Mine
By Adam Ouston
$34.99
Adam Ouston’s latest novel Mine uses a similar technique to his first book Waypoints: the novel is structured as a single sentence. This signature style immediately engrosses the reader into the mind of Mine’s narrator; a poet trapped at the bottom of a Tasmanian mineshaft. In this stream of consciousness, the reader is swept through both personal and collective histories, linking together the ambitions and downfalls of prominent figures.
Mine is filled with research and entertaining digressions, which weave together the themes of environmental destruction, greed, and the ghosts of memory in a satisfying conclusion. At the heart of the novel is Tasmania, and the impact of the mining industry. Blurring time and reality, Ouston crafts a compelling psychological journey which prompts thought and paints a rich picture of the haunted mining towns of Tasmania’s past and present.
London Falling
By Patrick Radden Keefe
$36.99
Patrick Radden Keefe, winner of the Baillie Gifford non-fiction prize returns with another examination of corruption and deceit, this time focused around a mysterious disappearance and death of London teenager Zac Brettler in 2019. In Patrick Radden Keefe’s distinctive reporting style, he dissects and reveals the sinister truths behind the death, and takes the reader through interwoven histories of cities, families, the courts, police corruption, and the ways wealth and greed determine lives. Impressive and devastating.
Reviews by the Sun Bookshop – sunbookshop.com
Whatever After, The Graphic Novel: Fairest of All
By Sarah Mlynowski
This book is about a little boy called Jonah and a girl called Abbey. When the little boy was downstairs, he knocked on the mirror and then it hissed and when you knock on it three times they went into a story, they went into Snow White. My favourite part was when they got to meet Snow White. Abbey is my favourite character because she is kind. Other kids should read this book because it’s about Snow White and I like the book.
Review by Lucy – St Augustine’s Primary School
The Hiding Place
By Kate Mildenhall
A group of friends and their families buy an old piece of land in the bush, hoping for peace, freedom, and a simple life close to nature. They imagine it as their own little paradise, a place to relax and feel happy again.
But things start to go wrong from the beginning. An accident causes trouble, the locals aren’t friendly, and soon something happens which changes everything.
At first, I thought the story was just about friends wanting to spend time in nature. But it quickly turns dark, showing how people can change when things go wrong.
The book shows how even good people can make bad choices when they try to hide the truth. Some parts were a bit hard to follow, but I liked how it showed guilt, friendship, and fear. It made me think about how far people will go to protect themselves.
By the end, I realised that ‘good people’ can do terrible things when they believe they deserve happiness and freedom, but they end up hurting themselves because they can’t face the truth.
August Falling: The Author’s Cut
By Les Zig
First published in 2018, August Falling has been published again this year as The Author’s Cut, giving readers a new chance to experience this bittersweet story.
I really enjoyed this book. Even though it’s not a love story, it shows us who we become as individuals and who we become when we are part of a couple. We all bring our own past, fears, and experiences into a relationship.
In this version, there is one page that really stood out to me. That page alone expresses August’s feelings so well – the shock, the overwhelming emotions, the impossible situation, the confusion … everything. It was a powerful moment that helped me understand what August was going through.
The book also made me think about acceptance. We cannot change our partner’s past, but we can choose how we respond to it. Loving someone means accepting that they have lived a life before they met us, with both happy and painful memories.
Julie was my favourite character. I admired her strength, kindness, and the way she kept moving forward even though she had been through so much. I had mixed feelings about August. There were times when I understood why he acted the way he did, but there were also moments when I felt frustrated with him.
It was not a typical happy ending, but it felt real and stayed in my mind. It made me wonder what would happen next for both Julie and August. Overall, August Falling is a thoughtful book about healing, acceptance, and learning to move forward. It reminds us that our past helps make us who we are, but it does not have to control our future.
Reviews by Aryani Siti
