Our latest reviews

My Friends by Hisham Matar

Reviewed by Tamuz Ellazam

From the very first page, Hisham Matar’s My Friends bursts with bittersweet nostalgia for places and friendships lost, found, and changed. This timely, mournful novel spans a day as the main character Khaled walks across London, and reflects on the…

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The Strip by Iain Ryan

Reviewed by Joe Murray

The Gold Coast. 1980. A city coated in a thick layer of grime, sweat, and sleaze with a grisly series of unsolved murders looming over its police department. It’s a case that has thoroughly defeated the corrupt and aimless Diablo…

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Come and Get It by Kiley Reid

Reviewed by Chris Gordon

Campus novels are all the rage, aren’t they? That intoxicating mix of students going wild and the power held by academic sorts. Love affairs. Friendships. Enormous questions about life choices. Kiley Reid’s second novel does explore all the above, but…

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Water by John Boyne

Reviewed by Pierre Sutcliffe

This is the first of a projected group of books to be followed by Fire, Earth and Air. The narrator is Vanessa Carvin, a woman fleeing an unknown family tragedy or scandal in Dublin. She has come to…

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Baumgartner by Paul Auster

Reviewed by Pierre Sutcliffe

The opening chapter of this book is a beautifully modulated introduction to the life of philosophy professor and 71-year-old widower Sy Baumgartner. Sy roams the rooms of his brownstone, burning his hand on a saucepan that he boiled dry, wondering…

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Finn Family Moomintroll by Tove Jansson & Elizabeth Portch (trans.)

Reviewed by Kim Gruschow

While I’d hate to imply that I was deprived, I do feel some sadness that I only learned about the Moomins after my childhood had ended, when I began working at a children’s bookshop at 20 and was introduced to…

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The Lucky Bottle by Chris Wormell

Reviewed by Katherine Dretzke

Jack Bobbin never imagined when he ran away from home – boarding a ship to have an adventure – that he would end up stranded on a desert island, but that is exactly what has happened. Except, the island isn’t…

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Tyger by S.F. Said & Dave McKean (illus.)

Reviewed by Angela Crocombe

Adam and his family live in London centuries from now in an empire where slavery and tyranny abound. They are Londoners of Middle Eastern origin, and in this violent, segregated world, looking different is dangerous. One terrifying night, Adam discovers…

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Gymnastica Fantastica! by Briony Stewart

Reviewed by Claire Atherfold

Award-winning Australian author–illustrator Briony Stewart has captured the energy and exhilaration of impromptu performances, and the discovery of new talents, in Gymnastica Fantastica! Within its pages we watch as the star performer learns to bend, twist, twirl, roll and flip…

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Ask Aunty: Seasons by Aunty Munya Andrews & Charmaine Ledden-Lewis (illus.)

Reviewed by Dani Solomon

As Aunty Munya asks, ‘Have you ever woken up excited on the first day of summer only to find it’s cold and rainy?’ That’s because the four seasons we’re taught at school aren’t relevant to Australia at all! Across the…

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