Edie Richter is Not Alone, Rebecca Handler’s debut novel, is a tragicomedy. Serious themes and great grief interwoven with laugh-out-loud observations ensure the reader’s interest remains high. Rebecca Handler, who now lives and works in San Francisco, lived in Western Australia for three years. She reflects this experience in the setting of her book. While …
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In A Room Made of Leaves, multi-award winning Australian author, Kate Grenville, creates an unreliable memoir. From the beginning, we suspect that all may not be what it seems. Even the epitath reads, ‘Do not believe too quickly!’ Elizabeth Macarthur. Several times, the protagonist, who is also the narrator, warns the reader not to trust …
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If You’re Happy (2022) consists of a delicious collection of twenty-four cleverly crafted and beautifully written short stories. Fiona Robertson’s work has been published in literary journals in Australia and the United Kingdom. This collection won the Glendower Award for an Emerging Queensland writer at the 2020 Queensland Literary Awards. I am proud to call …
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Murmurations, by Australian author Carol Lefevre, interested me especially as a short story cycle. The author links eight stories primarily through Erris Cleary, a deceased woman, as well as through many other connections. Each of the stories can be enjoyed individually. Each tells about a thoroughly believable snippet of life. They reflect aspects of each …
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The Labyrinth by Amanda Lohrey won Australia’s most prestigious literary prize, the Miles Franklin Award, (2021). In December, 2021, it was also announced as the winner of the Prime Minister’s Literary Award for fiction. These awards are well-deserved. It’s one of the best books I’ve read for a long time. The Labyrinth tells the story of …
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Illustrated Nature Poetry: An Anthology captured my attention the minute I saw the attractive cover. Sadly, my photography skills didn’t quite capture the glossiness or quality of the book. Always on the lookout for things to share with my great-grandchildren, this book seemed to fit the bill.
Metal Fish, Falling Snow, by Cath Moore, has been given the Prime Minister’s Award (2021) for Young adult literature. It is a poignant, beautifully-written debut novel, which touched me deeply. A so-called ‘young adult’ novel, it kept me, an old woman, reading avidly from start to finish. Not only that, several times I went back …
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In The Smokehouse, Melissa Manning provides eleven short stories. This debut collection of intertwined stories showcases the skills of the author. A lawyer, Manning grew up in Tasmania and now lives in Victoria. Each of the stories reads well, either alone or as part of the whole. In addition, the first and last can be …
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The Children, by playwright Lucy Kirkwood, entertains and provokes serious thought. On one hand, it can be viewed as witty and endearing. But The Children also carries a powerful message. It challenges the audience to think about responsibility between generations, and restitution for wrongs.
With The Good Turn, award-winning author Dervla McTiernan demonstrates once more her considerable skills as story-teller and writer. As in her two previous books, The Rúin and The Scholar (reviewed here), characters Detective Cormac Reilly and Garda Peter Fisher encounter crime and police corruption. Important aspects of their personal lives emerge to intrigue the reader. …
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