The Weekend, the sixth novel by acclaimed author Charlotte Wood, enchanted me. Perceptive, gut-wrenchingly sad and superbly written, this book also includes enough humour to lighten the story.
It’s about love of different types, the kind of friendship that can wax and wane over many decades and still survive, death and decay, and the memories and fears, hopes and dreams of old women. 
I bought Andrea Goldsmith’s Invented Lives to read on the plane on the way home from Melbourne. Book-buying on impulse can sometimes be a dismal failure, but this spontaneous purchase provided deep rewards.
This Place you Know, Christina Houen’s first book, tells of heartbreak, betrayal and, eventually, redemption. It explores some of the many facets of love in a poignant story, beautifully told. At the same time provides an important insight into Australian social history.
The Rúin, the debut novel of Irish lawyer Dervla McTiernan, kept me reading way past my bedtime. Not only that, I began reading again first thing the next morning, unwilling to put the book down until I’d finished.
