DAMIEN LEWIS The Flame of Resistance: The untold story of Josephine Baker’s secret war. Reviewed by Suzanne Marks
Josephine Baker, the most glamorous and highly paid female entertainer of her time, was also an Allied spy in World War II. In The Flame of Resistance Damien Lewis has drawn on a profusion of new historical material, including previously undisclosed letters and...
JOHN KERR The Big Folbigg Mistake: extract
Did Kathleen Folbigg kill her babies? John Kerr makes the case for taking another look. In 2003 Kathleen Folbigg was convicted of killing her four children: Caleb, 19 days old (1989); Patrick, 8 months old (1991); Sarah, 10 months old (1993); and Laura, 19 months old...
MARK WORMALD The Catch: Fishing for Ted Hughes. Reviewed by Ann Skea
Mark Wormald follows Ted Hughes through rivers and streams to provide insights into his life, his poetry – and fishing. Mark Wormald is a scholar, a poet and a fisherman. In 2012, he made his way to the British Library to begin some research on the work of the poet...
DOIREANN NÍ GHRÍOFA A Ghost in the Throat. Reviewed by Anna Verney
Contemporary Irish poet Doireann Ni Ghriofa explores the life and work of eighteen-century poet Eibhlín Dubh Ní Chonaill. Irish poet Doireann Ní Ghríofa’s prose debut A Ghost in the Throat is both intimate and scholarly, ranging across multiple literary forms. Clothed...
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...
EDMUND RICHARDSON Alexandria: The quest for the lost city. Reviewed by Ann Skea
Edmund Richardson recounts the hazardous life of ‘one of the greatest archaeologists of the age’. Nineteenth-century archaeologist James Lewis (alias Charles Masson), who sought traces of Alexander the Great in Afghanistan, was clearly an excellent storyteller, and in...
TOM SEGEV A State At Any Cost: The Life of David Ben-Gurion. Reviewed by Renee Bittoun
Tom Segev’s biography illuminates the life and complexities of David Ben-Gurion, a central but divisive figure in Israel’s history. Ask Jews in Australia their views on Ben-Gurion and you will often get the reply that he is ‘a lion’, ‘a hero’,...
SYLVIA MARTIN Sky Swimming: extract
What makes a biographer? How do you approach writing a biography? Having run an extract from a biography last week – Cathy Perkins’s The Shelf Life of Zora Cross – it seems fitting this week to explore the work of a biographer with an extract from award-winning writer...
CATHY PERKINS The Shelf Life of Zora Cross: extract
This week’s extract is from Cathy Perkins’s biography of Australian poet Zora Cross. Largely unknown today, she was a sensation when, still in her 20s, she published the bestselling Songs of Love and Life in 1917. Frankly erotic by the standards of...
DEREK RIELLY Gulpilil. Review by Bernard Whimpress
Derek Rielly’s biography of actor David Gulpilil is a moving testament to a man who has left a unique imprint on Australia’s cultural life for the last half-century. It might seem appropriate that this book should have a subtitle along the lines of ‘the man and his...
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