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Running with Ivan (Suzanne Leal, HarperCollins)
Released February 2023
Having previously won the Nib People's Choice Prize for her historical adult novel The Deceptions, Suzanne Leal tackles a similar era in her first book for younger readers, a time... Read more
Smashing Serendipity (Louise K Hansen, Fremantle Press)
Released February 2023
Proud Binjareb Nyoongar woman Louise K Hansen unfortunately passed away before her profound memoir, Smashing Serendipity: The story of one Moordtj Yorga, was published. But the strong stories from her... Read more
The Death of John Lacey (Ben Hobson, A&U)
Released February 2023
Ben Hobson’s third novel tells the fragmented story of the life and demise of John Lacey, a ruthless, violent settler of a Victorian gold rush town. John and his brother... Read more
Hedgehog the Wonder Dog (Dannika Patterson, illus by Ross Morgan, Ford Street)
Released February 2023
Hedgehog the Wonder Dog is a picture book with a beautiful aura around it, both visually and figuratively, telling a tender and soul-soothing story of the power of connection—in this... Read more
Maggie (Catherine Johns, Hachette)
Released February 2023
In Catherine Johns’s debut novel, a 17-year-old Catholic school girl’s life is derailed when she becomes enamoured of her priest. It’s 1967 and Maggie is a straight-A student whose education... Read more
Tumbleglass (Kate Constable, A&U Children’s)
Released February 2023
Rowan is helping her big sister Ash with painting her room when suddenly they find themselves in 1999, at a party in the very same house. While Ash wants to... Read more
This Time it’s Real (Ann Liang, Penguin)
Released February 2023
Ann Liang’s This Time it’s Real is a vibrant young adult romantic comedy with its heart in the right place. When 17-year-old Eliza Lin’s school essay about her fabricated love... Read more
Taking to the Field (Jane Carey, Monash University Publishing)
Released February 2023
The most surprising thing to be found in a book about the history of women in science—for the author, as well as the reader—is the fact that the field has... Read more
Little Plum (Laura McPhee-Browne, Text)
Released January 2023
Little Plum is the second novel by the award-winning author of Cherry Beach, Laura McPhee-Browne. The story unfolds around 29-year-old Coral, who decides to follow through with a pregnancy from... Read more
Koko and the Coconut (Turia Pitt & Celestine Vaite, illus by Emilie Tavaearii, Puffin)
Released February 2023
Koko and the Coconut is the first picture book by author and humanitarian Turia Pitt, written in collaboration with her mum Celestine Vaite. While the story is simple—a crab sheds... Read more
You Talk, We Die (Judy Ryan, Scribe)
Released February 2023
Safe injecting rooms have been a polarising issue in Victoria for decades. Years of debate, government inquiries, coroner’s reports, media conjecture and scare campaigns have plagued any productive conversation. But... Read more
Brain is (Not) Always Right (Scott Stuart, Scholastic)
Released February 2023
Scott Stuart may have come to creating books for children in an unconventional way, but the social media storm surrounding his support for his child to be everything they could... Read more
Cloud Land (Penny van Oosterzee, A&U)
Released February 2023
In the gripping and extensively researched Cloud Land, Penny van Oosterzee imagines what a small region of Queensland’s Atherton Tablelands has witnessed over both geological time and since white settlement.... Read more
The Exclusion Zone (Shastra Deo, UQP)
Released February 2023
‘You are searching for something,’ begins The Exclusion Zone. It's a provocation that forms the manifesto for the enthralling and ingenious second poetry collection from Shastra Deo following her ALS... Read more
How to Kill a Client (Joanna Jenkins, A&U)
Released February 2023
Gavin Jones is the slimiest, most unpleasant client at big law firm Howard Greene—and that’s with some stiff competition. When this misogynistic, manipulative man dies suddenly it’s not so much... Read more
The Cockatoo Wars (Helen Milroy, Magabala)
Released February 2023
The Cockatoo Wars is the latest picture book in Helen Milroy’s vibrant Tales from the Bush Mob series. Featuring a cast of Australian animals including Dingo, Willy Wagtail, Platypus and Wombat, and drawing... Read more
Timeless (Kelly Canby, Fremantle Press)
Released February 2023
A topical theme in these social media-obsessed days, Timeless tells the tale of Emit, a young boy whose parents are always too preoccupied to pay attention to him. Tired of... Read more
Who Cares? Life on welfare in Australia (Eve Vincent, MUP)
Released February 2023
What is it like to live on welfare in Australia today? In Who Cares? researcher Eve Vincent endeavours to answer this question, with a special focus on the experiences of... Read more
Compulsion (Kate Scott, Hamish Hamilton)
Released January 2023
Lucy is a music journalist with a penchant for 80s party dresses, long, languorous walks, and throwing decadent dinner parties for her friends. Robin is the dark-eyed, softly spoken man... Read more
A Man and His Pride (Luke Rutledge, Michael Joseph)
Released February 2023
In Luke Rutledge’s A Man and His Pride, 26-year-old Sean Preston navigates the realities of being in his 20s—work, relationships, sexuality, mental health—against the backdrop of Australia’s 2017 same-sex marriage... Read more
