Reviewed by Patricia Simms-Reeve To say Little Red Death is a murder mystery with a difference is an understatement. It twists and winds through a clever plot that is intricate and unpredictable with surprises emerging right through to the very last pages. Detective Lyla Rondell is efficient and dedicated to discovering the truth and of
Reviewed by Wendy Lipke Queensland author, Tina Strachan, has spent twenty years working and studying wildlife conservation and has now written a set of three children’s books set in a location called Wilder Zoo. Her unique experiences provide authenticity for her stories for middle – grade readers. Her debut book is called Neeka and the
Reviewed by Norrie Sanders Melanesia, for many of us, is an area we have heard of but would struggle to define, let alone understand its cultures and peoples. Some of the countries and locations are very familiar, but often because of conflict or controversy. Civil unrest in the Solomon Islands, rebel fighting on Bougainville, riots
Reviewed by Wendy Lipke There are many children’s books of this title and most appear to be presented by Bluey and Bingo. The book I have just read is part of Albert Street books, Allen and Unwin, and has been compiled by Nic McPickle, a fun-loving children’s author based in Melbourne who has also produced
Reviewed by Wendy Lipke This story by lecturer from the University of Canberra and Queensland Wuilli Wuilli woman, Lisa Fuller, would probably best suit 9–12-year-old young people. The key themes as mentioned in the Media Release include – First Nations people and perspectives. Diversity and how this can help to solve problems. Bullying, racism and
Reviewed by Ian Lipke In 2013 Jackie French created a history of Australia called Let the Land Speak. I read this book with a great deal of attention combined with a great deal of pleasure, as this particular writer was new to me at the time and kept my attention. For some years I have
Reviewed by Ian Hamilton A remote island is obviously a place of isolation and the vulnerability that such isolation can induce. Laura McCluskey sets her novel on the island of Eilean Eader, located in the harsh Atlantic Ocean west of mainland Scotland. It is portrayed as a cold and forbidding place where the inhabitants focus
Reviewed by Rod McLary The genre of crime fiction is a very broad church – from the genteel novels of Agatha Christie to the elegant prose of P D James to Ian Rankin’s gritty streets of Edinburgh, let alone the Australian crime novels imbedded in the Australian landscape. But here is a new crime novel
Reviewed by Rod McLary Irma Gold’s second novel Shift centres on Arlie a thirty-something reasonably successful photographer yet one who seems unable to really pull his life together. After another relationship break-up, he decides to leave Australia and travel to South Africa ‘to work up a new exhibition’ [40] as he does his best work
Reviewed by Rod McLary As a genre, YA [or Young Adult] produces some of the most relevant and resonant writing in literature today. The genre has been around for decades – think The Catcher in the Rye by J D Salinger [1951] – but currently, it is more popular than ever. Generally, YA novels explore
Reviewed by Rod McLary After the Great Storm is the debut novel from Australian short fiction writer Ann Dombroski and is set in Sydney sometime in the near future – a future in which moral ambiguity seems endemic. Alice Kaczmarek is the protagonist whose husband David is serving a life sentence accused of orchestrating an
Reviewed by Patricia Simms-Reeve This is Garrett Carr’s first novel for adults. Set in Donegal, on Ireland’s west coast, it brings to life the small community of Killybegs, with its deep connections, struggles to maximise its meagre assets, and wrestling with relationships. The boy is in fact a small baby, a few days old, washed
Reviewed by Wendy Lipke While researching for this book, the author looked for evidence to see whether the French Revolution offered any real change and opportunities for women in the country. Their role within the revolution was great. They formed their own political clubs and societies and took part in some of the most important
Reviewed by Ian Hamilton The body count by the end of this murder mystery is very modest: one dead man (although there are three fatalities if you count Horace the prize-winning bull and Frank the corgi). We are placed in a small rural town with the delightful name of Myddle. It is located on the
Reviewed by Wendy Lipke Love Unedited is the work of Caro Llewellyn, an Australian business executive, artistic director, festival manager and nonfiction writer. Her publications include the 2020 Stella Prize-shortlisted memoir Diving into Glass, which explores her father’s experiences with polio, her own multiple sclerosis (MS) diagnosis and the realities of living with a disability.