Stella Charls
Stella Charls is a former bookseller at Readings Carlton
Review — 28 Jun 2021
She is Haunted by Paige Clark
If you’ve felt stuck in a reading slump of late, stop what you’re doing and pick up a copy of She Is Haunted. The hype for this debut short-story…
Review — 1 Jun 2021
The Other Black Girl by Zakiya Dalila Harris
It’s no secret that publishing has a diversity problem. The conversation around how this majority-White industry can meaningfully diversify its workforce is long overdue. The issue is finally getting some…
Review — 26 Apr 2021
Fury by Kathryn Heyman
At a time when it often feels impossible to take a breather from the overwhelming injustices and inequalities that warrant outrage, you might hesitate to pick up a book called…
Review — 28 Mar 2021
Car Crash: A Memoir by Lech Blaine
Blaine is sitting in the passenger seat of a 1989 Ford Fairlane, surrounded by six of his mates (two piled in the boot). It’s 2009, and the group of teenagers…
Review — 28 Mar 2021
We Run the Tides by Vendela Vida
Coming-of-age novels about female friendship are always going to the top of my reading pile, especially if you add in a mysterious disappearance, and tie the whole thing together with…
Review — 1 Feb 2021
Born Into This by Adam Thompson
This remarkable debut crackles with wit, swagger and rage –- as entertaining and affecting as it is thought-provoking -– and assuredly introduces Aboriginal (pakana) writer Adam Thompson as a fresh…
Review — 29 May 2017
Goodbye, Vitamin by Rachel Khong
I doubt I will enjoy another book in 2017 more than Rachel Khong’s Goodbye, Vitamin. This small miracle of a novel about family, friendship and memory is equal parts…
Review — 24 Sep 2017
The Most Dangerous Place on Earth by Lindsey Lee Johnson
With her electric debut novel, Lindsey Lee Johnson has skilfully teased out the everyday dramas that exist in ‘The Most Dangerous Place on Earth’: high school. Set in one of…
Review — 20 Aug 2017
The Salesman
With The Salesman, acclaimed writer-director Asghar Farhadi offers up another analytical yet deeply empathetic film about modern Iranian society under a repressive regime. Here, as with his previous films…
Review — 20 Aug 2017
The Museum of Words by Georgia Blain
I hadn’t read Georgia Blain until her last novel, Between a Wolf and a Dog, published early last year. Immediately I regretted not having read her work sooner, as…
