Reviewed by Antonella Townsend Chinese curse: May you live in interesting times. Humour is a non-contact sport in Britain, I think they are pushing for it to be included in the Olympics, in which case Marina Hyde will certainly win gold. I haven’t relished reading political and cultural commentary so much since the late, very
Reviewed by Richard Tutin Australia is home to over eight thousand shipwrecks around its coastline. This staggering number asserts the important role ships have played in bringing people, goods and services to our shores especially when European settlement began in 1788. One of the greatest maritime disasters that Australia had to face was the wrecking
Reviewed by Patricia Simms-Reeve Kamila Shamsie’s stunning new novel is an unflinching depiction of the changing friendship between two girls, Maryam Khan and Zahra Ali, who are going to school in Karachi. Their lives are brightened by books, videos and music. They had met for the first time in a bookshop when they had simultaneously
Reviewed by Gerard Healy Robert Ludlum created the Jason Bourne character and wrote three books featuring him before his death in 2001. Other authors, including Brian Freeman, have taken up the task of extending Bourne’s fictional life. This book is Freeman’s third Jason Bourne story (and numbers 15,16 and 17 in the whole series). And
Reviewed by Wendy Lipke No – this has nothing to do with the British sitcom about Hyacinth Bucket. This story is about what we all do to some extent, some more than others, at some stage in our lives. If you are lucky enough to be a parent, it’s a lifetime journey. The book begins
Reviewed by Ian Lipke Ian Rankin is at it again. His stalwart, now-retired detective John Rebus holds sway over all the cunning he has learnt over many years as one of Scotland’s finest in producing a gripping story that strikes all the high spots. Fine entertainment, I say! Was I shocked that Rebus would take
Reviewed by Ian Lipke One of the less successful of David Baldacci’s characters is FBI agent Amos Decker who, faced by difficult plots, manages to solve the murders that always eventuate. Baldacci invokes the condition of hypermythesia, which grants Decker ‘superpowers’ particularly of vision. Invoking these superpowers gives Decker a step ahead of his colleagues.
Reviewed by Patricia Simms-Reeve The Raven’s Song is evidence of the range, quality and stimulating puzzles that may be found in current children’s fiction. Everything is far from straightforward. In a world that is 100 years from now, characters Shelby and Davy live on 700 hectares, carefully tended by its strictly numbered population of 350.
Reviewed by Rod McLary There are some novels which defy an easy classification – and Moon Sugar is one such novel. Is it science fiction, magic realism, a crime story or a romance? In some ways, it is all of these. It is a creative genre-bending novel which engages the reader from this sentence in
Reviewed by Claire Brook First time author, Aticia Grey, writes an account of her life on the land, learning how to train Australian Kelpies under the tutelage of Neil McDonald. Aticia and her dog Gossip Girl appeared in the ABC television programme, Muster Dogs, in 2020. Along with four other farming families, Aticia took on
Reviewed by Antonella Townsend Like a sponge, a child soaks up other people’s realities. The blank canvass of life is painted on by another’s brush. (p. 257) The front cover and title, Sex, Drugs and a Buddhist Monk, along with a run-on sub title: A stepping stone towards a silent mind, really does give the
Reviewed by Ian Lipke It is not often that one is asked to review a book of the calibre of Bernard Smith’s European Vision and the South Pacific. First published in 1960, and ready for re-publication in 2022, the book holds new delights for those who missed it on its first appearance and will delight
Reviewed by Rod McLary Chris Hammer’s latest novel The Tilt begins with two incidents each described in some detail and creating suspense from the opening sentence. But are these incidents occurring at the same time in the same place; are they connected in some way; and are they harbingers of what is yet to come?
Reviewed by Wendy Lipke This book by Carol Lefevre does not follow the usual conventions of a novel where the reader can become immersed into the lives of a few main characters and follow their journey to whatever end the author may have in mind. It is not one storyline nor two – one in
Reviewed by Ian Lipke Despite the title, One Woman’s War is essentially the story of two women, one a British citizen and the other an Austrian. The Britisher is Victoire “Paddy” Bennett who walks one day into Room 39 at the Admiralty. She is expecting a secretarial position under the leadership of Commander Ian Fleming