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 […]
Books
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 […]
Review: The Revolution of Man, by Phil Barker
One woman is killed every week in Australia by her current or former partner. Every day in Australia six men are killed, by themselves. The number of men who die by suicide each year is double the national road toll. I say this not to try to convince you that male suicide is a more […]
Review: The Flying Orchestra, by Clare McFadden
“Mum, how do you give a book a ‘like’?” “A ‘like’?” I asked my 6-year-old son. “Yeah, a ‘like’. Like for videos on YouTube. So other people know it’s really good. ‘Cause this book’s really good and I want to tell everyone.” Mr 6 waved The Flying Orchestra, by Clare McFadden at me. He loves this book. […]
Review: The Girls at 17 Swann Street, by Yara Zgheib
The Girls at 17 Swann Street, by Yara Zgheib is a heart-wrenching novel about Anna Roux who has been booked into 17 Swann Street by her desperate husband. 17 Swann Street is a residential treatment facility for patients with severe eating disorders. She is quickly diagnosed with life-threatening anorexia nervosa and her dangerous and difficult […]