Toddlers can be as fast as lightning for such small packages. Taking your eyes off them for even a second can have catastrophic consequences. In The Blink of an Eye, by Jesse Blackadder, is a powerful and heart-shattering story about a family living with exactly those consequences. Teenaged Jarrah loves his little brother, Toby, to […]
Books
Review: Improvement, by Joan Silber – novel or linked short stories?
I really enjoyed Improvement, by Joan Silber. The writing is gorgeous, the characters are simultaneously unusual and everyday, and Silber’s tracking of the way small actions impact lives around the globe and back again is intriguing and masterful. But I have a small bone to pick. Improvement is marketed as a ‘novel’. To me, it’s not a […]
5 intriguing memoirs by Australian women writers
There have been some really fabulous memoirs written by Australian women published in the past few years. They lay bare the experience of being a woman in all its many forms. From feminism to racism, battling with body image and cultural identity, the stories I’ve read have been rich with insight and humour. The following […]
Review: Stranger Country, by Monica Tan
Stranger Country is Monica Tan’s story of quitting her job and driving 30,000 kilometres – alone – through the Outback in a quest to learn more about Australia’s ancient heritage. I found this book absolutely fascinating, honest and confronting. Tan is a curious person and natural storyteller, which together made this book a real joy […]
Review: Apple Island Wife – Slow Living In Tasmania, by Fiona Stocker
Apple Island Wife is Fiona Stocker’s simply delightful memoir of trading city life in Brisbane for rural life in north-western Tasmania. Her descriptions of the cooler climate, slower lifestyle and simple living with young children made me want to pack up my own city life immediately. It all sounded so wonderful. Well, except for the […]
Review: The Silent Patient, by Alex Michaelides
The Silent Patient, by Alex Michaelides, is a fabulously twisty thriller that sent chills running down my spine and had me muttering more than one ‘Phwoar!’. Convicted of the murder of her photographer husband, famous painter Alicia Berenson spends her days locked up in a high security psychiatric hospital. Nobody knows why she killed her […]