General Fiction

General Fiction

The In Between by Christos Tsiolkas

Reviewed by Rod McLary Christos Tsiolkas is a powerful writer – his prose is often strong and confronting and he does not shy away from vivid descriptions of sexual desire.  One needs only to consider Damascus in which the author unflinchingly sets out Saul’s lusts and society’s cruelty towards women and children; or his first

Read More »
General Fiction

Stone Yard Devotional by Charlotte Wood

Reviewed by Patricia Simms-Reeve Charlotte Wood has won accolades for her previous work and her tenth novel will surely win superlatives too. It is set in the harsh landscape of the Monaro, where she spent her childhood. The narrator remains unnamed but a complex thoughtful woman emerges nonetheless. She abandons her marriage to husband, Alex,

Read More »
General Fiction

Lola in the Mirror by Trent Dalton

Reviewed by Rod McLary Trent Dalton is one of Australia’s favourite authors.  His first novel Boy Swallows Universe was a huge success; and was followed by All Our Shimmering Skies.  Both novels contain more than a touch of magic realism but are grounded by aggression and violence both implicit and explicit.  No reader could easily

Read More »
General Fiction

Miss Kim Knows by Cho Nam-Joo

Reviewed by Clare Brook Miss Kim Knows, a collection of eight short stories by Cho Nam-Joo, could be likened to a literary jig-saw.  Each story offers a different perspective of female lived experience in South Korea, so in its entirety readers are given an impression of South Korean cultural life, at least for one gender. 

Read More »
General Fiction

Sleepless in Stringybark Bay by Susan Duncan

Reviewed by Wendy Lipke When I first read the title of this book I wondered if it would be like an Australian version of the 1993 movie, Sleepless in Seattle, with Meg Ryan and Tom Hanks. This book by Australian writer, Susan Duncan, is nothing like that story. Susan Duncan has had tragedy to face

Read More »
General Fiction

The Invisible Hour by Alice Hoffman

Reviewed by Wendy Lipke Alice Hoffman is an American novelist and young-adult and children’s writer, best known for her 1995 novel Practical Magic, which was adapted for a 1998 film of the same name. Many of her works fall into the genre of magic realism and contain elements of magic, irony, and non-standard romances and

Read More »
General Fiction

No Life for a Lady by Hannah Dolby

Reviewed by Gerard Healy This is a delightful work by Hannah Dolby, peopled with strong central characters, interesting minor ones and a great sense of humour. Violet Harrison is the very appealing main character in this engaging yarn set in sea-side Hastings, England in 1896. When Violet instigates a search for her missing mother Lily,

Read More »
General Fiction

The Visitors by Jane Harrison

Reviewed by Rod McLary The Visitors is a re-imagining of that fateful day in January 1788 when the eleven ships of the First Fleet entered what we now know as Sydney Cove.  The events of the day are described from the perspective of a group of seven Elders, each representing one of the First Nation

Read More »
General Fiction

The Hummingbird Effect by Kate Mildenhall

Reviewed by Wendy Lipke Before beginning to read this third novel by Australian writer Kate Mildenhall, I needed to remind myself what The Hummingbird Effect was. The computer told me that the hummingbird effect demonstrates that an event in one field can trigger completely unexpected outcomes in wholly different domains. This connectivity cannot be predicted

Read More »
General Fiction

Roseghetto by Kirsty Jagger

Reviewed by Patricia Simms-Reeve Roseghetto is a poignant and powerful reminder that it is possible to escape the confines of a deprived childhood and, through the portal of books, find an alternative, happier life. In Kirsty Jagger’s first book, this is superbly shown in the main character of Shayla. She is the innocent victim of

Read More »
General Fiction

Weekends with the Sunshine Gardening Society by Sophie Green

Reviewed by Wendy Lipke Sophie Green is an Australian writer who compiles heart-warming stories about everyday people, usually women and highlights some of the thoughts they harbour which are rarely aired. ‘In a world where so many women’s lives are always on display – as they move from parents’ homes to marital homes, always serving,

Read More »
General Fiction

Lady Tan’s Circle of Women by Lisa See

Reviewed by Patricia Simms-Reeve “Human Life is like a sunbeam passing through a crack”.  Exceptional people achieve much in that fraction of time and one is surely Lady Tan, Tan Yunxian, a pioneer in women’s medicine, who employed her knowledge and skills in fifteenth century China. In her book about this brilliant woman, Lisa See

Read More »
General Fiction

Dreaming in French by Vanessa McCausland

Reviewed by Rod McLary Dreaming in French is a beautifully written and realised novel – and ultimately a very emotionally moving one. Set in two time periods twenty-six years apart, the novel explores the relationships between three people – Saskia, Simone and Félix.  The current time period is narrated by Saskia in the first person;

Read More »
General Fiction

Immaculate by Anna McGahan

Reviewed by Rod McLary Immaculate by Anna McGahan won the 2023 The Australian/Vogel’s Award for Young Writers.  Anna is the niece of one of Australia’s favourite authors – Andrew McGahan who died in 2019 – who had previously won this award for his first novel Praise published in 1991.  While Anna may share a name

Read More »
General Fiction

The Benevolent Society of Ill-Mannered Ladies by Alison Goodman

Reviewed by Patricia Simms-Reeve In the colourful bustling London of the first decade of the nineteenth century, Augusta and her twin Julia are constrained by the society’s strict rules as to the marriage eligibility of ladies aged forty- two.  Julia is unfortunately a widow. Her husband, Robert, died in a hunting accident. She is in

Read More »
Scroll to Top