Book Reviews
The Nights Are Quiet In Tehran by Shida Bazyar, trans. by Ruth Martin
Starting from the 1979 Iranian revolution, The Nights Are Quiet In Tehran centres on one family and the far-reaching impact of their father’s involvement.
A Wild Sheep Chase by Haruki Murakami
A surreal detective story where ennui wears a trench coat, a sheep might be God and your feelings get herded off a cliff.
The Guest by Emma Cline
During a rapidly fading summer on Long Island, The Guest follows grifter Alex as she tries to survive the week before Labour Day.
Follow the Salt ed. by Donna Mazza
Eleven writers explore missed connections, lost loves and grief, environmental destruction, climate change and over-farming in this surreal short story collection.
Starry Eyed by Katharine Pollock
Pollock’s second novel is about fandom, friendship and finding your way in the world.
Lost Souls Meet Under a Full Moon by Mizuki Tsujimura trans. by Yuki Tejima
If you had the chance to meet one person for one night who had died, who would it be?
Dead Ends by Samantha Byres
In Dead Ends, Byres has created a close, intimate novel that hums with life, death and whatever might hover in between.
Night of the Living Rez by Morgan Talty
Talty’s powerful short story collection traces a Penobscot man’s search for belonging amid love, loss, tragedy and the haunting of colonisation.
Blue Hour by Tiffany Clarke Harrison
A brief yet powerful debut novel that intertwines personal loss with collective grief, exploring love, motherhood and survival as a Black woman in a world marked by violence.
Colony by Annika Norlin trans. by Alice E. Olsson
In this debut novel, a journalist’s search for change leads her into the mysteries of a secluded group living on the edges of society.
Plastic Budgie by Olivia De Zilva
Plastic Budgie is a sharply funny and emotionally rich debut work of autofiction, charting the narrator’s tumultuous coming-of-age in Adelaide.
Nightingale by Laura Elvery
Elvery delivers a richly layered, time-bending novel about power, womanhood and the spectral weight of untold stories.
How to Dodge Flying Sandals and Other Advice for Life by Daniel Nour
Nour’s memoir is a moving read about finding oneself amidst the chaos of a loving yet intrusive family.
Their Borders, Our World: Building new solidarities with Palestine ed. by Mahdi Sabbagh
An urgent and moving anthology of contemporary global voices from the Palestine Festival of Literature.
The Sun Was Electric Light by Rachel Morton
Disillusioned by her life in New York, Ruth slips away to a lakeside town in Guatemala to seek the elusive promise of happiness and belonging.
Invisible Wasp by Stephanie Powell
Stephanie Powell’s third poetry collection is an introspective and sensuous meditation on being alive.
Past & Parallel Lives by Kaya Ortiz
If time is a woven cloth, then Kaya Ortiz’s debut award-winning poetry collection sets out to unravel it.
Peripathetic: Notes on (un)belonging by Cher Tan
An essay collection that interrogates migration, belonging and art under capitalism – but does it bite off more than it can chew?
Signs of Damage by Diana Reid
With her third novel, Reid dives deep into the internal worlds of her characters, exploring trauma, memory and relationships.
Mother Tongue by Naima Brown
Mother Tongue follows Brynn Mitchell as a freak accident flips her language – and her life – inside out.