Our latest reviews
Familiar Ghost: Shane Nicholson
Released late last year, it made it into my favourite albums of the year list but I thought it deserved a full review to help make people aware of it. He is now known as Mr Kasey Chambers and their…
Crying Light: Antony and The Johnsons
It’s been nearly four years since we heard from Antony and the Johnsons. In between studio visits we heard him mix it up with the disco sounds of Hercules and Love Affair, which was a great opportunity to hear…
The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie: Alan Bradley
In England in 1950, 11-year-old Flavia de Luce is developing a rather disturbing interest in poisons. Though perhaps this is not so surprising; for centuries, the de Luces have turned out their fair share of eccentrics, including at least one…
Sleepers Almanac 5: Louise Swinn & Zoe Dattner (Eds)
This year’s Almanac contains many new writers, and it’s always interesting to see what newer (and frequently younger) writers have to say. There has been criticism of Australian short stories in the past as being too ‘psychologically driven’, and being…
The Unscratchables: Anthony O’Neill
Career-cop bull terrier Crusher McNash, still haunted by flashbacks to his time as a Siamese POW, is sickened to learn he must work with prissy Siamese FBI agent Cassius Lap – an expensively suited, soy-lapping intellectual from the rich side…
I See You Everywhere: Julia Glass
This beautifully constructed novel about two very different sisters regrettably slipped under the radar last December. Julia Glass won the National Book Award for Fiction in 2002 and I See You Everywhere was praised by The New York Times Book…
The Crossroads: Niccolò Ammaniti
Isolated 13-year-old Cristiano and his bitterly violent father, Rino, live at the fringe of Milan society in squalid digs, railing against immigrants and stolen jobs, trying to avoid Cristiano’s committal to state ‘care’ and drinking grappa with their dim and…
The Book of Flights: J.M.G. Le Clézio
Le Clézio is the recipient of last year’s Nobel Prize for Literature and his books have now become more readily available in English translation. He was born in Nice in 1940 to Mauritian parents, spending much of his childhood in…
The Anatomy of Wings: Karen Foxlee
Ten-year-old Jennifer Day has lost her singing voice and her best friend Angela Popovitch believes the key to getting it back lies in the box that holds the few scrappy remnants of her dead sister’s life.
Through Jennifer we experience…
The Virtuoso: Sonia Orchard
As elegant and assured as its starring character, it seems astonishing that this pitch-perfect novel is the author’s first fictional outing. The Virtuoso is based on a real-life person, Australian pianist Noel Mewton-Wood – a friend and contemporary of the…
Browse our reviews by category
