Reviews

Independent reviews of recently released fiction, non-fiction and kids’ books.

Magazine Issue Date

Nuclear War: A scenario by Annie Jacobsen

Nuclear War: A scenario by Annie Jacobsen

Once we are warned of a nuclear attack, we prepare to launch,’ former secretary of defence William Perry tells us. ...
Two Daughters by Alison Edwards

Two Daughters by Alison Edwards

Alison Edwards’ debut novel is a story of fate, where two people from opposite sides of the world who, despite ...
Unreal: Can you tell the fact from fake? by Kate Simpson

Unreal: Can you tell the fact from fake? by Kate Simpson

In this non-fiction book for primary kids we are asked to read and look carefully to guess what we think is real ...
Smoke by Michael Brissenden

Smoke by Michael Brissenden

Smoke is a story of a young woman’s strength in the face of misogyny and extensive corruption in her department in ...
Good Hair by Yvonne Sewankambo & Freda Chiu

Good Hair by Yvonne Sewankambo & Freda Chiu

Birungi is definitely not in the mood for school today. Everything seems just too hard. And doing her hair? She ...
Vulture Capitalism by Grace Blakeley

Vulture Capitalism by Grace Blakeley

Despite its breathless title, Vulture Capitalism provides a fairly succinct analysis of how the neo-liberal ...
The Book Star by Bec Nanayakkara & Joanna Bartel

The Book Star by Bec Nanayakkara & Joanna Bartel

Grace loves space. EVERYTHING to do with space. She even has 37 books about space. She knows her stars, her ...
A Lesson in Dying by Ann Cleeves

A Lesson in Dying by Ann Cleeves

Ann Cleeves takes us back 34 years to the first book in her ‘Inspector Ramsay’ series. Macmillan has reissued A ...
AI Needs You by Verity Harding

AI Needs You by Verity Harding

In 2022, a woman attending a concert in New York City, accompanied by her young daughter, was refused entry. ...
The Trials of Marjorie Crowe by C S Robertson

The Trials of Marjorie Crowe by C S Robertson

Burn the witch. History doesn’t repeat but it often rhymes, as they say, and in Scottish author C S Robertson’s ...
When the Lights Went Out by Lian Tanner & Jonathan Bentley

When the Lights Went Out by Lian Tanner & Jonathan Bentley

It is a night when everyone is snug and cosy inside. Brrr ... it is a frosty night outside. Suddenly, snap! The ...
How to Move a Zoo by Kate Simpson & Owen Swan

How to Move a Zoo by Kate Simpson & Owen Swan

It was 1883 when an eight-year-old elephant named Jessie arrived in Sydney to live at a new zoo in Moore Park in ...
Mawson in Antarctica by Joanna Grochowicz

Mawson in Antarctica by Joanna Grochowicz

With its graphic descriptions of the wind, ice and snow on the edge of Antarctica, this non-fiction book for ...
Lie With Me by Philippe Besson

Lie With Me by Philippe Besson

Lie With Me is most probably autobiographical. The narrator (as disclosed on the back cover of the book) is the ...
Return to Sender by Lauren Draper

Return to Sender by Lauren Draper

This story starts dramatically with the main protagonist and narrator, Brodie, trespassing and being chased up a ...
An Education in Malice by S T Gibson

An Education in Malice by S T Gibson

The story opens on Laura Sheridan, a poetry ingenue at a private, all-girl’s boarding school. She meets the ...
Esme in the limelight by Kate Gordon

Esme in the limelight by Kate Gordon

We’re back in the community where Aster, Indigo and Xavier live but this time the emphasis is on 15-year-old Esme ...
The Little Clothes by Deborah Callaghan

The Little Clothes by Deborah Callaghan

Audrey is a people-pleaser who never receives credit for the help she gives. She’s a clever lawyer, indispensable ...
Walking the Rock Country in Kakadu

Walking the Rock Country in Kakadu

In the first book in this series, Walking in Gagudju Country, we journeyed together in the Monsoon Forest of ...
Black Silk and Sympathy by Deborah Challinor

Black Silk and Sympathy by Deborah Challinor

Tatiana (Tatty) Caldwell lives in 1860s London. She is the daughter of an odd couple: her father, a successful ...
If You Go by Alice Robinson

If You Go by Alice Robinson

Esther wakes, aware of being connected to wires, tape over her lips and eyes, hands tied down, and a tube down her ...

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