Normal People by Sally Rooney Faber & Faber As indicated by the cover image, Sally Rooney’s novel is about two people whose lives are entwined. Beginning in their last year of high school, Marianne Sheridan and Connell Waldron spend more and more time together away from the stratification that separates them at their high school. […]
The Dinner List by Rebecca Serle Allen & Unwin Stop everything you’re doing. Take a deep breath. Think of five words that describe your current state of being. Go on … do it. Now think of five people, living or dead, that you would like to have dinner with. That’s the basis for Rebecca Serle’s […]
A Long Way From No Go by Tjanara Goreng Goreng Wild Dingo Press Christened Patricia Mary Williams, Tjanara spent her first years at No Go cattle station before moving into the town of Longreach in central western Queensland. She remembers that her family as being “impeccable Catholics” with a house so spotless that nobody could […]
Sisters and Brothers by Fiona Palmer Hachette Historically, marriage has been about social and economic stability. It was all about conserving the patriarchal lineage so that wealth could be passed onto the male bloodline. Conservative values about women keeping themselves pure before marriage and not having sex outside the marriage were strictly imposed on women, […]
Perth author Daniel de Lorne’s new novel is out now bringing a gay romance – between a cop and firefighter – to a mainstream audience. Daniel de Lorne is an emerging writer with a focus on LGBTQI romance. His first book, the gay romantic horror, Beckoning Blood, was published by Escape Publishing in 2014. In his other life, Daniel is a professional writer and […]
Paradox by Catherine Coulter Simon & Schuster When there is a failed kidnapping of the five year old son of agents Sherlock and Dillion Savage, they are suitably terrified and wonder about the motive. Was it a paedophile; a kidnap for ransom; a payback from an old enemy or the act of a random crazed […]
How To Be Held Maddie Godfrey Burning Eye Books Poetry, at its most potent, lingers. How To Be Held by Perth poet Maddie Godfrey certainly lingers long after the initial reading. The words within brim: with potency; with bravery; with belonging. This is the kind of poetry we need right now: compassionate; inventive; inclusive; full […]
Inappropriation by Lexi Freiman Allen & Unwin Celebrities send their daughters to Leger Girls’ School. It’s the one with the Sydney Harbour views and Olympic swimming pool – “pavlova white against the dirty eucalyptus green”. Australian author Lexi Freiman went to a similar school and thought it would be an excellent setting to explore […]
The Psychology of Time Travel by Kate Mascarenhas HarperCollins Publishers It all began in 1967 when four young scientists (Margaret, Lucille, Grace and Barbara) used their combined knowledge to create a time machine in an isolated laboratory in Cumbria, in the north west of England. The first complication that arose was that Barbara became ‘destabilised’ […]
I Had Such Friends by Meg Gatland-Veness Pantera Press It all started when a kid died. A year 12 guy was driving his girlfriend home from a Saturday night party. The car skidded and crashed as he tried to avoid a dog. Charlie Parker died and the girl, Annie Bower, was in hospital with minor […]
