JANET McCALMAN Vandemonians: the repressed history of colonial Victoria. Reviewed by Lucy Sussex
Historian Janet McCalman discovers what happened to the freed convicts who settled in Victoria. New Zealanders like to call convicts ‘Australian royalty’, omitting the inconvenient fact that boundaries and identity were hardly fixed in stone back then. A convict could...
GIDEON HAIGH The Brilliant Boy: Doc Evatt and the Great Australian Dissent. Reviewed by Bernard Whimpress
Gideon Haigh has written a captivating account of the legal career of one of Australia’s most enthralling public figures, Herbert Vere Evatt, and a defining court case. Better known as ‘Doc’ or ‘Bert’, Evatt was Minister for External Affairs and Attorney General...
CAROLE ANGIER Speak, Silence: In search of WG Sebald. Reviewed by Michael Jongen
Carole Angier’s biography of writer WG Sebald examines his German origins, English exile, and his hugely influential books. In the preface to Speak, Silence, Carole Angier addresses the difficulties of writing Sebald’s biography when so many significant aspects...
BRONWYN ADCOCK Currowan. Reviewed by Emma Foster
Bronwyn Adcock provides a searing insider’s account of the bushfire that terrorised the NSW South Coast during Black Summer, and warns that fires on this scale will happen again. It’s impossible not to be moved by Currowan, the debut book by award-winning journalist...
HENRY GEE A (Very) Short History of Life on Earth: 4.6 billion years in 12 chapters. Reviewed by Robin Riedstra
Henry Gee manages to convey 4.6 billion years of history and a planet’s sense of yearning in one slim volume. Douglas Adams wrote in The Restaurant at the End of the Universe: In the beginning the Universe was created. This has made a lot of people very angry...
JAY PARINI Borges and Me. Reviewed by Ann Skea
Jay Parini’s memoir provides an insight into the famous South American author as the two of them tour the Scottish Highlands. It doesn’t matter if you have never read any of the work of the famous Argentinean writer Jorge Luis Borges, neither had Jay Parini when...
CAROL MAJOR The Asparagus Wars. Reviewed by Linda Godfrey
Stretching from France to the Blue Mountains of New South Wales, Carol Major’s memoir is a meditation on family, grief and love. This memoir by Carol Major comprises three strands woven into one heartbreaking narrative of a woman and her daughter. Written as a...
BOHUMIL HRABAL All My Cats. Reviewed by David A Mitchell
Novelist Bohumil Hrabal’s memoir explores the roots of cruelty by examining the author’s relationship with his many cats. Published in Czech in 1986, novelist Bohumil Hrabal’s non-fiction work All My Cats is now available in English, translated by Paul...
MICHELLE TOM Ten Thousand Aftershocks. Reviewed by Mary Garden
Michelle Tom’s memoir weaves together the experience of being in an earthquake and the reverberations of family trauma. In 2011, Michelle Tom’s house was damaged by the deadly magnitude 6.3 earthquake in Christchurch that killed 185 people. In her debut memoir...
NORMAN SWAN So You Think You Know What’s Good For You? Reviewed by Suzanne Marks
Dr Norman Swan investigates the evidence for common assumptions we make about what is and isn’t good for our health. Despite its 432 pages, a brief description of Swan’s book could be ‘a health compendium for busy people’. Part memoir, part handbook, it ranges...
LUCIA OSBORNE-CROWLEY My Body Keeps Your Secrets. Reviewed by Sanchana Venkatesh
Lucia Osborne Crowley explores how trauma affects our bodies, recounting her own experiences and those of others. ‘Despite our best efforts,’ writes Lucia Osborne-Crowley, ‘the body finds a way to express what the mind cannot.’ Through a combination of memoir,...
Recent Posts
STEVE MINON First Name, Second Name. Reviewed by Ben Ford Smith12 June 2025Winner of a Queensland Literary Award, Steve MinOn’s debut novel charts the [ … ]
EMILY TESH The Incandescent. Reviewed by Robert Goodman11 June 2025Emily Tesh’s magical fantasy is as much about the art of teaching as it is [ … ]
LAURIE WOOLEVER Care and Feeding: A memoir. Reviewed by Jessica Stewart10 June 2025Laurie Woolever – cook, writer, and fixer for chef Anthony Bourdain – enjoyed [ … ]
JO HARKIN The Pretender. Reviewed by Ann Skea5 June 2025Jo Harkin’s novel is a fresh and rollicking take on the mystery of [ … ]