JOHN HUGHES The Dogs. Reviewed by Paul Anderson
The new novel from award-winning writer John Hughes explores the transmission of trauma down the generations. Memory is a major theme in John Hughes’s corpus. The Dogs, his seventh book and fourth novel, reverberates with intergenerational family trauma and the ghosts...
LIANE MORIARTY Apples Never Fall. Reviewed by Sally Nimon
The new novel from the author of Big Little Lies and Nine Perfect Strangers delivers a family mystery told from multiple perspectives. Apples Never Fall, the latest novel from New York Times bestselling author Liane Moriarty, opens with a mystery. We witness a...
CATHERYNNE M VALENTE The Past is Red. Reviewed by Robert Goodman
Catherynne M Valente’s new novel focusses on hope and resilience while asking what future generations will make of our wasteful ways. Just when you think the post-apocalyptic narrative might have become a bit stale, along comes Catherynne M Valente to blow it...
BARRY NICHOLLS Second Innings: On men, mental health and cricket. Reviewed by Bernard Whimpress
In this poignant memoir Barry Nicholls melds family and personal history with reflections on cricket and mental health. According to Beyond Blue, men in Australia are known for ‘bottling things up’, which increases the risk of depression or anxiety being untreated –...
ROBERT HORNE: interviewed by Ben Ford Smith
Ben Ford Smith talks to the author of The Glass Harpoon about being longlisted for this year’s ARA Historical Novel Prize and South Australia’s history. After its inaugural year in 2020, the ARA Historical Novel Prize is already Australasia’s richest genre...
CHARLOTTE McCONAGHY Once There Were Wolves. Reviewed by Ann Skea.
Charlotte McConaghy follows up her international bestseller The Last Migration with a story of wolves and the Scottish Highlands. When I was eight, Dad cut me open from throat to stomach. Such a dramatic first line promises a dramatic story and Once There Were Wolves...
COLSON WHITEHEAD Harlem Shuffle. Reviewed by Robert Goodman
Colson Whitehead’s new novel is a story of ambition and the American dream – and heists, shady characters, and corruption. Colson Whitehead deservedly won the Pulitzer prize (and a bunch of other awards) for his previous two novels. Both detailed tragic times in...
AMANDA LOHREY The Labyrinth: A pastoral. Reviewed by Linda Godfrey
Amanda Lohrey’s Miles Franklin-winnning novel explores notions of impermanence and healing in a small coastal town. This book’s epigraph is ‘The cure for many ills, noted Jung, is to build something.’ In Part One of this novel, the main character, Erica Marsden,...
AC GRAYLING The Frontiers of Knowledge. Reviewed by Chris Maher
AC Grayling ranges across multiple disciplines as he presents the case for a broader understanding of the world. At this year’s Sydney Writers Festival, renowned philosopher and author AC Grayling implored the audience to become multi-literate, that is to read widely...
ROBERT GOTT The Orchard Murders. Reviewed by Karen Chisholm
The fourth book in Robert Gott’s ‘Murders’ series frees its cast from the constraints of the newly formed Homicide Squad and plunges them straight into a baffling case that threatens many of their number. Readers who are new to this series might be fine starting...
DAVID LINDENMAYER The Great Forest; MEG LOWMAN The Arbornaut. Reviewed by Ann Skea
David Lindenmayer’s homage to the beauty of the Victorian Central Highlands and Meg Lowman’s memoir of a career spent among the treetops both explore the importance of our forests. These two books are very different but the purpose of both is the same: to...
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