Australian fiction
We See the Stars by Kate van Hooft
Simon is an 11-year-old boy living in a world of silence, lists and numbers. Rarely known to speak to his family or classmates, Simon uses his imagination to make sense of everything occurring around him. In her debut novel We…
The Fireflies of Autumn by Moreno Giovannoni
In this debut work of fiction, Moreno Giovannoni brings together many tales from the small town of San Ginese in Tuscany, Italy. While the stories of The Fireflies of Autumn are fictional, San Ginese is a real village, and Giovannoni’s…
Under Your Wings by Tiffany Tsao
I am still reeling from this book at the time of reviewing it and I think it is also partly responsible for the strange dreams I have been having over the past few days. Tiffany Tsao’s novel of sisters Gwendolyn…
Prize Fighter by Future D. Fidel
Future D. Fidel is a refugee from the Congo. Prize Fighter is based on the acclaimed stage play written by Fidel and it too follows the life of Isa Alaki from the war-torn Congo to life in Australia. The power…
The Geography of Friendship by Sally Piper
Female friendships can be messy, can’t they? Especially when the friendship starts when we are young and moves through our maturing years regardless of any defining experience of relationships, wealth, or education. The Geography of Friendship investigates that romantic notion…
Ironbark by Jay Carmichael
While it feels like a cliché to call a novel – especially one by a first-time author – ‘assured’, it is the phrase I kept returning to while reading this debut offering from young Victorian writer Jay Carmichael. His clean…
Reading the Landscape: A Celebration of Australian Writing
The University of Queensland Press was established in 1948 (coincidentally, the year I was born). In the mid-sixties, under the stewardship of American expat Frank Thompson, it started to publish Australian poetry and fiction. Thompson’s example was aggressively followed by…
Bluebottle by Belinda Castles
Set on Sydney’s Barrenjoey peninsula, the sea is a constant presence throughout Belinda Castles’ Bluebottle. From the cliff-top shack where architect Charlie Bright and his photogenic family spend Christmas 1994, it is always visible or in earshot, with a…
A Sand Archive by Gregory Day
Award-winning author Gregory Day’s latest novel opens in Geelong with our narrator, a nameless writer, coming across a ‘slim grey-brown volume, cheaply printed but essential to [his] research: The Great Ocean Road: Dune Stabilisation and Other Engineering Difficulties by F.B.…
Book of Colours by Robyn Cadwallader
In fourteenth-century England, a book is a rare and treasured item, often a symbol of wealth and status. Book of Colours by The Anchoress author Robyn Cadwallader revolves around one such book: an illuminated manuscript of prayers. In a time…
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