Reviewed by Patricia Simms-Reeve “Wild places attract wild people” – a mantra which sits perfectly with the six characters of The Bay. Zenna, who learned to love surfing in Cornwall, flies out to Sydney to be with her friend, Mikki, who is due to marry easy-going Australian, Jack. He meets her and drives her to
Reviewed by Ian Lipke I have been privileged to receive a copy of Edward Mendelson, The Complete Works of W.H. Auden (Princeton University Press, 2022), upon which this review is built. The two-volume set is a magnificent work that captures more than adequately the oeuvre of a major twentieth century poet, playwright and musician. Its
Reviewed by Gail McDonald The author, Lucinda Riley, authored this book in 2006 but it was not published until after her death in 2021, by her son Harry Whittaker. Lucinda wrote the successful series of books called the Seven Sisters based on the story of adopted sisters inspired by the mythology of famous star clusters.
The Dublin Literary Award – 2022 – Winner Celebrating 27 years, this award is the world’s most valuable annual prize for a single work of fiction published in English, worth €100,000 to the winner. If the book has been translated the author receives €75,000 and the translator receives €25,000. The 2022 Award winner was chosen
Reviewed by Wendy Lipke In 2018, author Lauren Chater received a research grant to travel to the Netherlands for her latest book, The Winter Dress. This book was inspired by a 17th century gown retrieved, in reasonably good condition, from a wreck off the Dutch coast near the island of Texel in 2014. Lauren Chater
Reviewed by Ian Lipke If there is any writer who knows how to show the warts on the legal profession, it would be John Grisham. A household word in conveying yarns about clever legal practitioners, Grisham has, of recent years, told stories called A Time for Mercy, The Reckoning and Sooley. Each of these placed
Reviewed by Ian Lipke If ever a writer had a fertile and creative mind that writer would have to be Nora Roberts. Since as recent as 2014 this writer has investigated scenarios of considerable difference. In 2014 she entertained us with a house-sitter who enjoys looking after the homes of the glamorous while their owners
The winners of the 2022 Australian Book Industry Awards (ABIA) have been announced. Diana Reid’s debut novel Love & Virtue took out the overall ABIA book of the year as well as literary fiction book of the year. Written in 2020 just after Reid graduated university, the campus novel follows the relationship between two young women at
Reviewed by Patricia Simms-Reeve So many superlatives have been attached to Chloe Hooper’s work and her latest titled Bedtime Story is no exception, having already attracted many accolades. In it, she considers, in range and depth, the problem she faced in preparing her two sons, the elder particularly, for the imminent death of their father, Don. Chloe
Reviewed by Clare Brook In her latest novel, The Candy House, Jennifer Egan explores ways in which the internet and social media has, and might, change us and our experience of life, both individually and socially. The Candy House provides readers with many perspectives from the point of view of a large cast of characters,
Reviewed by Richard Tutin The rediscovery of diaries of Bishop Mathew Hale for the period 1858-1868 in 2015 prompted the holding of a forum in Perth in 2018. The forum, through the lens of the diaries, focused on the period of Hale’s service and ministry as Bishop of Perth which at that time was a
Reviewed by Richard Tutin India, with its long history and diverse cultural and religious life, has been an enduring source of fascination and wonder for people over many centuries. John Zubrzycki has taken up the challenge of encapsulating this history into a book of less than three hundred pages. Many authors and academics would blanch
Reviewed by Norrie Sanders Financial adviser Helen Baker’s latest book is billed as “The Essential Guide to Financial Independence for all Women”. That sets a pretty high bar but, with some reservations, she manages to jump it. The first challenge is to whittle down a huge range of possible topics, while still appealing to a
Come to Riverbend Books at Bulimba on Monday 27th June at 6.30pm to hear Matthew Spencer speak about his stunning new crime novel, Black River. Black River: A long, burning summer in Sydney. A young woman found murdered in the deserted grounds of an elite boarding school. A serial killer preying on victims along the banks
Reviewed by Patricia Simms-Reeve From the comical antics of the Rock Hopper penguin to the stately Emperor, penguins almost universally enthrall. They are probably the most loved of all birds. This affection manifests itself in the hugely successful movie, “Happy Feet”, the mountains of merchandise featuring their signature black and white, and the publishing empire