Winding back the clocks to the end of the 16th century, we meet Hamnet at home in Stratford-Upon-Avon, England. His twin sister is suddenly unwell and he searches desperately for help throughout his family home, and then hometown. Will she survive this fever?

Through evocative and beautiful prose, O’Farrell reimagines Hamnet’s life. Narrating how our past and present stories can overlap. How we exist between life and death, love and loss, sickness and health, beginnings and endings. I was awestruck by this book — the bravery to take on this idea, the beauty of its prose — and I just don’t know how my heart will recover. I was rapt. Loved it hard. All the gold stars. 

It’s 15 July 1988 when we meet Emma and Dexter on the day of their university graduation. It’s just a day, a somewhat ordinary day of two university kids doing university kid things (save the milestone event). And it’s just the day that sets off a story that follows them for twenty years; one we get glimpses of as we see their lives on the 15th of July each year.

What can I say? Oh my heart, this book. It can touch the deepest parts of your soul. Perhaps I fell into it hard as I was living in London in 2009 (when it was published) so its characters, conversations and locations just felt so real. It’s compelling, real and layered with the humanity that connects us. I loved it. What can I say? Chase the life.

In country Ireland, a little girl goes to stay with family as her parents struggle to feed their large family. As she aptly puts it: “I am in a spot where I can neither be what I always am nor turn into what I could be.”

This is my first Keegan novella and I am speechless. It’s quiet, yet profound and full of heart. It’s a 10 from me. Loved it wholeheartedly.

Set in a time We Never Want To see, The Last Migration follows Franny Stone on the final migration of Arctic terns by boat from Greenland to Antarctica. McConaghy has crafted a delicate yet quietly fierce journey centred on the balance of loss and love. It’s an uncomfortable truth that drives this story — the end of wildlife on earth — and it’s tense and heart wrenching. But there is an undercurrent of optimism that threads the narrative. To me, this is a daring adventure of hope. A love letter to everyone who loves the Earth.

This is Swiv’s story, in her own words. Currently suspended from school for fighting, Swiv  is being ‘homeschooled’ by Grandma whilst her pregnant mother works (and her father’s whereabouts it unknown). This makes Swiv a student of the world, and her grandma is eager to teach her to learn how to fight. Fight for life, that is.

I really, really enjoyed this book. Toews’ writing is fluid yet tight, serious but funny. This is an intergenerational tale full of heart, joy and wit — a reminder that throughout grief or trauma to look for the light. To have the courage to fight. For me, Fight Night is here to spotlight the unrelenting fire of the female spirit. Grandma Elvira is everything: “She said what makes a tragedy bearable and unbearable is the same thing — which is that life goes on.” Reading it felt like a great, big warm hug. It’s a YES from me.

“You can only die once so don’t die a thousand times worrying about it.” – Grandma Elvira.

It’s November 1789 in Maine and local midwife, healer and mother of six Martha Ballard is called to examine a body pulled from the frozen river. But who is he and how did he die?

Inspired by a true story from 200 years ago, ‘The Frozen River’ is a page-turning murder mystery that unravels as Martha pieces together town secrets and lies.

I am a historical fiction wannabe, but I was rapt. This is more than a riveting read, it commits in print to the magic of midwifery and the fearlessness of the female spirit. Stellar.

“When I welcome others, I honour my country. Its rivers are my blood, its rocky outcrops my bones; its winds are my breath as my lungs fill and empty. It is me.”

On a steaming hot day in January 1788, six Elders gather to discuss the unknown nowees (boats) that have appeared in the horizon. There are no songlines for this event. Should they welcome the visitors to Country, or repel them? 

This is achingly quintessential to read. It’s easy to read, following their conversation as they unpick the situation. But taking it slowly — each chapter enriched with knowledge, customs and beliefs of First Nations People and Ancestors — that’s the gift of this book. Full of heart, and heartbreaking. 

This book explores how two social phenomenons contributed to the great rewiring of humans: the overprotection of children in the physical world and the unguarded experience of children in the online world.  An essential read giving practical advice (backed by research, that’s grim and confronting) on how parents, children – and I’d say anyone – can come back to Earth in a tech-driven world.  

It’s the 1600s in the wilds of The New World (or early America, as we now call it). A young girl runs from a settlement at night, daring to leave life as she knows it for the great unknown. 

It’s a gripping adventure, subtly exploring what it means to be human. The light, the dark. Our fears, our hopes. Our strength, our weakness. Our loves, our loss. But most of all, it read to me as us a reminder of our never-ending relationship to each other, and all living things. Groff’s words are poetic, powerful and will long sit with me.

We’re in modern-day Brisbane as we meet a 17 year old girl who lives in an orange van with her mother by the Brisbane River in West End. They’re two ‘invisible’ faces of the vulnerable houseless community, both purposeless nameless to remain out of sight from the boys in blue. See, they’ve been on the run from her mother’s past. A past her mother will face when the girl turns 18 — by turning herself into the police. That’s when the girl will find out her name. 

But then, an unthinkable event happens. It sets off a chain of events for the girl as she struggles to unravel who she is, where where she’s going, and what she’s prepared to do to survive. As the book draws on more than once, “A woman never knows exactly what she is capable of, sweetheart, until she knows exactly what she is capable of.”

This is my first Trent Dalton and I enjoyed it (though it was a bit long). Because through his words, Brisbane (my home town) is seen. It comes alive throughout this story — vivid and vibrant, yet gritty and unpolished. An artist who sees the beauty blurred through its everydayness. And through his words, a protagonist the ‘world doesn’t see’ takes centre stage — giving visibility and heart to a marginalised community that yearns to be respected and included in a future as bright as they can dream. Just like everyone.