Reviewed by Rod McLary Dystopian novels – and there are many of them from Brave New World to The Road to The Handmaid’s Tale – all attempt to anticipate the future and of course we have no way of telling whether they are or will be accurate. Some assume huge scientific advances, others a cataclysmic
Reviewed by Wendy Lipke Weathering the Storm is the latest book by Queensland writer Mandy Magro who has been producing books in the romance genre since 2011. She writes with authority using insights from her own previous adventures. As a passionate woman and a romantic at heart, Mandy loves writing about soul-deep love, the Australian
Reviewed by Ian Lipke Gretchen Shirm’s book, Out of the Woods, is such an accomplished piece of work that a reader is encouraged into speculation. Evidence exists to provide a solid case. We are told that the writer was a former lawyer, a conclusion we would have drawn from the tightness of the title, the
Reviewed by Wendy Lipke The Maid’s Secret is another story by Nita Pronovost, better known by her pen name Nita Prose. Her Maid series of stories includes The Mistletoe Mystery, The Mystery Guest and The Maid. Her 2022 debut novel, The Maid, won an Anthony Award (2023), Barry Award (2023), Goodreads Choice Award (2022), Macavity
Reviewed by Patricia Simms-Reeve In two of her very successful previous works, Emma Donoghue created situations in enclosed scenarios which were riveting to read. The Paris Express too is a masterful example of stories of a group of people brought together; this time for a few hours for the train journey from Granville, in Normandy,
Reviewed by Ian Lipke A description of a novel, set in an Australian town, the story described as an “unputdownable, supernatural thriller about a mysterious global event” contains more than enough emotive terms to get the blood of the most jaded reader surging. This is the case with Chris Flynn’s Orpheus Nine, a publication of
Reviewed by Rod McLary Andrea Goldsmith, until now, was not an author with whom I was familiar but having read The Buried Life I believe that to be a serious omission on my part. The novel explores with intelligence and elegant writing the vicissitudes of personal and family relationships across the broad range of relationships.
Reviewed by Rod McLary Irma Gold’s second novel Shift centres on Arlie a thirty-something reasonably successful photographer yet one who seems unable to really pull his life together. After another relationship break-up, he decides to leave Australia and travel to South Africa ‘to work up a new exhibition’ [40] as he does his best work
Reviewed by Rod McLary After the Great Storm is the debut novel from Australian short fiction writer Ann Dombroski and is set in Sydney sometime in the near future – a future in which moral ambiguity seems endemic. Alice Kaczmarek is the protagonist whose husband David is serving a life sentence accused of orchestrating an
Reviewed by Patricia Simms-Reeve This is Garrett Carr’s first novel for adults. Set in Donegal, on Ireland’s west coast, it brings to life the small community of Killybegs, with its deep connections, struggles to maximise its meagre assets, and wrestling with relationships. The boy is in fact a small baby, a few days old, washed
Reviewed by Wendy Lipke Love Unedited is the work of Caro Llewellyn, an Australian business executive, artistic director, festival manager and nonfiction writer. Her publications include the 2020 Stella Prize-shortlisted memoir Diving into Glass, which explores her father’s experiences with polio, her own multiple sclerosis (MS) diagnosis and the realities of living with a disability.
Reviewed by Rod McLary In her latest book, Maryrose Cuskelly takes a critical look at how a comfortable self-regarding middle-class community responds to the intrusion into their domain by a group of rough sleepers. In The Campers, the author explores the impact of homelessness and the presence of rough sleepers on a community and, however
Reviewed by Rod McLary F Scott Fitzgerald – in his 1924 short story The Rich Boy – wrote ‘Let me tell you about the very rich. They are different from you and me’. Robert Lukins’ new book is essentially about one very rich family – the Gulch family – and they are one very different
Reviewed by Wendy Lipke Rachael Johns, author of The Bad Bridesmaid, is an Australian writer of contemporary relationship stories around women’s issues, a genre she has coined ‘life-lit’. Johns drew inspiration for her new book from The Parent Trap in writing what she called a “reverse Parent Trap for grown-ups”. In this story, which is
Reviewed by Colleen McLennan Maggie Alderson is a British author with extensive editing experience in both England and Australia. She is author of ten novels and four collections of her columns from Good Weekend magazine. Her children’s book Evangeline, the Wish Keeper’s Helper was shortlisted for the Prime Minister’s Literary Award. In her latest book,