Tag Archives: book reviews

The Shepherd’s Hut by Tim Winton – A new novel by Tim Winton is always an event. And what do we have here, this time? Two characters only, centre-stage: one, Jaxie Clackton, a damaged, hopped-up teenager running from his ruin of … Continue reading →

  Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman – The unique voice is what strikes you first. It’s the voice of an oddball young woman, her face disfigured by scarring, her social skills non-existent, her possibly psychopathic mother incarcerated.  Clever Eleanor, … Continue reading →

  The Passage of Love by Alex Miller – We all have our literary heroes, and this writer is one of mine.  As soon as I read his Journey to the Stone Country, set in Queensland, I thought “Ah! Here’s a voice … Continue reading →

  Montebello by Robert Drewe The Montebello Islands lie off the Pilbara coast of Western Australia. Australian writer Robert Drewe became interested in these islands when he discovered that the British conducted nuclear tests there in the 1950s. The bombs were … Continue reading →

The Attachment, by Ailsa Piper and Tony Doherty. Bracing, exploratory conversations, engaged in without the will to dominate, are (for me) among life’s most intriguing activities. These two authors connected across a fairly powerful ideological barrier (Doherty a Catholic priest, … Continue reading →