Author: Emily Paull

Florence Nightingale is a figure so well-known historically that her name has become a shorthand for describing someone virtuous and self-sacrificing in the care of others. But how much of the real woman, or indeed the period in which she lived do most people really know? In her debut novel, Brisbane-based writer Laura Elvery has…

When Ghosts: Australia was announced, it might be fair to say that the idea was met with some trepidation. There have been numerous examples of comedy hits in one country failing to impress when adapted for another – anyone remember when they tried to do an American version of Kath and Kim? Yet Ghosts, based on the…

It’s been five years between albums for Tame Impala. In the intervening years between 2020’s The Slow Rush and Deadbeat the multi-instrumentalist behind the project, Kevin Parker, has also become a husband and a father, making the choice of name for the album an interesting one indeed. Following on from the huge success of earlier…

Oh that every home should have a doorman as wise and as kind as Lester Coluca. Sadly, Lester (Teddy Coluca) was the victim for the fifth season of Only Murders in the Building, and this season’s mystery revolves around our three amateur sleuths finding out who had left him for dead in the fountain at the…

2025 has been an amazing year for book releases, and the final Tuesday in September saw booksellers dealing with a perfect storm of huge releases (including new releases from Trent Dalton, Richard Osman, Philippa Gregory, Benjamin Stevenson and Craig Silvey) all arriving and needing to be unpacked for eager readers in one day. To all…

Karen Herbert‘s fourth novel is described as a ‘psychological medical thriller’; but, if you’re worried about gory surgical scenes or murderous doctors, then perhaps it might be better to think of The Ghost Walk as a mystery with an unlikely detective at its heart, and focus more on the psychological aspect. The protagonist of The…

Known as ‘Sensible Emily’ at the ABC, where she is an award-winning journalist specialising in business and finance, Emily Stewart released her first book in July 2025 – a clever piece of scheduling, as July is when many people start to panic about money as they start to work on their tax returns! Emily championed…

Christine Newell is a professional musical theatre performer with a lifelong love of telling stories. In February 2025, she released her debut memoir, Five Seasons in Seoul, a record of the time she spent in South Korea in the early 2000s after responding to a call for Hi-5 style children’s performers. Prior to this, Christine…

More than 100 years on from Picnic at Hanging Rock, Australian novelists are still exploring the terror of being lost in the Australian landscape, with many genres now borrowing from what we know as the Australian Gothic. Bronwyn Rivers‘ debut thriller, The Reunion, is one such novel, a mystery with an air of menace throughout as five…

Marion Taffe‘s debut work of historical fiction, By Her Hand, released earlier this year, is already sporting comparisons to literary heavyweights like Geraldine Brooks and Lauren Groff. Set in 10th Century Mercia, AKA England before it was actually England, the story follows Freda, a young woman whose fascination with learning, stories, and the power of…

The ‘little world’ of the title in Josephine Rowe‘s latest novella refers to the sphere of consciousness of an unusual narrator. Arriving in a wooden box in the back of a horse float, she is a nameless girl, perhaps a saint, perhaps a miracle; but, certainly she is the body of a young girl who…

Recently divorced phys-ed teacher Makayla is about to turn thirty and is determined to make up for lost time by having as many of the quintessential experiences that she missed out on in her twenties as possible. She makes a list. It includes such things as: go skinny-dipping, get a tattoo, and, the first cab…

Luke ‘Macca’ McCulloch spent eight years on the WA Police diving team, working on well-known cases like the light plane crash in 2017 which killed two people on Australia Day, and a prominent 2018 murder. Two years ago he left his role, and he has recently independently published an account of a particularly arduous ten-day…

Apple TV+’s The Buccaneers aired the final episode of its second season last week, laying the groundwork for a potential third season. Whether it was a case of the pacing being hindered by the one episode a week release structure, or the show getting too far away from its original source material, this historical drama…

Gareth and Louise Ward’s first co-authored novel, Dead Girl Gone, launched The Bookshop Detectives into a burgeoning cosy crime genre which has remained dominated by Richard Osman‘s Thursday Murder Club books since 2020. Loosely based on themselves, the Wards have created another gang of loveable amateur crime-solvers in Garth and Eloise Sherlock, two former police…

Anna Maynard‘s debut novel, Dancing with Bees, might just be the perfect read to get you through the colder months of the year. Promising to delight fans of Emily Henry and Marian Keyes, this brightly coloured novel is more than a rom com – it’s a delight. Sunny Moritz is thirty-three and a little bit aimless….

Tara Calaby’s second novel The Spirit Circle came out in January of this year and has followed hot on the heels of her debut, The House of Longing, which came out in 2023 – an impressive turnaround for historical fiction, which often requires extensive research. The result is an assured and atmospheric read featuring headstrong heroines, forbidden…

Bianca Breen is a well-known name in the West Australian YA scene, being the powerhouse behind the YA for WA Community which regularly runs book clubs devoted to talking about young adult fiction. This year, her debut novel, Made of Steam and Stardust has been published by Stag Beetle Books. The story is about sixteen-year-old…

1863 Melbourne comes to life in Madeleine Cleary‘s much buzzed about debut novel, The Butterfly Women, released earlier in the month through Affirm Press. A publishing imprint making a name for itself in historical fiction, Cleary joins renowned historical fiction writer Pip Williams (The Dictionary of Lost Words), as well as a growing list including the…

American rom-com writer, Emily Henry, although having already published several novels for young adults, really made a name for herself with her first novel for adults, Beach Read in 2020. Since then, the publication of a new Emily Henry novel has become a major bookish event, with the release of her latest book, Great Big…

Like the protagonist of her second novel, Jessica Stanley is an Australian writer living in London. They share other similarities too, such as favourite authors, and perhaps the moments that Stanley has drawn from her own experience in order to shape Coralie’s are what makes her story feel so real. Set against the backdrop of…

[This episode contains spoilers for the final episode of High Potential] If you haven’t been watching High Potential, the latest crime drama out of America created by Drew Goddard, then the good news is, you can now binge-watch all 13 episodes of season one on Disney +. The season finale, which aired on Thursday April…

Having made it to Australia in season one, the characters of Stan and BBC One’s collaborative historical drama series Ten Pound Poms find themselves faced with even more stark realities about their new life as the show returns for a second season. While each of the core characters came to the camp at Galgownie in New…

The world is fascinated with missing girls. They are the subjects of true crime podcasts and countless movies and tv shows, and of course, novels. But, in Down the Rabbit Hole, debut author Shaeden Berry offers readers something a little deeper than the usual small-town thriller featuring a missing persons case. Down the Rabbit Hole…

Readers who loved The Other Bridget, last year’s rom-com from heavy hitter Rachael Johns featuring a gnome-loving librarian, will be delighted to learn that our beloved Bee makes more than a few cameo’s in 2025’s follow up, The Bad Bridesmaid. Whilst it’s not a sequel, the events of Bridget’s story are referred to throughout, so…

Readers who are familiar with Karina May’s work will be unsurprised to learn that her latest fictional offering, That Island Feeling, is a smorgasbord of nostalgic film references. From the classic Goldie Hawn flick Overboard to Dirty Dancing to (one of my personal favourites) Coyote Ugly, May draws on her cinephile side (being one half of…

Nina Kenwood, best known for her YA novels and former winner of the Text Prize, released her first novel for the adult market this September. While it’s decidedly less spicy than some other books in the genre I could mention, the book is definitely not meant for teenage readers. The Wedding Forecast follows Anna, a marketing…

Emily Tsokos Purtill‘s debut novel took her ten years to write. Ten years in which she was also building a promising legal career and a family. It’s no surprise then, that family is at the heart of Matia – the story of four generations of women from a Greek Australian family. The matia of the title…

Prolific Australian author, Anita Heiss, published her ninth novel in August, following the success of her 2021 historical fiction book, Bila Yarrudhanggalangdhuray (River of Dreams). Her latest book, Dirrayawadha (Rise Up) once again looks at Australian history from the perspective of First Nations characters, this time examining the Frontier Wars in Bathurst of the 1820s…

The cosy fantasy genre is having a boom at the moment, with titles like Travis Baldree‘s Legends and Lattes  setting the tone for character driven stories that don’t necessarily involve epic quests, but do involve a lot of hot drinks. Rewitched, by YouTuber Lucy Jane Wood, is the latest cosy, autumnal read to come across…