Reviewed by Ian Lipke This novel is presented as a story by Wilbur Smith with one reference to David Churchill. It is never clear whether Smith created and wrote the story or gave David Churchill the right to write the story on behalf of the Wilbur Smith Foundation. A little research unearths some information about
Reviewed by Ian Lipke For purposes of this review I have focused on Injury Time and The River in the Sky. Clive James published a book in 2015 called Sentenced to Life in which he took the view that his time left on Earth was to be severely limited. To his astonishment his sojourn was
Reviewed by Rod McLary 2028 is set in the not-too-distant future in Australia. The Prime Minister of the time calls a snap election and the book chronicles the progress of the election campaign – a campaign which is full of surprises and comedy. 2028 – the year not the book – is almost within touching
Reviewed by Clare Brook I am happy and healthy, All my organs have healed, My body and its organs have healed, I have faith in life. Imagine you are a really happy successful 51-year-old, then without warning you suffer a seizure. The next day you are diagnosed with a malignant brain tumour – Stage Four
Reviewed by Ian Lipke Miles Taylor’s mammoth study of the relationship between Queen Victoria and India is a pleasing, authoritative, engaging, scholarly piece of writing that should be read by all those with an interest in ways that a queen, as distinct from the government she heads, builds and maintains the governance and respect of
Reviewed by Rod McLary The Coves – referring to Sydney Coves or Sydney Ducks – is set in San Francisco in 1849 during the gold rush. ‘Sydney Coves’ is slang for the Australian emancipated and escaped convicts who flocked to California during its gold rush to make their fortunes. They brought with them their criminality
Reviewed by Ian Lipke The latest J.D. Robb thriller retains the hard edge that Robb maintains in all her crime novels based on the New York-based Lieutenant Eve Dallas. There have been many of them. Her latest, Leverage in Death has all the tangled twists we have come to associate with this writer. It’s difficult
Reviewed by Ian Lipke It has been many years since I have enjoyed the comprehensiveness of a major poet, and striven to reach the intellectual level at which Judith Beveridge’s verse lies, relaxed and casually presented in her Sun Music: New and Selected Poems. I am a huge fan of her breadth and especially the
Reviewed by Rod McLary “Exegesis’, or the critical interpretation of a religious text, has an extensive history dating back to 100 BCE. It includes an investigation into the history and origins of the text and may also include the study of the historical and cultural background of the author and the text. In Christian terms,
Reviewed by Ian Lipke It’s comforting to know that a reader can still find an honest, well-written, enjoyable thriller of the likes that Scott Westerfield writes. His new book is just that. It’s intended for Young Adult reading and fits that niche market quite neatly. It is the story of two sisters. Rafia is brought
Reviewed by Norrie Sanders Exodus was Leon Uris’ influential novel about the birth of Israel, commemorating the extraordinary events which created a homeland for Jews after the Second World War. It was a story of hope following the horrors of Hitler’s holocaust. But another exodus took place at that time that has not been commemorated.
Reviewed by Wendy Lipke Charles Frazier, in his new novel Varina, takes the reader back to the American Civil War years in America, just as he did in Cold Mountain, a very well-known novel of the recent past. The novel switches from the early 20th Century back to the 1840s quite seamlessly as we journey
Reviewed by Pauline Seath All the Burning Bridges, written by veteran Australian actor Steve Bisley, is a sequel to his highly acclaimed first book Stillways, a memoir published in 2013, and nominated for several literary awards. Steve, a born storyteller, grew up in Lake Munmorah, near Newcastle NSW. Stillways tells of his childhood, candidly, sometimes
Reviewed by Rod McLary With a nod to Frederich Nietszche, Rowan Hooper’s book is – in his own words – ‘a book about what it feels like to be exceptional and what it takes to get there’. Structured in three parts – Thinking, Doing and Being – the book explores the diversity of humans and
Reviewed by Rod McLary Behrouz Boochani is a Kurdish journalist who has been held in the Manus Island offshore processing centre since 2013. This book is a first-hand account of his experiences in the centre. It has an immediacy which, in no small way, was created by the process by which it was written. Boochani