by Bonnie Garmus
Reviewed by Wendy Tucker
Bonnie Garmus was 65 years old when this, her first novel, was published in 2022 and this fact should give hope to all those procrastinating writers out there. She was a senior copy writer and the only woman at a meeting where she was yet again spoken over, interrupted, disregarded and her ideas usurped. That night she wrote the first chapter of Lessons in Chemistry while thinking of her mother, a nurse who … Read more »
reviewed by Wendy Tucker
by 
Shankari Chandran
Ultimo Press
Chandran, a Sydney-based lawyer of Tamil heritage won this year’s prestigious Miles Franklin prize of $60,000. I like to read the winning book, judged by an esteemed group and deemed to be the best book of the year with an Australian theme. I’m still reeling from this confronting and sometimes confusing novel.
I had by-passed it because of its cosy cover and cute title, assuming it … Read more »
Review by Wendy Tucker
by Anna Funder
Two new arrivals have filled our TV screens, newspapers and social media during the last month. And both use the word patriarchy a lot! Both have feminist messages. One is the Barbie movie. The other is Anna Funder’s Wifedom, which has had more publicity, both pre- and post-publication, than any other recent book. Funder has been interviewed widely on 7.30, The Drum, Conversations, the SMH and at numerous Writers Festivals.
Wifedom has been reviewed in most major newspapers, both here and overseas. So, what is … Read more »
by Salena Godden
Reviewed by Wendy Tucker
Salena Godden is an English poet, author, activist, broadcaster, memoirist and essayist. Born in the UK, Godden is of Jamaican-Irish heritage. She is known for the graphic power of her poetry and is considered one of the foremost performance poets in the UK.
This is her debut novel. I had heard a lot about this prize-winning prose/poetry novel and because of the enthusiastic reviews regarding the beauty … Read more »
reviewed by Wendy Tucker
by Ben Aaronovitch
How to describe this novel, the first in a series of nine?
It’s a crime novel, a police procedural novel, a fantasy/magical realism novel,
a love letter to London and a commentary on race. And it’s rollicking good fun and totally addictive. I am a fan of good crime writing but not usually of fantasy.
Rivers of London is … Read more »
Reviewed by Wendy Tucker
Sebastian Barry
Old gods’ time is ‘an expression indicating a period beyond memory’ and also applies to a memory from so long ago that it belongs in the time of the old gods, such as those of the Greeks. It is the perfect title for this novel that is all about the struggle with memory, what is real, what is imagined and what is too traumatic, too damaging to be allowed to surface.
