Reviewed by Pauline Seath All the Burning Bridges, written by veteran Australian actor Steve Bisley, is a sequel to his highly acclaimed first book Stillways, a memoir published in 2013, and nominated for several literary awards. Steve, a born storyteller, grew up in Lake Munmorah, near Newcastle NSW. Stillways tells of his childhood, candidly, sometimes
Reviewed by Rod McLary With a nod to Frederich Nietszche, Rowan Hooper’s book is – in his own words – ‘a book about what it feels like to be exceptional and what it takes to get there’. Structured in three parts – Thinking, Doing and Being – the book explores the diversity of humans and
Reviewed by Rod McLary Behrouz Boochani is a Kurdish journalist who has been held in the Manus Island offshore processing centre since 2013. This book is a first-hand account of his experiences in the centre. It has an immediacy which, in no small way, was created by the process by which it was written. Boochani
Reviewed by Wendy Lipke The Botanist’s Daughter by Kayte Nunn came about as the result of the author’s belief that ‘stories circulate in the ether and if you are receptive, they will tap you on the shoulder and start to whisper in your ear’. (http://kaytenunn.com) On a visit to Sydney’s Royal Botanic Gardens the author
Reviewed by Ian Lipke Perhaps it is my bourgeois roots that find the lush splendour of Napoleon Bonaparte’s imperial household somewhat sickening. That some way to compensate for the ruin that was France after the long years of revolution had to be found, cannot be denied, but viewing the ostentatious luxury within which one small
Reviewed by Ian Lipke We read these days of Big History, a study of the universe from a split-second after the Big Bang to the demise of the last Black Hole. That was a long, long time interval. In a different context we can view another long interval though measured on a different scale. The
Reviewed by Ian Lipke This book is described as “the sweeping new saga by…”. I can assure readers that it is definitely not a saga, not even a narrow one let alone a sweeping one. But of course Barbara Hannay’s readers and the author herself realise that. It’s all part of the games we play