Page 2 of our reviews
Jillian by Halle Butler
Halle Butler’s Jillian is a whole-body cringe, can’t-look-away experience of vicarious mortification. The second novel by Butler to be published in Australia, following The New Me which delighted Rea…
Utopia Avenue by David Mitchell
David Mitchell’s new novel, Utopia Avenue, is a love letter to the music of the 1960s on both sides of the Atlantic. In it, the process of music-making is inhabited so convincingly, it made me wonder…
I Saw Pete and Pete Saw Me by Maggie Hutchings & Evie Barrow
From the creative flair of Maggie Hutchings, who brought us Unicorn! and Your Birthday Was the Best, alongside Evie Barrow’s hand-drawn sketches that celebrate beauty in imperfection, we have a touch…
You Were Made for Me by Jenna Guillaume
You Were Made For Me is the second novel by Australian YA rom-com master Jenna Guillaume, and it does not disappoint. Our protagonist, Katie Camilleri, is sixteen years old and has never been kissed.…
Kokomo by Victoria Hannan
The anguish of living with unfulfilled desire pulses through Victoria Hannan’s debut novel, Kokomo. Its characters, each in their own way, are trying to work out how to live when they cannot get what…
Loner by Georgina Young
Loner won the Text Prize in 2019. It is the universal story of becoming an adult and all the uncertainty, drifting and questioning that entails. Some lucky young people know who they are and what the…
The Erasure Initiative by Lili Wilkinson
A girl wakes up with no knowledge of who she is or what has happened in her past. All she knows is that she is on a driverless bus speeding along a coastline with six other people on board, none of w…
The Great Godden by Meg Rosoff
A British family of six and their friends spend each summer at the beach, returning to an old home, and all their summer pursuits. It’s different this year as they are joined by two American brothers…
The Last Migration by Charlotte McConaghy
While The Last Migration is the author’s debut work of literary fiction, Charlotte McConaghy’s considerable experience writing speculative fiction is evident in the pacing and plot of this novel. McC…
Annie Lumsden, The Girl from the Sea by David Almond
This is a beautifully tender coming-of-age story of unconditional love and acceptance, difference and belonging, of finding our place in the world, our connection with all living things and ultimatel…
Browse our reviews by category
