Australian & New Zealand fiction

Green means best in my opinion, purple means I have it, yellow means I would like to have it (a.k.a. wish list), turquoise means look for it to read.

2017 Sabbatical: I have been reading mostly Australian writers.

Picture books:

• Gibbs, May. Found Tales from the Gum Tree sickeningly cutesy.
• Lester, Alison, Elizabeth Honey, and the children of Gununa. Our Island is great! The children did the artwork, using crayons and food dye.
• Oliver, Narelle. Fox and Fine Feathers was fantastic, gorgeous artwork.
• Owen, Lindsey, ill. by Matteo Grilli. Poss in Boots was funny, about a young possum who tap dances on the roof of a house of jazz musicians.

Found the book about the Aboriginal cricket team in the 1800's illuminating.

Juvenile:

• Brinsmead, Hesba: loved The Honey Forest about a boy and his dad in the rain forest of the Blue Mountains.
• Hall, Leanne: Iris and the Tiger - set in Spain but with an Australian protagonist - really terrific!   
• Lindsay, Norman: I read about half of The Magic Pudding - it is funny.
• Pascoe, Bruce: Mrs Whitlam (Aboriginal, girl and horse) was ok but the writing wasn't that good.

YA:

• Brinsmead, Hesba: I felt that Isle of the Sea Horse was boring, sort of an Aussie retelling of Swiss Family Robinson so didn't finish it.
• Fitzpatrick, Deb. Have you Seen Ally Queen?  I guess I'm tired of sad YA novels: didn't finish it.
• Gough, Erin: I found The Flywheel by (lesbian) difficult and sad until the very end, when it came round right.
• Winch, Tara June: Swallow the Air (Aboriginal) was beautifully written but so very sad.
• Wrightson, Patricia: liked A Little Fear and A Wisp of Smoke. Did not finish Shadows of Time.

Adult:

• Slatter, Angela. I just finished the compelling Vigil (urban myth, Brisbane setting) and have been thinking about it ever since. Corpselight was also compelling! Third is Restoration (e-book), which sums everything up.
• Greenwood, Kerry. Corinna Chapman mysteries. Enjoyed Earthly Delights - loved it right up until the ending. 2nd is Heavenly Pleasures, only in print format at KDL (as are the others in this Corinna Chapman series). I read Devil's Food (#3) from Brisbane Library. Forbidden Fruit (#5) & Cooking the Books (#6) are pretty good (e-books).
• Hodgson, Anthea. The Drifter -  not your typical Western Australia romance - an excellent story! Didn't like The Cowgirl (e-book), though.
• Nunn, Judy. Enjoyed Spirits of the Ghan - historical and contemporary fiction, set in cities and the Outback.  
• Fergus, Lara. Tried to read My Sister Chaos (about a lesbian cartographer with OCD, obsessed with mapping her house, and her twin) but couldn't stand it.
• Hawthorne, Susan. Falling Woman is about a lesbian with epilepsy, told in 3 ways - as a child, Stella, as an adult with her partner, Estella, and there's a mystical part with Estelle. I'm enjoying it and am simultaneously bored with it.
• Mears, Gillian. Foal's Bread. 2012. - fiction about a young woman, set in New South Wales between WWI and WWII. Great writing but sad, and I didn't finish it.
• Van Neerven, Ellen. Read Heat and Light (Aboriginal, lesbian short stories); it too was beautifully written but sad.

Read before/after 2017:

Search KPL for: "lgbtq+ fiction" AND australia* (start with the authors after H)

• Blue, Cheyenne. Sometimes We Fly (audiobook) about a motorcyclist who gives tours around Sydney, a closeted news reader, her juvenile delinquent daughter, and nextdoor neighbor who runs a motorcycle tour company. Pretty slow.
• Brinsmead, Hesba F. Bianca & Roja is a retelling of Snow White and Rose Red, very Grimm's. Longtime Passing is the 1st of a trilogy based on Brinsmead's childhood and her grandfather's stories about a cabin her father built in the Blue Mountains. I didn't like the 2nd, Longtime Dreaming, or the 3rd, Christmas at Longtime. I love Pastures of the Blue Crane. I might enjoy Echo in the Wilderness but would have to buy it. The Ballad of Benny Perhaps was about a boy and his dad mining in opal fields.
• Brown, Maggie. In the Company of Crocodiles (e-book, love it!). Last Time We Met (loved it). Playing the Spy (e-book, fun!). Reinventing Lindsey (e-book, interesting). I Can't Dance Alone (e-book, not great). Mackenzie's Beat (not great).
• Denison, Lyn. I've read some of her lesbian novels, but put them on my Hoopla favorites anyway. For All Time was happy at the beginning and end but very sad in the middle.
• Emrick, K.J. Death in Room 7 (Pine Lake Inn Cozy Mystery Book 1) and Digging For Trouble (# 2) (e-book cozies: set in Tasmania but don't give a feel for the landscape)
• Fulton, Jennifer (aka Rose Beecham) is a New Zealander who lives in Australia. Greener than Grass - lesbian romance.
• Hathorn, Libby. Thunderwith is sad, as is the movie version, The Echo of Thunder.
• Hill, Gerri. 
• Kuttner, Naomi. New Zealand Paranormal Cozy mysteries. The Retired Assassin's Guide to Country Gardening (#1) was great! Enjoyed #2 The Retired Assassin's Guide to Orchid Hunting (#2). #3, The Retired Assassin's Guide to Amateur Theatrics, is on my wishlist: due out 10/20/26.
• Lester, Alison. The Snow Pony was sad but the 2nd one, The Quicksand Pony, was less so. Running with the Horses was an intriguing story about taking a horse from the Spanish Riding School during and escape during WWII 
• McNab, Claire. Wombat Strategy (meh, set in L.A.).
• Nunn, Kayte. Rose's Vintage is so good, as is Angel's Share (e-books)! Botanist's Daughter (e-book) settings are Australia, Cornwall, and Chile.
• Scoullar, Jennifer. Brumby's Run is the 1st in a series called the Wild Australia Stories. Identical twins separated at birth, one raised in a wealthy, city family, the other in poverty in an outback farm. Very good! 2nd is Currawong Creek, about a lawyer who gains a difficult foster child and moves to her grandpa's outback farm.
• Wrightson, Patricia. Loved The Ice is Coming, about an Aboriginal man going on a Dreaming quest, but didn't enjoy The Dark Bright Water or Behind the Wind, the 2nd and 3rd books. I also like The Nargun and the Stars and An Older Kind of Magic. Balyet, Down to Earth, I Own the Racecourse, and The Rocks of Honey are ok.