JACQUELINE KENT Vida: A woman for our time. Reviewed by Kathy Gollan
In this new biography Jacqueline Kent chronicles the life of political trail-blazer Vida Goldstein and finds parallels with politics today. Vida Goldstein spent her whole life advocating for the rights of women. She was one of the first women to run for election to...
SUSANNA CLARKE Piranesi. Reviewed by Louise Mentor
Fans of Susanna Clarke’s Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell will not be disappointed by her latest offering. Piranesi is a transcendental mystery set in a harsh yet wondrous fantasy world that raises challenging questions about the nature of reality, identity, and...
SL LIM Revenge: Murder in Three Parts. Reviewed by Ann Skea
Following her first novel Real Differences, SL Lim explores the weight of family obligations and betrayals in her second, Revenge. The three parts of this ‘Murder’ appear to be the Prologue ‘The Demon Brother’; 11 chapters culminating in one titled ‘Revenge’; and an...
ROSE CARLYLE The Girl in the Mirror: extract
This week we’re delighted to bring you an extract from Rose Carlyle’s edge-of-the-seat thriller The Girl in the Mirror. Summer and Iris are identical twins, but Iris has always envied beautiful, easy-going Summer and her perfect husband, Adam. When the...
TARA JUNE WINCH The Yield. Reviewed by Suzanne Marks
Tara June Winch’s multi-award-winning novel is told in three voices, one of which takes the form of a dictionary. Yield, bend the feet, tread, as in walking, also long, tall – baayanha. Yield itself is a funny word – yield in English is the reaping, the things that...
SAMANTHA MAIDEN Party Animals: The secret history of a Labor fiasco. Reviewed by Bernard Whimpress
Samantha Maiden’s Party Animals is a multi-faceted analysis of the 2019 federal election, the election the Labor party was expected to win – but didn’t. In her introduction, political journalist Maiden offers a depressing thesis: that from recent evidence the...
EMMA ASHMERE Dreams They Forgot: extract
This week we’re delighted to bring you the short story ‘Fallout’ from Emma Ashmere’s debut collection Dreams They Forgot. What haunting stories these are, with their ghosts, betrayals and secrets, ranging back and forth across time and continents. A...
STEVEN CONTE The Tolstoy Estate. Reviewed by Paul Anderson
You don’t need to have read War and Peace to enjoy Steven Conte’s second novel. Steven Conte returns to World War II as the mise en scène for his accomplished second novel, The Tolstoy Estate. His first, The Zookeeper’s War, won the 2008 Prime...
CAOILINN HUGHES The Wild Laughter. Reviewed by Ann Skea
Caoilinn Hughes’s second novel, The Wild Laughter, explores what happens in post-boom Ireland when a father makes a life-altering request of his sons. There is plenty of laughter in this book. Hart (Doharty) Black’s way of telling his story is unique, colourful...
SAM COLEY State Highway One: extract
We’re delighted to bring you an extract from Sam Coley’s debut novel State Highway One, winner of the Richell Prize for Emerging Writers. Told with intimacy and pace, it’s a story of reconnecting with home and confronting the wounds of the past. Alex hasn’t seen his...
JO LENNAN In the Time of Foxes. Reviewed by Michelle McLaren
Predator or prey? Jo Lennan’s debut collection of stories lures the reader into a world where foxes can mean many things. In 2011, when the London Shard was under construction, workers were stunned to discover a fox had taken up residence on the...
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