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Mother Tongue (Naima Brown, Macmillan)
Released April 2025
Naima Brown’s cleverly titled second novel Mother Tongue is a gripping, exquisitely layered story that deals with extremes and challenges conventional morality. The protagonist, Brynn, upends the assumption that mothers... Read more
The Confidence Woman (Sophie Quick, A&U)
Released April 2025
Christina Swales is a single mum, a business coach – and a blackmailer. Using incriminating information gleaned from her one-on-one online coaching sessions, Christina blackmails her clients to save enough... Read more
The Great Chocolate Caper (Heist #1) (Joel McKerrow, Penguin)
Released April 2025
The Great Chocolate Caper is the first in the middle-grade Heist series by performance poet Joel McKerrow. Andy McGee is struggling to fit in and make friends in his first... Read more
How to Sail to Somewhere (Ashleigh Barton, Lothian)
Released April 2025
In a coastal holiday town where ‘the land kisses the sea and the children grow up with salt in their hair’, Bea, a lonely only child who has never set... Read more
Quarks, Sparks and Quantum Mysteries: A Cosmic Guide to the Building Blocks of our Universe (Lisa Harvey-Smith, illus Aidan Ryan, T&H)
Released April 2025
Astrophysicist professor Lisa Harvey-Smith has created another brilliant book as part of her mission to open up science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) to children at a time when they... Read more
She Shapes History (Sita Sargeant, Hardie Grant Explore)
Released April 2025
At the heart of Australia’s geography and history lies a wealth of stories about women who have helped shape the nation – yet many remain untold and underexplored. Sita Sargeant’s... Read more
All About Love (Amy Dunjey, illus Giorgia Clerico, Five Mile)
Released April 2025
Amy Dunjey’s latest picture book All About Love is a playful, rhyming exploration of how love is expressed through actions. The story encourages young readers aged 3–8 to recognise love... Read more
Nature’s Fool (Timothy Doyle, Melbourne Books)
Released April 2025
Challenging traditional conceptions of early Australian settler history, Nature’s Fool examines the intricate relations between the Kaurna peoples and early Irish settlers. A longtime academic and conservationist, Timothy Doyle (Dyandi)... Read more
The Passenger Seat (Vijay Khurana, Ultimo)
Released April 2025
Beginning mid-jump and barely letting up the tension, Vijay Khurana’s debut novel, The Passenger Seat, is an unusual and deftly written literary thriller. It follows the uneasy friendship between two... Read more
The Distance Between Dreams (Emily Paull, Fremantle)
Released April 2025
Emily Paull’s The Distance Between Dreams is a poignant and meticulously crafted historical romance, rightfully shortlisted for the 2023 Fogarty Literary Awards. The novel beautifully captures an era of conflict... Read more
When She Was Gone (Sara Foster, HarperCollins)
Released April 2025
Sara Foster’s When She Was Gone stands out in a crowded thriller market for its unique blend of suspense, character depth and emotional resonance. Set in the fictional town of... Read more
The Thylacine and the Time Machine (Renée Treml, A&U Children’s)
Released April 2025
In The Thylacine and the Time Machine, 12-year-old Violet is completing a project on the de-extinction of the Tasmanian Tiger. Working late into the night, Violet falls asleep at her... Read more
Lyrebird (Jane Caro, A&U)
Released April 2025
Walkley Award-winning journalist, social commentator and author Jane Caro (The Mother) returns to crime fiction for her second adult novel, The Lyrebird. The titular bird first appears in the prologue,... Read more
Tim Tie-Your-Shoelaces (Something Terrible #1) (Sally Barton, illus Christopher Nielsen, Walker)
Released April 2025
‘Tim, tie your shoelaces – or something TERRIBLE will happen!’ Tim Mulligan hears this all the time – from his mum and dad, the neighbours, the crossing guard and even... Read more
The Paperbark Tree Committee (Karys McEwen, Text)
Released April 2025
The Paperbark Tree Committee, Karys McEwen’s second middle grade novel following All the Little Tricky Things, is a tender, compassionate story about navigating transitions and finding support in unexpected places.... Read more
Miss Caroline Bingley, Private Detective (Kelly Gardiner & Sharmini Kumar, HarperCollins)
Released April 2025
Miss Caroline Bingley, the spurned love interest of Pride and Prejudice’s Mr Darcy, turns her prodigious mind to the problem of a missing maid, uncovering a murder and a dastardly... Read more
Barren Cape (Michelle Prak, S&S)
Released April 2025
Take one remote, abandoned site, a pack of unhinged teenagers, some drug-fuelled young adults, and an escaped convict – what could possibly go wrong? Welcome to Barren Cape, the latest... Read more
Consider Yourself Kissed (Jessica Stanley, Text)
Released April 2025
Consider Yourself Kissed is a romance set in London against the backdrop of the UK’s escalating political crises of the 21st century: Tory leadership struggles and re-election and Brexit, culminating... Read more
Skin (Deborah Kelly, Rhiza Press)
Released April 2025
Skin is a powerful reminder of how heavily appearances and beauty standards influence us during our teenage years and beyond. Multi-award-winning author Deborah Kelly (The Mosaic) delivers an easy-to-read yet emotionally... Read more
Nation, Memory, Myth: Gallipoli and the Australian Imaginary (Steve Vizard, MUP)
Released April 2025
In Nation, Memory, Myth: Gallipoli and the Australian Imagery, Steve Vizard delves into the creation of the Gallipoli myth, exploring the nature of myth itself, its role in nation building... Read more
