Reviews

Some people read books to escape their lives. For other readers, they want to consume a story that mirrors their own. Author, Melina Marchetta certainly fits into the latter camp. Her latest novel – the third in her Inner West trilogy, set in the suburbs of Sydney – is a close examination of the issues…

The Shining Wall, the gripping debut novel from author Melissa Ferguson, is an exploration of scientific possibility through the lens of feminism and fiction. The novel tells the frightening story of the orphaned Alida and her younger sister Graycie, who are left along following the death of their mother in the Demi-Settlements outside the wall. …

It is rare that at the age of eighty and after publishing sixteen books – a mixture of novels, short story collections, and non-fiction – that an author comes into the light of the public consciousness and begins to find notoriety. But the works of Gerald Murnane have begun to garner considerable interest in recent…

Edited by Maxine Beneba Clarke, with Magan Magan and Ahmed Yussuf, Growing Up African in Australia is a new anthology from Black Inc., following on from Alice Pung’s Growing Up Asian in Australia, Benjamin Law’s Growing Up Queer in Australia and Anita Heiss’ Growing Up Aboriginal in Australia. Whilst, Carly Findlay, who also contributed to this…

If there were a title for Grand Master of narrative fiction then the undisputed champion would be Janet Malcolm. This American author has been writing since the 1960’s when she first began with The New Yorker. The author of several books, her latest one, Nobody’s Looking At You, focuses on recent times by drawing together…

David Cullen, author of the definitive bestseller Columbine, returns with a second book, this time detailing the story of the events surrounding the Parkland, Florida school shooting in February 2018, the extraordinary teenage survivors and the March For Our Lives (MFOL) campaign that followed.  In Parkland, Cullen takes the readers inside the school in the…

Melina Marchetta’s novels are often about the boy or girl who lives next door. Her book, Looking for Alibrandi, was a perfect example of this and continues to find new audiences, some thirty years after it was released. Marchetta’s latest novel, The Place on Dalhousie, takes a leaf out of her previous works by reprising…

The unnamed protagonist of Carrie Tiffany’s new novel, Exploded View, lets us into her life by increments. Immediately, as readers, we are welcomed into her interior world– a place where the only things that make sense are cars, and engines. It is the late 1970’s, and the girl and her brother watch things like Hogan’s Heroes on the TV, careful…

Relationship advisor Zoë Foster Blake takes us on an enthusiastic journey through matters of the heart and offers a fresh perspective in her new reference guide: Love! The book offers hints, solutions and ideas on how to deal with many of the issues us women experience when dating, whilst also giving some insight into why we…

Washed ashore on the island of Janda Baik, sisters Muni and Satki have no memory of their former lives. Mak Genggang, the region’s foremost witch, knows a curse when she sees it and in the mortal Muna and the magical Satki, it’s clear as day to her what has happened. Unable, or unwilling, to answer…

Underdog is a collection of short stories, collected from upcoming and unpublished Australian YA fiction writers. Edited by (and featuring contributions from) Tobias Madden and Sarah Taviana, Underdog celebrates a uniquely Australian genre, one as diverse and emotive as the country in which it is written. Featuring twelve short stories, Underdog is the first #LoveOzYA…

Art dealer Alex Clayton is back, and conservator best friend John Porter and faithful hound Hogarth aren’t too far behind either. Invited to preview a new exhibition at the Melbourne International Museum of Art, they’re present to see museum staff unveil a supposedly cursed painting. But when one of the workers collapses and damages the…

Monica Tan’s first novel, Stranger Country, will take you on a 30,000km journey of discovery around selected parts of Australia. Tan is Chinese Australian, but at thirty-two, felt that she didn’t know as much about Australia’s history as she did about China’s. In a bid to change that, Tan embarked on a journey around parts…

1917. At Blackwater Abbey in Devon, a storm is brewing. Lord and Lady Highmount invite renowned mediums, bereaved parents, and one troubled young soldier into their home, all in the hopes of contacting their sons, lost to the war ravaging Europe – much of it powered by the Highmounts’ own armaments. Thrust unexpectedly into their…

The year is 1936 and inside the Buckingham Hotel’s Grand Ballroom, the party is in full swing. But it’s more than dancing partners and waiters armed with fresh champagne doing the rounds here. With Britain keeping one eye firmly on the rising European fascists, the business of buying and selling secrets is booming – and…

Eccentric, heartbreaking and hilarious- this is how Debra Adelaide‘s latest book of short stories is described on the cover by her Picador stable-mate, Jennifer Mills. The book is Zebra and Other Stories, a collection comprised of fourteen stories, divided into three sections: First, Second and Third. These sections refer to the point of view taken in the stories. Adelaide covers a…

Changelings, or babies swapped with supernatural beings in their infancy, permeate the mythology of a number of cultures throughout Europe. Often, it was believed that fairies had taken the child and left one of their own behind- a sign of bad luck for the family. The idea of a changeling may have been used to…

No one is really sure how it started. Random attacks. Censored news reports. Curfews and evacuations. The internet stopping. And then there’s Rhea and Jojo’s mother going missing. Band members Dee, Poppy, Zufan, and Jack’s creative retreat cut short by power outages. And an unnamed teen facing down her own family, who are literally about…

The entire time that I was reading Markus Zusak’s new novel, Bridge of Clay, I had Josh Pyke’s song “Feet of Clay” going around and around in my head. Perhaps, this has only strengthened my belief that the entire novel is really some sort of extended metaphor, although for what exactly I couldn’t say. One…

An Open Book, published late last year, is the eleventh collection of poetry from David Malouf, and his third in the last ten years. Prior to this collection I only really knew of Malouf in his capacity as a writer of prose and short stories. As it turns out he is equally adept in many…

Robert Ian Bonnick is a warrior. This successful man has had a career that most people could only dream of. But, what some of us may not know is that he had to overcome extreme adversity and challenges in order to get there. In his debut book, Soul Survivor, he describes his own personal rags-to-riches…

In the summer of 1968, Evelyn Lynden and her husband Lenny move to Evergreen Valley, California so that Lenny can work as an orderly in an asylum- part of the agreement he has made as a conscientious objector, so that he does not have to go over and fight in the Vietnam War. Their arrival…

Power is a fundamental thing. A lack of it can render someone a wretched husk, and too much of it can make people go drunk and blind. Writer and editor, John Freeman knows all this, because he chose it as the topic for the latest instalment of Freeman’s Best New Writing; the anthology that includes exciting…

In 2005 Nigel Marsh wrote Fat, Forty & Fired about his year embracing life away from the office. In some ways, Jacqueline Raposo’s The Me, Without: My Year on an Elimination Diet of Modern Conveniences is cut from the same cloth. Raposo’s book is both memoir and a case study into her failed life at…

Jeanne Little entered the world of Television with for her fabulous outfits and wigs, boisterous laughter, make up, false eye lashes and her trademark saying: “Hello, darrrrlliiinnggs”! Jeanne’s story is a classic one. Tired of boring maternity dresses, she made her own, which caught the attention of the local newspaper. An assistant producer saw the…

When what appears to be the corpse of a mummified Viking is found, journalist Matthew Cave is first on the scene. But by the next day, the body is gone, and in its place lies the flayed corpse of the policeman left to keep watch. Silenced by the local constabulary as they investigate the crime,…

Tasmania lies just below mainland Australia like a hidden jewel, with its rainforests still standing, cooler temperatures, a treasure for the foodies and art and culture are found on nearly every corner. Island Story: Tasmania in Object and Text provides a juxtaposition of text and images, allowing both elements of shine, but neither to dominate….

Janina Duszejko (though never call her Janina) lives just outside an isolated village. She spends her days tending to the empty holiday homes nearby, teaching at the local school, and mourning the disappearance of her two beloved dogs. But when prominent members of the local hunting club are found dead, Duszejko is on the case….

He loves a sunburnt country; a land of sweeping plains. Okay, that was actually Dorothea Mackellar. But the same also applies to Peter Spearritt. This historian, emeritus professor and author shows a real enthusiasm for the wonderful land of Oz in Where History Happened: The Hidden Past of Australia’s Towns & Places. This is one personal, colourful and…

On a stormy night in 1809, Captain John Lacroix returns home from a disastrous campaign on the Continent. Shaken by the events he witnessed in a little Spanish village while his army retreated, he cannot bring himself to report back to his regiment when the call comes. Instead, he deserts, making his way to the…