Amanda Rayner

Amanda Rayner is from Readings Carlton

Review — 31 Jul 2023

Ballet Confidential by David McAllister

Ballet and I had a rocky start. After just one lesson at five years old, I apparently informed my mother that I was quitting due to the playing of ‘too…

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Review — 19 Sep 2022

Moon Sugar by Angela Meyer

Recently separated and living in Melbourne, personal trainer Mila meets ‘sugar baby’ Josh when she becomes one of his clients through the ‘SugarMeetMe’ website. Time passes and the two develop…

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Review — 28 Apr 2022

The Old Woman with the Knife by Gu Byeong-Mo

Hornclaw is a 65-year-old contract killer; still lethal but considering retirement. While she may not get an invite to my fantasy dinner party for my favourite literary characters (forpractical reasons)…

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Review — 29 Mar 2020

The Loudness of Unsaid Things by Hilde Hinton

Reading The Loudness of Unsaid Things, I was reminded of two other debut novels that I have also reviewed: Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine and The Lost Flowers of

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Review — 2 Mar 2021

Emotional Female by Yumiko Kadota

You may recall an article in the Sydney Morning Herald in 2018 about a junior doctor resigning from the Australian public health system due to burnout. Rostered up to 20…

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Review — 26 Apr 2021

The Winter Road: A Story of Legacy, Land and a Killing at Croppa Creek by Kate Holden

There is a type of true crime book that surpasses others in the genre due to its literary merit and unique approach to the subject. Truman Capote’s In Cold Blood

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Review — 2 Mar 2021

The Performance by Claire Thomas

In The Performance, three woman are waiting in a Melbourne theatre for a production of Samuel Beckett’s Happy Days to begin. It has been a day of extreme heat…

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Review — 2 Feb 2021

The Price of Two Sparrows by Christy Collins

In a Sydney beachside suburb in early 2004, a block of land next to a bird sanctuary has been purchased by members of the Muslim community to build a mosque…

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Review — 1 Oct 2020

Mantel Pieces by Hilary Mantel

On the 4th February 2013, two-time Booker Prize–winner Hilary Mantel gave a speech at the British Museum for a London Review of Books event. The speech was entitled ‘Royal Bodies…

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Review — 6 Sep 2020

Broken Rules and Other Stories by Barry Lee Thompson

The short-story collection from a single author is something I have grown to appreciate, especially in the last ten years or so. Australian writers have definitely made their mark in…

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