The Medici Secret by Michael White
23 February, 2008
Ex-Thompson Twins band member Michael White will intrigue readers with his latest novel The Medici Secret. White is the author of 25 books, his best known being the international bestseller Equinox.

The Lifeboat by Zacharey Jane
23 February, 2008
When a man and a woman are found in a lifeboat off the coast of an unnamed island state, a young immigrant interpreter finds herself with the unenviable task of solving the mystery of their identities.

Landscape of Desire by Kevin Rabalais
23 February, 2008
An accomplished first novel, The Landscape of Desire revisits the Burke and Wills tragedy and brings to life the later expedition, led by Alfred Howitt, which was charged with establishing the fate of those men and rescuing them if possible.

God of Speed by Luke Davies
23 February, 2008
Howard Hughes was a man of huge ambitions: a perfectionist who directed the most expensive movie ever made; a mogul who bedded dozens of starlets; a pioneering aviator who insisted on test-piloting his own planes

Dancing Backwards in High Heels by Christine Darcas
23 February, 2008
Maddie is a middle-aged woman frustrated with the mundane and messy tasks of motherhood and marriage crisis.

A Fraction of the Whole by Steve Toltz
23 February, 2008
A Fraction of the Whole is an ambitious, lively, ebullient novel that is funny, philosophical and always has an eye on the foibles of life.

The Con by Jesse Pentecost
9 January, 2008
Derek Gunderson is a student, bogged down in his final year at a conservatorium of music, learning the finer arts of the piano and dreaming of a glittering career.

Eating Lolly by Corrie Hosking
9 January, 2008
Mumma is sent away to an island to have her illegitimate daughter. She emotionally smothers her new baby and curbs her own anxieties with the comfort of food—hot bread with butter, puddings, eggs, meats and sweet treats.

The First Weapon by Bevan McGuiness
9 January, 2008
The second volume in ‘The Triumvirate’ returns to the three protagonists of the first: Shanek, Hwenfayre and Aldere. As more is revealed about the powers of the Triumvirate it appears that the fears of those who know the ancient tales may not be entirely misplaced.

Fivefold by Nathan Burrage
9 January, 2008
‘What if the first five chapters of the bible weren’t about good and evil at all?’ Fivefold is a mystical thriller filled with misconceptions and untruths in the Bible and the traditions of a brotherhood, known as the Kabbalah. James, Morgan, Eric, Ashvin and Elise, a close-knit group of friends at university but with limited contact since, are thrust together in circumstances they could never have imagined.

Run Afoul by Joan Druett
9 January, 2008
This is the third book in the Wiki Coffin series of adventures written by New Zealand maritime historian Joan Druett. The dashing protagonist Wiki Coffin is half Maori and half American, having moved to America with his father when he was 12.

Stairway to the Moon by Colin Falconer
9 January, 2008
Stairway to the Moon is the second in what feels like a continuing series that began with Falconer’s 2006 novel Pearls—although the publicity blurb says ‘brings to a stunning conclusion….’ That said, you don’t need to have read the first to appreciate the epic historical story and character arcs as established in Pearls and re-set here during the period 1934-1942.

The Tattooed Man by Alex Palmer
9 January, 2008
The Tattooed Man opens with a grisly tableau—a table is set, dinner is served, and all seated at the table have been murdered. Sitting with them is the mummified body of a missing detective, identifiable by his distinctive tattoo, with a bloodstained booklet in his hand.

Surveillance by Jonathan Raban
19 December, 2007
Surveillance is a disturbing but immensely readable novel which reflects the uncertainties of our world. Set in Seattle, where Raban now lives, it portrays ordinary people in a seemingly ordinary world where security, mock-terror exercises, surveillance, deception, suspicion and questions of identity increasingly intrude into their lives.

Diary of a Bad Year by J M Coetzee
19 December, 2007
An ageing male writer has been asked to contribute to Strong Opinions, a book of essays by six eminent thinkers from around the world. Encouraged to expound on what is wrong with the world, these essays range in topic from tourism to mathematics, from the state of universities to the effects of intelligent design.

The Children by Charlotte Wood
19 December, 2007
Wood’s first book was superbly polished, her second was shortlisted for the Miles Franklin, so it is no surprise that her third novel, The Children, captivates from the first dramatic paragraph.

Dead Birds by Trevor Shearston
19 December, 2007
A New Guinean tribesman is killed by a spirit with lightning (a white man with a gun). His head is preserved in a jar and it’s from this point of view that the reader experiences the goings-on of the ‘spirits’ onboard a moving animal (boat).

Duet by Kimberley Freeman
19 December, 2007
Under another guise Kimberley Freeman, author of Duet, is better known as Kim Wilkins, writer of several award-winning horror and fantasy novels. The shift in genres is a curious one: the transition from speculative fiction to commercial women’s fiction here is not always smooth.

A History of the Beanbag and Other Stories by Susan Midalia
19 December, 2007
It’s great to see a resurgence of Australian short story collections being published by smaller publishing houses. Recently, both Cate Kennedy’s Dark Roots (Scribe) and Paddy O’Reilly’s The End of the World (UQP) have been published to critical acclaim.

The Low Road by Chris Womersley
19 December, 2007
The publishers of this extraordinary debut novel correctly describe it as ‘part classic film-noir crime-thriller, part modern tale of despair and desperation.’ Lee, a petty-criminal wounded in a botched hold-up, is patched-up by Wild, a disbarred doctor.

Luck in the Greater West by Damian McDonald
28 November, 2007
Luck in the Greater West explores the circumstances and interconnections of a disparate group of inhabitants of the vast suburban sprawl that is greater western Sydney

Natural History by Neil Cross
28 November, 2007
Natural History is an unusual literary thriller set in a failing animal refuge, home to dysfunctional apes which have been rescued from abusive owners.

Ocean Road by Glyn Parry
28 November, 2007
It’s summer, 1976—Frank, Laura and their son Toby are holidaying at a seaside cottage, but this is a summer of uncertain times where a marriage and three lives are changed forever.

The Storm Prophet by Hector Macdonald
28 November, 2007
A tale of shipwreck with a difference, The Storm Prophet is difficult to sum up. It is set in an alternate present, when an election for the position of ‘First Citizen’ is taking place.

Towards Another Summer by Janet Frame
28 November, 2007
For fans of Janet Frame’s work, Towards Another Summer will be another encounter with a much-loved friend. Those unfamiliar with this brilliant and eccentric New Zealander, as famous for her traumatic life story as for her crystalline prose, might start here.