Crime Scene: EMMA VISKIC Resurrection Bay. Reviewed by Karen Chisholm
A deftly handled plot, strong characters and a sly, dry humour make this an outstanding debut crime novel. Emma Viskic won the 2014 Ned Kelly Short Story Award and the 2013 New England Thunderbolt Award for her short crime fiction, so it’s reasonable to greet...
SUSAN JOHNSON The Landing. Reviewed by Robyne Young
This novel artfully articulates the search for the perfect self, the perfect emotional and sexual mate, and the perfect life. In the opening sentence of her new novel, The Landing, Susan Johnson pays homage to one of the greatest writers on love and matrimony, Jane...
MIREILLE JUCHAU The World Without Us. Reviewed by Annette Marfording
This is a story of loss and grief, motherlessness and environmental destruction – but also of survival, renewal and the importance of community. Mireille Juchau’s third novel is set in an alternative community in northern New South Wales. Run-off...
LEAH KAMINSKY The Waiting Room. Reviewed by Tracy Sorensen
This debut novel of traumas past and present is both compelling and surprising. Leah Kaminsky’s The Waiting Room starts with a heavily pregnant woman picking through shattered bodies in the aftermath of a terrorist attack. In the mess there are the unseeing eyes of...
Crime Scene: FELICITY YOUNG The Insanity of Murder. Reviewed by Karen Chisholm
This is the latest in a series of intelligent, well-researched and engagingly written crime-fiction novels set amid the suffragette battles of early 1900s England. Young’s first book, A Dissection of Murder, released in 2012, introduced readers to Dr Dody McCleland...
JANE GLEESON-WHITE Six Capitals: The revolution capitalism has to have – or can accountants save the planet? Reviewed by Yvonne Perkins
In Six Capitals, prize-winning author Jane Gleeson-White puts before the reader an extraordinary proposition: that accountants will transform the capitalist world. Accountants are not known for their revolutionary or idealistic zeal, but, Gleeson-White argues: Because...
ELIZABETH HARROWER In Certain Circles. Reviewed by Michael Richardson
The post-World War II themes of this novel are refracted into contemporary Australia with startling force. Between 1957 and 1966, Elizabeth Harrower published four critically acclaimed novels. Despite the admiration of Patrick White and Christina Stead, all four were...
Crime Scene: JUNE WRIGHT. An appreciation by Karen Chisholm
June Wright is one of the early writers who forged a way for the current vibrant Australian crime fiction scene. Unfortunately the crime novels of June Wright have been largely forgotten and unavailable for many years. That situation is now being rectified,...
MARGARET POMERANZ and PHILIPPA WHITFIELD POMERANZ Let’s Eat: A cookbook celebrating film, food and family. Reviewed by Jeannette Delamoir
This charming volume gives us a combination of food, occasions, glamorous name-dropping and glorious places, all mixed up with the closeness and fun of family. Film critic Margaret Pomeranz appeared on SBS and the ABC for almost 30 years, the longevity...
ROBYN CADWALLADER The Anchoress. Reviewed by Linda Funnell
From its medieval cell this debut novel soars into the light. In 1255 a young Englishwoman, Sarah, chooses to become an anchoress – that is, to be walled up in a cell adjoining the Church of St Juliana in the village of Hartham in the English Midlands. Immediately...
PATTI MILLER Ransacking Paris: A year with Montaigne and friends. Reviewed by Jeannette Delamoir
This memoir provides a multi-dimensional and complex picture of the author. Patti Miller introduces her memoir of a year spent writing in Paris with a quote from Michel de Montaigne (1533-1592), here translated as: ‘Bees ransack flowers here and flowers there, but...
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