ELISABETH STORRS Call to Juno: Tales of Ancient Rome Book 3. Reviewed by Folly Gleeson
This is historical fiction at its best in the final volume of the Tales of Ancient Rome trilogy. Call to Juno is the final volume of the story of Aemilia Caeciliana, a Roman who was married as a teenager to Vel Mastarna, a powerful Etruscan warrior, in 406 BC. This...
Justine Larbalestier giveaway
We have a copy of Justine Larbalestier’s new novel My Sister Rosa to give away. To win, simply email us at editors@newtownreviewofbooks.com.au by 6pm Tuesday April 19 with your name and address and ‘My Sister Rosa’ in the subject line. As we cannot afford...
JUSTINE LARBALESTIER My Sister Rosa. Reviewed by Chris Maher
The author of young adult novels Liar and Razorhurst crosses into an older readership with this disturbing story of a young man trying to protect his sister from her psychopathic tendencies. I’m sure conservative moral guardians like MPs Corey Bernardi and George...
The Godfather: Peter Corris on photographs
I’m no photographer. I’ve never taken a photo that was worth anything more than a record of who was where, when. I know what a good photograph looks like – how the subject has been arranged, an expression caught, the light captured. There is one of my three daughters...
BEN PEEK Leviathan’s Blood: Children Book Two. Reviewed by Keith Stevenson
Leviathan’s Blood covers a lot of ground and introduces a whole new world of wonders, all vividly and indelibly portrayed. I’m not overstating things when I say that Ben Peek is one of the most accomplished writers of richly detailed and intricately plotted epic...
Autumn Giveaway #1 2016
Look at this great book pack – four fabulous titles to keep you nailed to the couch this Autumn. To go in the draw to win it, simply email your name and address to editors@newtownreviewofbooks.com.au with ‘Autumn Giveaway #1’ in the subject line by 6pm...
DINO HODGE (Ed) Colouring the Rainbow: Blak Queer and Trans perspectives: life stories and essays by First Nations people of Australia. Reviewed by Michael Jongen
The passionate life stories and the essays in Colouring the Rainbow reveal the challenges facing Queer and Trans Indigenous Australians. This powerful collection looks at the history of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander sexuality and also places it within an...
The Godfather: Peter Corris on as-told-to autobiographies Part 3
Actor Bill Hunter had come off a run of three highly successful films – Strictly Ballroom (1992), Muriel’s Wedding (1994) and Priscilla, Queen of the Desert (1994) – and his agent thought the time had come for an autobiography. Bill had become known as the ‘voice of...
LUCY TRELOAR Salt Creek. Reviewed by Michelle McLaren
Inspired by family history and written in wonderfully fluid prose, Salt Creek brings to life the harsh beauty and the racially troubled past of the Coorong. In the Author’s Note at the end of this debut novel Lucy Treloar reveals that although the events that...
LUKE RYAN (Ed) Best Australian Comedy Writing. Reviewed by Ashley Kalagian Blunt
Twenty-four Australian comedy writers are showcased in this collection of fiction, memoir, political satire, spoofs, tweets and listicles. This book kicks off with editor Luke Ryan’s cleverly titled ‘Introduction’. Ryan’s mildly stated manifesto demands Australians...
The Godfather: Peter Corris on as-told-to autobiographies Part 2
In April 1998 Captain Ken Blyth, a Scot and an experienced and respected merchant mariner, was in command of a tanker transporting thousands of tons of fuel through the South China Seas. The vessel, named the Petro Ranger, was boarded by pirates, diverted to a secure...
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