Australian Fiction reviews
Underground: Marsupial Outlaws and Other Rebels of Australia’s War in Vietnam by Mirranda Burton
It’s the 1960s, and the Australian government has begun conscripting young men to fight in Vietnam. Melbourne housewife Jean McLean and her friends, the Pughs, are determined to protest the draft, an…
Apples Never Fall by Liane Moriarty
I was relatively late to the party with Liane Moriarty. I’m embarrassed to admit that I was basically bullied into reading her by a workmate who correctly interpreted my rolling eyes as literary snob…
In Moonland by Miles Allinson
In Moonland is a triangle. Beginning in present-day Melbourne, the deterioration of Joe’s young family catalyses an investigation into his own father’s suicide, leading him through the counterculture…
The Golden Book by Kate Ryan
The title of Kate Ryan’s fiction debut The Golden Book doesn’t refer to the ‘Little Golden Books’ many of us read in early childhood. Instead, it is a handwritten journal in which friends Ali and Jes…
Once There Were Wolves by Charlotte McConaghy
A timely meditation on humanity’s place in the natural world and a swan dive into the dark ripples of domestic violence, Charlotte McConaghy’s latest novel is both a deep breath of fresh forest air a…
Small Joys of Real Life by Allee Richards
When you read Allee Richards’ first novel, it’s tempting to make comparisons with Margaret Drabble’s groundbreaking The Millstone and Helen Garner’s Monkey Grip. In The Millstone, a brief relationshi…
The Airways by Jennifer Mills
Jennifer Mills is well known for experimenting with various writing styles, challenging the perceived boundaries and constructs of the novel. In a 2018 review for the Australian Book Review, James Br…
She Who Became the Sun by Shelley Parker-Chan
She Who Became the Sun is the debut novel from Asian Australian writer Shelley Parker-Chan. An extraordinary hybrid between historical fiction and epic fantasy, this accomplished book is set in China…
Dark as Last Night by Tony Birch
In Dark as Last Night, Tony Birch celebrates stubborn women and gentle men. Like the poem by Anne-Marie Te Whiu that lends the collection its title, these stories speak to violence and vulnerability,…
When Things Are Alive They Hum by Hannah Bent
Friends, I have a treat for you. It is a double debut novel: Ultimo Press, the new publishing house in town, has released its first fiction novel by debut author Hannah Bent titled When Things Are Al…
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