Between The Lines

What do we inherit from the world and the people in it, and what do we do with it? In this episode, Leanne and Chelle talk with Ellena Savage about her debut novel, The Ruiners . Pip is a university dropout working at a Melbourne lobster shack. When her long-absent father dies and leaves her $50,000, she and her boyfriend Sasha, an ambitious young scholar, buy a run-down house on a struggling Gree...

How do friendships survive when the people we love are experiencing the very thing we're desperately longing for, avoiding, grieving or questioning? In this episode of Between The Lines , we're joined by New Zealand actor, journalist, playwright and author Elisabeth Easther to discuss her novel Seed . The story follows four women navigating very different experiences of fertility, pregnancy and mo...

Is it ever too late to discover a different version of yourself? In this episode of Between The Lines , we're joined by Australian author Mikki Brammer to discuss her wonderful new novel, Good Joy, Bad Joy . For more than eighty years, Joy and Hazel have been best friends. But while Hazel has lived boldly and adventurously, Joy has spent her life doing what was expected of her: being a devoted wif...

What happens to the parts of ourselves we put aside when we become who everyone else needs us to be? In this episode of Between The Lines , Leanne is joined by author and psychologist Lauren Keegan to discuss her haunting historical novel, The Woman in the Seal Skin . Set on the remote Orkney Islands in 1695, the novel follows Mali, a young woman raised on stories of selkies: shape-shifting women...

What does it mean to build a home in a country that isn't your own? In this episode of Between The Lines , we're joined by author Tyree Barnette to discuss his powerful memoir, Stolen Man on Stolen Land . After moving from North Carolina to Sydney, Tyree expected Australia to be familiar enough to feel like home. Instead, he found himself seeing both countries through a completely new lens. As a B...

What happens when one place witnesses two extraordinary moments in history? In this episode of Between The Lines , we're joined by bestselling Australian author Mary-Lou Stephens to discuss The Hobart Hotel , a dual-timeline historical novel inspired by the remarkable history of the Rest Point site in Hobart. Travelling between pre-war Tasmania in 1939 and the opening of Australia's first legal ca...

What makes someone a monster: what they are, or the choices they make? In this episode of Between The Lines , we're joined by debut author Lily Crozier on the publication day of her gothic vampire romance, Vow of Eternal Night . The novel follows Clara Wagner, a young woman who has always known monsters are real. When she is abducted by the feared vampire Prince Rayleigh and forced into a betrotha...

Bad Girls Make Great Detectives: Fiona Hardy on Old Games In this episode of Between The Lines , Chelle and Leanne sit down with Melbourne author Fiona Hardy to talk about her latest crime novel Old Games — a fast-paced and offbeat Australian mystery set across Melbourne and the Mornington Peninsula. Before we dive into crime fiction, we begin by uncovering Fiona's own criminal past… which involve...

In this episode of Between The Lines , Chelle and Leanne chat with Australian author Penny Tangey about her delightfully funny cosy crime novel What Rhymes with Murder? The story begins with Frida, an exhausted new mother searching for something to break up the sleep-deprived blur of early parenthood. When she attends Baby Rhyme Time at her local library, it feels like a small but meaningful step...

What Makes Someone a Mother? A Conversation with Susi Fox about The Other Child In this episode of Between the Lines , we're joined by bestselling author Susi Fox to discuss her novel The Other Child - a gripping psychological story that explores motherhood, identity, and the fragile boundaries of belonging. This is a book that unsettles in the best way. At its heart, The Other Child asks a confro...

In this episode of Between The Lines , Chelle and Leanne chat with acclaimed Australian author Toni Jordan about her powerful new novel Tenderfoot . Set in Brisbane in 1975, Tenderfoot follows Andie Tanner, a serious and determined young girl whose world revolves around her father and the racing greyhounds they keep beneath their home. Andie dreams of becoming a greyhound trainer herself, imaginin...

In this episode of Between The Lines , Chelle and Leanne welcome Kate Solly back to the podcast to chat about her latest cosy crime novel, The Paradise Heights Miniature Railway Bust Up . Kate's books have become beloved for their blend of mystery, humour, community chaos and deeply relatable motherhood moments — and this latest instalment is no exception. This time, amateur sleuth Fleck Parker fi...

In this episode of Between The Lines , Chelle and Leanne chat with Australian author Trish Bolton about her thoughtful and emotionally layered novel Whenever You're Ready . At the heart of the story are three interconnected women - Lizzie, Alice and Margot - each standing at a crossroads in life, forced to confront the gap between who they thought they would become and where life has actually led...

In this episode of Between The Lines , Chelle and Leanne welcome bestselling Australian author Emma Grey back to the podcast to discuss her moving new novel Start at the End . Known for emotionally rich stories that stay with readers long after the final page, Emma's latest book explores love, loss, fate and the impossible question of what might have happened if life had taken a different turn. St...

In this episode of Between The Lines , Chelle and Leanne chat with Australian author Abbey Lay about her sensual and thought-provoking novel Slip . Set in Palermo during a scorching Sicilian summer, Slip follows Grace, a young linguist who travels to Sicily to study Italian dialects. What begins as a six-week immersion in language and culture takes an unexpected turn when she rents a room in the a...

Olivia O'Flynn on Ever Blessed (Tides of Ever, Book 1) In this episode of Between the Lines , we're joined by author Olivia O'Flynn to talk about her fantasy novel Ever Blessed , the first book in the Tides of Ever series. Olivia shares how the story came to life, why she set out to write "the book she wanted to read," and what readers can expect from the world, characters, and themes in the serie...

Secrets, Small Towns and Strong Female Detectives: Fiona Tarr Live at Sunshine Coast Fiction Festival In this special live episode of Between The Lines , Chelle and Leanne sit down with Australian crime author Fiona Tarr at the Sunshine Coast Fiction Festival to talk about her gripping, atmospheric novels. Fiona writes crime fiction set in distinctly Australian landscapes - from remote tropical to...

In this episode of Between The Lines , Chelle and Leanne chat with internationally bestselling author Courtney Peppernell about her latest novel The Last Poem - a moving story about grief, identity and the possibility of starting again. The novel follows Wren Paisley, a successful poet whose life is shattered by the sudden loss of her fiancée, Lucy. Overwhelmed by grief and public attention, she l...

How to Be Well: Finding Your Way Back to Energy, Balance and You with Sharon Kolkka In this episode of Between The Lines , Chelle and Leanne sit down with Australian wellness expert Sharon Kolkka to talk about her book How to Be Well , co-written with integrative medicine specialist Dr Karen Coates. This conversation is a gentle but powerful reminder that many women are living in a constant state...

In this conversation, we sit down with Shailee Thompson to talk about her novel How To Lose a Guy In Ten Dates.  It's a fabulous book unlike one you will have read before - a mix of Rom Com and Slasher, which will have you on the edge of your seat waiting for the potential kiss, and the next inevitable death. We discuss the heart behind her writing, the themes that shaped this book, and the deeper...

If you'd like to join our book discussions, you're always welcome inside the  Between the Lines Book Club . The details are in the show notes.   Join us for the next chapter. You can join our bookclub here BOOKCLUB SPECIAL: Someone Else's Child with Kylie Orr Step into this thoughtful and engaging conversation as Chelle sits down with author Kylie Orr to talk about her debut novel Someone Else's C...