Reviewed by Wendy Lipke Nikki Gemmell is the author of fourteen works of fiction and seven non-fiction books, and her novels have been translated into 22 languages. Many will know this writer from her weekly, often controversial, column in The Weekend Australian newspaper. In 2007, the French literary magazine Lire included her in a list
Reviewed by Rod McLary The town of Nowhere River is a small town in the Central Highlands of Tasmania not too far from Hobart – it has suffered and continues to suffer from a long drought. Like many other small country towns across Australia, Nowhere River is slowly dying. This heart-warming and affectionate story centres
Reviewed by Patricia Simms-Reeve Readers seeking a diverting, laughter-filled few hours will pounce on Second First Impressions. This book is in fairytale territory with its unspectacular heroine, Ruthie, discovered and transformed by a ridiculously nearly perfect man, Teddy (Theodore). Ruthie is temporarily managing Providence, a retirement home for excessively wealthy ladies. Into her life comes
Reviewed by Ian Lipke This is the story of a woman named Erica whose mother had recently died and whose husband Stuart had passed away soon after. Erica and her daughters Mackenzie and Issy are trying to put their lives back together. Erica is devastated when her financial advisers inform her that her venture capitalist
Reviewed by Wendy Lipke Apparently, this book is the fifth and last in a series about a group of ‘lovely ladies’ from Europe’s royal and most influential families and their less privileged sisters who played such a pivotal role in both World Wars and whose involvement has been omitted from the annals of history. The
Reviewed by Ian Lipke No doubt exists in my mind that Australia needs to wake to the fact that living within its shores is a major talent, a young woman whose Sisters of Freedom captures truly the spirit of the dawn of a federated nation. Society of the time led the way by drafting laws
Reviewed by Wendy Lipke Early 2021 has seen several books published which highlight women who went to war. The few novels that have come my way are Kirsty Manning’s The French Gift, Jackie French’s Legends of the Lost Lilies, and Kayte Nunn’s The Last Reunion. These authors, at this time, have considered it important to
Reviewed by Patricia Simms-Reeve The eye-catching colourful cover of Love Objects depicts a mass of brilliant blooms. Woven amongst them is a young dark haired woman’s shape, seamlessly melded. The symbolism is puzzling but above all, thought provoking. The book itself describes how the three main characters’ lives are linked and shaped by the things
Reviewed by Ian Lipke At nearly six hundred pages, this book takes some deft manoeuvring among coffee cups and desk detritus. This would not matter if the writing were more interesting. Allegedly a novel exploring prejudice and privilege, the book does indeed contain a tale based on these ideas, but the theme changes character and
Reviewed by Rod McLary Nick Carraway – the eponymous protagonist of Nick – is also the narrator of F Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby. The latter novel is said by some to be a contender for ‘the great American novel’ and by others more simply as a literary masterwork. Of his third reading of The
Reviewed by Patricia Simms-Reeve ‘What kind of reader are you?’ The reply can reveal much of a personality. So maintained Odile, this book’s heroine, whose favourite dead author is Dostoevsky and the living one is the much-loved Zola Neale Hurston, author of Their Eyes Were Watching God published in 1937 and still on library shelves.
Reviewed by Rod McLary Klara is a robot although, in this new book by Nobel Prize winning author Kazuo Ishiguro, she is more properly called an Artificial Friend – an AF. The word ‘robot’ is used only once through the entire book and then pejoratively. AFs are bought from stores to provide friendship to children
Reviewed by Ian Lipke From the pen of highly acclaimed writer Steven Carroll comes the enigmatic story of O. Who or what is O? That is the question that haunts readers of the second half of the novel. Carroll’s tale is slight. Therein lies his genius – he can write a story that is light
Reviewed by E B Heath The past is never dead. It’s not even the past. William Faulkner I can only think of good things to say about Helen Fisher’s debut novel Space Hopper. This is a novel about faith, in whatever form it takes. How faith interacts with human life – love, grief and hope. How
Reviewed by Ian Lipke The Codebreakers is a novel that seems to offer something for everyone. A female lead who is strong in character, thus satisfying the feminists; gender inequality, thus angering the feminists; a well-told story that involves its readers; and the intrigue of working in government circles where everything is very hush hush,