Reviewed by Wendy Lipke It was lovely to return to Settlers Bridge and hear more about the residents I had encountered before in Léonie Kelsall’s books. I had read about Lachlan and Hamish MacKenzie and how Lachlan had met his partner schoolteacher Charity. Hamish is also prominent in the stories of others in and around
Reviewed by Antonella Townsend The Furphy Literary Award was established in 1992. It became a national competition for the first time in 2020 with the topic: Australian life in all its diversity. Out of this year’s seven hundred and fifty entrants, fifteen short stories judged to be the best of the best are presented here.
Reviewed by Wendy Lipke Lexi Villiers was enjoying her medical residency in Hobart and hanging out with close friends when she was whisked away by private helicopter and flown back to England. Lexi was Princess Alexandrina, the spare to the British throne. She was filled with dread as, even as she “flew closer to London,
Reviewed by Wendy Lipke Most people when setting out on a writing career are told to write about what they know and this is certainly true for Di Morrissey AM especially in her latest book, The Endless Sky. Having had her own morning TV show and appeared in several episodes of the CBS TV series
Reviewed by Rod McLary William J Byrne proves to be a natural story-teller as he weaves the real-life experiences of his extended family with the history and circumstances of the Indigenous people. As a child, he was immersed in the tales told by his aunties and uncles and his father. And what this has brought
Reviewed by Patricia Simms-Reeve Sally Hepworth, in Mad Mabel, has launched a very sympathetic and likeable character in the person of 81year old Elsie Fitzpatrick, once the infamous young murderer, mad Mabel. The eye-watering success of the Thursday Murder Club series, which is set in an aged care facility, proved that characters’ ages would not
Reviewed by Wendy Lipke Once again Fiona McArthur has her readers visiting the town of Lightning Ridge. This was also the setting for her book, The Opal Miner’s Daughter, number two in her Aussie Outback Medical Romance Series. Her latest book, The Lightning Ridge Ladies, is the fourteenth book in that series. As is her
Reviewed by Rod McLary In his Afterword [p127] to this novella, Colm Tóibín explains that A Long Winter was written twenty years ago and first appeared as a story in his collection Mothers and Sons published in 2006. The stories in the collection explore the nature of relationships between and mothers and their sons –
Reviewed by Ian Lipke Suzanne Do is not as well-known as her husband, Anh, but her book The Golden Sister promises much. The Do family live on the coast south of Sydney. The Golden Sister is a fast-paced mystery set in a small fictional NSW coastal town, exploring complex and dysfunctional family dynamics and the
Reviewed by Ian Lipke Giants do live in our world. A quick search of any encyclopedia will reveal the existence of people nine feet tall. If you consider a nearly 9-foot-tall human a giant, then yes, they certainly do. Robert Wadlow, the tallest person on record, grew to 8 feet, 11 inches (2.72 meters) before
Reviewed by Wendy Lipke Sophie Green’s books are like joining a social group over a cup of tea or coffee. They are not dramatic, chilling or fanciful. They are about ordinary people just like the rest of us who have ups and downs in life. In her latest book, Lessons in Love at the Seaside
Reviewed by Patricia Simms-Reeve In today’s world, the sight of a child, who is an independent reader, immersed in a book and forsaking other activities, is unusual. Devices have usurped this position and it is no exaggeration to state that most prefer them to the ‘much too slow’ books! Sosuke Natsukawa has written a sequel
Reviewed by Wendy Lipke After fifteen years of marriage to Noah, August is not happy. Their life together has lost its connection. She was getting up each morning at 3am to go to the bakery which she had bought without any consultation with Noah. The same with their house purchase. This had been her dream
Reviewed by Antonella Townsend This is not the time to be reading dystopian novels, too close to reality. Best to choose a romantic romp, a roller coaster full of guilt, grief, loads of self-doubt, dream relationships found, lost, and found again. And Love Overdue, written by Ali Berg and Michelle Kalus, fits the profile perfectly.
Reviewed by Rod McLary There is sometimes a moment in our lives when unexpectedly the world shifts; when the wind changes, and then suddenly nothing is the same again. Our Beautiful Boys chronicles one such moment in the lives of sixteen-year-olds Vikram, Diego and MJ – all celebrating their team’s victory in a high school