Reviewed by Wendy Lipke Eleanor Limprecht is an author and creative writing lecturer who has had many short fiction, book reviews, feature articles and essays published and is on the board of directors at Writing NSW. The Coast is her fourth novel published following What Was Left in 2013, Long Bay in 2015 and The
Reviewed by Richard Tutin I heard a lot about the Depression Years of the 1930s as I was growing up. Stories about having to make do with very little in the way of food and clothing as well as memories of the great lines of people looking for both food and work abounded during my
Reviewed by Patricia Simms-Reeve Trust, the second novel by celebrated Hernán Diaz, is a dazzling example of a writer who is brilliantly in control of a complicated narrative which portrays the life of an immensely wealthy and successful magnate, introduced as Benjamin Rash in a novel by Harold Vanner, called ‘Bonds’. The book needs its
Reviewed by Patricia Simms-Reeve In the very competitive educational resource field, the exciting news is that the English-based ‘Twinkl’ has arrived in Australia offering materials that are Australian Curriculum-aligned. The initial impression is that it is an excellent tool for teachers. The fact that one of the first books in the Twinkl Originals collection is
Reviewed by Rod McLary A common trope in thrillers and horror stories is the characters embroiled in a situation beyond their imagining and beyond their initial ability to protect themselves. One need only consider Deliverance by James Dickey where four city men on a canoe trip in the Georgian wilderness are set upon by two
Reviewed by Ian Lipke The title of Ann-Marie Priest’s biography of the gifted Australian poet Gwen Harwood is a fine metonymic description. This poet is renowned for the brilliance, the intellectual toughness of her verse, while being as well known for her sense of the ridiculous and her capacity for hard physical labour. By the
Reviewed by Wendy Lipke Karen Swan has become a prolific writer since her early years in fashion journalism. Each year she produces two books, one for the summer period in the northern hemisphere and the other in time for Christmas. With over twenty books to her credit, she has developed an extensive following. Her latest
Reviewed by Ian Lipke Felicity McLean must have had a lot of fun, reviving the story of the Kelly Gang and applying it loosely to the story of Red McCoy. Take a girl whom we meet as a preadolescent but who, over the course of the story, reaches the age of fifteen. This is Red
Reviewed by Ian Lipke A biography of the Australian novelist, short story writer, and poet Katharine Susannah Prichard has been written by Nathan Hobby and released by Melbourne University Press. Long regarded as a notorious woman on the fringes marked by her literary powers and her left-wing politics, Prichard’s tortuous life has not been untangled
Reviewed by Richard Tutin Colonial Australia contains many stories. Some are dominant and so are often seen as the only stories of the colony’s founding years while others have bubbled below the surface waiting for an opportunity to speak and be heard. Jessica North’s biography of Mary Ann Sheers who became the lover and later
Reviewed by Margaret Elizabeth What is it possible to do when you are born a royal woman in a time of misogyny and war? Alison Weir explores this question in Elizabeth of York: The Last White Rose. The reader follows three-year-old Elizabeth, daughter of Edward lV, niece of Richard lll, from her dramatic flight to
Reviewed by Wendy Lipke An attempt to understand a concept such as science releases passion and inspiration and too often frustration, as the subject’s vastness and its predisposition to cognitive challenge leave its practitioners overwhelmed. Iraqi-British theoretical physicist and chair of public engagement in science at the University of Surrey, Jim Al-Khalili, spends half his
Reviewed by Clare Brook Jesse Sutanto’s debut novel Dial A for Aunties was such a hilarious success that its sequel – Four Aunties and a Wedding – has been keenly anticipated. Aside from the riotous comedy Sutanto provides the reader with interesting cross culture experiences in both novels. In Dial A for Aunties, Sutanto explores
Reviewed by Wendy Lipke Sea of Tranquility is the first work of Canadian novelist and essayist, Emily St. John Mandel, that I have read, and I found it to be quite an unusual experience. The book is set out with a Table of Contents showing eight segments indicating that their contents cover events or storylines
Reviewed by Ian Lipke Dr Nikki Stamp has written a memoir, a non-fiction form of writing that is like a biography but differs markedly from it. A memoir may be described as a record composed from personal observation and experience. Closely related to, and often confused with, autobiography, a memoir usually differs chiefly in the