Sororicidal (2026) by Edwina Preston Oh my, Edwina Preston knows how to represent malice! This story of two sisters, trying to outdo each other in coercive control since childhood, is absolutely gripping. This is the book description:…

A dark novel indeed!! Sororicidal (2026) by Edwina Preston anzlitlovers.com/2026/04/22/s...

2026 NSW Literary Awards shortlists The 2026 NSW Literary Awards shortlists have been announced: This is the Christina Stead Prize for fiction ($40,000), and links on the title go to the Judges comments Cure by Katherine Brabon, see …

2026 NSW Literary Awards shortlists
anzlitlovers.com/2026/04/21/2...

When I Am Sixty-Four (2026), by Debra Adelaide, and some thoughts about ‘Grief-Lit’ Debra Adelaide’s latest book, When I Am Sixty-Four,  is a novel about caring for a friend who took her own life.  In the Acknowledgements she says that it’s a work of autofiction based …

When I Am Sixty-Four (2026), by Debra Adelaide, and some thoughts about ‘Grief-Lit’
anzlitlovers.com/2026/04/17/w...

Shortlisted for the 2025 Booker Prize, Ben Markovits' The Rest of Our Lives is the story of a mid-life crisis that was never really more than mildly diverting. anzlitlovers.com/2026/04/15/t...

Heat Wave in Berlin (1961), by Dymphna Cusack Hard on the heels of a contemporary novel about resurgent post-war Nazism in the 1950s, (The Watchmaker’s War (2026) by Danny Ben-Moshe, see my review), came the utterly unexpected same theme…

A completely unexpected same theme in a novel I read for the #1961Club: Heat Wave in Berlin (1961), by Dymphna Cusack
anzlitlovers.com/2026/04/14/h...

2026 Age Book of the Year shortlists The shortlist for the 2026 Age Book of the Year has been announced. I’ve read three of the fiction list.  Links on the titles go to the Age (paywalled) review, links to my reviews are after t…

2026 Age Book of the Year shortlists:
anzlitlovers.com/2026/04/13/2...

That is so sad. ..

Department of the Vanishing (2026) by Johanna Bell Winner of the University of Tasmania’s Best New Unpublished Work prize in the 2025 Tasmanian Premier’s Literary Awards, Joanna Bell’s Department of the Vanishing is a spellbinding…

A spellbinding, innovative work of eco-fiction with a message about species extinction that can’t be ignored: Department of the Vanishing by Johanna Bell anzlitlovers.com/2026/04/08/d...

Author Talk: Jessica Brilliant Keener and Ben Markovits in con­ver­sa­tion with Stephanie But­nick This author talk was part of a series called Unpack­ing the Book, co-presented by the US Jewish Book Council, the New York Jewish Museum, and the lifestyle guide GOLDA.  Miraculously the event  was…

Pleased to hear it, and I can guess why. I have this on reserve after catching a convo about it via Zoom: anzlitlovers.com/2026/03/17/a...

Audition (2025), by Katie Kitamura BEWARE: SPOILERS … the truth was I had almost no idea of what she was talking about, it was all a way of talking rather than talking itself.  The sensation of dread increased. Max was looking…

Hmm. anzlitlovers.com/2026/04/06/a...

LOL and yet, soon after Xmas there were hot cross buns in the supermarket, but none there on Good Friday or Saturday...

The Best of Everything (2025), by Kit de Waal I’ve had the wrong kind of life to be sentimental, and Kit de Waal’s The Best of Everything is a bit too sentimental for me.  But the novel has been longlisted for the Women’s Pri…

Will it make the Women's Prize shortlist? IMO Kit De Waal's The Best of Everything a.k.a. Sweet Pea is not quite in the same league as The Benefactors, Flashlight or A Guardian and a Thief but it offers insights that I wasn't expecting: anzlitlovers.com/2026/04/04/t...

A Shipwreck in Fiji (2025, Akal Singh #2), by Nilima Rao A Shipwreck in Fiji is second in a detective series featuring a Sikh policeman called Akal Singh.  Attracted by the cover art, I bought it because the blurb says that it has… …all the c…

An entertaining work of detective fiction that avoids the clichés: A Shipwreck in Fiji (Akal Singh #2) is Fijian-Australian author Nilima Rao's second novel: anzlitlovers.com/2026/04/02/a...

It's heartbreaking, that novel. Such courage yet so futile.

The Afterlife of Harry Playford (2026, Stephen Minter #2), by Steven Carroll Like its predecessor Death of a Foreign Gentleman (2024, Stephen Minter#1, see my review), Steven Carroll’s The Afterlife of Harry Playford masquerades as detective fiction.  Part One brings …

The Afterlife of Harry Playford (Stephen Minter #2) by the inimitable Steven Carroll
anzlitlovers.com/2026/03/29/t...

Smile, the War is Over (1983), by Robin Sheiner I bet this novel caused a furore when it was first published in 1983.  WA author Robin Sheiner’s Smile, the War is Over is about the breakdown of established standards of morality and respect…

A most interesting novel about the Perth Home Front during WW2: Smile, the War is Over by Robin Sheiner
anzlitlovers.com/2026/03/28/s...

2026 Indie Book Awards winners The Winners for the Indie Book Awards 2026 have been announced. BOOK OF THE YEAR Wild Dark Shore by Charlotte McConaghy (Penguin Australia), on reserve at the library, I’m no 18 of 26 and the…

2026 Indie Book Awards winners
anzlitlovers.com/2026/03/24/2...

A Beautiful Loan (2026), by Mary Costello If anything in this review raises issues for you, help is available at Relationships Australia. Irish author Mary Costello has had a presence on this blog since guest reviewer Karenlee Thompson (wh…

A most interesting new novel from Mary Costello: A Beautiful Loan published in Australia with perfect cover art by Alex de Marcos by @textpublishing.bsky.social anzlitlovers.com/2026/03/23/a...

Star Gazers (2025), by Duncan Sarkies There’s an educational maxim that applies to discipline policy in schools: the discipline system has to work for the weakest teachers, not just the ones who can quell a riot by lifting an eye…

Inexplicably omitted from the shortlist for the #2026Ockhams, Star Gazers by Duncan Sarkies is an allegory for our times... and it stars alpacas!
anzlitlovers.com/2026/03/22/s...

Spell the Month in Books March 2026 Spell the Month in Books is a linkup hosted on Reviews From the Stacks on the first Saturday of each month, but that’s the day for #6Degrees, so here we are, running late. This month, the theme is …

Running late with #SpellTheMonthInBooks: anzlitlovers.com/2026/03/20/s...

2026 Climate Fiction Prize longlist and shortlist, and a shoutout to Australian authors of Eco-Fiction Update 19/3/26, to highlight in bold the titles that made the shortlist. Robbie Arnott’s Dusk is still in the running.  See below. To read more about the shortlisted books, visit the p…

Yay! Robbie Arnott's Dusk has made the Climate Prize shortlist:
anzlitlovers.com/2026/03/08/2...

1985, A Novel (2025) by Dominic Hoey Longlisted for the 2026 Ockham New Zealand Book Awards, 1985, a Novel is Dominic Hoey’s third novel.  He’s  a poet, author and playwright based in Auckland, and his previous fiction inc…

Longlisted for the #Ockhams, 1985, a novel by Dominic Hoey is a coming-of-age novel set amid the underclass of 1980s Auckland anzlitlovers.com/2026/03/18/1...

Author Talk: Jessica Brilliant Keener and Ben Markovits in con­ver­sa­tion with Stephanie But­nick This author talk was part of a series called Unpack­ing the Book, co-presented by the US Jewish Book Council, the New York Jewish Museum, and the lifestyle guide GOLDA.  Miraculously the event  was…

Thanks to the US Jewish Book Council, the New York Jewish Museum and GOLDA making this event available through Zoom, I 'attended' a most interesting author talk with Ben Markovits and Jessica Brilliant Keener today:
anzlitlovers.com/2026/03/17/a...

The Shortest History of India (2022) by John Zubrzycki I had good intentions of reading at least one nonfiction book each month this year, but here we are in mid-March and I’ve only just finished John Zubrzycki’s The Shortest History of Ind…

Hmm. My ambition to read one nonfiction book each month has fizzled out already. #NoteToSelf: must try harder...
anzlitlovers.com/2026/03/14/t...

#ReadingWales26 10 New(ish) Books by Welsh Authors : If you’re looking for ideas on what to read for Reading Wales Month, check out some of the latest books by Welsh authors. They’ve either been published since Reading Wales Month ’25 or are about to be...

If you're looking for ideas for #ReadingWales26 Karen has put some suggestions together 10 New(ish) Books by Welsh Authors bookertalk.com/readingwales... @bookertalk.bsky.social

The Fortunes (2016), by Peter Ho Davies It’s Reading Wales Month at BookerTalk and so it seemed a good time to read The Fortunes (2016) by Peter Ho Davies. Notable for his Booker longlisted first novel The Welsh Girl, (2007) Davies…

For #ReadingWalesMonth I read The Fortunes by Peter Ho Davies: anzlitlovers.com/2026/03/12/t...

New Book Announcement: “My Home is Dissent” by Pooja Ugrani My Home is Dissent is a luminous poetry collection by Pooja Ugrani that constructs verse as one might build a home—brick by tender brick, with the mortar of memory, desire, and defiance. This colle…

I haven't read this, but it has the most beautiful book cover!
asianreviewofbooks.com/new-book-ann...

2026 Climate Fiction Prize longlist, and a shoutout to Australian authors of Eco-Fiction Thanks to a heads-up from Stu at Winston’s Dad, here’s the longlist for the 2026 Climate Fiction Prize UK, and hey! there’s three Aussies  nominated (underlined, below) and I&#821…

Three Aussies on the UK's Climate Fiction Prize longlist, and a shoutout to other Australian authors of eco-fiction
anzlitlovers.com/2026/03/08/2...

Six Degrees of Separation, from Wuthering Heights… Did you know that there are 11883 editions of Wuthering Heights listed at Goodreads, which Kate at Books are My Favourite and Best. has selected as this month’s starter book for #6Degrees?  I…

#6Degrees, from Wuthering Heights...
anzlitlovers.com/2026/03/07/s...

A Guardian and a thief (2025), by Megha Majumdar Longlisted for the 2026 Women’s Prize for Fiction, shortlisted for the 2025 National Book Award for Fiction (open only to US citizens) and winner of the 2026 Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excelle…

Longlisted for the Women's Prize for Fiction, Megha Majumdar's A Guardian and a Thief blurs the line between the ambiguities of morality and the consequences of wrongdoings, large and small.
anzlitlovers.com/2026/03/07/a...