DAVID PRICE The Shameful Isles. Reviewed by Braham Dabscheck
David Price’s history of Western Australia’s lock hospitals and the ‘treatments’ meted out to Aboriginal people is shocking and important. There are large areas of our nation’s history that non-Indigenous Australians prefer not to think about, regarding them as merely...
BRIAN STODDART Playing the Game: How cricket made Barbados. Reviewed by Bernard Whimpress
Brian Stoddart’s multi-faceted account of a small island’s cricket history is a tribute to a time when it was the powerhouse of the game. The peak years of West Indies cricket, both in the mid-1960s and in a period of unbroken dominance from 1976 to 1995, saw plenty...
ANDREW PIPPOS The Transformations. Reviewed by Linda Godfrey
The second novel from Andrew Pippos draws inspiration from the epics of ancient Greece as its characters navigate a fraught world. Early in the story, George Desoulis reveals that his family came to Australia from Ithaka, Greece, and that their surname, Desoulis, is a...
JOHN BANVILLE Venetian Vespers. Reviewed by Naomi Manuell
Set in Venice in 1899, John Banville’s new novel blends crime and the gothic as it skewers literary pretension. From 2006 to around 2020, Irish novelist John Banville began publishing crime fiction under the pseudonym Benjamin Black. The Man Booker Prize winner (and...
GRAEME TURNER Broken: Universities, politics and the public good. Reviewed by Braham Dabscheck
Australia’s universities are in crisis; in Broken Graeme Turner provides a diagnosis and a proposal for reform. Monash University has begun publishing a series of short monographs under the general title In The National Interest, which address contemporary...
GARRY DISHER Mischance Creek. Reviewed by Karen Chisholm
Senior Constable Paul Hirschhausen and his small community are once again put to the test in the fifth of this outstanding rural noir series. Paul Hirsch is out and about on his huge, drought-ridden South Australian beat doing firearms audits. Checking that guns are...
HEATHER ROSE A Great Act of Love. Reviewed by Ann Skea
The bestselling author of The Museum of Modern Love turns to historical fiction in her new novel set in convict-era Van Dieman’s Land. Do not be fooled by the cover of this book. In spite of the pretty young woman gazing at you through a tangle of ribbons and the...
EVAN OSNOS The Haves and Have-Yachts: Dispatches on the ultrarich. Reviewed by Braham Dabscheck
In these essays Evan Osnos makes the case that the ultrarich, solely focussed on themselves and their wealth, have abandoned America. Evan Osnos is a staff writer with the New Yorker who began his career as a commentator on politics and foreign affairs. In more recent...
JENNETTE MCCURDY I’m Glad My Mom Died. Reviewed by Jessica Stewart
Jennette McCurdy was a child star, but behind the scenes her mother’s ambition manifested in control and abuse. It would be apt to describe Jennette McCurdy’s memoir about growing up as a child star in Los Angeles as a rollercoaster because Disneyland features often....
2025 Spring Giveaway #3
Don’t miss out! This is the third and final instalment of our series of spring giveaways. To win all four of these titles, simply email editors@newtownreviewofbooks.com.au with ‘Spring 3′ in the subject line and your name and address in the body of the email...
2025 Spring Giveaway #2
There are more fabulous books to win as our Spring Giveaway continues. Don’t miss out! To go in the draw to win all four of these titles, simply email editors@newtownreviewofbooks.com.au with ‘Spring 2′ in the subject line and your name and address in the body...
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DAVID PRICE The Shameful Isles. Reviewed by Braham Dabscheck6 November 2025David Price’s history of Western Australia’s lock hospitals and the [ … ]
BRIAN STODDART Playing the Game: How cricket made Barbados. Reviewed by Bernard Whimpress4 November 2025Brian Stoddart’s multi-faceted account of a small island’s cricket history is a [ … ]
ANDREW PIPPOS The Transformations. Reviewed by Linda Godfrey30 October 2025The second novel from Andrew Pippos draws inspiration from the epics of ancient [ … ]