Reviewed by Antonella Townsend Well, I do not care that Harper Collins classifies this large beautiful book as ‘Juvenile: Age 3+’. It will be gracing my coffee table for some time to come. That said, note to parents, this is a must for the Christmas Stocking. A lovely present for children, aunties and uncles, alike,
Reviewed by Wendy Lipke Inside the novel Lowbridge, by Australian writer Lucy Campbell, I found a four-page A4 copy of a Mounthaven Chronicle which features articles about missing local schoolgirl Tess Dawes. Dated Wednesday February 11, 1987, it also included the report on an interview with the author of this book, Lucy Campbell. As part
Reviewed by Rod McLary Set across two specific time periods [November 1936 and July-August 1945] in Paris and Berlin, this tight and tense thriller chronicles the efforts of Auguste Duchene to locate a Gestapo war criminal SS-Oberführer Volker Sprenger. Duchene is persuaded, by veiled threats of harm to his wife Sabine, into undertaking the search
Reviewed by Richard Tutin For Christians and members of the Jewish faith, biblical stories are indispensable in understanding how we interact with God in everyday life. The books of the Bible are a treasure trove of stories, songs and teachings that assist believers through reflection and discussion. It’s always good then when an author offers
Reviewed by Rod McLary Eta Draconis was the winner of the 2022 Dorothy Hewitt Award for an Unpublished Manuscript – an excellent reason to read this rather dystopian novel set in south-west Western Australia. It is indeed a fine read. As well as being the book’s intriguing title, Eta Draconis is a star in the
Reviewed by Norrie Sanders Energy is a hot topic and the world is moving so fast that most of us can’t keep up. Our news feeds are crammed with battery technology, electric vehicle sales graphs, fuel cells and even different colours of hydrogen, but how do we know which ones will rule the future? We
Reviewed by E. B. Heath I am not a fan of dystopian literature, but the title implied the genre: Trump’s Australia. I stared at the book’s cover: the outline of that head, with its yellow hair and orange face, and the map of Australia for a mouth. Non-fiction Noir. How might another Trump Presidency, a
Reviewed by Patricia Simms-Reeve Mat Osman’s enthralling historical fantasy sweeps the reader into the London of 1601. Shay, a girl of 15, leaps across precarious rooftops in her role as a messenger… It is a unique way to communicate and this heralds the spirit of this novel. Shay lives with her failing father, a ferryman, in
Reviewed by Rod McLary Artificial Intelligence [or AI] seems to be everywhere these days. Its applications include web searches, understanding speech [as per Siri or Alexa], self-driving cars and creative tools such as ChatGPT. A concern for the future is whether, if a machine has a mind and subjective experience, it may also have sentience
Reviewed by Norrie Sanders Gawler is a small town on the Adelaide plain, on the main road to the vineyards of the Barossa Valley. As the oldest country town in Australia, it was still very much a frontier settlement when Harry Coombe was born in 1859, his parents having met and married in the district
Reviewed by Patricia Simms-Reeve Crime fiction is probably top of the list when popular appeal to readers is gauged. Producing a novel in this genre demands skill in plot, and of course, originality. The psychological thriller offers infinite possibilities because of the uniqueness of each individual. M.T. Edvardsson’s new novel, The Woman Inside, is a
Reviewed by Ian Lipke The Seven Sister Series, initiated by Lucinda Riley many years ago, will mean a lot more to readers brought up on the books than to those like myself, a newcomer entering at Book 8. However, one can rest assured that there is much to read from the eighth and final volume.
Reviewed by Wendy Lipke On reading the title of this book, King of Pride, I did not know whether the story to come would be about humans or animals. However, the cover also tells me that this book is the second in a King of Sin series and when I began reading about a conversation
Reviewed by Ian Lipke To align one’s name with an author who is highly regarded in the field of fiction is praise indeed. In the case of James Comey, the comparison is with John Grisham, the man widely regarded as having invented the legal thriller. Comey takes his readers deep inside the hate-filled and treacherous
Reviewed by Rod McLary This book is the most recent in the series Writers on Writers in which leading Australian writers reflect on another Australian writer who has inspired and fascinated them. In this one, Sarah Krasnostein reflects on Peter Carey and more specifically his True History of the Kelly Gang published in 2000. Peter