Cirrus@Austlit

'More than a decade after her best-selling debut, Unpolished Gem, Alice Pung remains one of Australia’s most beloved authors for her gentle yet forthright prose. She speaks about racism, role models and motherhood. “As a writer, I don’t know if you can really see from another person’s perspective … It is important to try and put yourself in someone else’s shoes, but I’ve realised in the last five years you can never really do it.” By Jessica Zhan Mei Yu.' (Introduction)

'After his gripping yet slow-burning debut, Call Me Evie, J. P. Pomare is back with another compelling thriller – and it’s just as dread-filled. Told through dual perspectives, In the Clearing follows Freya, a wealthy single mother who leads a routine life in a small town, and Amy, a teenage girl born and raised in The Clearing, a secret community with many parallels to the notorious 1960s Victorian cult The Family. The two narratives gradually intertwine to reveal something much bigger – nefarious connections that span decades and leave a shadow hanging over the town.' (Introduction)

'You’d be forgiven for thinking that this review is some years late.

'As a playscript, Leah Purcell’s The Drover’s Wife was given its rounds of critical acclaim and awards attention across 2016-17, taking out the Victorian Prize for Literature and the NSW Premier’s Book of the Year, among other ribbons. In this new iteration, titled The Drover’s Wife: The Legend of Molly Johnson, Purcell novelises her brutal and critical reply to Henry Lawson’s 1892 short story, in which an unnamed woman struggles with a snake and four children. Country is the enemy, and the hardened woman a virtue.' (Publication summary)