Tributes to Jean Bedford
Writer and editor Jean Bedford died after a long illness on 11 December 2025. She leaves a considerable literary legacy. Author of eight novels, including Sister Kate and a trio of Anna Southwood detective novels, two collections of short stories (one written with...
LYN DICKENS Salt Upon the Water. Reviewed by Ann Skea
Lyn Dickens’s award-winning debut novel of an independent woman in colonial South Australia explores prejudice, power and identity. Salt Upon the Water is an historical fiction; also, according to the blurb on the back cover, ‘an epic love story’. Both are true, but...
STUART EVERLY-WILSON The Maskeys. Reviewed by Catherine Pardey
Set in a small Australian town dominated by a family of drug dealers, Stuart Everly-Wilson’s new novel is full of memorable characters. Possibly you’ve always been intrigued by the kind of people who feature prominently in Stuart Everly-Wilson’s The Maskeys, but never...
ALIX E HARROW The Everlasting. Reviewed by Robert Goodman
Alix E Harrow’s time-travelling new novel asks questions about our most cherished national myths and what might happen if they were to change. Alix Harrow’s latest fantasy is a story about the power of stories. And while there have been plenty of these, this is a...
LUKE KEMP Goliath’s Curse: The history and future of societal collapse. Reviewed by Braham Dabscheck
Human history has seen many civilisations rise and fall. Luke Kemp contemplates the fate of ours in Goliath’s Curse. This is a monumental work of scholarship that raises fundamental questions about who we are, where we are going, and whether or not the next few...
THOMAS SCHLESSER Mona’s Eyes. Reviewed by Ann Skea
Art historian Thomas Schlesser brings 52 artworks to life in this fable-like story of a grandfather discussing art with his granddaughter. Mona is a ten-year-old French girl living in Paris with her parents, Camille and Paul, and near to Dadé, her beloved grandfather,...
CLAIRE NORTH Slow Gods. Reviewed by Robert Goodman
Claire North’s new novel might be science fiction, but the problems her characters face have many resonances with those of our world. Since the time-looping The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August, Claire North has explored many of the more popular corners of...
ERIN HORTLE A Catalogue of Love. Reviewed by Annette Hughes
Neika – scientist, surfer, and irresistible protagonist of A Catalogue of Love – attempts to classify emotions in Erin Hortle’s new novel. Neika is a scientist, an ornithologist studying the migration of the shearwater population of her beloved Bruny Island, where she...
KESHE CHOW For No Mortal Creature. Reviewed by Amelia Dudley
Australian Keshe Chow’s award-winning debut The Girl With No Reflection became an international bestseller. Her second does not disappoint. In her hidden magical village, Jia Liu hasn’t felt as though she belongs for a long time, ever since it became clear...
NICOLA BARKER TonyInterruptor. Reviewed by Ann Skea
Nicola Barker interrogates the nature of honesty, creativity and improvisation with sharp-eyed humour in her new novel. Nicola Barker is a prize-winning author. Several of her books have been long- or shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize, but she is known for...
RICHARD DENNISS Dead Centre: How political pragmatism is killing us. Reviewed by Braham Dabscheck
Richard Denniss provides a chilling analysis of the ploys our politicians use to govern in the interests of everyone but the public. Public choice theory employs basic economic analysis to posit that public officials, such as politicians, are self-interested. There is...
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Tributes to Jean Bedford18 December 2025Writer and editor Jean Bedford died after a long illness on 11 December 2025. [ … ]- LYN DICKENS Salt Upon the Water. Reviewed by Ann Skea11 December 2025Lyn Dickens’s award-winning debut novel of an independent woman in colonial [ … ]
STUART EVERLY-WILSON The Maskeys. Reviewed by Catherine Pardey10 December 2025Set in a small Australian town dominated by a family of drug dealers, Stuart [ … ]