The Contrarian by Max Chafkin Bloomsbury Publishing Max Chafkin, who has spent 15 years reporting on the world of Silicon Valley’s entrepreneurs, start-ups and investors, has compiled rigorous research on one of the venture capitalists who has helped develop companies that have largely defined our culture and economy over the last 25 years. Not many […]
Mortals by Rachel E Menzies and Ross G Menzies Allen & Unwin Children become aware of death at between the ages of 4 and 5 and can fear it, even though they only become aware of its inevitability from 7 to 10 years of age. Between the ages of 11 and 12, children can contemplate […]
All About Ella by Meredith Appleyard HQ Fiction Cutlers Bay, a small seaside town in the Yorke Peninsula, becomes the accidental meeting place for three homeless people. Although Zach, the solitary local police officer in the town, is technically not homeless as he has a soulless government house that came with his job, but it […]
Troop Train by Elizabeth Hutchins Wakefield Press It was February 1942 when the Japanese military overran Singapore and 14 year-old Rosemary Lister writes in her diary that they have been hanging black curtains in every window of their Adelaide house. Darwin had just been bombed and the last thing Rosemary’s family had heard was that […]
Trouble Is My Business by Lisa Walker Wakefield Press Lisa Walker, who lives, surfs and writes young adult coming-of-age novels on the north coast of New South Wales, introduced Olivia Grace and her detective skills in The Girl with the Gold Bikini. Eighteen year-old Olivia Grace spent a gap year at a friend Rocco’s detective […]
This Poison Heart by Kalynn Bayron Bloomsbury Growing plants in recycled milk cartons and empty glass jars ever since she could remember, Briseis finds she has a strange power over plants. Leaves turn to face her as if she were the sun and flowers bloom in her footsteps, but it is a power that her […]
Nancy Business by R.W.R. McDonald Allen & Unwin Rob McDonald is a queer Kiwi dad, living in Melbourne with his two daughters and one HarryCat. He introduced the character of twelve year old Tippy Chan and her gay uncles to the world in his first novel The Nancys, which won him a many awards. Born […]
More Than Halfway To Somewhere: Collected Gems of a World Traveller John Burbidge Wordswallah (Self-published) Following on from his critically acclaimed works like Dare Me! The Life and Work of Gerald Glaskin and his autobiography The Boatman, Burbidge delves into a travelogue of his world adventures in celebrating his 50th year since boarding a US-bound […]
You Had It Coming by B.M. Carroll Viper Warning: This review contains mentions of sexual assault. Paramedic Megan Lowe has half an hour before the end of her shift and is looking forward to having a day off when a call comes in that a male in his fifties has gunshot wounds to his chest […]
Devils, Lusts and Strange Desires: The Life of Patricia Highsmith by Richard Bradford Bloomsbury Publishing Born in Texas in 1921 at a time when sexuality was, in varying degrees, hidden and fluid, Patricia Highsmith became famous for writing dark psychological thrillers. Notably, many have been made into unforgettable films – including The Talented Mr Ripley, […]
