Book Review: The Valley by Chris Hammer
A gripping dive into Australian noir, The Valley blends tense small-town dynamics with Hammer’s trademark atmospheric storytelling. This review explores how the landscape, the characters, and the slow-burn mystery all come together to create a compelling, immersive read.
Book Review: Past & Parallel Lives by Kaya Ortiz
Past & Parallel Lives by Kaya Ortiz, published by UWA Publishing, is a collection of poems that embrace shame as a transformative emotion and grapples with the “what if’s” in life.
Book Review: The Spirit Circle by Tara Calaby
The Spirit Circle by Tara Calaby published through Text Publishing in 2025, is a sapphic historical fiction novel set in late 19th century Melbourne. It explores themes of love, loss, and belonging.
Book Review: We Saw What You Started by Carla Salmon
We Saw What You Started, Carla Salmon’s debut novel published through Pan Macmillan books in 2025, is a YA thriller about arson, community, and club sports.
Book Review: Everywhere We Look by Martine Kropkowski
Everywhere We Look is Martine Kropkowski’s debut novel, published by Ultimo Press in Sydney in 2024, that explores themes of female friendship and grief in the aftermath of a family tragedy caused by male violence.
Book Review: Moonlight and Dust by Jasmin McGaughey
Jasmin McGaughey, a Torres Strait Islander and African American author from Queensland, uncovers belonging, identity, coming-of-age and magic in her young adult debut novel, Moonlight and Dust, releasing in July 2025 by Allen & Unwin.
Book Review: Don’t Let The Forest In by C. G. Drews
Don’t Let The Forest In by C. G. Drews is a queer, dark academia, YA horror novel published in 2024 by Hodder Children’s Books, an imprint of Hachette.
The book follows Andrew Perrault’s return to boarding school, where he finds refuge in writing twisted fairytales for Thomas Rye
Book Review: Big Time by Jordon Prosser
I was intrigued to read the Australian dystopian novel Big Time by Jordan Prosser, published in 2024. I was intrigued even more by not only its genre of Australian dystopian fiction but also its unique centring of music and psychedelics.
