MARGO LANAGAN Sea Hearts. Reviewed by Linda Funnell
A vibrant and imaginative fable of magic and tragedy. Sea hearts are a type of shellfish that children gather for their mothers along the blustery shores of Rollrock Island: Some folk ate the best hearts raw, particularly mams; they drank up the liquor inside, and if...The Godfather: Peter Corris on Publishing Non-fiction
Mad Dog: William Cyril Moxley and the Moorebank Killings is the first non-fiction book (not counting a few ‘as told to’ autobiographies and some co-edited anthologies) since my history of prize fighting in Australia, Lords of the Ring, in 1980. All fiction in between....ROSALIE HAM There Should Be More Dancing. Reviewed by Linda Funnell
This new novel from the author of The Dressmaker features a cross-stitching cross-patch and swings between comedy and pathos. Thousands of fans embraced Rosalie Ham’s first novel, The Dressmaker, when it appeared in 2000. Set in the little country town of...The Godfather: Peter Corris on Lee Child
photo by Lorrie Graham Patrick Gallagher, the publisher at Allen & Unwin Australia, asked me some time ago if I’d ever thought of writing a novel à la Lee Child. I had to admit I hadn’t read Lee Child. I checked with Jean, who consumes eight novels a week,...FAVEL PARRETT Past the Shallows. Reviewed by Linda Funnell
This debut is a sharp plunge into dark water. Bad things happen in Tasmania: from Marcus Clarke to Richard Flanagan and Carmel Bird, our novelists have been delivering stories inspired by the island’s ancient forests, wild seas and brutal history. Favel Parrett...The Godfather: Peter Corris on the Kindle
photo by Lorrie Graham My wife gave me a Kindle for my birthday. I was sceptical but willing. At first I thought to download (that is, have her download – my IT skills are few), some Conrad, Hardy and Trollope, not (shudder) Henry James. These classics are...RICHARD HALL The Mr Asia Connection: The True Story of Underbelly’s Terry Clark. Reviewed by LInda Funnell
Why watch Underbelly when this factual account of the 1970s Kiwi-led drug empire is so gripping? Richard Hall’s The Mr Asia Connection (originally published as Greed: the Mr Asia Connection in 1981) traces the rise of Terry Clark from small-time, small-town boy in New...MANDY SAYER Love in the Years of Lunacy
From wartime Sydney to Papua New Guinea, love, bigotry and bebop infuse Mandy Sayer’s latest novel. It’s hard to conceive of a time when there were laws in the US against whites and blacks marrying each other – though Australians can hardly be complacent: there was a...HUMPHREY McQUEEN Social Sketches of Australia 1888–2001. Reviewed by Linda Funnell
McQueen’s sketches from Australia’s past provoke questions for the present. ‘History-making is not confined to prime ministers and generals, gold medallists and prima donnas,’ writes Humphrey McQueen, and in this broad, generous and meticulously compiled book, he...ROBERT DREWE Our Sunshine. Reviewed by Linda Funnell
Robert Drewe’s Ned Kelly gets under the skin. Nine years before Peter Carey published his Booker-winner The True History of the Kelly Gang, he gave a cover endorsement to Robert Drewe’s Our Sunshine, claiming it would ‘forever change the way we see Ned...
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