Reviewed by Patricia Simms-Reeve The subheading reads, ‘The definitive guide to the year the world turned to shit’, with which most of the population would heartily agree. In 536, due to a volcano erupting in Iceland, it is supposed, the earth was in darkness for 18 months. Crops failed. Many died. This catastrophe was followed
Reviewed by Patricia Simms-Reeve Tom Moore, the young Australian artist in glass, has created creatures that awe and astonish as well as amuse with their quirky playfulness. His skill is obvious and the complexity of his works makes him one of the most outstanding talents working in the medium today. Glass is produced at temperatures
Reviewed by Rod McLary The genre of crime and thriller fiction is a tough arena to break into. Populated by giants of the genre such as Ian Rankin, James Lee Burke and Harlen Coben – just to name a very small few – competition is fierce. As an aficionado of the genre, I always look
Reviewed by Ian Lipke This book is an expression of love. It was written to be a testament to love. It is a message to the reader that Leonie Matheson has an immutable love for her grandfather. This is captured within the covers, but overflows. It reveals itself within the prologue. A reader cannot do
Reviewed by Patricia Simms-Reeve The subtitle reads: a little bit of wisdom from the happiest animal on the planet. The Quokka enjoys its fame by featuring in countless photos and selfies. It is found mostly on Rottnest Island off the coast of Western Australia, a short boat trip from Perth. The quokka is loved by
Reviewed by Wendy Lipke The Wolf Girl adventure series is written for 8-14-year-old readers by Vietnamese-born Australian Anh Do. What a versatile person this author is. Not only does he write books, but he is often seen gracing our screens as the portrait painter in Anh’s Brush with Fame or in movies or as a
Reviewed by Gerard Healy This is an interesting book by Andrew Marlton (writing as First Dog on the Moon) aimed at younger teens on the all-important topic of climate change. He uses a humorous approach to a serious subject with great effect. It certainly engaged me as a reader and made me reflect on my
Reviewed by Wendy Lipke The wording on the cover of this book, showing a photo of the authors in their kilts, says ‘Whisky, Warfare, and a Scottish Adventure Like No Other’. On the back cover it also says ‘Two Men, One Country. And lots of whisky’. What more needs to be said? Diana Gabaldon, who
Reviewed by Wendy Lipke Sometimes when you start reading a book you feel compelled to keep on reading until the whole story emerges. This is how it was for me with Jenny Ashcroft’s Under The Golden Sun. I kept being driven back to continue reading. It is hard to understand why. Was it because the
Reviewed by Patricia Simms-Reeve Future Friend is an engaging story that presents an imagined life 1,000 years from now and the contrasting way we existed in 2019. By 3020, the population has reached twenty-four billion. Chickens become militant and it is accepted as wrong to kill animals for food. Pigs are intelligent beings, some capable
The shortlist for the 2020 Voss Literary Prize has been announced. The shortlisted novels are: Crossings (Alex Landragin, Picador) The Rich Man’s House (Andrew McGahan, A&U) The Palace of Angels (Mohammed Massoud Morsi, Wild Dingo Press) The Trespassers (Meg Mundell, UQP) Exploded View (Carrie Tiffany, Text) The Yield (Tara June Winch, Hamish Hamilton). Crossings, The Rich Man’s House and The Palace of Angels
Reviewed by Patricia Simms-Reeve Maxine Beneba Clarke, passionate about human rights and social justice, has created a book for children that throbs with colour and emotion. This tumultuous year has produced events that must question a young child’s ability to make sense of their world. The media, especially television, depicted horrific scenes of the murder
Reviewed by Ian Lipke Scott Peeples is a professor of English at Charleston. He has a particular interest in the writings of Edgar Allan Poe. Peeples has published two other books on Poe. His current work is a book that bears an identical name to Poe’s story. To compound the confusion, Peeples includes a chapter
Barbara Jefferis was a feminist, a founding member of the Australian Society of Authors, its first woman President and, in the words of Thomas Keneally, “a rare being amongst authors, being both a fine writer but also organisationally gifted. She was a professional and internationally published writer long before most of us dreamed of such
The Scottish-American author Douglas Stuart has won the 2020 Booker Prize for his first novel, Shuggie Bain, a story based on his own life that follows a boy growing up in poverty in 1980s Glasgow with a mother who is battling addiction. Douglas Stuart was born and raised in Glasgow. After graduating from the Royal College