Books

Book review: Never Ever Forever is a showcase of the best romantic comedy tropes and we are here for it

There’s just something about a romantic comedy. They’re comfortingly predictable, often laugh out loud funny, and there’s that deeply satisfying feeling of being able to race through a book in a single day because you’re so absorbed in what you’re reading. Enter Karina May’s second novel, Never Ever Forever, the follow up to her debut Duck…

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The AU’s Most Anticipated Books of 2024: April – June

We’re already a quarter of the way through the year and the AU Books Team are getting excited for the next round of upcoming releases. Here are some of the upcoming releases that have caught our attention. April No Church in the Wild – Murray Middleton Pan Macmillan Australia | Pub Date: 26th March | Order…

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Birds of a Feather Cover

Book Review: Rhianna King’s Birds of a Feather is a delightfully sweet debut

Coming from new author Rhianna King, Birds of a Feather is an utterly charming – and very Aussie – debut novel. A little funny, a little poignant, it makes for a wonderfully relaxing read. Beth, our protagonist and the first of our two viewpoint characters, is a very practical and unsentimental young woman. This puts…

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Indie Book Awards 2024

David Marr and Melissa Lucashenko amongst the winners at the Indie Book Awards 2024

The winners of the Indie Book Awards 2024 have been announced this evening. The awards, which are picked by indie booksellers, celebrate the best Australian books from the last year across six categories, including fiction, non-fiction and young adult. An overall “Book of the Year” is then selected from the six category winners. This year…

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The Woman In Me

Book Review: Britney Spears’ bombshell memoir The Woman In Me is here to make waves

The Woman In Me is the highly anticipated and heavily gossiped about memoir from Britney Spears. The late 90s- early 2000s icon doesn’t need any introductions. Britney is a household name, a pop singer known for her numerous hits and impressive performance career spanning over two decades. She is also, more recently known for her…

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Come and Get It

Book Review: Kiley Reid serves up her hotly awaited sophomore novel, Come and Get It

Come and Get It is the highly anticipated follow up novel from Kiley Reid, whose debut Such a Fun Age was a smash hit upon its release in 2019. Like her first novel, Reid’s sophomore foray into fiction looks at issues of race and class in contemporary America; this time through the eyes of three…

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Book Review: Enter the mysterious La Maison de Méduse in Mona Awad’s Rouge

Mirabelle, shortened to the rather more beauty-adjacent ‘Belle’, has left the Montreal snow for the California sun, returning to manage the affairs of her recently deceased mother, Noelle. She’s expecting an emotional reckoning of sorts – her relationship with her mother has always been fraught, after all – but an encounter with a woman in…

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International Women's Day

Five Biographical Fiction Picks for International Women’s Day

International Women’s Day (March 8th) is a day to celebrate the achievements of women and raise awareness of the discrimination still faced by many women all over the world. In celebration of IWD, we have put together a list of five recent or forthcoming novels which fictionalise the lives of real-life heroines – women who…

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3 great books to buy if you need some motivation right now

It’s not weak to admit that you lack motivation right now. Yes, sure, social media and toxic positivity have made it so we feel instantly ashamed and overwhelmed when we aren’t operating at our peak. But that’s largely bullshit. Identifying that you need a push, and then seeking that push – even if it takes…

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The Moon Gate

Book Review: Amanda Geard’s The Moon Gate is a refreshing historical delight

You may think that the dual-timeline historical fiction novel has had its moment. But recently there have been a number of novels which have played with the braided, three-narrative structure. While difficult to pull off, these blends of historical fiction and mysteries that span across time are very popular, especially with readers who enjoy the…

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Her Sunburnt Country

Book Review: Her Sunburnt Country offers an in-depth look at the life of an early Australian literary pioneer

Are you curious about Australia’s early modernist literary movement? Then Her Sunburnt Country by Deborah FitzGerald is the perfect introduction. Many Australians should know of Dorothea Mackellar’s poem – “My Country”, with its captivating prose and beautiful description of Australia. Since the poem’s publication in 1908 it has only grown in popularity, quickly became a…

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The Fiction Writer

Book Review: The Fiction Writer pales in comparison to its enduring antecedent

Perhaps as a reader, I have finally had enough of books that are trying to be Rebecca. Or perhaps it is just that the story doesn’t transpose well into a modern setting, but Jillian Cantor‘s latest novel The Fiction Writer didn’t quite work for me. Don’t get me wrong – it’s a compelling read. It’s got a…

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Bright Young Women

Book Review: Jessica Knoll’s Bright Young Women reverses the serial killer narrative

Bright Young Women by Jessica Knoll paints a vivid canvas of enthralling storytelling that navigates the complexities of female ambition, societal expectations, and the pursuit of success. Knoll, acclaimed for her previous works, including Luckiest Girl Alive, demonstrates her prowess once again in crafting a compelling narrative that delves into the lives of multifaceted characters….

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In Utero cover

Book Review: Monsters, motherhood, and abandoned malls abound in Chris Gooch’s In Utero

Lonely kid Hailey is dropped off at a holiday camp at – of all places – an abandoned shopping mall. But today, there’s a new girl. Her name is Jen, and together she and Hailey break away from the group and start exploring the mall. Meanwhile, two boys from the camp are also making their…

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Burn cover

Book Review: Melanie Saward’s Burn is a reflection on why good kids do bad things

Burn by Melanie Saward is an emotional read that reflects upon why good kids do bad things through the lens of generational and collective trauma, depictions of decolonised justice systems, the ongoing effects of colonisation, and the harm that can stem from disconnection to Country and culture. Burn is Saward’s debut novel and is developed…

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Book Review: Learning a journalist’s secrets in Leigh Sales’ Storytellers

Seasoned journalist and well-respected ABC anchor Leigh Sales is usually found discussing politics and the latest breaking news; but in her latest book Storytellers she instead turns the discussion inwards, digging deep into the craft of journalism. Interviewing over thirty people from television news programs, websites and print newspapers, in this book she shares tips,…

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Book Review: Hungerford Award winning novel Salt River Road collects another accolade

Molly Schmidt‘s hotly anticipated debut novel, Salt River Road, won the 2022 City of Fremantle TAG Hungerford Award. It has now gone on to be longlisted for this year’s Indie Book Awards Debut Fiction Award, looking to continue Fremantle Press’s tradition of unearthing stand out Western Australian Writers. The story of the Tetley family, and their…

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The AU’s Most Anticipated Books of 2024: Jan – Mar

It’s a new year and The AU book team are already eyeing up the release charts and penning in their most anticipated releases for the year. The beginning of 2024 brings in a host of exciting books. With everything from mythical sea creatures, 1800’s apothecaries, America as seen through the eyes of its First Peoples,…

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Book Review: In The Girl In The Band Belinda Chapple exposes the ruthless entertainment industry

The Girl In The Band is a tell all memoir from Australian singer, creative director and interior designer Belinda Chapple. Chapple made a name for herself as a singer, dancer and model, starting her performing career at just ten years old. She shot to stardom as a member of the award-winning and platinum-selling band Bardot….

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The Witching Tide by Margaret Meyer is a midnight blue cover with an illustration of a witchfinder's pricking stick hidden in a field of yellow flowers

Book Review: The Witching Tide is historical fiction that should be read by the light of day

In Margaret Meyer’s The Witching Tide, the story of a witch-hunt is seen through the eyes of Martha Hallybread, a mute midwife, who may actually be a witch. Ironically, she is the only woman in her town who seems to be safe from the paranoia and suspicions of a community riddled with bad luck – failed…

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Best Books 2023

The Best Books of the Year: 2023

With Christmas less than a week away, at the AU we’ve got to the task of agonising and arguing over our end of year lists – best albums, best films, best games, and of course best books. The Books team have taken a look over the year’s releases and compiled a list of some of…

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Book Review: Heartstopper Volume 5 explores the discomfort of growing up, first times, and hard choices

The Heartstopper franchise is the perfect way to expose young people to diversity, inclusivity, and what it is like to grow up, experience first times, and all the awkwardness that comes with it. At the beginning of the book, one of the main characters, Charlie Spring, turns sixteen. After a year of Nick Nelson and…

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Book Review: Benjamin Stevenson keeps on track with Everyone on This Train is a Suspect

Everyone on This Train is a Suspect is Benjamin Stevenson‘s second whodunit murder mystery novel told in the first person by his endearingly human narrator and main character, Ernest Cunningham. The fourth wall breaking of this book, much like the first – Everyone in my Family has Killed Someone – makes it a little confusing…

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Book Review: Twice Cursed creatively explores the bedrock of fairy tales – the curse

Twice Cursed is the second anthology from editors Marie O’Regan and Paul Kane on the theme of the curse. Authors such as Neil Gaiman, Angela Slatter, Laura Purcell, and A. C. Wise have each contributed short stories of dark and urban fantasy and fairy tale to explore the concept of a curse: of being cursed,…

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Book Review: Voices in the Dark sees family secrets come to light in the South Australian outback

Best-selling rural fiction author Fleur McDonald takes us to the South Australian outback with her latest novel Voices in the Dark. A family drama at heart, the book is an authentic exploration of grief, family estrangement, and life on the land. Upon receiving the news that the grandmother who raised her is dying, Sassi Stapleton…

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Book Review: Others Were Emeralds is a unique exploration of anti-Asian sentiment in the 80s and 90s

Others Were Emeralds by Lang Leav is a coming-of-age tale that explores the complications of friendships, relationships, and the experiences of immigration during the 1980s and 1990s when anti-Asian sentiment flooded Australia. Ai, her family, and her close-knit group of high school friends live in the diverse fictional town of Whitlam, based on Sydney’s Cabramatta, where…

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Book Review: Morgan le Fay takes centre stage in Sophie Keetch’s Arthurian retelling Morgan Is My Name

Beginning with the tale of Arthurian villainess Morgan le Fay, Sophie Keetch‘s Morgan Is My Name marks the start of an exciting new historical fantasy. Following Morgan from the death of her loving father and his replacement in the form of the brutish Uther Pendragon, to her eventual escape to the court of her young…

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Book Review: Dive into the dangerous world of Zena Shapter’s When Dark Roots Hunt

Hidden behind a wall of poisonous ivy, safe from the giant water-ants hunting anything that moves out on the lake, and the dangerous wyann trees with their spear-like roots, the people of Sala’s village eke out a quiet existence, doing what they can to survive. But Sala knows Itta is dying, and without change, time…

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Book Review: Me, Her, Us is a witty and unflinching essay collection from Yen-Rong Wong

Blending memoir with cultural criticism, Me, Her, Us is the debut non-fiction release from Yen-Rong Wong, exploring the intersection between sex, relationships, and race. Raised by religious Malaysian Chinese parents in Brisbane, she bristled against the idealised version of who she was supposed to be and how her life was supposed to play out. Me,…

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You’re All Talk

Book Review: Let’s talk talking in Rob Drummond’s refreshingly funny You’re All Talk

You’re All Talk is a book about just what it sounds like – talking, language and its ties to our identities. Sociolinguist Rob Drummond takes us through how we perceive others (and ourselves) through the way we talk, offering a fascinating dive into the world of accents, slang and code-switching. It may seem like a…

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