Review search
Aunty’s Wedding (Miranda Tapsell & Joshua Tyler, illus by Samantha Fry, A&U)
Released September 2020
There are few picture books about weddings for young children, who are naturally curious about this important ceremony. This story takes the charming perspective of a young child who is... Read more
The Burning Island (Jock Serong, Text)
Released September 2020
To read The Burning Island is to feel, very often, ‘all at sea’. Much of the novel takes place on the ocean, sure, but more than that, it can be... Read more
The Mother Fault (Kate Mildenhall, S&S)
Released September 2020
This gripping and thoughtful novel offers a spine-tingling vision of a future Australia—eerie in its potential realism—in which citizens’ movements are tracked and climate change has decimated the country, flooding... Read more
Vida: A woman for our time (Jacqueline Kent, Viking)
Released September 2020
It’s a sad fact that most Australians are unaware of the correct pronunciation of Vida Goldstein’s name (a long ‘i’ in both), let alone that she was the first woman... Read more
Sorrow and Bliss (Meg Mason, Fourth Estate)
Released September 2020
Martha is sick. She’s been sick since she was 17 years old, and a cocktail of pills in varying doses has never made a difference to the lows that leave... Read more
The F Team (Rawah Arja, Giramondo)
Released September 2020
Tariq is a smart kid, he just lacks the motivation to achieve his full potential. At least, that’s what he has always been told, living in Punchbowl, Western Sydney, where... Read more
Howl (Kat Patrick, illus by Evie Barrow, Scribble)
Released September 2020
Maggie is having one of those days: the sky too blue, the moon too bright, the spaghetti too long. It almost goes without saying that Maggie’s mother is also having... Read more
Sunflower (Ingrid Laguna, Text)
Released August 2020
When Jamila’s oldest friend is granted a visa to move from Iraq to Australia with her family, Jamila is over the moon. But Mina’s arrival is more complicated than Jamila... Read more
Either Side of Midnight (Benjamin Stevenson, Michael Joseph)
Released September 2020
When TV presenter Sam ‘Mr Midnight’ Midland shoots himself on live TV, documentarian Jack Quick is watching from the prison cell his last production got him sent into. Sam’s twin... Read more
The Heartsong of Wonder Quinn (Kate Gordon, UQP)
Released September 2020
Kate Gordon won the IBBY Ena Noël Award in 2016 and her YA novel Girl Running, Boy Falling was longlisted in the 2019 CBCA Awards for older readers. The Heartsong... Read more
How to Win an Election (Chris Wallace, NewSouth)
Released September 2020
Journalist and historian Chris Wallace’s How to Win an Election can be read two ways. Firstly, as an autopsy of Labor’s shock 2019 defeat, and secondly as a witty Machiavellian... Read more
Revenge: Murder in Three Parts (S L Lim, Transit Lounge)
Released September 2020
S L Lim’s riveting sophomore novel opens with a disturbing scene of sibling abuse. Yannie, a shy and book-loving teenage girl, lives in the shadow of her brother Shan, who... Read more
The Labyrinth (Amanda Lohrey, Text)
Released August 2020
Devastated when her son is convicted of negligent homicide, Erica Marsden cuts all ties to her former life and retreats to a lonely coastal hamlet near his prison. Moving into... Read more
Man in Armour (Siobhan McKenna, Fourth Estate)
Released August 2020
Man in Armour is a slice-of-life novel about Charles, a successful cog in the machine of the financial sector who has climbed his way up the corporate ladder to an... Read more
Mama Ocean (Jane Jolly, illus by Sally Heinrich, MidnightSun)
Released August 2020
From Jane Jolly and Sally Heinrich, creators of One Step at a Time and Papa Sky, comes Mama Ocean, a picture book about the sparkling ruler of the seas, with... Read more
The Erasure Initiative (Lili Wilkinson, A&U)
Released August 2020
Lili Wilkinson is a versatile, intelligent writer, and takes the psychological thriller to new heights in The Erasure Initiative. Cecily wakes up on a self-driving bus with six other people.... Read more
Found (Bruce Pascoe, illus by Charmaine Ledden-Lewis, Magabala)
Released August 2020
The first foray into picture books for Bruce Pascoe (author of the wildly successful Dark Emu) is deceptively straightforward: a frightening separation (don’t worry, there’s a happy ending) between a... Read more
Loner (Georgina Young, Text)
Released August 2020
Lona has dropped out of art school. She’s working the same job she’s had since high school, letting her only significant friendship drift along and basking in feeling detached from... Read more
Into the Suburbs: A migrant’s story (Christopher Raja, UQP)
Released August 2020
Christopher Raja’s Into the Suburbs is the author’s first foray into memoir, and documents his migration from Calcutta to Australia in the 80s. Drawn by the glamorous Australia of tourism... Read more
Across the Risen Sea (Bren MacDibble, A&U)
Released August 2020
Across the Risen Sea is the latest thoughtful yet action-packed adventure from Bren MacDibble, the award-winning author of How to Bee and The Dog Runner. The success of those two... Read more
