Reviews

Independent reviews of recently released fiction, non-fiction and kids’ books.

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Outspoken by Sima Samar

Outspoken by Sima Samar

Sima Samar was born into a polygamous family, with her father having two wives. She quickly came to understand the ...
Mine is the Kingdom by David Hardaker

Mine is the Kingdom by David Hardaker

When followers of Hillsong, a Pentecostal church, became disenchanted with Brian Houston, the global senior ...
Maurice and Maralyn by Sophie Elmhirst 

Maurice and Maralyn by Sophie Elmhirst 

We all love a good survival story, the kind where a character is pitted against seemingly insurmountable odds, ...
She Played and Sang: Jane Austen and Music by Gillian Dooley

She Played and Sang: Jane Austen and Music by Gillian Dooley

On Thursday 21 March at Flinders University Anna Goldsworthy launched Gillian Dooley’s latest book, She Played and ...
Hazzard and Harrower: The Letters  Edited by Brigitta Olubas & Susan Wyndham

Hazzard and Harrower: The Letters Edited by Brigitta Olubas & Susan Wyndham

Letter writing is almost a lost art, but this collection of letters exchanged for 40 years between two of ...
Knife: Meditations After an Attempted Murder by Salman Rushdie 

Knife: Meditations After an Attempted Murder by Salman Rushdie 

Salman Rushdie was attacked on 12 August 2022 by a young man with a knife and an ideological fixation that ...
Suddenly Single at Sixty by Jo Peck

Suddenly Single at Sixty by Jo Peck

If ever there was a manual for surviving a marriage breakup at 60, Suddenly Single at Sixty is it. Peck, a ...
Hits, Flops and Other Illusions by Ed Zwick

Hits, Flops and Other Illusions by Ed Zwick

Unless you’re a very dedicated cineaste you might not know Ed Zwick’s name. He created the TV show Thirtysomething ...
Monument by Bonny Cassidy 

Monument by Bonny Cassidy 

It’s tempting to assign a binary split to fiction and non-fiction. If fiction is fabrication, then non-fiction ...
Once a King: The Lost memoir of Edward VIII by Jean Marguerite Tippett

Once a King: The Lost memoir of Edward VIII by Jean Marguerite Tippett

After Edward VIII abdicated, he spent the rest of his life trying to find another good sinecure. At one point he ...
James Joyce: A life by Gabrielle Carey

James Joyce: A life by Gabrielle Carey

In May 2023, Gabrielle Carey died suddenly, and Australia lost a wonderful writer. She had burst into view in the ...
Quaint Deeds by A J Mackinnon   

Quaint Deeds by A J Mackinnon   

This narrative reads like we’re in Victorian England, with cosy fireside chats, serving staff and endless cups of ...
One Degree Off by Penelope Jackson                                 

One Degree Off by Penelope Jackson                                 

Jackson has used her memories of growing up on a military base in Singapore in the 1970s as a springboard into ...
Private Revolutions: Coming of age in a new China by Yuan Yang

Private Revolutions: Coming of age in a new China by Yuan Yang

Yuan Yang was born in China but moved to the UK when she was four. She returned to China in 2016 as a journalist ...
Love, Death & Other Scenes by Nova Weetman 

Love, Death & Other Scenes by Nova Weetman 

Nova Weetman usually writes YA fiction. She was writing another YA novel when this adult non-fiction book demanded ...
Tanya Plibersek: On Her Own Terms by Margaret Simons

Tanya Plibersek: On Her Own Terms by Margaret Simons

Tanya Plibersek’s parents arrived in Australia from Slovenia as part of the post-war immigration scheme. The ...
Some People Want to Shoot Me by Wayne Bergmann & Madelaine Dickie 

Some People Want to Shoot Me by Wayne Bergmann & Madelaine Dickie 

Wayne Bergmann is a proud Nyikina man from the Kimberley region of WA. The title of this memoir came from the ...
The Lucky Ones by Melinda Ham

The Lucky Ones by Melinda Ham

Canadian-born journalist Ham is herself a newcomer to Australia in a move made by choice. The plight of refugees ...
Wired for Music by Adriana Barton

Wired for Music by Adriana Barton

About halfway through Wired for Music, classically trained cellist and sleep-deprived new mother, Adriana Barton, ...
Kintsugi by Marie O’Rourke

Kintsugi by Marie O’Rourke

The title, Kintsugi, is a metaphoric insight into the author’s perspective on her own life. Kintsugi is the ...
American Mother by Colum McCann with Diane Foley

American Mother by Colum McCann with Diane Foley

The horrific event that prompted American Mother was the reason our family decided to no longer watch the nightly ...

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