Inspired by the real-life tour of a troupe of ‘little people’ to Australia in 1870 this quirky novel is the second from literary journalist Jane Sullivan. Ostensibly the story of Mary Ann recently released from employment by the amorous father of her ward and bearing his child, she narrates the story of how she came to be in the employ of a famous troupe of vaudeville performers. Standing on the banks of the Yarra contemplating suicide she sees a child fall from a bridge. After recovering from her rescue of the Continue reading “Little People by Jane Sullivan”
Little People by Jane Sullivan
The Boundary by Nicole Watson
I so enjoyed the first two thirds of this book I expected this review to be a rave, but as the third section opened my shoulders began to sink and I ended my reading with a regretful sigh, but we’ll get to that later. At its heart is a murder mystery with cops, red herrings and suspects aplenty, all wrapped up in a strong narrative of the life and history of Aboriginal people in Brisbane. It pulls no punches and indigenous characters are not portrayed with a rosy hue; themes of social struggle, addiction (to alcohol, Continue reading “The Boundary by Nicole Watson”
The Waterboys by Peter Docker
Set in an un-specified future time Australia is divided; the parched desert West and the water rich East. Conway has feet in both camps, his father a white from the east and his indigenous mother from the west and it is with his mother’s people that he chooses to live. With a unique ability to find water, along with his cousin Mularabone, Conway scouts the countryside and hijacks Water Board trucks. Plagued by dreams both sleeping and waking his story shifts through space and time. As well as encounters with Continue reading “The Waterboys by Peter Docker”
How It Feels by Brendan Cowell
What I got in finishing this book was not what I was expecting when starting. What I expected would not have been near as good at I what I was lucky to get. Sex, drugs, art, suicide, love, death and maybe murder are the themes of this exceptional debut novel and it deals with them baldly and with unflinching honesty. The story opens in Cronulla in the early 90s with Neil, his girlfriend Courtney and their friends Gordon and Stuart on the cusp of adulthood as they prepare to leave high school. Their futures before Continue reading “How It Feels by Brendan Cowell”
The Crossing by B. Michael Radburn
I just can’t pin down how enthusiastic I am about this book. It sits firmly in the mystery area of the crime spectrum and whilst it suffers from a fairly generic thriller tone of voice it does have some nice gothic flourishes to lift it from the ordinary. Taylor Bridges is man living an empty life. One year on from the disappearance of his 8-year-old daughter, estranged from his wife he lives a guilt ridden, sleepwalking plagued existence in Tasmania. His work as a park ranger has brought him to Glorys Crossing a former Continue reading “The Crossing by B. Michael Radburn”
