About the Book: Michael and Pauline seemed like the perfect couple - young, good-looking, made for each other. The moment she walked into his mother's grocery store in Baltimore, he was smitten, and in the heat of World War II fervour, they marry in haste. From the sound of the cash register in the old … Continue reading Book Review: The Amateur Marriage by Anne Tyler
Literary Fiction
Book Review: Return to Valetto by Dominic Smith
About the Book: A nearly abandoned Italian village, the family that stayed, and long-buried secrets from World War II. On a hilltop in Umbria sits Valetto. Once a thriving village-and a hub of resistance and refuge during World War II-centuries of earthquakes, landslides and the lure of a better life have left it neglected. Only … Continue reading Book Review: Return to Valetto by Dominic Smith
Book Review: A Country of Eternal Light by Paul Dalgarno
About the Book: An astonishingly inventive, playful, witty, poignant and deeply moving novel from one of Australia's most exciting writers. Margaret Bryce, deceased mother of twins, has been having a hard time since dying in 2014. These days she spends time with her daughters – Eva in Madrid, and Rachel and her family in Melbourne … Continue reading Book Review: A Country of Eternal Light by Paul Dalgarno
Book Review: The Lessons by John Purcell
About the Book: What if your first love was your one and only chance of happiness? In our lives, some promises are easily forgotten, while others come to haunt us with tragic results. From the bestselling author of The Girl on the Page comes The Lessons, a compelling novel about love and betrayal. 1961: When teens Daisy and Harry … Continue reading Book Review: The Lessons by John Purcell
Book Review: The Whispering Muse by Laura Purcell
About the Book: Be careful what you wish for... it may just come true.At The Mercury Theatre in London's West End, rumours are circulating of a curse. It is said that the lead actress Lilith has made a pact with Melpomene, the tragic muse of Greek mythology, to become the greatest actress to ever grace … Continue reading Book Review: The Whispering Muse by Laura Purcell
Book Review: Psalms for the End of the World by Cole Haddon
About the Book: It's 1962 and physics student Grace Pulansky believes she has met the man of her dreams, Robert Jones, while serving up slices of pecan pie at the local diner. But then the FBI shows up, with their fedoras and off-the-rack business suits, and accuses him of being a bomb-planting mass-murderer. Finding herself … Continue reading Book Review: Psalms for the End of the World by Cole Haddon
Book Review: Blue Hour by Sarah Schmidt
About the Book: 1936: At nineteen, Kitty was ready to leave behind the stifling control of her parents and all those constantly telling her how to live her life. Work at the Wintonvale Repatriation Hospital was her escape and a chance to be someone else.Then she met soldier George Turner - and she heard her mother's … Continue reading Book Review: Blue Hour by Sarah Schmidt
Book Review: Horse by Geraldine Brooks
About the Book: A discarded painting in a roadside clean-up, forgotten bones in a research archive, and Lexington, the greatest racehorse in US history. From these strands of fact, Geraldine Brooks weaves a sweeping story of spirit, obsession and injustice across American history. Kentucky, 1850. An enslaved groom named Jarret and a bay foal forge a … Continue reading Book Review: Horse by Geraldine Brooks
Book Review: These Days by Lucy Caldwell
About the Book: April, 1941. Belfast has escaped the worst of the war - so far. Over the next two months, it's going to be destroyed from above, so that people will say, in horror, My God, Belfast is finished. Many won't make it through, and no one who does will remain unchanged. Following the … Continue reading Book Review: These Days by Lucy Caldwell
Book Review: Our Missing Hearts by Celeste Ng
About the Book: Twelve-year-old Bird Gardner lives a quiet existence with his loving but broken father, a former linguist who now shelves books in Harvard's library. He knows not to ask too many questions, stand out too much, stray too far. For a decade, their lives have been governed by laws written to preserve 'American … Continue reading Book Review: Our Missing Hearts by Celeste Ng
Theresa Smith Writes 