Reviewed by Ian Lipke Down around the Snowy ‘where the pine-clad ridges raise/ their torn and rugged battlements on high’ there’s a barney going on, and it’s a beauty. No confinement to angry words but rather ‘a fisticuffs at dawn’ sort of brawling. And the reason for all this ill-will remains blithely ignorant of all
Reviewed by Rod McLary If you ever have a young friend or relative who is feeling cranky with the world or – perhaps closer to home – a sibling, this may well be an excellent book to bring out and, in a comfortable place, read it aloud to them. The subtitle to this charming and
Reviewed by Wendy Lipke In Secrets of Women’s Healthy Ageing, Professor Cassandra Szoeke shares the wisdom revealed by a comprehensive study into women’s health as they age. Originally it was planned as a ‘longitudinal prospective’ investigation into health over the menopausal transition encompassing a period of five years. The study has extended over three decades and
Reviewed by Ian Lipke One of the best-known film stars that Australia has produced is Bryan Brown. Star of Breaker Morant and A Town Like Alice in the 1980s and involvement in a string of hits since then, Brown is a very experienced performer, having appeared in over eighty films and worked in something like
Reviewed by Rod McLary There are persistent tropes in the crime genre – a grizzled and sometimes cynical older detective with a tense relationship with his superiors, a young enthusiastic new detective, fractured family relationships due to the hours and the nature of police work, and a crime which defies regular detective work – and
Reviewed by Ian Lipke I Alone Can Fix It is a monumental work that heralds the final year in the presidency of Donald J. Trump. It is a descriptive, but also clinical, probe into a president that nobody can really understand even today after millions of words have been spoken or written. This is a
Reviewed by Rod McLary Rupert Thomson’s love for the titular city illuminates Barcelona Dreaming. It was the city in which the author lived for six years, where “the ordinary things were magical, a source of pleasure,” but where, at the same time, “sophisticated urbanization faded into run-down concrete apartment blocks and burnt-out cars, areas of weed-choked
Reviewed by Norrie Sanders Most of us will never have to live through the full force of a cyclone. The jetspeed winds, the locomotive noise, the raging waters and the ravaged landscapes are familiar media icons, but how can we understand the experience without being at ground zero? Kalbarri in WA recently experienced a cyclone
Reviewed by Wendy Lipke This work is the second edition of an Atlas of Indigenous Australia. The first edition was published in 2005. The basic structure of the book has not changed. There are still three major sections of focus: the socio-cultural space, the socio-economic space and the socio-political space. Some chapters have new titles,
Reviewed by Ian Lipke Steve Cavanagh writes with the assurance of an author fully comfortable in the crime-courtroom genre. His style is relaxed and the tone consistent with a man simply going about his business. His characters commit the most appalling of crimes under the protective umbrella of the criminal justice system. The District Attorney
Reviewed by Patricia Simms-Reeve Although I was not born in the past thirty years, the daily lives of the three young women whose lives are so graphically depicted in Small Joys of Real Life were truly absorbing. The novel tracks the progress of Eva’s pregnancy right up to when she is some days overdue. The
Reviewed by Patricia Simms-Reeve In today’s world, opportunities for adventure are few. Travel restrictions prevent any experience beyond the routine. The hero in Jake Avila’s book, Cave Diver, however, lives on thrills and adrenaline that grip to the very last (over 400!) page. The weeks in which the action occurs are crammed with incidents that
Reviewed by Patricia Simms-Reeve As is the case with many brilliant men, Herbert Vere Evatt (1894-1965) was a multi-faceted character. Scholastically brilliant, he was awarded J.D. (Juris Doctor) at a young age and, at 35, was a judge of the High Court, and henceforth known as ‘Doc’ Evatt. He was erudite and widely read which
Reviewed by Richard Tutin Have you ever wondered about the origin of your address? How did your street, road, lane or crescent receive its name and designation? Though I have lived at several different addresses over the years, I hadn’t given it much thought – until now. Deirdre Mask is responsible for this interest and
Reviewed by Rod McLary Val McDermid is arguably one of the giants in the crime genre. Any doubters of that claim need only to consider her many awards – most notably the CWA Gold Dagger, the CWA Cartier Diamond Dagger and the Grand Prix des Romans D’Aventure. Perhaps best known for the Wire in the