Our latest reviews
The Glad Shout by Alice Robinson
The Glad Shout is set in a frightening future Melbourne where storms and floods have ravaged the city; families have been separated, and food and water supplies are limited. I have to admit that spec…
The Raven Tower by Ann Leckie
For the people of Iraden, faith in the gods is a highly transactional and complex affair. Any prodigy of nature – be it a meteorite or a recurring swarm of insects – can take on awareness and power i…
Exploded View by Carrie Tiffany
Carrie Tiffany writes compact but expansive novels. Among other prizes, Everyman’s Rules for Scientific Living was shortlisted for the Guardian First Book Award, while Mateship with Birds won the ina…
Unlike the Heart: A Memoir of Brain and Mind by Nicola Redhouse
In this extraordinary memoir, the reader is taken into the confidence of Nicola Redhouse: writer, editor, reader and, above all, someone who constantly seeks to better understand the human condition …
Islands by Peggy Frew
After the success of her 2015 Stella Prize and Miles Franklin Award shortlisted and Barbara Jefferis Award-winning work, Hope Farm, Peggy Frew returns with her third novel, Islands. Frew succeeds in …
Lost Children Archive by Valeria Luiselli
In Valeria Luiselli’s Lost Children Archive, the archive is a noun, a repository for information collected by the first narrator on her road trip, trying to find the children lost as they tried to cr…
The Rip by Mark Brandi
If The Rip has any antecedents it’s probably novels like Helen Garner’s Monkey Grip and the late Andrew McGahan’s Praise; its gritty look at the underbelly of our society is raw and unflinching and a…
Hare’s Fur by Trevor Shearston
In many ways, the opening scene is emblematic of the major concerns in Trevor Shearston’s new novel, Hare’s Fur. It opens in the early morning with its protagonist Russell Bass drinking a coffee, sta…
Bangkok Wakes to Rain by Pitchaya Sudbanthad
Life in Pitchaya Sudbanthad’s Bangkok is neither fair nor unfair: ‘it is only so,’ goes the mantra, reminding us that these events, the passing of old to new, the rise and fall of life and a nation, …
The Hollow Bones by Leah Kaminsky
Based on a true story, Leah Kaminsky’s The Hollow Bones describes one of the most inexplicable and intriguing occurrences of the Nazi regime. For me, this heartbreaking story was reminiscent of tales…
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