The hotel witch by Jessica Miller

Jessica Miller is creating highly original middle-fiction. Her previous books were Elizabeth and Xenobia and The Republic of Birds. Jessica’s books are fantasies with a dose of black intrigue. Jessica writes about her new work, The Hotel Witch, for Joy in Books at PaperbarkWords blog. It’s funny how things creep into a story, after you […]

Unnecessary Drama by Nina Kenwood

Unnecessary Drama by Nina Kenwood Published by Text Publishing Author Interview “I briefly fantasise about walking into the room with a cute guy and letting them think I’ve just met him, or, no, that we know each other from uni maybe, and I’m taking him back to the house to hook up – there’s a […]

The Museum of Broken Things Lauren Draper

The Museum of Broken Things by Lauren Draper “Gideon crosses his arms behind his head. He looks tired again, I realise. And softer, somehow. Lifeguard Gideon is all hard edges and shrewd lines. Party Gideon is a little looser, his smile a little wider. I hesitate before I settle down beside him at last, gazing […]

The Not So Chosen One Kate Emery

The Not So Chosen One by Kate Emery The Not So Chosen One is the debut young adult fantasy novel of Kate Emery, a Perth journalist and writer. It is about a Perth teenager who has to juggle an unexpected pregnancy with an even-more-unexpected introduction to the world of magical high-school. As the title of […]

Sadie Starr’s Guide to Starting Over by Miranda Luby

Sadie Starr’s Guide to Starting Over by Miranda Luby As the title Sadie Starr’s Guide to Starting Over forewarns, Sadie Starr is trying to turn her life around and do things differently when she leaves her best friend Daniel and her life in Sydney and begins again in Melbourne. Of course, it will not be […]

The Rain Heron by Robbie Arnott

The Rain Heron by Robbie Arnott (Text Publishing) Review by Joy Lawn The Rain Heron is literary art. The author has deftly crafted an audacious idea into an original, compelling work. Author Robbie Arnott exploded onto the Australian and global literary scene in 2018 with his debut novel Flames. Flames has been highly recognised, being […]

All the Little Tricky Things by Karys McEwen

All the Little Tricky Things by Karys McEwen “I don’t want to be ungrateful about being sent to a good school in the city. I know I’m lucky. It just adds to my weird tummy feelings about being an in-betweener. I won’t belong with the Merri kids anymore, but at the end of each day, […]

Robin Klein in Letters

Letters from Robin: a voyage around my author by Jon Appleton “I do hope you continue to write when you have a spare moment – I look forward to hearing about your life in the UK. Take care and God bless – love Robin K.” (Robin Klein to Jon Appleton in Letters from Robin) Many […]

The Book of Form and Emptiness by Ruth Ozeki

Book Review: The Book of Form and Emptiness by Ruth Ozeki “Stories never start at the beginning, Benny. They differ from life in that regard. Life is lived from birth to death, from the beginning into an unknowable future. But stories are told in hindsight. Stories are life lived backward.” (The Book of Form and […]

Fish Out Of Water by Kate Hendrick

I enjoyed Kate’s previous YA novels The Accident and The Finder and so was very keen to read her new book Fish Out of Water (published by Text). Kate speaks about it here at PaperbarkWords. Kate Hendrick on Fish Out of Water: At fifteen, Finn knows exactly who he is. He’s Finn the swimmer, who […]