JO HARKIN The Pretender. Reviewed by Ann Skea

JO HARKIN The Pretender. Reviewed by Ann Skea

Jo Harkin’s novel is a fresh and rollicking take on the mystery of fifteenth-century pretender to the English throne, Lambert Simnel. Perhaps the best part of John’s life (and the funniest) is when he is still ‘a small village boy’, ‘short of words’ but full of...
KAREN VIGGERS Sidelines. Reviewed by Mary Garden

KAREN VIGGERS Sidelines. Reviewed by Mary Garden

Karen Viggers’ fifth novel centres on a junior soccer team, but the ambitions and rivalries of the parents are the real story.   Although I’m not a footy fan, I bought Sidelines at last year’s Port Fairy Writer’s Festival after hearing Karen Viggers speak passionately...
SALLY ROONEY Intermezzo. Reviewed by Jessica Stewart

SALLY ROONEY Intermezzo. Reviewed by Jessica Stewart

Irish writer Sally Rooney is known for her succession of bestselling literary novels. Intermezzo is her best yet. In her first novel, Conversations with Friends, a young woman, Frances, enters into an obsessive affair with an older man, a jaded, not overly successful...