Robbie Arnott is a writer of fiction and nonfiction. He was born in Launceston in 1989 and currently lives in Hobart with his wife and daughter. Arnott’s acclaimed debut, Flames (2018), won a Sydney Morning Herald Best Young Novelist award and a Tasmanian Premier’s Literary Prize, and was shortlisted for a Victorian Premier’s Literary Award, a New South Wales Premier’s Literary Award, a Queensland Literary Award, the Readings Prize for New Australian Fiction and the Not the Booker Prize. Arnott’s follow-up, The Rain Heron (2020), won the Age Book of the Year award, and was shortlisted for the Miles Franklin Literary Award, the ALS Gold Medal, the Voss Literary Prize and an Adelaide Festival Award. The third novel from Arnott, Limberlost, was released in 2022. It became Arnott’s second novel to win The Age Book of the Year Award, was shortlisted for the 2023 Miles Franklin Award, and won the 2023 Voss Literary Prize. It was also longlisted for the 2024 International Dublin Literary Award. All three novels by Arnott found critical success both in Australia and internationally, with positive reviews from noted critics and newspapers.

Dusk

In the distant highlands, a puma named Dusk is killing shepherds. Down in the lowlands, twins Iris and Floyd are out of work, money and friends. When they hear that a bounty has been placed on Dusk, they reluctantly decide to join the hunt. As they journey up into this wild, haunted country, they discover there’s far more to the land and people of the highlands than they imagined. And as they close in on their prey, they’re forced to reckon with conflicts both ancient and deeply personal.

Arnott’s much anticipated 4th novel Dusk will hit shelves on Tuesday 8 October.

FICTION

Like a post-modern Scheherazade, a captured man weaves the story of his own life to buy time – to try to connect with & invite empathy from a ‘comrade’ so he & the child he is protecting have a chance to keep their lives. This dystopian tale is set sometime in the future; in the rural north west of Australia in a mostly unforgiving landscape. It’s too hot to go above ground in Summer. Weather patterns are awry. Most plants & animals of the old days are extinct, at least in the north. Civilization as we know it has collapsed & people live a subsistence existence though mostly still under a lawed cooperative. Energy is required to live; to cool, to run any machines & this energy – be it water to drink, food to eat, stored power from the sun is termed JUICE. Everyone knows the stories of old; the history of the ancestors & how the old world was before – but what if this history were simply a story to keep everyone in check. What if some people knew the real story & what if some people did something about it? Juice is a powerful tale & one I can all too clearly envisage.

Reviewed by Jacq

CRIME

The Valley by Chris Hammer is a gripping thriller set in rural Australia, blending mystery with in-depth character development. Hammer’s vivid descriptions bring the Valley’s landscape to life, along with his skillful weaving of suspense throughout, all the while the plot unfolds with unexpected twists that will keep readers on edge. A must read crime novel this spring!

Reviewed by Tenniell

MEMOIR

This truly is a story of love and loss and everything that comes in-between. Gina Chick is strong like no other and marches entirely to the beat of her own drum. Entrusting the reader with her innermost thoughts and feelings in a heartbreaking but optimistic account of her life. Raw and honest, this memoir is one of the most candid I’ve read. Even in the face of utter tragedy, Gina manages to find peace within herself and within nature. Not at all what I expected going in, but I leave this book feeling grounded.

Reviewed by Sage

YOUNG ADULT

When a strange, enigmatic, rainbow-haired girl shows up in their fantastical hometown, it sends the lives of Fall brothers Wynton and Miles and their sister Dizzy into tumult. With road trips, rivalries, family curses, love stories within love stories within love stories, and sorrows and joys passed from generation to generation, this is the intricate, luminous tale of a family’s complicated past and present. And only in telling their stories can they hope to rewrite their futures.

I have been a fan of Jandy Nelson for many years and despite the many years between writing books, Jandy has once again outdone herself with this book. With multiple narratives you jump from one character to another, not wanting to let go of the current narrator yet then instantly falling deep into the voice of another. Jandy is a masterful YA storyteller… pure magic. I loved this so much and want to put it in the hands of both teens and adults. I had the chance to listen to it on Libro.fm and really appreciated that each character had their own narrator, which added an extra substance to the story.

Reviewed by Suzie

MIDDLE GRADE

‘The city was stuffed full of wickedness, everyone knew that …’

Banished to the Midwatch Institute for Orphans, Runaways and Unwanted Girls, Maggie Fishbone is sure she’s in for a life of drudgery. But she quickly discovers there’s more to the Midwatch than meets the eye …The city shimmers with jewels and secrets, and soon Maggie is thrust into an adventure that takes her deep underground, high above the clouds and face to face with danger itself. Turn the page and prepare to be drawn into a lavishly illustrated world, brimming with mystery, unlikely heroines and an adventure as big as the sky.

Good gravy! What a fantastic read!

Set in a fictional 1920’s city, there are airships and secret passageways, people to rescue, villains to thwart and cases to solve. It’s brilliantly bookish and funny, full of adventures, clues, friendship and danger! The girl power in this book was the duck’s knickers! And now I want to go to a boarding school for unwanted girls and secretly learn fencing and wear disguises. And the illustrations! They are the canary’s curlers, the monkey’s garters – just perfect! This would be brilliant for readers who loved Katrina Nannestad’s The Travelling Bookshop or Dominique Valente’s Starfell series.

Reviewed by Jemma

JUNIOR FICTION

Derry knows no other life than that of a captive on Cram’s Rock, shunned by the other young prisoners for being Cram’s poison taster. Until the day everything changes, when a traveller arrives, on the run from the sinister El executioners. She leaves Derry with a magical notebook full of secrets, secrets that might hold the key to Derry’s destiny – and his past. Presented in a stunning embellished giftbox containing all three books with colourful sprayed edges, Landovel is a special keepsake, the ultimate fantasy quest. Compulsive reading from the author of one of the most successful children’s fantasy series ever published, Deltora Quest.

Coming into a new fantasy world created by Emily Rodda felt a bit like coming home for me. Deltora Quest, The Fairy Realm and Rowan of Rin all were formative reads for me as a child, particularly sparking my love for the fantasy genre. Landovel: The Poison Taster is a brilliant beginning to a brand-new world and adventure. Following Derry, one of the many children captured and kept upon the inhospitable Cram’s Rock, as he suddenly finds himself thrust into a daring adventure, that the very fate of Landovel rests upon. Emily has once again created a wonderful world, that slowly and beautifully unfurls in front of you, filled with young people who are all very complex and flawed. I can’t wait to see where the next two books go, and what further intrigue will unfold as Derry and his companions undertake their daring mission. Emily manages to combine elements of magic, mystery, and adventure so perfectly that this truly is a worthy successor to Rowan and Deltora.

Reviewed by Indy