africa features a djinn, a house, and a story that reaches down the generations. A djinn, according to various encyclopedias, is a creature created by Allah from smokeless flames. It has a subtle body and is...
AOIFE CLIFFORD It Takes A Town. Reviewed by Karen Chisholm
In Aoife Clifford’s third novel, the death of a local celebrity brings two old schoolmates together to answer some troubling questions. In a small town, news spreads, and in this particular small town – Welcome by name, though not always by nature – glamorous Vanessa...
MIRANDA DARLING Thunderhead. Reviewed by Ann Skea
Miranda Darling deploys all the voices in her protagonist’s head to reveal a fraught relationship in this allusive novella. Winona Dalloway, like Mrs Dalloway in Virginia Woolf’s novel of that name, often finds herself ‘lilting between observing life from the outside...
ROBINNE LEE The Idea of You. Reviewed by Jessica Stewart
It’s Flashback Friday: Jessica Stewart reviews Robinne Lee’s 2017 novel of an older woman and a younger man which is getting renewed attention thanks to a film adaptation. Is there a right way to love? In a thousand ways we are told what is acceptable, ethical,...
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,...
FERNANDA TRIAS Pink Slime. Reviewed by Ann Skea
The new novel from Uruguayan writer Fernanda Trias is set in a dystopian city and has unsettling echoes of recent events. When the fog rolled in, the port turned into a swamp. Shadows fell across the plaza, filtering between the trees and leaving the long marks of...
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