Inside the Australian and New Zealand book industry

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The Long Night (Christian White, Affirm) 

Tuesday, 2 September 2025
Christian White’s The Long Night is a tense psychological thriller driven by a chilling kidnapping premise. Nineteen-year-old Em is abducted in a moment of vulnerability following what should have been...

Books in the media this weekend, 30–31 August 

Cover of 'Desolation' by Hossein Asgari. Friday, 29 August 2025
A round-up of the books being reviewed and mentioned in key media this coming weekend.  National The Saturday Paper Desolation (Hossein Asgari, Ultimo) The Midnight Shift (Cheon Seon-Ran, Bloomsbury) No...

Between (Anna Walker, Scribble) 

Tuesday, 26 August 2025
Between by Anna Walker, CBCA Award–winning creator of Lottie and Walter and Florette, is a beautiful and meditative picture book that invites readers to pause, observe and imagine. Told with...

The Lucky Sisters (Rachael Johns, Penguin) 

Tuesday, 26 August 2025
Rachael Johns (The Patterson Girls, The Greatest Gift) delivers one of her most heartfelt and emotionally layered novels yet in The Lucky Sisters, a story marking a confident shift beyond...

Last Chance Joey (Meredith Resce, Rhiza Edge) 

Tuesday, 26 August 2025
In Meredith Resce’s debut YA novel, Last Chance Joey, 17-year-old Joey Walton – who is struggling with dyslexia, toxic social circles and a troubled home life – is sent to live in the...

Books in the media this weekend, 23–24 August 

Friday, 22 August 2025
A round-up of the books being reviewed and mentioned in key media this coming weekend.  National The Saturday Paper Looking for Elizabeth: The Life of Elizabeth Harrower (Helen Trinca, La...

Mad Mabel (Sally Hepworth, Macmillan) 

The cover of "Mad Mabel". Tuesday, 19 August 2025
Few people suspect an elderly woman or a little girl of murder, which is what makes Mad Mabel such a deliciously enjoyable read. Sally Hepworth’s latest novel begins with a...

For No Mortal Creature (Keshe Chow, Penguin) 

Tuesday, 19 August 2025
For No Mortal Creature by Keshe Chow (The Girl with No Reflection) is a romantic fantasy inspired by Inception and Wuthering Heights, but the story it tells is unique and...

Left Behind (Martine Kropkowski, Ultimo) 

Tuesday, 19 August 2025
Martine Kropkowski’s Left Behind is a stunning depiction of the remote, wild and isolated beauty of K’gari, paired with a taut and insidious suspense that grabs you from the opening lines....

Riots (Fiona Skyring, UWA Publishing) 

Tuesday, 19 August 2025
Renowned Australian historian Fiona Skyring returns with Riots, a captivating nonfiction book that unearths a chapter of ANZAC history rarely spoken of today. Skyring takes readers back to the turbulent...

The One Remaining (Paula McLean, Fearless Press) 

Tuesday, 19 August 2025
Paula McLean’s The One Remaining is a quiet, affecting novel about memory, silence and the long shadow of a sister’s disappearance. When successful novelist Hilary Mason discovers a stack of...

Books in the media this weekend, 16–17 August 

The cover for Planting for Native Birds, Bees and Butterflies Friday, 15 August 2025
A round-up of the books being reviewed and mentioned in key media this coming weekend.  National The Saturday Paper Conspiracy Nation (Ariel Bogle and Cam Wilson, Ultimo) Erik Satie Three Piece...

Do We Deserve This? (Eleanor Elliott Thomas, Text) 

Tuesday, 12 August 2025
Do We Deserve This? by Eleanor Elliott Thomas (The Opposite of Success) follows twenty-something underachiever Bean Halloway, who buys a lottery ticket for her mother, only for it to win...

Boobs (Lisa Portolan & Amanda Goff, Echo) 

Tuesday, 12 August 2025
Boobs is an exploration of all things breasts. Combining personal insight with research, Amanda Goff (Misfit: The Unravelling of Samantha X) and Lisa Portolan examine the ways that breasts are perceived, augmented...

Be(wilder): Journeys in Nature (Darryl Jones, NewSouth) 

Tuesday, 12 August 2025
Ecologist Darryl Jones (Curlews on Vulture Street) travels across Australia and the world to study the lives of wild animals in urban environments and how humans and non-human animals can comfortably...

Book Club – this month’s reads

Friday, 8 August 2025
Looking for your next great group read? Our monthly Book Club rounds up new release titles that are perfect for sparking conversation and perhaps even some debate. From compelling fiction to...

Three new entries to top 10 

Friday, 8 August 2025
Top 10 bestsellers The Let Them Theory (Mel Robbins & Sawyer Robbins, Hay House) Cozy Corner (Coco Wyo, Penguin) An Inside Job (Daniel Silva, HarperCollins) Cozy Cuties (Coco Wyo, Penguin)...