Reviewed by Wendy Lipke Among the Grey Gums is the second book by Australian writer Paula J. Beavan who grew up on the banks of the Hunter River where her love of reading and a good yarn inspired a desire to write. Her love of the land and its history especially as it embraced the
Reviewed by Richard Tutin When we think of the wars of the twentieth century, some stand out such as the two World Wars and the war in Vietnam. There are though wars that are often left on the shelf as it were gathering dust and lost in the mists of time. The Korean War (1950-53)
Reviewed by Gail McDonald This is a fabulous book for young children loaded with many opportunities for the reader to engage the child in discussion about the story and to be an active player in it as well. Lights Out, Little Dragon engages the child from the first page, inviting them to help as the
Reviewed by Wendy Lipke Camino Ghosts is the third book in the Camino series by renowned writer John Grisham – Camino Island (2017), Camino Winds (2020). At the centre of all that happens in these stories is the local bookseller, Bruce Cable. In Camino Ghosts as well as in his usual role Bruce is the
Reviewed by Wendy Lipke Walking the Rock Country in Kakadu is a beautifully illustrated hard-covered book which has much to share with the reader. Although it has been published as a book for Primary School children the detailed, vivid images and information it provides have much to share with young and old. Throughout the story
Reviewed by Wendy Lipke Australian author, Maya Linnell, has become well known for her rural fiction books about realistic people in small towns. She gathers inspiration from her own rural upbringing and the small communities she has always lived in and loved. Her affection and respect for Australia’s flora and fauna shines through in her
Reviewed by Richard Tutin This review has been difficult to write because of the sensitivity of the topic and the emotion that comes with it. Since 7th October 2023, raw emotion has been the catalyst for the many outpourings of grief and anger from different elements of society within the world community. Raja Shehadeh’s slim
Reviewed by Antonella Townsend Best to wear a jumper and a beanie when reading Mawson in Antarctica, Joanna Grochowicz really takes you there. At times during the narrative I did not want to be there – at all. This is scary stuff of the non-fiction kind. Joanna Grochowicz has written a well-researched account of Douglas
Reviewed by Antonella Townsend I have long since thought the publishing industry’s insistence that novels fall into a genre straight-jacket somewhat unnecessary, not to mention unimaginative. Breaking through the mundane, Kaliane Bradley’s debut novel The Ministry of Time creates its own mixed-genre benchmark. Written in the first person, our narrator is a bi-racial, jaded, civil
Reviewed by Patricia Simms-Reeve It is impossible to resist the power of a book that is deeply perceptive in its unwaveringly honest scrutiny of family relations. The ties between two sisters, dealing with the death of a mother who was emotionally difficult and remote, is the focus of this exceptional novel. They come together at
Reviewed by Antonella Townsend I love true stories and I love elephants, so though the target demographic for Kate Simpson’s How to Move a Zoo is for children four to eight years, this large hard cover book will remain on my coffee table for all my adult friends to appreciate a slice of Sydney history.
Reviewed by Norrie Sanders River journeys are a familiar genre. Whether it be the mighty Nile, Amazon or Congo, or the less mighty Thames or Murray, historians, geographers, anthropologists and hikers, to name a few, have felt the need to explore and write about it. Closer to home, our more modest Brisbane River has been
Reviewed by Wendy Lipke Less than 40 miles from the front line of fighting, during the first World War, a group of three hundred and fifty women from the US, Canada and Great Britain worked to rebuild northern France from 1917 to 1924. This novel, The Librarians of Rue de Picardie, by Janet Skeslien Charles
Reviewed by E. B. Heath Ageing and death are currently hot topics in the publishing world. No doubt influenced by a wave of Baby Boomers now facing the inevitable. But they are not the only group chasing immortality. There are many in affluent countries who are opting for their bodies to be preserved using the
Reviewed by Rod McLary The subtitle to this ultimately hopeful book is Finding our way back to compassion, hope and humanity implying of course that compassion, hope and humanity were lost somewhere along the way. This is the story of the 2017 review of the Oakden Older Persons’ Mental Health Service in Adelaide. The book’s