Page 5 of our reviews
Girl, Unframed by Deb Caletti
American YA author Deb Caletti writes powerful stories about young women in challenging circumstances and Girl, Unframed is no exception. Sydney Reilly must leave her friends in Seattle to live with …
Things Are Against Us by Lucy Ellmann
Lucy Ellmann’s most recent novel, Ducks, Newburyport, was nominated for the Booker Prize in 2019. It is over 1000 pages long, has no paragraph breaks and almost no full stops. It is also a compelling…
News Hounds: The Puppy Problem by Laura James
News Hounds: The Puppy Problem is a gorgeous chapter book and heralds the beginning of a charming new series. Its hilarious doggy shenanigans, coupled with colourful, cheeky illustrations are guarant…
The Mother Wound by Amani Haydar
Amani Haydar is a remarkable woman. A lawyer by training, she is also an acclaimed artist who has been a finalist for the Archibald Prize, and with the publication of her memoir, The Mother Wound, sh…
The 22 Murders of Madison May by Max Barry
I like to review Australian crime books, partly because it’s always good to boost local writing – it’s something that Readings has championed since the beginning – but also because it feels like auth…
The Five Wounds by Kirstin Valdez Quade
Thirty-three-year-old Amadeo Padilla is unemployed, alcoholic and still living with his mother, Yolanda. One day, while Yolanda is away holidaying in Las Vegas, Amadeo comes home to find his pregnant…
She is Haunted by Paige Clark
If you’ve felt stuck in a reading slump of late, stop what you’re doing and pick up a copy of She Is Haunted. The hype for this debut short-story collection from Chinese/American/Australian fiction w…
The Newcomer by Laura Elizabeth Woollett
When Judy Novak’s daughter, Paulina, doesn’t show up for lunch, it doesn’t mean anything but further frustration for Judy, who is used to her daughter’s failings. Later, after Judy has called and cal…
After Story by Larissa Behrendt
Burnt out after a disturbing homicide case, lawyer Jasmine takes a leap of faith and invites her mother Della to join her on a literary tour of England. Della has never travelled far beyond Frog Holl…
Trigger Warning by Maria Takolander
Maria Takolander is an established Australian poet, and Trigger Warning is her fourth collection. At times a deeply personal selection of poems, it left me in awe of a poet’s ability to trust and to …
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