News & Reviews

Moving to the Northern Beaches in 2003 from the Mid-North Coast, with her husband Ben and two young children, Sally was delighted to find a few days work at Bookoccino, an Avalon institution with Margaret

  By the author of Bookoccino favourite Withering-by-Sea, a long-awaited new fantasy adventure novel for sophisticated 8-12 year olds who love a strong heroine and don’t mind a little danger. This much praised story will

  Helen Garner’s capacity to pay attention and look at life with a curious gaze has never wavered. In this simple, beautiful book she thinks about and appreciates young men as they train, play

Mums of Avalon, join us with your little ones for morning tea with Sophie Walker, founder of Australian Birth Stories and authors of The Complete Guide to Postpartum and The Complete Australian Guide to

Uplifting. Moving. As journalist Cheng Lei describes her soul-destroying imprisonment in China, outrageously accused of spying, I wondered how she endured — more than three years in the cells, the lights always on, the

illustration: maría medem Jun 5th 2025 Biography and memoir Buckley: The Life and the Revolution That Changed America. By Sam Tanenhaus. Random House  William Buckley revived American conservatism in the second half of the

Wild Dark Shore has been one of the literary highlights of 2025. Join us for this free and fun interactive session with its author – Charlotte McConaghey, fresh from her sold out Sydney Writers

A tender love story and meditation on Blackness and masculinity set in contemporary London. Told in the second person with a lyrical prose that reads like water, Nelson questions what it means to be

I LOVED this book — funny, smart, and strangely moving. Set in ancient Syracuse but written with a modern, Irish street wit, it follows two unemployed potters who decide to put on a Greek

Hard New World: Our Post-American Future; Quarterly Essay 98 by Hugh White Generally speaking Americans no longer want to bear the economic costs of being the world’s policeman, believing their security is not at

Daughters of the Bamboo Grove: From China to America, A True Story of Abduction, Adoption and Separated Twins. A tour de force, in writing and reporting. As part of China’s one-child policy, a baby

The Director by Daniel Kehlmann Daniel Kehlmann’s historical fiction novel, The Director, delves into the life of legendary filmmaker G.W. Pabst. Known for his socially conscious and sexually frank silent movies, Pabst directed Greta

  Our Book of the Month is A Beautiful Family by Jennifer Trevelyn. It’s a sensational debut, completely absorbing. “I’ve been telling everyone: You simply must read it. . .it is that good,” says Literary Critic Caroline

Love Art? Love interiors? Join us for an intimate soiree in the private dining room at Elvina.  Join us in welcoming Kym Elphinstone, an arts advisor and advocate with more than 20 years experience

  Sarah Di Lorenzo is a qualified Clinical Nutritionist who has dedicated her career to rejuvenating the health of Australians. The resident of Seven Networks Sunrise and Weekend Sunrise programs is also author of

  Join us for an evening with Dr Gill Hicks, as she shares insights and learnings from 20 years of living differently, with Richard Fidler.  Gill Hicks was the last survivor rescued from the

Culture | Forged in blood The friendship of a Chilean dictator and a Nazi war criminal Philippe Sands traces the connections between Augusto Pinochet and Walter Rauff in his new book Sitting, not in

Peter Craven, The Weekend Australian. 17 May 2025 It’s five years since I reviewed Philippe Sands’s The Ratline but it stays in the mind as few books can. It’s the story of Otto von

‘Lonely mouth is a Japanese expression. It means, you feel like you want to eat something, but you don’t know what it is…Maybe there is no right thing. Maybe you don’t need anything at

Join us for an evening of captivating emotional honesty with Kumi Taguchi in conversation with Julia Baird. Growing up, Kumi Taguchi thought her father was merely distant: reserved, obsessively frugal and – after her