I read so many incredible books last year – 80 that I reviewed, plus a few I forgot to mention – and it’s almost impossible to narrow down the ones I loved most. But here are some of my very-very favourite. All up, 23 of the 37 books I whittled it down to were by Australian authors, seven by European authors (Welsh, Scottish, English, Danish, German), and seven by American authors.

Here are my favourite 13 – today anyway. If you ask me tomorrow, I may have a slightly different list!

💜 Morgan Is My Name by Sophie Keetch
💚 After the Forest by Kell Woods
💙 Other Birds by Sarah Addison Allen
💛 The Yield by Tara June Winch
🧡 The Lights of Sugarberry Cove by Heather Webber
❤️ Edenglassie by Melissa Lucashenko
💙 The Dictionary of Lost Words by Pip Williams
💚 The Bookbinder of Jericho by Pip Williams
❤️ Heart’s Blood by Juliet Marillier (a re-read)
💛 Lessons In Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus
💙 Hamnet by Maggie O’Farrell
💛 The Wonderful Thing About Phoenix Rose by Josephine Moon
🖤 Dark As Last Night by Tony Birch
(Eight Aussie authors, three US and two UK in my top 13.)
 
I also adored these 24 books, and can’t let them go unmentioned!
South of the Buttonwood Tree by Heather Webber
Still Life by Sarah Winman
The Witch of the Woods by Helena Nyblom (thanks to Holly Ringland’s beautiful book The Seven Skins of Esther Wilding)
Wifedom by Anna Funder
A Wish of Ashes and Glass by Selina A Fenech
The Voice to Parliament by Thomas Mayo and Kerry O’Brien
The House with Chicken Legs by Sophie Anderson
Follow the Rabbit-Proof Fence by Doris Pilkington Garimara
The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart by Holly Ringland
Red, White & Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston
The Cake-Maker’s Wish and The Gift of Life by Josephine Moon
The Study of Poisons by Maria V Snyder
The Brightest Star by Emma Harcourt
The Emporium of Imagination by Tabitha Bird
Alchemy by Kate Forsyth and Wendy Sharpe
Like A Curse by Elle McNicoll
The Edge of Madness by K. A. Last
Being Jimmy Baxter by Fiona Lloyd
Curse of the Dragon Shadow: Shadow Dragon Saga Book 1 by Selina A Fenech
The Memory Tree by Britta Teckentrup
Seasons by Aunty Munya Andrews and Charmaine Ledden-Lewis
Highland Raven by Melanie Karsak
Philoxenia: A Seat at My Table by Kon and Sia Karapanagiotidis