The Benevolent Society of Ill-mannered Ladies by Alison Goodman
The determinately unmarried Lady Augusta Colebrook (Gus to her nearest and dearest) and her twin sister Julia live in a time where women are barely…
Book Reviews
The Shell Seekers by Rosmunde Pilcher
It has taken me over thirty years to finally read this novel which was a bestseller in the 1980s. I must confess I was put-off…
The Grapevine by Kate Kemp
I am always excited to find a new (to me) Australian author whose writing is stylish and clever. The Grapevine, new and Australian, is an…
Baumgartner by Paul Auster
Paul Auster, the highly acclaimed laureate of hip New York, author of The New York Trilogy and a lauded list of novels and memoirs (with…
The Library at Night by Alberto Manguel
Alberto Manguel’s The Library at Night, first published in 2006, is a collection of fifteen essay-like chapters, each celebrating a particular library-related theme and, in…
The Nature of the Beast (Three Pines #11) by Louise Penny
Armand Gamache, the former head of homicide for the Surete du Quebec and his wife Reine-Marie are revelling in their retirement, living in their beloved…
Three Days in June by Anne Tyler
Anne Tyler has done it again. Her books can appear to be simple tellings of domestic lives. But don’t you be fooled, Tyler’s characters, particularly…
Wild Dark Shores by Charlotte McConaghy
Dominic Salt and his three children are caretakers of Shearwater, a tiny island not far from Antarctica. Home to the world’s largest seed bank, Shearwater…
Precipice by Robert Harris
This is the latest historical novel by Robert Harris. The principal characters and plot, is the love affair carried out through their correspondence, between the…
Orbital by Samantha Harvey
This year’s Booker Prize winner (2024). It’s slim volume, with no plot in sight. Over 24 hours we travel with six astronauts as their spacecraft…
Bitter Greens by Kate Forsyth
Another stunning historic romance from the talented pen of Kate Forsyth. We follow three women as they struggle to find love and security in times…
A Psalm for the Wild-Built (Monk and Robot #1) by Becky Chambers
Reading this book brought to mind The Little Prince. A seemingly simple story, that addresses existential questions such as: ‘what gives a life purpose’; ‘do…
