Published...Or Not

‘Salty, Spiced and a Little Bit Nice' has Ellie a type 1 diabetic wanting independence from her controlling family but not wanting to be hurt again by her teenage crush in this romantic comedy by Cynthia Timoti.  Gregory Day's anthology of poetry, Southsightedness, connects creativity, the landscape and the artist as a collective whole in verse that is imaginative and unique.   

Food blogger, Chloe, is competing for an interview with a famous chef in Victoria Brownlee's novel, 'Eat Your Heart Out'.Doctor Hannah Wright must balance her personal and professional life as she treats psychiatric patients at the Menzies Hospital in the latest novel, The Glass House, by Anne Buist and Graeme Simsion.

By Her Hand is Marion Taffe's debut novel where the protagonist must write her rage to win her war.Laura McCluskey takes us to an isolated island off the west coast of Scotland where superstition and resistance hamper a murder investigation in her debut novel, The Wolf Tree.

Peter Norris writes about his upbringing with his career criminal father who was a bank robber and jail escapee in the memoir, The Bank Robbers Boy.Kate Grenville talks about her latest work, Unsettled.

A cicada leaves a shell of its former self behind suggesting a past life and this notion is played upon in Ella Ward's novel, The Cicada House.

Kate Solly has written a cosy crime book ‘The Paradise Heights Craft Store Stitch Up'.Family saga mixes with macabre happenings in ‘First Name Second Name' Steve MinOn has a dead man walking back through four generations of family history to recover his lost identity. 

Her Gramps has dementia and it is through a time slip that Charlotte relives the moon landing and brings sparks of awareness and her own empathy to him and others in the aged care facility, in Anna Ciddor's ‘Moonboy'.Several months after her father's death, Belinda Probert discovers that his name is actually Roy. She outlines the journey of discovery that followed in her book, ‘Bill's Secrets - class, war and ambition'. 

Alice and Teddy are two women on the fringes of criminality who begin to realize they are implicated in drug running and murder in Fiona Hardy's novel, 'Unbury the Dead'.Three people from different generations, backgrounds and work, form an unlikely connection and this friendship alters the course of their lives in Andrea Goldsmith's ‘The Buried Life'

It is not only communicating with the spirits of the dead that is perplexing for Ellen but her feeling towards one of the other members of the family that make up the church in ‘The Spirit Circle' by Tara Calaby, an intriguing historical mystery.Geraldine Brooks' memoir, ‘Memorial Days', addresses the nature of loss and grief as she comes to terms with the unexpected death of her husband, Tony Horwitz.   

Jennifer Wolfe thinks she is fighting just for her family but her survival and the truths she could reveal could bring down a dictatorship. She becomes ‘The Hunted' in Tayla Holborow's adventure story. ‘The Thrill Of It' takes us into the malevolent world of a serial killer dispatching old women.  Mandy Beaumont bases her version on real life events in Sydney of the 1990's.  

Lili Wilkinson's, "Unhallowed Halls', is set on the Scottish moors. It is where dark academia and demons collide.  Should the creative arts be inviolable or should artists use their knowledge for personal gain. This is one of the concepts in Alex Miller's latest novel, The Deal.

The stories and songs coming from a writing course in a women's prison, brings black humour and a little understanding of these women's lives and crimes in Valerie Colyer's ‘Tales that talk to you'Geoff Parkes takes us to the backwater town of Nashville in New Zealand where a Finnish backpacker, Sanna Sorensen, goes missing. The whole town is full of suspects and secrets making the truth hard to establish when Sanna's sister, Emilia, comes after the investigation has failed to find a culprit in 'When the Deep Bush Swallows You Whole'    

Thuy On, once again, explores, language, love and the arts in her latest poetry collection, ‘Essence'.Grace had to contend with grieving parents, conflicted staff and hounded by relentless media for the decision she made at the beach and then the consequences to come to her in this page turning thriller ‘Three Boys Gone' by Mark Smith.     

‘You Must Remember This' by Sean Wilson is an eloquent jumble of a family story with a tender portrait of Grace and her slippages of memory with dementia.When a well-meaning community is challenged by the homeless living close by, it is how they act individually and as a group that make this such a wryly humourous and readable fiction. The book is ‘The Campers' by Maryrose Cuskelly.

Blue Lake by David Sornig is part history, part biography and part personal reflection on a much overlooked part of Melbourne's landscape. Situated to the west of the city lies a tract of land, Dudley Flats, that was once a lagoon but embodies the social, industrial and cultural changes to Melbourne over time. It was a marshland, waste dump, shanty town and shipping centre but is still often overlooked by Melbournites.

When Captain Cook sailed up the east coast of Australia, he renamed many of the landmarks.  In ‘Warra Warra Wai' the names and stories of these landmarks are explained as well as how the Indigenous Australians were impacted by this uninvited visitor.  Darren Rix and Craig Cormick have recorded and researched this most interesting book. 

Ghost Cities by Siang Lu is an epic tale. Historical China with paranoid emperors finds a parralel with megalomaniaical film directors in the present day where empires are build on false promises. But Lu's story goes into the very foundation of language and social attitudes where we begin to question the foundations of what we believe and how social truths are formed. And there are real 'ghost cities' in some countries today which prove the point Lu is making.

Peter Rose, long time editor of ABR, talks about the recent edition '2024 Books of the Year', with over 40 contributors. David, Lisa and Jan add the books that resonated with them over the year on Published or not, and we alll discuss different aspects of reading, writing and reviewing.

'Thoroughly Disenchanted' is Alexandra Almond's take on a fictional world where magic casts a spell on us all and keeps us in thrall without us even knowing.'The Lost Book of Magic' is the last in a fantasy trilogy for middle grade readers by Amelia Mellor.

The subtitle says it all – ‘A celebration of joyful rebellion, glorious women and cats', it is also factually interesting and beautifully illustrated. The author is Anna Go-Go and the title is ‘Cat Lady Manifesto'.Iain Ryan's latest novel,' The Dream', is a dark noir thriller set against the backdrop of corruption and dysfunction that was prevalent in Queensland before the Firzgerald Inquiry.   

A rabbit and a grandmother come to stay during lockdown. Will this help a grieving family heal in Melanie Cheng's ‘The Burrow'.Ginny Dilboong has a unique way of publishing her poetry. She plants her compositions in the earth and by so doing affirms her indigenous ties to the landscape in Nardi Simpson's book ‘TheBelburd'.  

‘Six Summers of Tash and Leopold' by Danielle Binks is a beautiful middle-grade novel for contemporary tmes.Zoe's Elevator Pitch to her agent says it all…….“A thriller writer who starts dating a celebrity has to deal with a psycho fan who uses everything in her first book against her. The police can't help her, nobody can help her…except maybe the man she loves “ or can he? in Pip Drysdale's crime novel ‘The Close-Up'.     

Darren Rix and Craig Cormick have co-authored ‘Warra Warra Wai'. It is a richly researched book telling of Captain Cook's Endeavour visit and what happened then, from both historical records and indigenous story telling. Writers block can be a very debilitating condition made all the more problematic when stranded on a remote island where the mythology of the landscape and fellow attendees with suspicious pasts make knowing who to trust a challenging exercise. This is the world into which Brooke Hardwick takes us in 'The Fog'.  

'Little Puggle's Christmas' is a beautiful Christmas book by Vikki Conley with an Australian setting.The 70's were a time of social revolution and one of the epicentres of the ferment was London where Grace has travelled. Her meeting with Marigold is pivotal to her journey of self discovery which is all revealed in Mira Robertson's novel, 'Grace and Marigold'.

Rosalie Ham completes her trilogy of The Dressmaker with ‘Molly', the mother who challenged society's norms in wanting changes, fairness for women in the work place and sensible underwear. A humorous and well-crafted story which explains how her daughter, Tilly Dunnage, grew up in Dungatar.Yannick Thoraval's book ‘The Marriage Gap' challenges the conventional notions of marriage and prompts reads to question what truly makes a relationship successful and fulfilling. 

As ‘The 113th Assistant Librarian' Oliver's life now has seven cats, hundreds of deadly books and he has to learn how to stop people dying in the library.  Stuart Wilson has written a magical tome for parents to enjoy reading to their primary aged kids and remember books can be dangerous!  After reading Gabriel Bermoser's novel, The Hitchhiker, you will forever reconsider assisting strangers waiting by the roadside. With everyone having a secret and individual's having macabre agendas, you never know who will be sitting in the seat beside you.  

Managing a boutique hotel overlooking a surf beach in Sri Lanka sounds like paradise. Dasha Ross writes about the joy and disasters of trying to do this with her husband John Pinder in ‘Big Trouble Coming'. Tigest Girma creates a world where mortals and vampires coexist in 'Immortal Dark' where betrayal, violence and romance are intertwined and life is tenuous.    

Lynette Clarke has written about strangers in London sharing rooms with no personal space. Some will find work, fall in love and forge friendships but one will be driven to violence in ‘The Rat Cage'. Finding time to be yourself given the travails of life besetting you is at the core of Sophie Green's novel, 'Art Hour at the Duchess Hotel'.  

Guilt, hope and recrimination are at play in Matthew Hooper's debut novel, A Cold Season.The Little Clothes by Deborah Callaghan is about grabbing onto life and claiming your place in it.are

Casey Nott has written a novel about motherhood, identity and loss in ‘Forgotten'.Fay works as a translator but it is her choice of lover and employer that lead to betrayal, ambition and questioning what love means in Jessie Tu's ‘The Honeyeater'.

Amanda Willimott has written an historical thriller, based on an actual trial of a werewolf. ‘Winter of the Wolf' is also about the power of law and religion for educated men while many women had no voice at all for fear of being charged with witchcraft.Keshe Chow takes us back to imperial China and the notion that behind every mirror lies an alternate universe waiting to escape their duty of mimicking reality in, 'The Girl With No Reflection'.     

Displacement can be the shift in location from a country, a city or a family. All of these aspects come to life when Aliya and her daughter choose to move to rural New South Wales in Jumaana Abdu's debut novel ‘Translations'.The pieces of our lives, the influences and experiences, are like a mosaic joining together to make a whole that may be stranger than we imagine. This is evident in 'Mural' by Stephen Downes where a madman reveals the forces that may have shaped him. 

Household debt takes on a new meaning when you are a former assassin seeking retribution for the death of a child while, at the same time, trying to manage your domestic life. Mark Mupotsa-Russell explores these dilemmas in his novel, ‘The Hitwoman's Guide to Reducing Household Debt'.Melbourne is the city. It and the characters who just want to be heard are given a voice in ‘The Degenerates'. They are brought to life with originality, humour and very fine writing by Raeden Richardson

'Together We Fall Apart' is Sophie Matthiesson's novel about running away and coming home against a backdrop of addiction.'The End and Everything Before It' is Finnegan Kruckemeyer's first novel where the tale twists upon itself highlighting the development of a town over the course of time where legend and life are intertwined.

A small town but with a dark history and when an old woman tells a secret from the past, there is a mystery to unravel and a crime to solve in Amy Doak's YA novel ‘Eleanor Jones Can't Keep a Secret'.Courtney Collins explores the universal connection between women that transcends time, cultures and countries in her novel, 'Bird'.

Jack Dunne wants a future for his son but Australia has an occupational force which wants to eradicate the last hill of resistance and that's where their home is.  'Outrider' is an action packed fiction, a story of survival and hope by Mark Wales.J P Pomare has us delving into the cold case morder of the Primrose family some seventeen years after the event in his latest novel, '17 Years Later'. It is a true crime podcast that brings to life new information that could just as easily prove innocence as well as guilt. We never know which until the end of the novel.

Movie reels, photographs a camera and letters link two women 100 years apart in this parallel story of history and the complication of relationships in ‘The Lost Letters of Rose Carey' by Julie Bennett.     'The Infant Vine' is Isabella G. Mead's debut collection of poetry that explores new life and motherhood with particular associations with nature that are often intriguing and thought provoking.   

A teenage girl is influenced by both her mother and an adult friend, but it is only after a tragedy she learns how she fits into complex society of family and friendships and becomes her best self in ‘Jade and Emerald ‘ by Michelle See-Tho.Scott Wilson takes us into the realm of super-forecasters gauging the economic, political, and military temperature for global political powers in his novel, 'The Bowman Standard'. 

‘If You Go' by Alice Robinson, is a domestic sci-fi about motherhood and what we pass onto our children.Marnie's daughter has a raging drug habit and a repellent boyfriend. She can see the danger for her grandchildren. Her determination to keep them safe means she has to trust some strangers who become friends in ‘'Edenhope' by Louise Le Nay.

Tim Ayliffe weaves a web of intrigue in 'The Wrong Man' where deaths of young women two years apart have a mysterious connection linked to a serial killer. The corruption within the police force impedes the investigation and there is a suggestion a not so innocent man has been framed.Fred is kind and has so much love to give, but no one to give it to. Mistaken identity gives him not only security and friends, but also immense guilt in Anna Johnston's ‘The Borrowed Life of Frederick Fife'.             

‘The Glass House' by Anne Buist and Graeme Simsion delves into the challenges faced by both psychiatric patients and clinicians as they seek diagnoses and an equitable path forward with their lives. ‘Murder in Punch Lane' has well known people as suspects in Jane Sullivan's gothic crime novel set in the laneways of 19th century Melbourne.

 Before mobiles there were letters and that's how three friends from the past communicated. The letters were found and three friends from now want to solve the mystery of who they were and what happened to them.  In solving the mystery they also learn about themselves in 'Return to Sender' by Lauren Draper.'Naked Ambition' is Robert Gott's hilarious look at politicians, the Archibald Prize and Christian fundamentalism. A politician sees no problem being painted in the nude but the repercussions compound as he is elevated to the minister for education. This is a replay of an interview conducted in 2023.

A child walks out of the Wimmera desert in Lia Hills' novel, The Desert Knows Her Name'. She is an enigma that others, all with their own agends, try to solve.'Portraits' by W. H. Chong is a collection of  more than 300 drawings of artists, writers, musicians and thinkers.

Lindy Cameron, Hugh McGinlay, Narrelle Harris and Robert Gott talk all things crime while constantly being interrupted through the Radiothon Program.

The changes that happen from primary school to high school with friends, family and your own body can be difficult.  Helen Brown has the love of ‘Mickey' to help her and writes about this cat and these incidents with humour and understanding.  Jenny Ackland explores a dystopian future in her latest novel, 'Hurdy Gurdy', where a troupe of female performers provide more than just entertainment especially for women in need.

There is murder and corruption in Michael Brissenden's 'Smoke' where loyalty and betrayal are exposed after a fire has ravaged a small community. The consequences of a once in a lifetime comet will reveal long held secrets, astronomy, romance and a thriller ending in Ruby Todd's, ‘Bright Objects'.            

Richard Broome tells the story of early European contact with its guns, diseases and ideas upon the First Nations people of Victoria in 'Aboriginal Victorians'.'The Work; by Bri Lee is a stunning debut novel about power, art and money.

'The Accident' by Fiona Lowe is a story of a devastating accident with a shocking web of lies. What happens when you are‘Suddenly Single at Sixty'?  Jo Peck has written of her loss, anger and hurt along with her social experiment of on-line dating, in this often humorous memoir.

Garry Disher's latest novel, 'Sanctuary', reveals a world of scams, crime, corruption and characters seeking solace while, all the while, looking over their shoulders lest they are made accountable for their misdeeds.They met in 1958 in Holywood when producers controlled every aspect of an actor's life . Three of the four friends continued to meet regularly. Fifty years later they learn the reason behind one of their friends betrayal to the group in 'The Studio Girls' by Lisa Ireland. 

Organised crime and ballroom dancing go hand in hand in Andrea Barton's novel, 'The Godfather of Dance'. Both are cutthroat industries.‘Pheasants Nest' is a crime novel of rape and abduction.  As well as action and suspense, Louise Milligan has created characters which give this book a realistic heart. 

The woman, mother, wife in Miranda Darling's book is so much more, but will she spiral with subservient silence into her relationship or will her anger compound into a climatic burst and the title of this book is  ‘Thunderhead‘.Carmel Shute tells us what's happening with ‘Sisters in Crime'.