2026 Australian Indie Book Awards

by Madeleine Cleary

Beneath the glitter of a booming gold city lies Little Lon, where the Papillon brothel draws the powerful and the desperate alike. When a killer begins stalking the streets, two women from very different worlds find themselves chasing the truth through a side of the city history tried to forget.

by Stefanie Koens

When Tess McCarthy travels to Western Australia’s remote Abrolhos Islands, she is searching for answers about the infamous Batavia shipwreck and her own unsettled life. What she uncovers stretches back to 1628 and the people who sailed on that doomed voyage.

by Sally Hepworth

In 1959, 15-year-old Mabel Waller became the youngest Australian ever convicted of murder. Decades later she lives quietly under another name, until her past resurfaces and the world remembers the girl once called Mad Mabel. Now at age 81, she is finally ready to tell the story everyone thinks they know.

by Angie Faye Martin

Detective Taylor only plans a short stay in her remote hometown before returning to Brisbane. But when a woman’s body is discovered by a nearby creek, a routine posting turns into a complex investigation. The deeper she digs, the more the town’s past begins to surface.

by Debra Oswald

Betty’s life begins in wartime London before she sails to Australia in search of something more. Over the decades she finds herself swept up in changing times, unexpected friendships and a life far bigger than she imagined. 

by Charlotte McConaghy

On a remote island near Antarctica, a father and his three children protect one of the world’s most important seed banks. Their isolation is broken when a mysterious woman washes ashore during a violent storm. As trust slowly grows, secrets begin to surface that could change everything.