The resonance of literature and its interconnectedness with geography, the lives or artists and one's own individual journey intermingle in 'On Not Climbing Mountains' by Claire Thomas.Bridie Blake has written about the chaos and joy of big-family life – the overlapping conversations, the competitiveness, the laughter especially in suppressed desire and mouthwatering cakes in ‘The Boyfriend Clause’.
'The Mother of All Calamities' is Lisa Moule's debut novel about the travails of parenting in the modern age. She has reminded us about the joys and hazards of parenting by bringing alive the problems and delights of a year in Grade 3,. Things go right and very wrong.
‘Murder in the Suburbs’ are true crime cases committed by neighbours or even family with often the psychological reason of why they did it, researched and written by Emily Webb. A murder in the East Melbourne library seriously upsets the baby rhyme time session in Penny Tangey's murder mystery novel, 'What Rhymes With Murder'.
A drying lake leads to a discovery of a corpse on a cracked shoreline in Michael Brissenden's, ‘Dust’. What follows is a tale of intrigue and deception in a morally deprived and environmentally compromised landscape.Fiona Lowe talks about her new book ‘The Drowning’ and also about Sisters in Crime and what that organisation does for readers and writers.
An Australian photographer in New York meets a wealthy businessman from LA who has a controlling family and insistent fiancé. Will the necessities of life drive them apart? ‘Capturing Love’ is the first in a romantic series by Ann Penny.Dr Niraj Lal guides us through the dangers and benefits of the internet in 'Behind the Screens' where terminology is explained and the dangers and benefits of living in the digital age are made apparent.
A scout on another planet makes money from plundering the ruins of an alien civilisation but finds himself questioning every choice he has made in John Morrissey’s ‘Bird Deity’.The Furphy Literary Award has just released its sixth compilation. The current anthology has a story each from Damian O'Donnell and Emma Westwood which speak to the range and versatility within the collection.
Murray Middleton toys with narrative conventions in his short story anthology, 'U Want It Darker'. These tales of 'artists in despair' speak to the emotional challenges faced by those contributing to art, music, acting and the culture in general.
Siang Lu's novel, Ghost Cities, won the Miles Franklin Literary Award in 2025. We thought it timely, as we begin our 2026 season, to revisit his interview on Published or Not when the book first came out. The imaginative and allegorical references, the literary influences, and the diverse timelines make this an enthralling and entertaining read.
‘The Hiding Place’ is a literary thriller written by Kate Mildenhall.‘What Have They Done to Liza McLean?’ sister Meg needs to get into the school data base which requires help from the very handsome and wealthy Benedict Hargreaves the fourth. Horticulture, herbology, chemistry and psychology are all in play as well as murder in this YA book by Amy Doak.
‘The Hiding Place’ is a literary thriller written by Kate Mildenhall.‘What Have They Done to Liza McLean?’ sister Meg needs to get into the school data base which requires help from the very handsome and wealthy Benedict Hargreaves the fourth. Horticulture, herbology, chemistry and psychology are all in play as well as murder in this YA book by Amy Doak.
A remarkable novel about lust, not just for a person but for music and the consequence of choice in Indyana Schneider’s ‘Since The World is Ending’.Sam Guthrie takes us into the world of espionage and deceit where diplomats are emotionally blackmailed to betray their country in, ‘The Peak’.
Zana Fraillon’s verse novel ‘Song of a Thousand Seas’ has an octopus who knows her world looking at humans with intelligence and curiosity. Elise Janes is actually the psuedonym for Elise Wackett and Jane Abbott whose novel, 'The Canvas Killings', reveals the macabre world of a serial killer artist who turns the blood and bones of his victims into paint and pigment to create renowned and admired works or art.
Lyn Yeowart has set her book in the not so distance past when unmarried mothers were a social disgrace and sent away to have their babies who were adopted. Years later there are murders ‘The Hollow Girl’ may be the perpetrator of these revenge killings . Sibling rivalry, arson attacks, a surf lifesaving competition and the threat of bushfires are the Australian touchstones activated by Carla Salmon in her adolescent novel, 'We Saw What You Started'.
In a continuation of the Hirsch crime series, Constable Hirschhausen finds himself not just contending with the local problems of his isolated South Australian community but with a cold case involving the death and disappearance of two fossickers. The past and present come together in 'Mischance Creek'.Leisl and her daughter Else are awkward in society but in the demands of a climatic crisis they find their capabilities more attuned to their changing environment, one in which other animals have ...
High octane action in a high rise building - that's where all the mayhem and murder takes place in Gabriel Bergmoser's latest novel, High Rise.Rachael Johns', The Lucky Sisters, is a moving story about life, death and miracles.
Oliver loves his job as the 113th Assistant Librarian, he knows books can be dangerous but if the wording in one is changed could it impact the stability of the kingdom? Travel books help him leave and return in ‘Lost in a Book’ the second book in the series by Stuart Wilson . Mythology and reality merge in Sofie Laguna's novel, The Underworld.
‘Shutter City’ has photographs of early Melbourne. They come alive as Robyn Annear guides our eye into the detail and describes it with her insightful humour. Christian White takes us on a journey of kidnapping, revenge and violence over one concentrated evening in, ‘The Long Night’.
Simon Plant takes us into the intriguing life of George Coppin and his theatrical touring party of Shakespeare specialists who went to Civil War America in the 1860's in his book, Entertaining Mr Coppin - an Antipodean Showman in Civil War America. (Theatre Heritage Australia publication)Heather Rose has been inspired by true events in this historical fiction of a women who travelled alone from London to Van Diemen’s Land, set up a vineyard and a family in ‘A Great Act of Love’.
The Run Club has popularity because of the social media hits following a blossoming relationship, but these two only got together in a pretend situation, will it stay that way as there are many hurdles in their training for a marathon. ‘In the Long Run’ is a romance novel that does go the distance by Emma Mugglestone.Katherine Pollock’s ‘Starry Eyed’ romantic comedy meets science fiction meets fan fiction.
Makayla wants to make up for lost time after her divorce but her list of no regrets detailing things yet to be done leads to complications she didn't quite foresee in Holly Brunnbauer's novel, What Did I Miss?The Empress Murders is a razor-sharp whodunit by Toby Schmitz.
Noel Harcourt writes about his job for 33 years as one of the zoo keepers at Melbourne Zoo in his memoir ‘For Keeps’.Philomena McCarthy is compromised in her role as a police officer because she is the daughter of one of London's crime bosses. How then does she investigate and solve the robberies and murders on her beat in 'The White Crow'? Michael Rowbotham makes it all clear in his latest crime thriller.
George Ivanoff gives us 'Prehistoric Peril' in the latest choose your own adventure where virtual reality, mad scientists and you, as the reader, decides what will happen next.A heist, a robbery, a theft planned and undertaken to not only save the Earth, but even refugees from another planet. Science Fiction at its most dramatic, absurd and humorous for kids and their parents to read in the ‘Heist’ trilogy by Joel McKerrow
Pip Smith explores the emotional and psychological consequences of the refugee vessel, The Janga, that crashed into Christmas Island in her fictionalised account of that event, The Pull of the Moon.
Monica Raszewski's, 'Crimson Light, Polished Wood', explores the intersecting lives of three generations of women and their connection over time.The love of literature from Then as 17 year olds to Now, 20 years later may lead to a new chapter in this rom-com ‘Love Overdue’ by Ali Berg and Michelle Kalus.
Our social contract with the world, our very purpose in the digital age is brought into question in the novel, 'Arborescence', by Rhett Davis Martha has ideas but she is shy. Can she show her friends, family and classmates who she really is and what she is capable of? Jo Dabrowski is the author, and ‘The Making of Martha Mayfield’ is her book.
Toni Jordan’s book ‘Ternderfoot’ is a coming of age story set in the 70’s.A. L. Booth’s crime novel, ’Death at Booroomba’ includes a mysterious inheritance, a violent murder, a hint of romance and a large dollop of country town gossip.
If you had the power to change history would you dare? ‘The Turing Protocol’ by Nick Croydon.'King Tide' is Luke Johnson's debut novel set in a small coastal town where a mutilated body of an adolescent is found. Added to that, a child disappeared some five years before. Are the events linked and who is responsible?An American war hero with harsh life experiences and a naïve Melbourne socialite are such opposites just as Night and Day, which is a melodic theme through this book. Set in the 1940’...
Matt Rogers takes us on a nhilistic journey of murder and corruption with equal parts of philosophy and asceticism in his novel, 'The Forsaken'.Jayne Tuttle's memoir is an exploration of creativity, motherhood and Paris.
Dmetri Kakmi's novel, The Woman In the Well, blends the spiritualism associated with numerous faiths; Christianity, Islam and indigenous belief.Not even a respectable job digging graves can keep an ex-con from a form of corruption that could put him behind bars once again. This is the world of guilt and suspicion that Mark Brandi explores in his latest novel, Eden,
Amie Kaufman's, 'Lady's Knight' features the tournament of the dragon slayers and is a sapphic fairytale.A couple grapple with the breakdown of their relationship on a road trip in the southwest of America where the environmental degredation of the landscape is apparent in Madeleine Watts' novel, "Elegy, Southwest"
