Reviewed by Ian Lipke From Vintage Books, an arm of Penguin Random House Australia, comes the story of a Sudanese man Ayik Chut Deng, a former child soldier, who found his way to Australia and settled in Toowoomba, Queensland. Bearing resemblances to Songs of a War Boy by Deng Thiak Adut (Hachette Australia, 2016), that
Reviewed by Rod McLary Danny is a Tamil from Sri Lanka and now living in Sydney Australia as an ‘illegal’. Initially, he came to Sydney on a student visa but, after failing to be granted refugee status, he abandoned his studies and became an ‘illegal’. Danny is the protagonist of this latest novel by the
Reviewed by Ian Lipke When Fleur McDonald publishes a book, readers can be confident that it will be worth reading. With her third rural crime story on the shelves now, I have no doubt that she has become established as the standard in this form of fiction against which other writers are measured. Red Dirt
Reviewed by Wendy Lipke The Numbers Game is the latest offering of the prolific writer, Danielle Steel who was born in 1947. She now has 179 books to her credit over a five-decade career and has been referred to as the bestselling author alive and the fourth bestselling fiction author of all time. For her
Reviewed by Ian Lipke Suzanne Leal’s earlier book The Teacher’s Secret dealt with the search for dignity amid rumour, scandal and other forces generated by a specific individual. In The Deceptions Leal is back with a similar book on the theme of deceit, this time at both individual and collective levels. She has used her
Reviewed by Ian Lipke A very clever idea guides the momentum of Peter Swanson’s Rules for Perfect Murders. Create a series of unsolved murders that share an eerie resemblance to crimes that have appeared in well-regarded mystery novels. Toss in FBI agent Gwen Mulvey who shares a resemblance to Clarice M. Starling, a fictional character
Reviewed by Ian Lipke Reviews of David Baldacci’s novels are usually positive, almost exclusively American, and often focus on the story details that Baldacci produces in large numbers. Reviews that analyse the success or otherwise of this author’s books in terms of defined criteria are rare. When I reviewed One Minute to Midnight in November
Reviewed by Ian Lipke The Call of the Raven tells the story of a wicked neighbour cheating a man, named Mungo St John, out of his property, and in so doing, taking away his birthright, thereby rendering him moneyless. Now without the money he was expecting, and finding in addition that his childhood sweetheart has
Reviewed by Patricia Simms-Reeve Loved by the Queen, Winston Churchill and millions of others, and key to Richard Branson’s first money making venture, the little Australian native bird’s story is a tapestry of historical and social detail as well as a celebration of the value of the budgerigar as a pet. Highly entertaining, unexpectedly full
Reviewed by Patricia Simms-Reeve Early colonial history is rich in stories that are as varied as they are fascinating. The people from the 18th/19th century, who arrived from Britain to begin their lives anew in this foreign land, provide countless stories of what it took to survive. Many left the poverty of Industrial England but
Reviewed by Rod McLary A sequel to the critically-acclaimed Days Without End, this novel continues the story of Winona – a Lakota survivor of the Indian wars in Tennessee in the 1860s and 1870s. Winona was adopted by two soldiers – Thomas McNulty and John Cole – as their mode of reparation for the killings
Reviewed by Gerard Healy This thriller by Michael Ledwidge is a great holiday read, perhaps best done at the beach. It’s fast-paced, full of action and has the obligatory nasty baddies and a one-man-army hero to boot. Character development is not its forte, but most readers of this genre are probably not concerned about this.
Reviewed by Ian Lipke The name of this publication will be shortened to EWM. This single volume distils a wide selection of Thomas More’s important works, providing within its covers selections of the statesman’s works on theology, political philosophy, literature, theology, and law as well as his less familiar poetry. In this volume in no
Reviewed by Wendy Lipke The Salt Madonna is the debut novel by Catherine Noske, a writer and academic at the University of Western Australia. It is also a novel where the title is closely linked to the story between its covers both literally and figuratively. The story is set on an island and therefore it
Reviewed by Ian Lipke I’m not sure if I can review this book. I find myself soaking up the words on the pages, reading and re-reading and thinking – about the ideas, the emotions Julia Baird’s words evoke, about the woman herself. In ‘Lessons from a Cuttlefish’ the author writes about awe. That is what