In The Loudness of Unsaid Things (Hachette 2020), Hilde Hinton has created two unforgettable female characters with distinctive voices who will each clutch at your heart. In this meandering tale of loneliness, isolation and connection, Hinton’s prose is simple, evocative of the time, and impossibly sad. But just when the heartbreak becomes almost unbearable, small slivers of light shine rays of hopefulness and optimism.

Stone Sky Gold Mountain (UQP 2020) is the latest work by author Mirandi Riwoe, whose stunning novella The Fish Girl (shortlisted for The Stella Prize) subverted a traditional narrative in a retelling from the perspective of a character normally silenced. In her new novel, Riwoe again focuses on the stories of those who historically have not had their voices heard in the dominant narrative. The result is a well-crafted, beautifully written, character-driven story that immerses us deep into Australia of another era and acquaints us intimately with those the history books have largely ignored, or who have otherwise been written as tired tropes or stereotypes.