About the Book: Winner of Viva la Novella IX In eighteenth-century Venice, orphan Lucietta is raised by a fisherman’s family yet supported by a secret benefactor to study music. At 16, she takes up her position at the Derelitti Convent, one of the prestigious musical orphanages for girls, playing the violin in the ensemble and … Continue reading Book Review: Water Music by Christine Balint
Prize Winning Books
The Silence of the Girls and The Women of Troy by Pat Barker
The Silence of the Girls: The greatest war story in literature, retold by our greatest living storyteller on war - in the voice of the forgotten woman who lived through it. Queen Briseis has been stolen from her conquered homeland and given as a concubine to a foreign warrior. The warrior is Achilles: famed hero, … Continue reading The Silence of the Girls and The Women of Troy by Pat Barker
#2021StellaPrize Winner: The Bass Rock by Evie Wyld
I'm thrilled to pass on the news that The Bass Rock by Evie Wyld is this year's Stella Prize winner! If you need a reminder on why I love this novel so much, read my review here. The Bass Rock is published by Penguin Random House Australia.
The winner of the 2020 Booker Prize
Congratulations to Douglas Stuart for his debut novel Shuggie Bain, winner of the 2020 Booker Prize! Shuggie Bain Winner of the 2020 Booker Prize By Douglas Stuart 1981. Glasgow is dying and good families must grift to survive. Agnes Bain has always expected more from life. She dreams of greater things: a house with its … Continue reading The winner of the 2020 Booker Prize
Book Review: The Spill by Imbi Neeme
The Spill… About the Book: Winner of the 2019 Penguin Literary Prize In 1982, a car overturns on a remote West Australian road. Nobody is hurt, but the impact is felt for decades. Nicole and Samantha Cooper both remember the summer day when their mother, Tina, lost control of their car – but not in … Continue reading Book Review: The Spill by Imbi Neeme
Book Review: Elly by Maike Wetzel
Elly (Translated from German by Lyn Marven) About the Book: A missing child is a nightmare for any family. But what happens when they come back? Eleven-year-old Elly is missing. After an extensive police search she is presumed dead, and her family must learn to live with a gaping hole in their lives. Then, four … Continue reading Book Review: Elly by Maike Wetzel
Book Review: Beastings by Benjamin Myers
Beastings... About the Book: Winner of the Portico Prize for Literature and the Northern Writers' Award A girl and a baby. A priest and a poacher. A savage pursuit through the landscape of a changing rural England. When a teenage girl leaves the workhouse and abducts a child placed in her care, the local priest … Continue reading Book Review: Beastings by Benjamin Myers
#BookBingo – Round 19
Prize winning book Well, this was an obvious selection! Boy Swallows Universe by Trent Dalton Winner of four ABIAs: Book of the Year, Literary Book of the Year, the Matt Richell Award for New Writer of the Year and Audio Book of the Year (Wavesound, narrated by Stig Wemyss). It’s also on the 2019 Miles … Continue reading #BookBingo – Round 19
Book Review: Normal People by Sally Rooney
Normal People... About the Book: Winner: 2019 Novel of the Year and Book of the Year at the British Book Awards, and the 2018 Costa Novel Award: Sally Rooney set the books world buzzing in 2017 with her debut Conversations With Friends. Normal People is a girl-meets-boy story with a difference, interrogating the difficulties of … Continue reading Book Review: Normal People by Sally Rooney
Book Review: Three Ways To Disappear by Katy Yocom
Three Ways To Disappear... About the Book: Leaving behind a nomadic and dangerous career as a journalist, Sarah DeVaughan returns to India, the country of her childhood and a place of unspeakable family tragedy, to help preserve the endangered Bengal tigers. Meanwhile, at home in Kentucky, her sister, Quinn—also deeply scarred by the past and … Continue reading Book Review: Three Ways To Disappear by Katy Yocom
Theresa Smith Writes 