The People Smuggler, by Robin de Crespigny
“People smugglers are the vilest form of human life. They trade on the tragedy of others and that’s why they should rot in jail and in my own view, rot in hell.” Kevin Rudd, 2009. Robin de Crespigny gives us a truer picture of this industry in...
Foal’s Bread by Gillian Mears
Foal’s Bread by Gillian Mears was published 2011. It won the 2012 Victorian Premier’s Literary Award for Fiction, the 2012 Prime Minister’s Literary Award for Fiction, and was short-listed for the 2012 Miles Franklin Award. This is the summary...
Cicada, by Moira McKinnon
‘Cicada’ is Moira McKinnon’s first novel and what an epic it is. Moira is a doctor who has worked extensively in the Kimberley. The landscape and the people obviously left their mark, and this is not the first time she has written about the...
The Light Between Oceans, by M L Stedman
This is M L Stedman’s debut novel, released in 2012. The story is set in the 1920’s, on Janus Rock, a tiny island off the Western Australian coast. Tom and Isabel Sherbourne are the sole inhabitants of Janus, where Tom is the lighthouse-keeper. They are meant to...
Past the Shallows by Favel Parrett
Wow! I can’t write a review of this novel in my usual way so this is more of a ‘reflection’. That’s because of the emotions this story stirred. As a reader, I was completely captivated. And heartbroken. I forgot I was a writer. I only wish...
‘Sea Dog Hotel’, by Marlish Glorie
Sea Dog Hotel was self-published late last year by Western Australian author Marlish Glorie. Don’t let the fact it was self-published put you off — this work has been professionally and thoroughly edited so it presents as if from a publishing house. Anyone...
AWW 2013 CHALLENGE WRAP-UP
I was late joining the Australian Women Writers Challenge 2013, not starting until May, but I signed on for the Franklin level anyway — to read ten books written by female Australian authors and review at least six of them — and managed to complete...
What is Left Over, After, by Natasha Lester
I recently finished reading Natasha Lester’s ‘What is Left Over, After’ (Fremantle Press, 2010). The story opens in Sydney, with 36-week pregnant Gaelle, a fashion photographer, about to have an emergency caesarian. It then skips ahead to a few months after the birth,...
When We Remember They Call Us Liars, by Suzanne Covich
‘When We Remember They Call Us Liars’ is Suzanne Covich’s memoir of her childhood in 1960s rural Tasmania – a childhood clouded by poverty, alcoholism, violence, and by sexual abuse at the hands of her father. The prose is tightly packed, honest and gut-punching. No...
Finding Jasper, by Lynne Leonhardt
Finding Jasper is Lynne Leonhardt’s first novel and the first novel-length book published by Margaret River Press. The story centres around Gin (Virginia), the youngest of the three generations of Partridge family women whose stories are portrayed – Gin’s...