BENJAMIN MYERS The Perfect Golden Circle. Reviewed by Robert Goodman
Benjamin Myers’ new novel delves into 1980s Britain and the allure of crop circles. For those of us old enough to remember, there was a period in history when mysterious geometric shapes appeared in crops across the western world with increasing regularity....
ISABEL ALLENDE Violeta. Reviewed by Ann Skea
Isabel Allende’s latest novel recounts the life of a remarkable woman. ‘I came into the world on a stormy day in 1920, the year of the scourge.’ Violeta del Valle is now a hundred years old and she is writing her life story for her beloved grandson, Camilo,...
KÁRI GÍSLASON The Sorrow Stone. Reviewed by Ann Skea
Kári Gίslason, co-author with Richard Fidler of Saga Land, brings an ancient Icelandic saga to life in his new novel. The snow is in drifts against the rocks. I use it to wipe the blood from my hands. Now Sindri’s the one pulling at me, wanting to go faster, and I’m...
ROSE TREMAIN Lily: A tale of revenge. Reviewed by Ann Skea
Rose Tremain’s latest novel is both a mystery set in 19th-century London and an indictment of the abuse of children. She dreams of her death. It comes as a cold October dawn is breaking in the London sky. A sack is put over her head. Through the weave of the burlap,...
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...
ROBERT HORNE The Glass Harpoon. Reviewed by Ben Ford Smith
Robert Horne’s novel reveals uncomfortable truths about the violence of colonial Australia. In September 1848, between nine and eleven Aboriginal people were murdered at Avenue Range Station in South Australia. However, Aboriginal Australians’ testimonies were...
LUCY JAGO A Net for Small Fishes. Reviewed by Ann Skea
Lucy Jago’s new novel reimagines the notorious Overbury poisoning at the court of James I from the point of view of the women involved. In November 1615, Lord Chief Justice Edward Coke, presiding over the trial of Mistress Anne Turner in Westminster Hall,...
ALISON BOOTH The Philosopher’s Daughters. Reviewed by Kim Kelly
The fifth novel from Australian author Alison Booth, The Philosopher’s Daughters is an intriguing and energetic historical fiction that takes us from the genteel world of 1890s London parlour-chat to the sun-crisped, trackless outback of the Northern Territory. The...
SUJATA MASSEY The Satapur Moonstone. Reviewed by Ann Skea
Sujata Massey’s 1920s crime series featuring lawyer Perveen Mistry continues in the absorbingly tangled mystery of The Satapur Moonstone. India 1922: The Crown Prince of Satapur, Jiva Rao, is only 10 years old. His father and his elder brother have died, so he...
MIRANDI RIWOE Stone Sky, Gold Mountain: extract
Mirandi Riwoe’s second novel (her first, The Fish Girl, was shortlisted for the Stella Prize) is set on the Palmer River goldfields of far north Queensland, and the neighbouring settlement of Maytown. Gold was discovered on the remote Palmer River in 1873, and the...
STACEY HALLS The Familiars. Reviewed by Amelia Dudley.
Stacey Halls plunges into the witch craze of 17th-century England in her new novel. In Lancashire, England, it’s 1612. Fleetwood Shuttleworth, Mistress of Gawthorpe, is 17 years old and pregnant for the fourth time after three dreadful miscarriages. Without an heir...
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