by NRB | 9 Feb 2023 | Non-fiction |
The author of The Magician is also a skilled essayist, ranging across the personal, religion, and literature. In the first essay in this collection, ‘Cancer: My Part in Its Downfall’, Colm Toibin describes being diagnosed with testicular cancer. At first he ignores...
by NRB | 7 Feb 2023 | Fiction |
This insider’s satire of university life is no advertisement for an academic career. The premise of John Dale’s new novel is simple, age-old even: ambitious young thing gets dream job – but discovers that, in reality, it’s closer to a nightmare. The book opens with a...
by NRB | 2 Feb 2023 | Fiction |
Jessica Johns’ debut novel does not discount the importance of dreams and the persistence of spirits. Jessica Johns claims that she wrote her horror-inspired novel Bad Cree ‘as a form of revenge’. The revenge was against what could be described as the mainstream...
by NRB | 31 Jan 2023 | Crime Scene, Fiction |
The fourteenth instalment of Barry Maitland’s groundbreaking Brock and Kolla crime series is also the last. Scottish-born, English-raised and, since 1984, Australian-based, Barry Maitland published the first Brock and Kolla novel, The Marx Sisters, in 1994. On his...
by NRB | 26 Jan 2023 | Fiction |
Fiona McFarlane’s story of a lost child reveals a cross-section of colonial Australia. ‘The boy met a god by the hollow tree.’ So begins Fiona McFarlane’s second novel, The Sun Walks Down, and so begins a kaleidoscopic tour through the social strata of early...
by NRB | 24 Jan 2023 | Fiction |
In unearthing the story of a 19th-century thoroughbred, Pulitzer Prize-winner Geraldine Brooks examines racism then and now. Geraldine Brooks takes on a mighty task in her latest novel, Horse, covering events leading up to the American Civil War through the story of...
by NRB | 20 Jan 2023 | Flashback Friday, Non-fiction |
In this month’s Flashback Friday, Anna Verney assesses Deborah Levy’s 2018 memoir The Cost of Living. As readers of South African-born British writer Deborah Levy’s literary fiction will know, it always has an unsettlingly allusive quality. While grounded...
by NRB | 19 Jan 2023 | Fiction |
What did happen to Lily? Jodi Picoult’s collaboration with Jennifer Finney Boylan is much more than a murder mystery. Mad Honey is the latest novel from Jodi Picoult, a collaboration with fellow writer Jennifer Finney Boylan. The term ‘mad honey’ refers to a...
by NRB | 17 Jan 2023 | Non-fiction |
This sumptuous book is richly illustrated and almost as carefully crafted as the Byzantine silk of its title. Editor Sarah Braddock Clarke describes Byzantine Silk on the Silk Roads as an ‘academic book’, yet there is much to interest and delight a general reader like...
by NRB | 20 Dec 2022 | Fiction, Non-fiction |
Which of our reviews this year did you enjoy the most? We’ve run the numbers to discover our top ten reviews of 2022 based on reader views. Are any of your favourites among them? Or perhaps on your TBR pile? (A TBR pile is a wonderful thing – there’s...
by NRB | 15 Dec 2022 | Non-fiction |
DH Lawrence as life coach? Lara Feigel’s examination of the writer’s life and work has a personal application. First, a confession. While I enjoy some of DH Lawrence’s poetry, I have never warmed to his novels. I have a cherished memory of a university lecturer...
by NRB | 14 Dec 2022 | Giveaways |
Yes! Here are more goodies to win to celebrate the festive season. To go in the draw to win all four of the titles below, simply email editors@newtownreviewofbooks.com.au with ‘Christmas 4′ in the subject line and your name and address in the body of the email...
JUNE WRIGHT Mother Paul series. Reviewed by Karen Chisholm6 December 2024June Wright has faded from view, but in 1948 her novel Murder in the Telephone [ … ]
ANDREW O’HAGAN Caledonian Road. Reviewed by Catherine Pardey5 December 2024This new novel from the author of Mayflies is set in London, but Glasgow is [ … ]
IAIN RYAN The Dream. Reviewed by Ben Ford Smith3 December 2024Iain Ryan’s latest novel continues his fascination with 1980s Queensland and [ … ]
MARINA YUSZCZUK Thirst. Reviewed by Ann Skea28 November 2024Argentinian writer Marina Yuszczuk puts her twist on the vampire novel in [ … ]