What Am I Reading?
The Correspondent – Virginia Evans
What a balm, a joy, a comfort to read a novel of such wisdom, truth, vulnerability, curiosity and humanity. THE CORRESPONDENT (Penguin Random House 2025) by Virginia Evans is such a book: from the opening pages to the conclusion, it is filled with warmth and good...
The Framing – Fernanda Dahlstrom
THE FRAMING (Melbourne University Press 2026) is an interesting memoir by Fernanda Dahlstrom, an Asian/Australian writer of Swedish heritage. Now a lawyer in the Northern Territory, through a series of loosely connected memories Dahlstrom attempts to excavate her...
Yesteryear – Caro Claire Burke
So much hype around this debut novel by Caro Claire Burke, YESTERYEAR (HarperCollins 2026) and I began with high hopes of a story about a TradWife culture gone wrong, and a peek behind the scenes of the picture-perfect influencers who fill our Instagram pages. The...
The Marriage Portrait – Maggie O’Farrell
After fulsome adoration of HAMNET and LAND, I reached for the novel by Maggie O’Farrell in between those two that I’d missed: THE MARRIAGE PORTRAIT (Headline Publishing 2022). Written in O’Farrell’s consuming and evocative style, it is another triumph of...
The Unselected Journals of Emma M. Lion – Beth Brower
Thanks to Fiona Stager for pressing into my hands this whimsical, witty, sardonic, clever and entirely amusing comedy of manners set in 1883, THE UNSELECTED JOURNALS OF EMMA M. LION (Vol 1 & 2) by Beth Brower and published by Bloomsbury Publishing in 2026. For...
The Beauty of Broken Things – Melissa Sharman
THE BEAUTY OF BROKEN THINGS (Hawkeye Publishing 2026) is the connection of three stories that weave together to form the complex life of author Melissa Sharman: her experience of childhood abuse and her shocking near miss with an infamous child killer; her navigation...
For A Moment More – GS Johnston
G S Johnston’s poignant and dynamic novel FOR A MOMENT MORE (Broadcast Books 2026) is a fictional account of a particularly traumatic, divisive, misunderstood and tragic time, that of the HIV/AIDS epidemic of the mainly 80’s and 90’s. For me, this time is represented...
Land – Maggie O’Farrell
Maggie O’Farrell, the best-selling author of HAMNET, brings us her latest historical masterpiece LAND (Hachette 2026), a story of one particular piece of land, one geographical spot in Ireland, and the happenings there over centuries. O’Farrell is a brilliant,...
The Lost Island – Samantha Wheeler
THE LOST ISLAND (UQP 2026) by award-winning author Samantha Wheeler is a mystery adventure story for young readers aged eight and up. Set somewhere in the Pacific Ocean, this tale of young Theo and his fight for survival in the wilderness is an emotional rollercoaster...
Whistler – Ann Patchett
After reading all of Ann Patchett’s fiction, and almost all her non-fiction, I can say with confidence that a new Patchett book will capture your heart and emotions from the first pages, shake up preconceived ideas, throw in some twists and surprises, take you to...
Postscript: Life, Love and Loss in Australian Letters
POSTSCRIPT: Life, Love and Loss in Australian Letters (National Library of Australia 2026) by various contributors is a moving, tender, curious and enlightening collection of old letters found in the archives, each with a response (inspired by either content, tone or...
Circle of Wonders – Kathryn Heyman
This book, this CIRCLE OF WONDERS, is truly an awe-inspiring novel about death and grief, forgiveness and friendship and family. I cried. I too have lost a dear friend too soon, as in this story. I’ve lost a daughter much too young. Both to cancer. A trauma only...