Top 101 2023 Australian Authors

This book made it to #97 in our Top 101 2023! Every year we ask our Booklovers to vote for their favourite book. From that, we share the Top 101 winners for everyone to enjoy. Discover the rest of the books that made it into our Top 101 list.

Kady and Ezra thought their break-up was messy until they witnessed their entire world literally falling apart. Now they're piecing together what's left of their lives, and their romance, and trying to survive an intergalactic war.

TheNew York Times Bestseller

The year is 2575, and two rival mega-corporations are at war over a planet that's little more than an ice-covered speck at the edge of the universe. Too bad nobody thought to warn the people living on it. With enemy fire raining down on them, exes Kady and Ezra - who are barely even talking to each other - are forced to fight their way onto the evacuating fleet, with an enemy warship in hot pursuit.

But the warship is the least of their problems. A deadly plague has broken out and is mutating, with terrifying results. The fleet's AI, which should be protecting them, may actually be their enemy; and nobody in charge will say what the hell is going on. As Kady hacks into a tangled web of data to find the truth, it's clear only one person can help her bring it all to light: the ex-boyfriend she swore she'd never speak to again.

Illuminae is the first book in a heart-stopping, high-octane trilogy about lives interrupted, the price of truth and the courage of everyday heroes.

This book made it to #86 in our Top 101 2023! Every year we ask our Booklovers to vote for their favourite book. From that, we share the Top 101 winners for everyone to enjoy. Discover the rest of the books that made it into our Top 101 list.

The year is 2380, and the graduating cadets of Aurora Academy are being assigned their first missions. Star pupil Tyler Jones is ready to recruit the squad of his dreams, but his own boneheaded heroism sees him stuck with the dregs nobody else in the Academy would touch: A cocky diplomat with a black belt in sarcasm, a sociopath scientist with a fondness for shooting her bunkmates, a smart-ass tech-whiz with the galaxy's biggest chip on his shoulder, an alien warrior with anger management issues, a tomboy pilot who's totally not into him, in case you were wondering. And Ty's squad isn't even his biggest problem--that'd be Aurora Jie-Lin O'Malley, the girl he's just rescued from interdimensional space.

Trapped in cryo-sleep for two centuries, Auri is a girl out of time and out of her depth. But she could be the catalyst that starts a war millions of years in the making, and Tyler's squad of losers, discipline-cases and misfits might just be the last hope for the entire galaxy.

NOBODY PANIC.

"Only Jay and Amie could follow-up their iconic and beloved Illuminae Files with something as incredibly amazing as Aurora Rising. Fast paced, action-packed and filled with witty banter from a cast of characters who will steal your heart, Aurora Rising is a fantastic start to a new series and is a shining example of why this dynamic duo are the very best in Australian YA." Tanaya, Dymocks Marketing Coordinator

Kady, Ezra, Hanna and Nik narrowly escaped with their lives from the attacks on Heimdall station and now find themselves crammed with 2,000 refugees on the container ship, Mao. With the jump station destroyed and their resources scarce, the only option is to return to Kerenza - but who knows what they'll find seven months after the invasion?

Meanwhile, Kady's cousin, Asha, survived the initial BeiTech assault and has joined Kerenza's ragtag underground resistance. When Rhys - an old flame from Asha's past - reappears on Kerenza, the two find themselves on opposite sides of the conflict.

With time running out, a final battle will be waged on land and in space, heroes will fall, and hearts will be broken.

From bestselling author duo Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff - and once again featuring select journal entries from Marie Lu - comes the heart-stopping, heartbreaking finale in the trilogy that broke the mould and has been called 'stylistically mesmerizing' and 'out-of-this-world awesome'.

Brace yourself for Gemina -- the exhilarating sequel to the New York Times bestselling and award-winning Illuminae that's been called 'out-of-this-world awesome' -- featuring journal illustrations by bestselling author Marie Lu.

Moving to a space station at the edge of the galaxy was always going to be the death of Hanna's social life. Nobody said it might actually get her killed.

The saga that began with the breakout bestseller Illuminae continues on board the space station Heimdall, where two new characters will confront the next wave of BeiTech's assault. Hanna is the station captain's pampered daughter, Nik the reluctant member of a notorious crime family. But while they are struggling with the realities of life aboard the galaxy's most boring space station, little do they know that Kady Grant and the Hypatia are headed to Heimdall, carrying news of the Kerenza invasion.

When an elite BeiTech team invades the station, Hanna and Nik are thrown together to defend their home. But alien predators are picking off the crew one by one, and a malfunction in the station's wormhole means the space-time continuum may be ripped in two before dinner. Soon, Hanna and Nik aren't just fighting for their own survival. The fate of everyone on the Hypatia -- and possibly in the known universe -- is in their hands.

But relax. They've totally got this. They hope.

Our heroes are back. Kind of.

First, the bad news: an ancient evil - you know, your standard consume-all-life-in-the-galaxy deal - is about to be unleashed. The good news? Squad 312 is standing by to save the day. They've just got to take care of a few small distractions first.

Like the clan of gremps who'd like to rearrange their favourite faces. And the cadre of illegit GIA agents with creepy flowers where their eyes used to be, who'll stop at nothing to get their hands on Auri. Then there's Kal's long-lost sister, who's not exactly happy to see her baby brother, and has a Syldrathi army at her back. With half the known galaxy on their tails, Squad 312 has never felt so wanted.

When they learn the Hadfield has been found, it's time to come out of hiding. Two centuries ago the colony ship vanished, leaving Auri as its sole survivor. Now, its black box might be what saves them - but time is short, and if Auri can't learn to master her powers as a Trigger, the squad and all their admirers are going to be deader than the Great Ultrasaur of Abraaxis IV.

Shocking revelations, bank heists, mysterious gifts, inappropriately tight bodysuits and an epic firefight will determine the fate of the Aurora Legion's most unforgettable heroes - and maybe the rest of the galaxy as well.

This book made it to #2 in our Top 101 2023! Every year we ask our Booklovers to vote for their favourite book. From that, we share the Top 101 winners for everyone to enjoy. Discover the rest of the books that made it into our Top 101 list.

In 1901, the word 'Bondmaid' was discovered missing from the Oxford English Dictionary. This is the story of the girl who stole it.

Esme is born into a world of words. Motherless and irrepressibly curious, she spends her childhood in the 'Scriptorium', a garden shed in Oxford where her father and a team of dedicated lexicographers are collecting words for the very first Oxford English Dictionary. Esme's place is beneath the sorting table, unseen and unheard. One day a slip of paper containing the word 'bondmaid' flutters to the floor. Esme rescues the slip and stashes it in an old wooden case that belongs to her friend, Lizzie, a young servant in the big house. Esme begins to collect other words from the Scriptorium that are misplaced, discarded or have been neglected by the dictionary men. They help her make sense of the world.

Over time, Esme realises that some words are considered more important than others, and that words and meanings relating to women's experiences often go unrecorded. While she dedicates her life to the Oxford English Dictionary, secretly, she begins to collect words for another dictionary: The Dictionary of Lost Words.

Set when the women's suffrage movement was at its height and the Great War loomed, The Dictionary of Lost Words reveals a lost narrative, hidden between the lines of a history written by men. It's a delightful, lyrical and deeply thought-provoking celebration of words, and the power of language to shape the world and our experience of it.

This book made it to #20 in our Top 101 2023! Every year we ask our Booklovers to vote for their favourite book. From that, we share the Top 101 winners for everyone to enjoy. Discover the rest of the books that made it into our Top 101 list.

An extraordinary, unputdownable debut novel exploring trauma, connection, and our cultural obsession with dead girls.

'A murder mystery with a difference. Richly descriptive...a confident and courageous entry into the world of fiction and one that will earn Bublitz many fans.' - Canberra Times

'Beautiful, brilliant and strangely joyous ... will have you in its thrall from its powerful first page to its superb conclusion.' Rose Carlyle, author of Girl in the Mirror

'Addictive and utterly captivating. I couldn't put it down.' Sarah Bailey, author of Where the Dead Go

'This astonishing debut turns the traditional crime story on its head ... Darkly funny, deeply insightful and completely heartbreaking.' Petronella McGovern, author of Six Minutes

'The most wonderful book. Unusual, beautiful, feminist, gripping, deserves to win prizes. I loved it so much'. Marian Keyes, author of Grown Ups


This is not just another novel about a dead girl.

When she arrived in New York on her 18th birthday carrying nothing but $600 cash and a stolen camera, Alice Lee was looking for a fresh start. Now, just one month later, she is the city's latest Jane Doe, an unidentified murder victim.

Ruby Jones is also trying to start over; she travelled halfway around the world only to find herself lonelier than ever. Until she finds Alice's body by the Hudson River.

From this first, devastating encounter, the two women form an unbreakable bond. Alice is sure that Ruby is the key to solving the mystery of her life - and death. And Ruby - struggling to forget what she saw that morning - finds herself unable to let Alice go. Not until she is given the ending she deserves.

Before You Knew My Name doesn't ask whodunnit. Instead, this powerful, hopeful novel asks: Who was she? And what did she leave behind? The answers might surprise you.


'A wake-up call, beautifully written and unique feminist exploration of the crime fiction genre.' R.W.R. McDonald, author of The Nancys

'Unpredictable, devastating and original ... marks the arrival of a compelling new voice ... Thought-provoking and challenging.' Karen Viggers, author of The Lightkeeper's Wife

'Beguiling, heartbreaking and tender. Jacqueline Bublitz is a beautiful writer and in Alice Lee, she has created a vivid and sparkling narrator who mesmerised me from the very first page and still won't let me go.' Suzanne Leal, author of The Teacher's Secret

'An unputdownable debut - striking, moving, gripping throughout and so sharp on the things that unite us' Elizabeth Kay, author of Seven Lies

This book made it to #3 in our Top 101 2023! Every year we ask our Booklovers to vote for their favourite book. From that, we share the Top 101 winners for everyone to enjoy. Discover the rest of the books that made it into our Top 101 list.

From a terrible accident that left her paraplegic, Emma Carey has become an inspiration for hundreds of thousands online to live life to the fullest and remind us that if we can, we must.

There on that helicopter, somewhere over Switzerland on a Sunday in June, came the first tiny whisper. A voice that came from a place so deep inside of myself that I hadn't even known it existed. One that I would carry me for years to come. I'm going to be ok. There's still joy here.

When Emma Carey was twenty, she fell from 15,000 feet and survived. In The Girl Who Fell From the Sky Emma tells us the inspirational story of how, through what could be considered one of her greatest tragedies, she found her truest self.

From her early days in the hospital, to learning how to regain the use of her legs, the six-year long court case and now finally the freedom to make the most of her life, Emma teaches us the importance of courage and resilience, and how to appreciate even the most common occurrences of beauty in our lives.

This heartfelt book is more than a memoir, it's a call to action that reminds us not to take our lives and abilities for granted-to live every day like it could be our last.

This book made it to #11 in our Top 101 2023! Every year we ask our Booklovers to vote for their favourite book. From that, we share the Top 101 winners for everyone to enjoy. Discover the rest of the books that made it into our Top 101 list.

The bestselling and award-winning novel from the author of Jasper Jones.

'Find out who you are, and live that life.'

Late in the night, fourteen-year-old Sam Watson steps onto a quiet overpass, climbs over the rail and looks down at the road far below.

At the other end of the same bridge, an old man, Vic, smokes his last cigarette.

The two see each other across the void. A fateful connection is made, and an unlikely friendship blooms. Slowly, we learn what led Sam and Vic to the bridge that night. Bonded by their suffering, each privately commits to the impossible task of saving the other.

Honeybee is a heartbreaking, life-affirming novel that throws us headlong into a world of petty thefts, extortion plots, botched bank robberies, daring dog rescues and one spectacular drag show.

At the heart of Honeybee is Sam: a solitary, resilient young person battling to navigate the world as their true self; ensnared by loyalty to a troubled mother, scarred by the volatility of a domineering stepfather, and confounded by the kindness of new alliances.

Honeybee is a tender, profoundly moving novel, brimming with vivid characters and luminous words. It's about two lives forever changed by a chance encounter -- one offering hope, the other redemption. It's about when to persevere, and when to be merciful, as Sam learns when to let go, and when to hold on.

This book made it to #82 in our Top 101 2023! Every year we ask our Booklovers to vote for their favourite book. From that, we share the Top 101 winners for everyone to enjoy. Discover the rest of the books that made it into our Top 101 list.

'With wit, insight and glorious, righteous rage, Clementine Ford lays out all the ways in which girls and women are hurt and held back, and unapologetically demands that the world do better. A passionate and urgently needed call to arms, Fight Like A Girl insists on our right to be angry, to be heard and to fight. It'll change lives.' Emily Maguire, author of An Isolated Incident

A friend recently told me that the things I write are powerful for her because they have the effect of making her feel angry instead of just empty. I want to do this for all women and young girls - to take the emptiness and numbness they feel about being a girl in this world and turn it into rage and power. I want to teach all of them how to FIGHT LIKE A GIRL. Clementine Ford

Online sensation, fearless feminist heroine and scourge of trolls and misogynists everywhere, Clementine Ford is a beacon of hope and inspiration to thousands of Australian women and girls. Her incendiary debut Fight Like A Girl is an essential manifesto for feminists new, old and soon-to-be, and exposes just how unequal the world continues to be for women. Crucially, it is a call to arms for all women to rediscover the fury that has been suppressed by a society that still considers feminism a threat.

Fight Like A Girl will make you laugh, cry and scream. But above all it will make you demand and fight for a world in which women have real equality and not merely the illusion of it.

This book made it to #89 in our Top 101 2023! Every year we ask our Booklovers to vote for their favourite book. From that, we share the Top 101 winners for everyone to enjoy. Discover the rest of the books that made it into our Top 101 list.

'Everyone's afraid that their daughters might be hurt. No one seems to be scared that their sons might be the ones to do it ... This book ... is the culmination of many years of writing about power, abuse, privilege, male entitlement and rape culture. After all that, here's what I've learned: we should be f*cking terrified.' Clementine Ford, from the introduction

Fearless feminist heroine Clementine Ford is a beacon of hope and inspiration to hundreds of thousands of Australian women and girls. Her incendiary first book, Fight Like A Girl, is taking the world by storm, galvanising women to demand and fight for real equality and not merely the illusion of it.

Now Boys Will Be Boys examines what needs to change for that equality to become a reality. It answers the question most asked of Clementine: 'How do I raise my son to respect women and give them equal space in the world? How do I make sure he's a supporter and not a perpetrator?'

All boys start out innocent and tender, but by the time they are adolescents many of them will subscribe to a view of masculinity that is openly contemptuous of women and girls. Our world conditions boys into entitlement, privilege and power at the expense not just of girls' humanity but also of their own.

Ford demolishes the age-old assumption that superiority and aggression are natural realms for boys, and demonstrates how toxic masculinity creates a disturbingly limited and potentially dangerous idea of what it is to be a man. Crucially, Boys Will Be Boys reveals how the patriarchy we live in is as harmful to boys and men as it is to women and girls, and asks what we have to do to reverse that damage. The world needs to change and this book shows the way.

This book made it to #64 in our Top 101 2023! Every year we ask our Booklovers to vote for their favourite book. From that, we share the Top 101 winners for everyone to enjoy. Discover the rest of the books that made it into our Top 101 list.

A deeply personal exploration of love in all its forms from a feminist icon and bestselling author of Fight Like a Girl and Boys Will Be Boys.

There is love in this place, just like there is love everywhere we care to look for it. There is beauty and there is hope and there is a boy and there is a mother and there is the past and there is the future but most importantly there is the now, and everything that exists between them that has got them from one moment to the next. The now is where we find the golden glow where, for the briefest of moments, the sky rips open and we see what it is we are made of.
Tell me a story, he asked me.
And so I began.

Clementine Ford is a person who has loved deeply, strangely and with curiosity. She is fascinated by love and the multiple ways it makes its home in our hearts and believes that the way we continue to surrender ourselves to love is an act of great faith and bravery.

This tender and lyrical memoir explores love in its many forms through Clementine's own experiences. With clear eyes and an open heart, she writes about losing her adored mother far too young, about the pain and confusion of first love - both platonic and romantic - and the joy and heartache of adult love. She writes movingly about the transcendent and transformative journey to motherhood and the similarly monumental path to self-love. 'We love as children, as friends, as parents and, yes, sometimes as sexual beings, and none of it is more important than the other because all of it shows us who we are.'

How We Love is heartfelt, funny, confessional, revelatory, compassionate - and essential reading. It shows us to ourselves in moments of unwavering truth and undeniable joy.

This book made it to #96 in our Top 101 2023! Every year we ask our Booklovers to vote for their favourite book. From that, we share the Top 101 winners for everyone to enjoy. Discover the rest of the books that made it into our Top 101 list.

Black River is the most compelling thriller you'll read this year.

A long, burning summer in Sydney. A young woman found murdered in the deserted grounds of an elite boarding school. A serial killer preying on victims along the banks of the Parramatta River. A city on edge.

Adam Bowman, a battling journalist who grew up as the son of a teacher at Prince Albert College, might be the only person who can uncover the links between the school murder and the 'Blue Moon Killer'. But he will have to go into the darkest places of his childhood to piece together the clues. Detective Sergeant Rose Riley, meanwhile, is part of the taskforce desperately trying to find the killer before he strikes again. Adam Bowman's excavation of his past might turn out to be Rose's biggest trump card or it may bring the whole investigation crashing down, and put her own life in danger.

“Black River marks the arrival of a major new voice in Aussie crime fiction. You will both rip through this addictive mystery and not want it to end.” Kate, Dymocks Category Manager

This book made it to #90 in our Top 101 2023! Every year we ask our Booklovers to vote for their favourite book. From that, we share the Top 101 winners for everyone to enjoy. Discover the rest of the books that made it into our Top 101 list.

150 dinner recipes. Fail-proof. Delicious. Addictive. The food you want to cook, eat and share, night after night.

Through her phenomenally popular online food site, RecipeTin Eats, Nagi Maehashi talks to 140 million people a year who tell her about the food they love.

Now, in her first cookbook, Nagi brings us the ultimate curation of new and favourite RecipeTin Eats recipes - from comfort food (yes, cheese galore), to fast and easy food for weeknights, Mexican favourites, hearty dinner salads, Asian soups and noodles, and special treats for festive occasions.

Featuring a photo and how-to video for every recipe (follow the QR code), readily available ingredients, Nagi's famously helpful notes, and Dozer, Australia's best-loved food tester, this is a kitchen-shelf must have for the novice cook, the expert seeking to perfect technique (straight to the Beef Wellington!), and everyone in between.

This book made it to #31 in our Top 101 2023! Every year we ask our Booklovers to vote for their favourite book. From that, we share the Top 101 winners for everyone to enjoy. Discover the rest of the books that made it into our Top 101 list.

The darkly funny, cunningly original Australian murder mystery that's taken the world by (snow)storm!


'Utterly original, hugely entertaining, a must-read.' Jane Harper

'I absolutely loved it.' Marian Keyes

'The best thing I've read in ages . . . Whip-smart, twisted and funny.' Stuart McBride

'Clever, unexpected and not to be missed.' Karin Slaughter


There are plenty of killers in my family. But only one murderer...

I was dreading the Cunningham family reunion even before the first murder. Before the storm stranded us at the mountain resort.

The thing is, us Cunninghams don't really get along.

We've only got one thing in common- we've all killed someone.

My brother, my step-sister, my wife, my father, my mother, my sister-in-law, my uncle, my step-father, my aunt. Even me.

When they find the first body in the snow, it's clear that only a Cunningham could have committed the crime - and it's up to me to prove it.

Agatha Christie and Arthur Conan Doyle meet Knives Out and The Thursday Murder Club in this fiendishly clever blend of classic and modern murder mystery.

'Readers won't want to put his story down . . . This is undoubtedly a future classic.' Big Issue

'The most original novel you will read this year . . . a funny and clever novel that pays homage to the classic British murder mystery.' Canberra Weekly

'For something different, look no further than the very clever and entirely experimental Everyone In My Family Has Killed Someone . . . One of the most anticipated books of the year.' Weekend Australian

'An engrossing whodunnit, with an ingenious twist on the classic crime genre. The type of book you finish and want to immediately read again.' Kyle Perry

'If you're a classic murder mystery fan looking for something fresh and original, you will absolutely love this. I did.' Anna Downes

This book made it to #5 in our Top 101 2023! Every year we ask our Booklovers to vote for their favourite book. From that, we share the Top 101 winners for everyone to enjoy. Discover the rest of the books that made it into our Top 101 list.

Life can be beautiful if you make it beautiful. It is up to you.

Eddie Jaku always considered himself a German first, a Jew second. He was proud of his country. But all of that changed in November 1938, when he was beaten, arrested and taken to a concentration camp.

Over the next seven years, Eddie faced unimaginable horrors every day, first in Buchenwald, then in Auschwitz, then on a Nazi death march. He lost family, friends, his country.

Because he survived, Eddie made the vow to smile every day. He pays tribute to those who were lost by telling his story, sharing his wisdom and living his best possible life. He now believes he is the 'happiest man on earth'.

Published as Eddie turns 100, this is a powerful, heartbreaking and ultimately hopeful memoir of how happiness can be found even in the darkest of times.

This book made it to #4 in our Top 101 2023! Every year we ask our Booklovers to vote for their favourite book. From that, we share the Top 101 winners for everyone to enjoy. Discover the rest of the books that made it into our Top 101 list.

A "TikTok Made Me Buy It" title

From the author of Bridge of Clay.

'Brilliant and hugely ambitious...the kind of book that can be life-changing' New York Times

It is 1939. Nazi Germany. The country is holding its breath. Death has never been busier, and will become busier still. By her brother's graveside, Liesel's life is changed when she picks up an object, partially hidden in the snow. It is The Gravedigger's Handbook, and it is her first act of book thievery. So begins a love affair with books and words, as Liesel learns to read. Soon she is stealing books from Nazi book-burnings, the mayor's wife's library, wherever there are books to be found. But these are dangerous times. When Liesel's foster family hides a Jewish fist-fighter in their basement, Liesel's world is both opened up, and closed down. Award-winning author Markus Zusak has given us one of the most enduring stories of our time.

'An original, moving, beautifully written book' The Age

'Lynette Noni is a masterful storyteller. A must-read for any fantasy lover!' SARAH J. MAAS, #1 New York Times Bestselling Author


From bestselling Australian author Lynette Noni comes a dark, thrilling YA fantasy perfect for fans of Sarah J. Maas and Sabaa Tahir.

Here at Zalindov, the only person you can trust is yourself.

Seventeen-year-old Kiva Meridan has spent the last ten years fighting for survival in the notorious death prison, Zalindov, working as the prison healer.

When the Rebel Queen is captured, Kiva is charged with keeping the terminally ill woman alive long enough for her to undergo the Trial by Ordeal- a series of elemental challenges against the torments of air, fire, water and earth, assigned to only the most dangerous of criminals.

Then a coded message from Kiva's family arrives, containing a single order- Don't let her die. We are coming. Aware that the Trials will kill the sickly queen, Kiva risks her own life to volunteer in her place. If she succeeds, both she and the queen will be granted their freedom.

But no one has ever survived.

With an incurable plague sweeping Zalindov, a mysterious new inmate fighting for Kiva's heart, and a prison rebellion brewing, Kiva can't escape the terrible feeling that her trials have only just begun.

@dymocksbooks Get to know Lynette Noni, author of The Prison Healer, The Medoran Chronicles and Whisper Duology! #booktok #lynettenoni #prisonhealerseries #dymocks ♬ Lazy Sunday - Official Sound Studio

This book made it to #58 in our Top 101 2023! Every year we ask our Booklovers to vote for their favourite book. From that, we share the Top 101 winners for everyone to enjoy. Discover the rest of the books that made it into our Top 101 list.

WINNER ABIA BOOK OF THE YEAR 2017

WHO REALLY KILLED THE HADLER FAMILY?

It hasn't rained in Kiewarra for two years. Tensions in the farming community become unbearable when three members of the Hadler family are discovered shot to death on their property. Everyone assumes Luke Hadler committed suicide after slaughtering his wife and six-year-old son.

Federal Police investigator Aaron Falk returns to his hometown for the funerals and is unwillingly drawn into the investigation. As suspicion spreads through the town, Falk is forced to confront the community that rejected him twenty years earlier. Because Falk and his childhood friend Luke Hadler shared a secret, one which Luke's death threatens to unearth ...

"I devoured it in just over 24 hours ... Spellbinding" Ian Rankin

"A breathless pageturner ... A secret on every page" The New York Times

"One of the most stunning debuts I've ever read ... Read it!" David Baldacci

This book made it to #27 in our Top 101 2023! Every year we ask our Booklovers to vote for their favourite book. From that, we share the Top 101 winners for everyone to enjoy. Discover the rest of the books that made it into our Top 101 list.

Ten years on from the speech that stopped us all in our tracks - Julia Gillard's Misogyny Speech. Where were you then? And where are we now?

Then it was done. After staying silent, I had my say. At no time did i feel worked up or hotly angry or out of control. I felt strong, measured, controlled. Yet emotion played its role in the energy of the speech. The frustration that sexism and misogyny could still be so bad in the 21st century. The toll of not pointing it out.

The book opens with a bang, the speech in full, and is then divided into three sections- The speech; Misogyny past and present; and Fighting misogyny.

Interleaved between the sections are emotional, engaging and even funny snapshots of people - politicians, those in creative industries, younger and older feminists - sharing their 'where were you' moments and how the speech affected them.

Because we know there is nothing like being in the room where it happened, there will be reflections and recollections from those who were on the floor, or in the press gallery when the electrifying speech was delivered.

And, people will share the worst misogyny they have ever faced - where will Julia start?!

Katharine Murphy will provide an essay on how the Australian media reported the speech, how reporting on gender was at the time, and whether it has changed. Kathy Lette will write about how the speech travelled around the world and the many forms it has appeared in since - TikToks, T-shirts, tote bags, mugs, tea towels, handwashing routines and more.

Eminent historian Mary Beard will provide a perspective on the history of misogyny, and Aleida Mendes Borges writes about misogyny and intersectionality, exploring where misogyny and racism intersect and how this influences feminism.

What we mean by misogyny today - Has the meaning changed over time? - and how misogyny is expressed today will be explored. Specialists will also write on misogyny and violence against women, misogyny in politics and misogyny in the world of work.

The final part of the book, the rallying cry to change the future, will kick off with an extended discussion between Julia Gillard and a panel of inspiring, influential young feminists.

Julia will then round out the book with a final piece motivating us all to go out and improve our world.

Kiva trades one cage for another when she leaves behind a deadly prison for a deceptive palace in this dark and dangerous sequel to The Prison Healer, from Australia's #1-bestselling YA author Lynette Noni.

Kiva Meridan is a survivor.

Not only did she survive Zalindov Prison, but also the deadly Trial by Ordeal. Now, Kiva's purpose goes beyond survival to vengeance. For the past ten years, her only goal was to reunite with her family and destroy the people responsible for ruining their lives. But now that she has escaped Zalindov, her mission has become more complicated than ever.

As Kiva settles into her new life in the capital, she discovers she wasn't the only one who suffered while she was in Zalindov - her siblings and their beliefs have changed, too. Soon it's not just her enemies she's keeping secrets from, but her own family as well.

Outside the city walls, tensions are brewing from the rebels, along with whispers of a growing threat from the northern kingdoms. Kiva's allegiances are more important than ever, but she's beginning to question where they truly lie. To survive this time, she'll have to navigate a complicated web of lies before both sides of the battle turn against her and she loses everything.

@dymocksbooks Get to know Lynette Noni, author of The Prison Healer, The Medoran Chronicles and Whisper Duology! #booktok #lynettenoni #prisonhealerseries #dymocks ♬ Lazy Sunday - Official Sound Studio

This book made it to #25 in our Top 101 2023! Every year we ask our Booklovers to vote for their favourite book. From that, we share the Top 101 winners for everyone to enjoy. Discover the rest of the books that made it into our Top 101 list.

My best friend wore her name, Esther, like a queen wearing her crown at a jaunty angle. We were twelve years old when she went missing. On a sweltering Friday afternoon in Durton, best friends Ronnie and Esther leave school together. Esther never makes it home. Ronnie's going to find her, she has a plan. Lewis will help. Their friend can't be gone, Ronnie won't believe it. Detective Sergeant Sarah Michaels can believe it. She has seen what people are capable of. She knows more than anyone how, in a moment of weakness, a person can be driven to do something they never thought possible. Lewis can believe it too. But he can't reveal what he saw that afternoon at the creek without exposing his own secret. Five days later, Esther's buried body is discovered. Character-rich and propulsive, with a breathtakingly original use of voice and revolving points of view, Dirt Town delves under the surface, where no one can hide. With emotional depth and sensitivity, this stunning debut shows us how much each person matters in a community that is at once falling apart and coming together. Esther will always be a Dirt Town child, as we are its children, still.

This book made it to #100 in our Top 101 2023! Every year we ask our Booklovers to vote for their favourite book. From that, we share the Top 101 winners for everyone to enjoy. Discover the rest of the books that made it into our Top 101 list.

The man lay still in the centre of a dusty grave under a monstrous sky. Two brothers meet at the stockman's grave, a landmark so old, no one can remember who is buried there. But today, the scant shadow it casts was the last hope for their middle brother, Cameron. Something had been troubling him. Did Cameron choose to walk to his death? Because if he didn't, the isolation of the outback leaves few suspects...

For readers who loved The Dry and Force of Nature, Jane Harper has once again created a powerful story of suspense, set against a dazzling landscape.

'Harper's books succeed in part because she conveys how even now, geography can be fate. Book by book, she's creating her own vivid and complex account of the outback.' New York Times

'Harper surpasses her achievement in The Dry, her multi-award-winning first novel.' Weekend Australian

'I absolutely loved The Lost Man. I devoured it in a day. Her best yet!' Liane Moriarty

'In The Lost Man, as in Harper's previous two novels, place is paramount, a multifaceted character that's in turns brutal and breathtaking.' Washington Post

'Harper adroitly blends the tension and brisk pace of a thriller with the psychological acuity and stylish prose of literary fiction.' Irish Independent

This book made it to #75 in our Top 101 2023! Every year we ask our Booklovers to vote for their favourite book. From that, we share the Top 101 winners for everyone to enjoy. Discover the rest of the books that made it into our Top 101 list.

For 35 years, the United States and Russia each had their own superhero.

Three days ago, America's hero died.

Today will be bad.

In the face of an overwhelming attack, one young woman - unassuming and anonymous - might be America's only hope. Her codename... COBALT BLUE

'The guy can't write a bad book. This is one of his best, suspenseful and hard to put down' STEPHEN KING

TWO MISSING WOMEN. ONE WITNESS. SO MANY LIES . . . The brand-new thriller by the number-one bestselling and award-winning master of crime

Twenty years ago, Cyrus Haven's family was murdered. Only he and his brother survived. Cyrus because he hid. Elias because he was the killer.

Now Elias is being released from a secure psychiatric hospital and Cyrus, a forensic psychologist, must decide if he can forgive the man who destroyed his childhood.

As he prepares for the homecoming, Cyrus is called to a crime scene in Nottingham. A man is dead and his daughter Maya is missing. Then a second woman is abducted . . . The only witness is Evie Cormac, a troubled teenager with an incredible gift: she can tell when you are lying.

Both missing women have dark secrets that Cyrus must unravel to find them - and he and Evie know better than anybody how the past can come back to haunt you . . .

This breathtaking new thriller from the #1 bestselling author will keep you guessing until the very end.

Praise for Lying Beside You:

'Not just a cleverly constructed crime novel, it's also an achingly beautiful story about trust, redemption and love that had me intermittently catching my breath. Robotham's best book so far' Sydney Morning Herald

'It's hard to top Michael Robotham for his sheer criminal consistency. Want a great thriller that will keep you fixated to the page until the last word? He's your man' The Age

'Page-turning suspense. Robotham is one of our best crime writers, and he's not slowing down' Weekend Australian

'Has you hooked from the get-go. A quality read' Daily Telegraph

'A dark, compelling thriller' Canberra Times

'Another terrific thriller . . . This is a well-crafted and clever mystery that quickly draws the reader in and keeps them enthralled all the way to the startling conclusion. Recommended' Canberra Weekly

'Flawless. Further proof that Michael Robotham is one of the most accomplished thriller writers in the world. It's superbly paced, intricately plotted and packed with characters that leap off the page. Simply sensational' M.W. CRAVEN

'Compulsively readable. As always, Michael Robotham builds his nail-biter around damaged people who only want to do what's right' LINWOOD BARCLAY

'Exactly the sort of thriller that pins you to your seat until you've finished it: a proper heart-pounding mystery with unforgettable characters and compelling twists' JANE CASEY

'Masterful . . . With its intriguing charac

This book made it to #29 in our Top 101 2023! Every year we ask our Booklovers to vote for their favourite book. From that, we share the Top 101 winners for everyone to enjoy. Discover the rest of the books that made it into our Top 101 list.

Grace Tame has never walked on middle ground. From a young age, her life was defined by uncertainty - by trauma and strength, sadness and hope, terrible lows and wondrous highs. As a teenager she found the courage to speak up after experiencing awful and ongoing child sexual abuse. This fight to find her voice would not be her last. In 2021 Grace stepped squarely into the public eye as the Australian of the Year, and was the catalyst for a tidal wave of conversation and action. Australians from all walks of life were inspired and moved by her fire and passion. Here she was using her voice, and encouraging others to use theirs too. The Ninth Life of a Diamond Miner is Grace's story, in Grace's words, on Grace's terms. Like Grace, it is sharply intelligent, deeply felt and often blisteringly funny. And, as with all her work, it offers a constructive and optimistic vision for a better future for all of us.

This book made it to #45 in our Top 101 2023! Every year we ask our Booklovers to vote for their favourite book. From that, we share the Top 101 winners for everyone to enjoy. Discover the rest of the books that made it into our Top 101 list.

'He tilted his desk lamp so that the light fell on the image. The head of a bright bay colt gazed out of the canvas, the expression in the eyes unusual and haunting.'

A discarded painting in a roadside clean-up, forgotten bones in a research archive, and Lexington, the greatest racehorse in US history. From these strands of fact, Geraldine Brooks weaves a sweeping story of spirit, obsession and injustice across American history.

Kentucky, 1850. An enslaved groom named Jarret and a bay foal forge a bond of understanding that will carry the horse to record-setting victories across the South, even as the nation reels towards war. An itinerant young artist who makes his name from paintings of the horse takes up arms for the Union and reconnects with the stallion and his groom on a perilous night far from the glamour of any racetrack.

New York City, 1954. Martha Jackson, a gallery owner celebrated for taking risks on edgy contemporary painters, becomes obsessed with a nineteenth-century equestrian oil painting of mysterious provenance.

Washington, DC, 2019. Jess, a Smithsonian scientist from Australia, and Theo, a Nigerian-American art historian, find themselves unexpectedly connected through their shared interest in the horse - one studying the stallion's bones for clues to his power and endurance, the other uncovering the lost history of the unsung Black horsemen who were critical to his racing success.

With the moral complexity of March and a multi-stranded narrative reminiscent of People of the Book, this enthralling novel is a gripping reckoning with the legacy of enslavement and racism in America. Horse is the latest masterpiece from a writer with a prodigious talent for bringing the past to life.

This book made it to #6 in our Top 101 2023! Every year we ask our Booklovers to vote for their favourite book. From that, we share the Top 101 winners for everyone to enjoy. Discover the rest of the books that made it into our Top 101 list.

The compelling new novel from Jane Harper, the internationally bestselling author of The Dry.

At a busy festival site on a warm spring night, a baby lies alone in her pram, her mother vanishing into the crowds. A year on, Kim Gillespie's absence casts a long shadow as her friends and loved ones gather deep in the heart of South Australian wine country to welcome a new addition to the family. Joining the celebrations is federal investigator Aaron Falk. But as he soaks up life in the lush valley, he begins to suspect this tight-knit group may be more fractured than it seems.

Between Falk's closest friend, a missing mother, and a woman he's drawn to, dark questions linger as long-ago truths begin to emerge.

The eagerly awaited finale of the Prison Healer trilogy, from Australia's #1-bestselling YA author Lynette Noni.

She'd failed them. All of them. And now she was paying the price.

Kiva thought she knew what she wanted - revenge. But feelings change, people change . . . everything has changed.

After what happened at the palace, Kiva is desperate to know if her friends and family are safe, and whether those she wronged can ever forgive her. But with the kingdoms closer to the brink of war than they've ever been, and Kiva far away from the conflict, more is at stake than her own broken heart.

A fresh start will mean a perilous quest, forcing mortal enemies and uneasy allies together in a race against the clock to save not just Evalon, but all of Wenderall. With her loyalties now set, Kiva can no longer just survive - she must fight for what she believes in. For who she believes in. But with danger coming from every side, and the lives of everyone she loves at risk, does she have what it takes to stand, or will she fall?

#1 bestselling Australian YA author Lynette Noni is back with the second book in the breathtaking Prison Healer trilogy!

'You need to choose, Kiva. It's him or us. Them or us. You can't have it both ways.'

Kiva Meridan is a survivor.

Not only did she survive Zalindov Prison, but also the deadly Trial by Ordeal. Now, Kiva's purpose goes beyond survival to vengeance. For the past ten years, her only goal was to reunite with her family and destroy the people responsible for ruining their lives. But now that she has escaped Zalindov, her mission has become more complicated than ever.

As Kiva settles into her new life in the capital, she discovers she wasn't the only one who suffered while she was in Zalindov — her siblings and their beliefs have changed, too. Soon it's not just her enemies she’s keeping secrets from, but her own family as well.

Outside the city walls, tensions are brewing from the rebels, along with whispers of a growing threat from the northern kingdoms. Kiva's allegiances are more important than ever, but she's beginning to question where they truly lie. To survive this time, she'll have to navigate a complicated web of lies before both sides of the battle turn against her and she loses everything.

'Page-turning . . . Rich with intrigue and laced with secrets' THE AUSTRALIAN WOMEN'S WEEKLY

'Luxuriant and opulent, just like Dior's glorious gowns. A sweeping story of love, betrayal and one woman's struggle to find her place in the world. An engrossing and beautiful read' TANIA BLANCHARD

'Very glamorous, and fun' CAROLINE OVERINGTON, WEEKEND AUSTRALIAN

'A thrilling read' RUTH DRUART

'Sparkling and complex, like vintage Champagne . . . Lester's masterful storytelling held me enthralled from the first page' CHRISTINE WELLS

1943. After spearheading several successful advertising campaigns in New York, PR wizard Alix St Pierre finds herself recruited into a fledgling intelligence organisation by the US government. Alix is sent to Europe where she is tasked with getting close to a Nazi who might be willing to help the Allied forces - but there's also the chance he might be a double agent.

1946. Following the war, Alix moves to Paris to run the Service de la Presse for the yet-to-be-launched House of Christian Dior. But when a figure from the war reappears and threatens to destroy her future, Alix realises that only she can right the wrongs of the past and bring him to justice.

From the bestselling Australian author of The Riviera House, this captivating story takes readers from the dangerous, intrigue-filled rooms in Switzerland where elites schemed during the war to the glamorous halls of the House of Dior in the golden age of French fashion and journalism.

'This is a really, really great book. Natasha Lester has dreamed up a brave, flawed, unbreakable heroine guided by her determination to survive and thrive no matter what. I was enthralled by this story and rooted for Alix every step of the way' DANIELA SACERDOTI

'Alix [is] a heroine who is rational and glamorous and downright spunky . . . It's a rollicking rollercoaster of a read and I couldn't put it down' THE AU REVIEW

'Another absorbing novel from the practised hand of Natasha Lester' LIVING ARTS CANBERRA

'A sumptuously written page-turner. Alix St Pierre is everything that makes an admirable heroine - independent, plucky, and clever' MADELINE MARTIN

'Natasha Lester braids espionage, fashion, and a broken-but-unbowed heroine together into one fascinating tale' KATE QUINN

This book made it to #47 in our Top 101 2023! Every year we ask our Booklovers to vote for their favourite book. From that, we share the Top 101 winners for everyone to enjoy. Discover the rest of the books that made it into our Top 101 list.

EMBRACE THE WONDER. Book 1 in the Medoran Chronicles

With just one step, sixteen-year-old Alexandra Jennings's world changes - literally.

Dreading her first day at a new school, Alex is stunned when she walks through a doorway and finds herself stranded in Medora, a fantasy world full of impossibilities.

Desperate to return home, she learns that only a man named Professor Marselle can help her... but he's missing.

While waiting for him to reappear, Alex attends Akarnae Academy, Medora's boarding school for teenagers with extraordinary gifts. She soon starts to enjoy her bizarre new world and the friends who embrace her as one of their own, but strange things are happening at Akarnae, and Alex can't ignore her fear that something unexpected... something sinister... is looming.

An unwilling pawn in a deadly game, Alex's shoulders bear the crushing weight of an entire race's survival. Only she can save the Medorans, but what if doing so prevents her from ever returning home?

Will Alex risk her entire world - and maybe even her life - to save Medora?

This book made it to #69 in our Top 101 2023! Every year we ask our Booklovers to vote for their favourite book. From that, we share the Top 101 winners for everyone to enjoy. Discover the rest of the books that made it into our Top 101 list.

“Lengard is a secret government facility for extraordinary people,” they told me. “It's for people just like you.”

I believed them. That was my mistake.

There isn't anyone else in the world like me.
I'm different.
I'm an anomaly.
I'm a monster.

For two years, six months, fourteen days, eleven hours and sixteen minutes… Subject Six-Eight-Four, 'Jane Doe', has been locked away and experimented on, without uttering a single word.

Life at Lengard follows a strict, torturous routine that has never changed.

Until now.

When Jane is assigned a new-and unexpectedly kind-evaluator, her resolve begins to crack, despite her best efforts.

As she uncovers the truth about Lengard's mysterious 'program', Jane discovers that her own secret is at the heart of a sinister plot …. And one wrong move, one wrong word, could change the world.

I already knew he was a psychopath. But now?

He's more dangerous than ever.

And I have less than twenty-four hours to stop him.

After escaping Lengard and finding sanctuary with the Remnants, Alyssa Scott is desperate to save those she left behind - and the rest of the world - from the power-hungry scientist, Kendall Vanik. But secrets and lies block her at every turn, and soon Lyss is left questioning everything she has ever believed.

When long-lost memories begin to surface and the mysteries of her past continue to grow, Lyss battles to retain her hard-won control. Allies become enemies and enemies become allies, leaving her certain about only two things- when it comes to Speakers, nothing is ever as it seems... and the only person she can trust is herself.

Returning for a second year at Akarnae Academy with her gifted friends, Alexandra Jennings steps back through a doorway into Medora, the fantasy world full of impossibilities.

Despite the magical wonder of Medora, Alex's life remains threatened by Aven Dalmarta, the banished prince from the Lost City of Meya who is out for her blood. To protect the Medorans from Aven's quest to reclaim his birthright, Alex and her friends seek out the Meyarin city and what remains of its ancient race. Not sure who or perhaps what she is anymore, all Alex knows is that if she fails to keep Aven from reaching Meya, the lives of countless Medorans will be in danger.Can she protect them, or will all be lost? #ExpectTheImpossible.

Raelia, the second-book in the five-part Medoran Chronicles, teaches readers the importance of friendship, loyalty and courage in a fantastical world filled with futuristic technology, strange magic and encapsulating mystery. Readers are invited to embrace the wonder that Lynette Noni conveys through depictions of underwater cities, magical schools, decadent royal palaces, shadow terrains and otherworldly cities.

EMBRACE THE WONDER

When Day and Night combine and fight against one Enemy,
then Dark and Light shall meet mid-strike and set the Captives free.

In the wake of loss and devastation, Alex must cast aside her grief to seek aid from those who banished the Meyarins long ago. But the proud Tia Aurans care little for the woes of mortals and demand that Alex and her friends undergo the Gates of Testing to prove their world is worth saving.

With an ancient prophecy looming, Alex must confront the secrets of her past if she is to survive long enough to see the future. For if she returns to Medora without the Tia Aurans by her side, all hope for her world will be lost.

In this explosive conclusion toThe Medoran Chronicles, the fate of Medora hangs in the balance as Alex readies herself to face Aven one final time.

Who will survive, and who will fall'

If, however, darkness wins, there is no strategy
to keep from all that will be lost, and so will always be.

​'I swear by the stars that you and the others slain tonight will be the first of many. Of that you have my word.'

With Aven Dalmarta now hiding in the shadows of Meya, Alex is desperate to save Jordan and keep the Rebel Prince from taking more lives.

Training day and night to master the enhanced immortal blood in her veins, Alex undertakes a dangerous Meyarin warrior trial that separates her from those she loves and leaves her stranded in a place where nothing is as it should be.

As friends become enemies and enemies become friends, Alex must decide who to trust as powerful new allies-and adversaries-push her towards a future of either light... or darkness.

One way or another, the world will change...

'Light of dark, only one can win. This world cannot survive in shades of grey.'

Now that Aven Dalmarta sits upon the throne of Meya, Alex must race against the clock to save the rest of Medora from the Rebel Prince’s wrath.

Haunted by an unspeakable vision of the future, Alex and her friends set out to warn the mortal races. But making allies out of ancient enemies proves difficult.

With her nights spend deep in the Library under the guidance of a mysterious new mentor, Alex is desperate to strengthen her gift and keep all those she loves safe. Because in a world where nothing is certain, she is sure of only one thing:

Aven is coming.

The Medoran Chronicles by Lynette Noni have been described as 'a game changer' in YA fiction. A page-turning fantasy series about friendship, finding yourself and the ultimate battle of good versus evil. The Medoran Chronicles are perfect for fans of Sarah J. Maas and Rick Riordan.

The eagerly anticipated fourth book in the series builds to a stunning climax with shock twists and devastating losses. Graevale is an unforgettable read.

This book made it to #50 in our Top 101 2023! Every year we ask our Booklovers to vote for their favourite book. From that, we share the Top 101 winners for everyone to enjoy. Discover the rest of the books that made it into our Top 101 list.

An empowering lived-experience guide to celebrating and supporting neurodivergence from 24-year-old actor, social media star and advocate Chloé Hayden.

Growing up, Chloé Hayden felt like she'd crash-landed on an alien planet where nothing made sense. Eye contact? Small talk? And WHY are you people so touch oriented? She moved between 10 schools in 8 years, struggling to become a person she believed society would accept, and was eventually diagnosed with autism and ADHD. It was only after a life-changing group of allies showed her that different did not mean less that she learned to celebrate her true voice and find her happily ever after.

Different, Not Less is a moving, at times funny story of how it feels to be neurodivergent as well as a practical guide, with insights on how autism and ADHD present differently in females, advice for living with meltdowns and shutdowns, tips for finding supportive relationships, communities and workplaces and much more.

Whether you're neurodivergent or supporting those who are,Different, Not Lesswill inspire you to create a more inclusive world where everyone feels like they belong.

This book made it to #80 in our Top 101 2023! Every year we ask our Booklovers to vote for their favourite book. From that, we share the Top 101 winners for everyone to enjoy. Discover the rest of the books that made it into our Top 101 list.

The bestselling novel that has taken Australia, and the world, by storm. Winner of Book of the Year at the 2019 Indie Book Awards, winner of a record four Australian Book Industry Awards in 2019, including the prestigious Book of the Year Award, and winner of the 2019 UTS Glenda Adams Award for New Writing, NSW Premier's Literary Awards

Brisbane, 1983: A lost father, a mute brother, a mum in jail, a heroin dealer for a stepfather and a notorious crim for a babysitter. It's not as if Eli's life isn't complicated enough already. He's just trying to follow his heart, learning what it takes to be a good man, but life just keeps throwing obstacles in the way - not least of which is Tytus Broz, legendary Brisbane drug dealer.

But Eli's life is about to get a whole lot more serious. He's about to fall in love. And, oh yeah, he has to break into Boggo Road Gaol on Christmas Day, to save his mum.

A story of brotherhood, true love and the most unlikely of friendships, Boy Swallows Universe will be the most heartbreaking, joyous and exhilarating novel you will read all year.


'The best Australian novel I have read in more than a decade' Sydney Morning Herald

'Astonishing, captivating ... a wild, beautiful, heart-exploding ride' Elizabeth Gilbert

A lost imperial city, full of wonder and marvels. An empire that was the largest the world had ever seen, established with astonishing speed. A people obsessed with travel, knowledge and adventure.

Winner of the Indie Book Awards 2023 Non Fiction Book of the Year

Shortlisted for the BookPeople Non Fiction Book of the Year 2023

When Richard Fidler came across the account of Ibn Fadlan - a tenth-century Arab diplomat who travelled all the way from Baghdad to the cold riverlands of modern-day Russia - he was struck by how modern his voice was, like that of a twenty-first century time-traveller dropped into a medieval wilderness. On further investigation, Fidler discovered this was just one of countless reports from Arab and Persian travellers of their adventures in medieval China, India, Africa and Byzantium. Put together, he saw these stories formed a crazy quilt picture of a lost world.

The Book of Roads & Kingdoms is the story of the medieval wanderers who travelled out to the edges of the known world during Islam's fabled Golden Age; an era when the caliphs of Baghdad presided over a dominion greater than the Roman Empire at its peak, stretching from North Africa to India. Imperial Baghdad, founded as the 'City of Peace', quickly became the biggest and richest metropolis in the world. Standing atop one of the city's four gates, its founder proclaimed: Here is the Tigris River, and nothing stands between it and China.

In a flourishing culture of science, literature and philosophy, the citizens of Baghdad were fascinated by the world and everything in it. Inspired by their Prophet's commandment to seek knowledge all over the world, these traders, diplomats, soldiers and scientists left behind the cosmopolitan pleasures of Baghdad to venture by camel, horse and boat into the unknown. Those who returned from these distant foreign lands wrote accounts of their adventures, both realistic and fantastical - tales of wonder and horror and delight.

Fidler expertly weaves together these beautiful and thrilling pictures of a dazzling lost world with the story of an empire's rise and utterly devastating fall.

Praise for Ghost Empire

'...thanks to the stylish cleverness of an exceptionally curious and talented man, we can feast on what strange magic the city brought - and still brings today - to the world beyond. I am speechless with admiration. - Simon Winchester

'Fidler's story leaves its readers with a sense of faith in the renewing, illumination, social powers of historical narrative.' - Sydney Morning Herald

Praise for The Golden Maze

'The times, the places and the people are vibrant, arresting and breathing ... This is the magic and power of this work.' - Favel Parrett, The Age

'This book is bloody brilliant'
V.E. Schwab

‘A ripping read’
Joe Abercrombie
The SUNDAY TIMES and NEW YORK TIMES bestseller from the award-winning author of the Nevernight Chronicle

It has been twenty-seven long years since the last sunrise.

Ever since, vampires have waged war against humanity building their eternal empire even as they tear down our own. Gabriel de León, half man, half monster, and last remaining silversaint – a sworn brother of the holy Silver Order dedicated to defending the realm from the creatures of the night – is all that stands between the world and its end.

Imprisoned by the very monsters he has vowed to destroy Gabriel is forced to tell his story – a story of legendary battles and forbidden love, of faith lost and friendships won, of the War of the Blood and the Forever King and the quest for humanity’s last remaining hope:

The Holy Grail.

Featuring the darkly beautiful illustrations of Bon Orthwick (@monolimeart)

From New York Times bestselling author, Jay Kristoff, comes a dangerous new fantasy world and a heroine edged in darkness.
WINNER OF THE THE AUREALIS AWARD FOR BEST FANTASY NOVEL

Mia Corvere is only ten years old when she is given her first lesson in death.

Destined to destroy empires, the child raised in shadows made a promise on the day she lost everything: to avenge herself on those that shattered her world.

But the chance to strike against such powerful enemies will be fleeting, and Mia must become a weapon without equal. Before she seeks vengeance, she must seek training among the infamous assassins of the Red Church of Itreya.

Inside the Church's halls, Mia must prove herself against the deadliest of opponents and survive the tutelage of murderers, liars and daemons at the heart of a murder cult.

The Church is no ordinary school. But Mia is no ordinary student.

The shadows love her.
And they drink her fear.

A ruthless young assassin continues her journey for revenge in this new epic fantasy from New York Times bestselling author Jay Kristoff.
WINNER OF THE THE AUREALIS AWARD FOR BEST FANTASY NOVEL

Conquer your fear, conquer the world.

Mia Corvere, destroyer of empires, has found her place among the Blades of Our Lady of Blessed Murder, but many in the Red Church ministry do not believe she has earned it.

Her position is precarious, and she's still no closer to exacting revenge for the brutal death of her family. But after a deadly confrontation with an old enemy, Mia begins to suspect the motives of the Red Church itself.

When it is announced that Consul Scaeva and Cardinal Duomo will be making a rare public appearance at the conclusion of the grand games in Godsgrave, Mia defies the Church and sells herself into slavery for a chance to fulfill the promise she made on the day she lost everything.

Upon the sands of the arena, Mia finds new allies, bitter rivals, and more questions about her strange affinity for the shadows. But as conspiracies unfold, secrets are revealed and the body count rises within the collegium walls, Mia will be forced to choose between her loyalties and her revenge.

This book made it to #21 in our Top 101 2023! Every year we ask our Booklovers to vote for their favourite book. From that, we share the Top 101 winners for everyone to enjoy. Discover the rest of the books that made it into our Top 101 list.

It's a tennis story. It's a family story. It's a teamwork story. It's the story of how I got to where and who I am today.

I'm only in my mid-twenties, and some might think that's young to write a memoir. Who does that, right? But for me and my team, it's always been important to reflect on every part of the journey, especially the end. In that context, the timing is perfect to share my story, from the first time I picked up a racquet as a 5-year-old girl in Ipswich to the night I packed up my tennis bag at Melbourne Park after winning the 2022 Australian Open. This book gives me a chance to look back at every moment of the 20 years in between, and to think carefully through the highs and lows, the work and the play, the smiles and the tears.

Telling my story also gives me an opportunity to do more than simply thank those who mean the most to me – it provides a way to honour them as an integral part of that tale, as the very secret behind my success. Some of them you might know – such as my long-time coach, Craig Tyzzer – and some of them you might not – like my first childhood coach, Jim Joyce. There are mates like Casey Dellacqua and Alicia Molik. Mentors such as tennis icon Evonne Goolagong Cawley and mindset coach Ben Crowe. My parents and sisters and my husband have sacrificed as much as I have over the years – this book is also for them.

My Dream Time is about finding the path to being the best I could be, not just as an athlete but as a person, and to consider the way those identities overlap and compete. We all have a professional and a personal self. How do you conquer nerves and anxiety? How do you deal with defeat or pain? What drives you to succeed – and what happens when you do? The answers tell me so much, about bitter disappointments and also dreams realised – from injuries and obscurity and self-doubt to winning Wimbledon and ranking number 1 in the world.

My story is about the power and joy of doing that thing you love and seeing where it can take you, about the importance of purpose – and perspective – in our lives.

The thrilling and heart-breaking conclusion to Sunday Times and New York Times bestselling Nevernight Chronicle.
Pale Daughter. Kingmaker. Crow. A killer of kings. Gladiatii. Escaped slave. Infamous assassin. Mia Corvere is on the run.

After winning the greatest games Godsgrave has ever seen and giving the gift of murder as her victor’s speech, Mia is being hunted by every Blade of the Red Church and every soldier of the Luminatii legion.

Her mentor Mercurio has been captured and Consul Julius Scaeva stands on the edge of total dominance over the Republic.

Truedark approaches and if Mia is to have any hope of defeating Scaeva and saving her family, she must make a perilous journey across the Republic seeking the final answers to the riddle of her life.

Night is falling on the Republic for perhaps the final time.

From international bestselling author of The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart, Holly Ringland, comes a haunting and magical novel about joy, grief, courage, and transformation.

'On the afternoon that Esther Wilding drove homeward along the coast, a year after her sister had walked into the sea and disappeared, the light was painfully golden.'

The last time Esther Wilding's beloved older sister Aura was seen, she was walking along the shore towards the sea. In the wake of Aura's disappearance, Esther's family struggles to live with their loss. To seek the truth about her sister's death, Esther reluctantly travels from Lutruwita, Tasmania to Copenhagen, and then to the Faroe Islands, following the trail of the stories Aura left behind: seven fairy tales about selkies, swans and women, alongside cryptic verses Aura wrote and had secretly tattooed on her body.

The Seven Skins of Esther Wilding is a sweeping, deeply beautiful and profoundly moving novel about the far-reaches of sisterly love, the power of wearing your heart on your skin, and the ways life can transform when we find the courage to feel the fullness of both grief and joy.

'Myths and legends are the touchstone to truth in this epic journey through love, loss, courage and kinship. But The Seven Skins of Esther Wilding is also an elegant and mesmerising tribute to the places that hold our stories, heart and memories. Holly Ringland writes with such tenderness, wit and imagination about all these things that it's impossible to come away from this magical story unchanged' Sally Piper, author of Bone Memories

'Vivid and soaring ... The Seven Skins of Esther Wilding is a haunting story of trauma and redemption that is nonetheless compelling and accessible. It's a great recommendation for fans of Vanessa Diffenbaugh's The Language of Flowers or Elizabeth Gilbert's The Signature of All Things, as well as Ringland's debut The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart' Books+Publishing

'Like the best books, The Seven Skins of Esther Wilding is ultimately a story about love. Ringland is a virtuoso of fairytale storytelling for adults.' Sydney Morning Herald

'A mythological journey as much as an unfolding mystery, full of symbols ... a magical, witchy, quirky, luminous book, full of the natural world, the night sky and the ever-changing water around the islands on which it is set.' The Australian

'Another spell is cast by Holly Ringland. I was swept away by this triumphant and luminous story' Myfanwy Jones, Miles Franklin Literary Award shortlisted author for Leap

'Nobody writes about the pain of being alive more deftly than Holly Ringland. She brings such empathy to the topics of grief, love, family conflict and loss. Some of her sentences took my breath away, and I found myself madly flicking pages, days later, to find them again for safekeeping. Astonishing in its scope, detail and sensitivity, The Seven Skins of Esther Wilding is tender, magical, epic, funny and devastating. This is a very special writer at her best' - Kate Leaver, author of The Friendship Cure

This book made it to #85 in our Top 101 2023! Every year we ask our Booklovers to vote for their favourite book. From that, we share the Top 101 winners for everyone to enjoy. Discover the rest of the books that made it into our Top 101 list.

An innovative collection of poetry and prose from a vibrant new Indigenous voice on the Australian literary scene.

I told you this was a thirst so great it could carve rivers.

This fierce debut from award-winning writer Evelyn Araluen confronts the tropes and iconography of an unreconciled nation with biting satire and lyrical fury.

Dropbear interrogates the complexities of colonial and personal history with an alternately playful, tender and mournful intertextual voice, deftly navigating the responsibilities that gather from sovereign country, the spectres of memory and the debris of settler-coloniality.

This innovative mix of poetry and essay offers an eloquent witness to the entangled present, an uncompromising provocation of history, and an embattled but redemptive hope for a decolonial future.

Sydney Morning Herald Best Young Australian Novelist 2022
SHORTLISTED for the INDIE AWARD for BEST FICTION
SHORTLISTED for the ABIA for Literary Fiction
LONGLISTED for the BookPeople Book of the Year for Fiction 

‘This! Was! So! Good! ... Diana Reid you are in a total league of your own.’ - Zara McDonald, Shameless Podcast

‘Seeing Other People will be the book of the summer.’ - PedestrianTV

‘An extraordinary new voice in Aussie lit.’ ― ZoË Foster Blake

‘a captivating read that feels made for racing through while lying on the beach.’ ― Vogue Australia

Charlie’s skin was stinging. Not with heat or sweat, but with that intense, body-defining self-consciousness—that sense of being watched. She lowered her eyes from Eleanor’s loving gaze. Her throat taut with tears, she swallowed. ‘You’re a good sister, Eleanor.’

‘Don’t say that.’

After two years of lockdowns, there’s change in the air. Eleanor has just broken up with her boyfriend, Charlie’s career as an actress is starting up again. They’re finally ready to pursue their dreams—relationships, career, family—if only they can work out what it is they really want.

When principles and desires clash, Eleanor and Charlie are forced to ask: where is the line between self-love and selfishness? In all their confusion, mistakes will be made and lies will be told as they reckon with the limits of their own self-awareness.

Seeing Other People is the darkly funny story of two very different sisters, and the summer that stretches their relationship almost to breaking point. 

PRAISE FOR SEEING OTHER PEOPLE:

‘a great summer read.’ - The Guardian

‘The prose sparkles on the page, as effervescent and drinkable as a glass of prosecco on a warm summer's evening.’ - The Australian

‘We absolutely adored this hotly-anticipated novel’ - The Shameless Bookclub

‘If you tore through Love & Virtue last year, you'll want to add Diana Reid's second novel to the top of your reading bucket list.’ - Marie Claire

‘I enjoyed this funny, charming and enormously readable novel a great deal, in large part due to the wit and authenticity with which Reid represents her characters and their world.’ - The West Australian

‘Reid hasn’t lost her skewering wit.’ - Sydney Morning Herald

'a compulsive read’ - Primer

'funny and engaging’ - ArtsHub

‘Reid's witty and insightful social observation is something to relish’ - ABC Radio National, The Bookshelf

‘There is a genuine warmth as well as capacious intelligence and sly humour to Reid’s writing, and a dynamic energy to the novel that’s always compelling’ - The Guardian

‘This charming, insightful and clever follow-up to Love & Virtue is an immensely readable novel that explores the bonds of family, friendship and principle.’ - Books + Publishing

‘a story bathed in sisterhood and the oft complicated relationship sisters are forced to navigate.’ - Russh

‘if you’re heading to the beach and need a light, funny read, this book will deliver that for you.’ - The Canberra Times

‘written in superb prose, this is the ultimate contemporary dramedy’ - InStyle

‘I love Diana Reid’s writing and Seeing Other People hit the mark once again.’ - Women's Agenda

PRAISE FOR LOVE & VIRTUE:

‘Loved it…It’s electrifying’ ― Annabel Crabb

‘a great read that will become an