STEPH TISDELL The Skin I’m In. Reviewed by Linda Godfrey
Comedian Steph Tisdell’s first novel tackles serious issues in this story of growing up in a First Nations family. Set in Brisbane, The Skin I’m In opens with Layla, the youngest daughter of a First Nations mother and a white father, getting ready for her last year of...
RACHEL MADDOW Prequel: An American fight against fascism. Reviewed by Braham Dabscheck
Rachel Maddow’s account of how Nazism gained a foothold among US politicians in the 1930s holds lessons for the present. When Adolf Hitler came to power in Germany in early 1933, he embarked on a long-term plan not only to keep the United States out of a future...
TOM BARAGWANATH Paper Cage. Reviewed by Karen Chisholm
A finalist in the Ngaio Awards for Best First Crime Novel, Paper Cage is the story of a divided community and a string of missing children. There’s not much that happens in Masterton that Lo Henry doesn’t know about. One of two Pākehā sisters who married...
RENÉE Blood Matters. Reviewed by Karen Chisholm
Steeped in a sense of culture, people and place, Blood Matters is crime fiction set at the heart of a family and community. Author Renée is a towering figure in New Zealand. A legendary playwright, novelist and activist, Renée is of Māori (Ngāti Kahungunu), Irish,...
STAN GRANT The Queen is Dead: The time has come for a reckoning. Reviewed by Braham Dabscheck
Stan Grant remains committed to responding with love as he interrogates Whiteness in Australia and around the world. In The Queen is Dead Stan Grant uses the death of the person he calls ‘The White Queen’ as a springboard to discuss not only fundamental questions...
DENNIS LEHANE Small Mercies. Reviewed by Robert Goodman
Dennis Lehane returns to familiar territory in his latest novel, but Small Mercies is far from predictable. American writer Dennis Lehane burst onto the crime scene with his hard-hitting debut A Drink Before the War (1994), the first of his Kenzie and Gennaro novels....
DEIRDRE O’CONNELL Harlem Nights: The Secret History of Australia’s Jazz Age. Reviewed by Braham Dabscheck
Deidre O’Connell recounts how an American jazz band caused panic in White Australia. In the latter part of the 1920s, the JC Williamson Company was on the lookout for American talent to attract patrons to vaudeville shows at their Tivoli Theatres. One of the...
MICHAEL HOLDING Why We Kneel, How We Rise. Reviewed by Braham Dabscheck
Michael Holding assembles a stellar array of champions to discuss their experiences of racism, Black achievements on and off the field, and finding a way forward. Michael Holding was a champion fast bowler and a member of the all-conquering West Indies cricket team...
LINDA GRANT A Stranger City. Reviewed by Robert Goodman
Linda Grant’s eighth novel explores the consequences of Brexit-era nationalism on the rich multicultural traditions of London. There are so many novels about London. A massive, diverse city, much like New York it provides endless fodder for novelists. It is also...
MATT RUFF Lovecraft Country. Reviewed by Robert Goodman
Matt Ruff’s fiction explores the reality of writer HP Lovecraft’s world, where the real demons might be your neighbours rather than supernatural forces. The fantasy and science fiction world has a bit of a love-hate relationship with the works of HP...
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