Carrie Tiffany
Exploded View
$29.99
I really enjoyed two earlier novels by Carrie Tiffany, particularly Mateship with Birds, which won the Stella Prize. Exploded View is another thing altogether, and as one reviewer warned, not for the faint-hearted.The narrator is a young girl whose mother has a new partner, referred to as ‘father man’. He sets up an illegal car repair workshop in the backyard. His abusive behaviour leads the girl to resist him through acts … Read more »
Steven Carroll
The Year of the Beast
$29.99
This is the sixth and final novel of Steven Carroll’s Glenroy series, Glenroy being a suburb of Melbourne known to few, and which grew after the Second World War to accommodate the explosion of home ownership. The six novels can be read in any order, and this one actually goes right back to the beginning of the family saga in 1917. The main character is Maryanne, a 40 year old … Read more »
Joanna Nell, The Single Ladies of the Jacaranda Retirement Village, $29.99
Well, here’s something new for the New Year, a new literary ‘genre (don’t you hate that word!) It’s called Uplifting Literature or Up Lit—as if Jane Austen isn’t! ‘Something to lift readers into a warm, fuzzy, happy place’ is how it’s described—an antidote to reading about disasters, violence, misery and Donald Trump. Apparently, Up Lit was the leading trend at recent international book fairs, so it’s probably alright to review at least one for the year.
I got sucked into … Read more »
Melissa Lucashenko,
Too Much Lip, $29.95
We should all give thanks each day for Queensland University Press, which is up there with the ABC in my list of institutions for which we owe eternal gratitude. QUP is a strong supporter of emerging (and established) Indigenous writers, none of whom are more entertaining than Melissa Lucashenko. If you haven’t already read her first novel, Mullumbimby, I highly recommend it. Too Much Lip is a terrific follow-up.
… Read more »
Trent Dalton, Boy Swallows Universe, $32.99
I admit to nearly abandoning this novel after the first 50 pages, but I persisted and am glad I did so (on the recommendation of the staff at Candelo Books – thanks again!) It is the first book of award-winning journalist Trent Dalton and has been received to wide acclaim.
Set in Brisbane in the 1980s, it is a stark reminder of the corruption, crime and racism that infected Queensland. The story is of two brothers, told through the eyes of the … Read more »
Paul Collis,
Dancing Home.
$29.95
Thanks to the Bermagui U3A, I was introduced by one of our fantastic teachers, Debra Cushion, to the David Unaipon Award. This annual award is to acknowledge previously unpublished Indigenous writers, and is supported by the national treasure which is the University of Queensland Press.
Winner of the 2016 Award, Dancing Home is the first novel of Paul Collis, a Barkindji man from Bourke. He has worked with young offenders and in other … Read more »
