Our latest reviews
When the Lights Went Out by Lian Tanner & Jonathan Bentley (illus.)
In the olden days, when I was young, the power used to go out in Melbourne’s suburbs a few times a year. Occasionally annoying, but more often great fun, it was something different and exciting. Where are the candles? How…
Two Sides to Every Murder by Danielle Valentine
An abandoned summer camp called Camp Lost Lake is the setting for this spooky murder mystery. The teen camp was abandoned because 15 years prior to when this story begins there were three murders there, supposedly committed by a woman…
Maria Petranelli is Prepared for Anything (Except This) by Elisa Chenoweth
This year’s winner of the Ampersand Prize for unpublished manuscripts is a contemporary coming-of-age novel that focuses on family and discovering your own identity.
Maria is a deadpan misanthrope who has been stifled by her big, outspoken Italian-Australian family. When…
Return to Sender by Lauren Draper
I was an admirer of Lauren Draper’s first YA novel, The Museum of Broken Things, and my admiration continues with this, her second novel. At a time when a lot of YA seems to be dominated by fantasy and…
Lover Birds by Leanne Egan
Lou Byrne has always been told she’s insufferable, a little too much. She’s worn it as a badge of honour, but then Isabel Williams moves to Liverpool from London and criticises everything about Lou: her city, her accent, the fact…
How to Be a Citizen: Learning to Rely Less on Rules and More on Each Other by C.L. Skach
C.L. Skach is a respected constitutional lawyer; she’s advised governments around the world, including Iraq, on developing their constitutions – rules-based order, if you will. Her career has been based on advising governments on how laws and constitutions could enhance…
Ten Things I Wish You Knew About Your Child’s Mental Health by Dr Billy Garvey
Developmental paediatrician and Melbourne local Dr Billy Garvey may already be known to many through the podcast he co-hosts with his good friend Nick McCormack, Pop Culture Parenting. For those who are not familiar with it, Dr Billy (as…
Dispersals: On Plants, Borders and Belonging by Jessica J. Lee
Jessica J. Lee’s 2019 travel memoir Two Trees Make a Forest is a text that means a great deal to me for its beautiful exploration of Taiwan, Taiwanese-Chinese history, and living as part of the Taiwanese diaspora. Safe to say…
Patrimonies: Essays on Generational Thinking by George Kouvaros
In Patrimonies, George Kouvaros explores a question that becomes more pressing as we age: how are we to understand our parents and our obligations to them? As a second-generation Greek Australian, Kouvaros seeks answers through tender portraits of his…
Rural Hours: The Country Lives of Virginia Woolf, Sylvia Townsend Warner and Rosamond Lehmann by Harriet Baker
I have a special place in my heart for group biographies, especially of women writers and artists working in the first half of the 20th century. Wonderful then to be asked to review Rural Hours, the debut book from…
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