All the best decisions are made after hitting the bottle, right? Well, okay, that may not always be the case, but when Freya Miller, after consuming a few drinks too many, comes across a strange job advertisement that piques her interest, her decision to respond to the advertisement will irreversibly change her life forever.  The […]

Randolph Stow’s 1962 classic Tourmaline is set in the future and despite its unlikely setting, manages to convey relevant themes which resonate even in today’s modern society. The apocalyptic tale is set in a community in outback Western Australia, which is described in excruciating terms as a dying, waterless town. “I say we have a […]

“The book details the Exclusive Brethren’s strong hold. Fear used to stop her doing anything the Exclusive Brethren deemed forbidden; even reading a novel or seeing a movie wasn’t allowed and could evoke dire consequences.”

The Burning Elephant is a hard book to read. Not because it is linguistically challenging, but because of the emotion that threads high throughout the whole story. The novel is set in India and opens with an elephant escaping into the schoolyard where Govinda, the book’s young protagonist, studies and lives with his father – […]

In my yoga class, the teacher repeats a phrase during the meditation that I have always found poetic. She says, “observe how inhales arise out of stillness, and how exhales dissolve back into stillness.” If there was ever a book that is a literal interpretation of that sensation, The Life of Houses must surely be […]

Zoë Norton Lodge is a comedic goddess. You may know her as the cat lady from The Checkout, a presenter on The Chaser’s Media Circus and the creator of ABC’s live storytelling program, Story Club. As if that wasn’t enough, Zoë has put the rest of us mere mortals to shame with the release of her kick-ass book Almost Sincerely. Thanks a lot, Zoë.

In the title poem of Inside My Mother, we are immersed in the retching, garbled moments of someone between life and death. The narrator’s need to soften her mother’s hair with leaves is an intimate ritual that unfolds slowly—at times grotesque, other times clear and still. We feel we are witnessing something terrible, and sweet, […]

Some picture books aren’t meant to be read with a child on a sunny picnic blanket. In fact, some picture books aren’t meant to be read by children at all. Daydreams for Night (Simply Read Books, 2014) is one such book.   Better known as a singer-songwriter, Daydreams for Night is John Southworth’s first foray […]