Devotion        

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Review by Wendy Tucker

Devotion 

Hannah Kent

Hannah Kent’s eagerly-awaited third novel is a departure from her earlier two although it continues with her themes of women on the fringes of their society, women who evoke suspicion.

The novel is divided into three sections: Before, After and Then.

It begins in 1836 in Prussia, where Hanne is part of an Old Lutheran community, now banned from the practice of their religion. Hanne is fifteen years old and dreading the responsibilities … Read more »

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Still Life    

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reviewed by Wendy Tucker

Still Life
Sarah Winman
HarperCollins, $32.99

This novel was my perfect antidote to a Christmas of rain, uncertainty and lots of visitors. It is a wonderfully rich, multi-layered, joyous and affectionate novel that spans the years between 1944 and 1979.

It is a character-driven novel with brave, transgressive characters who are a joy to know and show, in different ways, how lives can be resurrected and changed. And the city … Read more »

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Book Review highlights for 2021

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2021 was not the greatest year of our lives but, for avid readers, it has had some terrific highlights. Here are my selections for the best of – would love to hear which books gave you the most pleasure. 

Overall favourites/champions

After Story – Larissa Behrendt; and Kazuo Ishiguro – Klara and the Sun

Best biography

James Campbell – Talking at the Gates: A Life of James Baldwin

Best political histories

Johanna Perheentupa – Redfern: Aboriginal Activism in … Read more »

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Dark as Last Night

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Reviewed by Heather O’Connor

Tony Birch
$29.99

Tony Birch is renowned for his novels and short stories. This latest collection contains many sad stories, but ones that are often softened by the affection and loyalty exhibited between family and community members. Set in the 1970s, one of the strongest themes is how tough life was for working class kids – both Indigenous and non-Indigenous. Prejudice, poverty and inequality were rife, as … Read more »

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The Labyrinth

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Reviewed by Heather O’Connor

Amanda Lohrey

Text Publishing, $24.99

This is the winner of the 2021 Miles Franklin Award and currently shortlisted for The Age Book of the Year – a great reward for the 74-year old Tasmanian writer. It tells the story of a woman who moves to a small village on the south coast of NSW in order to be close to her son, recently sentenced to years in a local prison … Read more »

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After Story

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Reviewed by Heather O’Connor

Larissa Behrendt

This is the most enjoyable book I have read this year. Thanks again to the wonderful staff at Candelo Books for the recommendation.

An Indigenous mother and daughter travel to the UK for a literary tour that introduces the mother, Della, to Sherlock Holmes, Virginia Woolf, DH Lawrence, the Brontë sisters, Dickens, Jane Austen and others, most of whom she only knows through television shows. Her daughter, Jasmine, is a trainee lawyer; for her, literature has been a life-long comfort. She was only three when … Read more »

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