Book Reviews
the body country by Susie Anderson
Award-winning poet Susie Anderson’s collection of poems is a deeply evocative experience capturing marginalisation, connection and love.
Tissue by Madison Griffiths
Madison Griffith’s nonfiction debut is an ode to complexity, in a searing analysis of abortion and everything it intertwines with.
The Exclusion Zone by Shastra Deo
In this engaging, experimental collection, Deo interrogates the effect that ecological collapse has on the self, language and civilisation.
A Dangerous Land by Marisa Jones
Jones’ debut historical novel is gripping and harrowing story of love and war in New Guinea.
The Hummingbird Effect by Kate Mildenhall
The third novel from Aussie literary fave Kate Mildenhall takes us on an epic journey across time through the lives of four different women.
Alternative Hollywood Ending by Heather Taylor-Johnson
Taylor-Johnson’s sixth collection explores climate change and the environment, the domestic sphere, the political injustices of the Trump era, chronic illness and the body.
Emma of 83rd Street by Emily Harding and Audrey Bellezza
A modern retelling of Jane Austen’s Emma sees our titular heroine experiencing life, love and dating in Manhattan.
A Real Piece of Work by Erin Riley
This ‘memoir in essays’ explores how we create our identities and how we can transcend them.
I Am Homeless If This is Not My Home by Lorrie Moore
Lorrie Moore’s fourth novel is an ornate, interwoven meditation on mortality, where death is “kind of a spectrum.”
Compulsion by Kate Scott
Compulsion is a story about love, yearning and trying to come right in a world that makes it too easy to self-destruct.
Greek Lessons by Han Kang
The masterful Han Kang continues to captivate readers with her profound exploration of language, connection and loss.
Blue Hunger by Viola Di Grado
Grief, infatuation, lust and pain coalesce in this voracious novel of appetites by Italian author Viola Di Grado.
Owlish by Dorothy Tse, Trans. by Natascha Bruce
This beguiling world of magicians, dolls and sleight of hand mirror tensions in modern-day Hong Kong.
The Dominant Animal by Kathryn Scanlan
The tragicomic narratives in this short story collection border on fable-like, where much is left unsaid and readers are left to consider their own moral takeaways.
The Jaguar by Sarah Holland-Batt
Winner of the 2023 Stella Prize, this powerful and heartbreaking poetry collection explores Holland-Batt’s grief over losing her father to Parkinson’s.
Bad Art Mother by Edwina Preston
Good mothers are selfless. Artists are selfish. So what does this mean for a mother with artistic ambitions?
Acts of Desperation by Megan Nolan
A fierce, heartbreaking novel about a devastating toxic relationship and the dangers of obsessive love.
Portrait of a Thief by Grace D. Li
Inspired by real-life art heists, this intricate and compelling novel explores imperialism, diaspora and identity.
Funny Ethnics by Shirley Le
A darkly funny debut on growing up in Western Sydney, family and belonging.
Hydra by Adriane Howell
A wickedly original debut about a woman on the edge: mysterious, compelling and with lashings of dark humour.