Book Reviews
Chinese Parents Don’t Say I Love You by Candice Chung
A memoir that delivers a feast of memory, longing and the meals that hold us together.
Perfection by Vincenzo Latronico, trans. by Sophie Hughes
A Millennial couple living in a gentrified Berlin carefully curate their lives and tastes – but is the novels’s satire successful or belated?
In The Desert by Barbara Byar
Five childhood friends come of age in a small desert town. Over the course of 24 hours, a series of catastrophes across time and space, lead to a phone booth in the middle of nowhere, ringing…
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.
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.
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.
Butter by Asako Yuzuki, trans. by Polly Barton
More than a simple thriller, Butter masters something more critical and sinister as Yuzuki brings to light the issue of unrealistic beauty standards for women in Japan.
No Church In The Wild by Murray Middleton
A bold and unflinching novel that doesn’t shy away from examining racism in contemporary Australia.
The Little Clothes by Deborah Callaghan
The liberating and stifling invisibility of middle age is at the heart of this darkly humorous novel.
A Language of Limbs by Dylin Hardcastle
Over three decades, two lives unfold in parallel, dealing with the big questions of desire, queerness, conformity and love.
Sugar: An Ethnographic Novel by Edward Narain and Tarryn Phillips
Where crime fiction meets colonial legacy in Fiji's diabetes crisis.
When Cops Are Criminals ed. by Veronica Gorrie
This blistering anthology reckons with the violence and corruption endemic to contemporary policing.
When The Forest Finds You by Lonnie Stabile
This poetry collection uses horror movie references and tropes to disect sexual violence and its aftermath.
The Beauties by Lauren Chater
A masterclass in storytelling, this sumptuous historical novel centres around art, love and the power of feminine beauty.
A Place Between Waking and Forgetting by Eugen Bacon
A Place Between Waking and Forgetting is a magical, mysterious tour de force of Black speculative fiction.
My Husband by Maud Ventura
My Husband is a trip into the darkest depths of one woman’s mind, exploring the lengths she will go to be loved.
The Rewilding by Donna M Cameron
This fast-paced eco thriller dives into grief, loss and hope in a changing world, perfect for fans of Sharlene Allsopp and Eleanor Catton.
Ordinary Human Love by Melissa Goode
Ordinary Human Love is a book for those who love quiet novels, with a suble interrogation of grief, regret and finding purpose.
Hera by Jennifer Saint
Saint humanises the Queen of Olympus in a story brimming with justice, loss, feminine strength and suffering.