About the Book: A fossil discovered at London's Natural History Museum leads one woman back in time to nineteenth century Australia and a world of scientific discovery and dark secrets in this compelling historical mystery. The Hunter Valley 1847 The last thing Mellie Vale remembers before the fever takes her is running through the bush … Continue reading Book Review: The Fossil Hunter by Tea Cooper
WWI
Book Review: The Magician by Colm Tóibín
About the Book: When the Great War breaks out in 1914 Thomas Mann, like so many of his fellow countrymen, is fired up with patriotism. He imagines the Germany of great literature and music, which had drawn him away from the stifling, conservative town of his childhood, might be a source of pride once again. … Continue reading Book Review: The Magician by Colm Tóibín
Quick Shots Book Review: Vida by Jacqueline Kent
Vida: A woman for our time... About the Book: Vida Goldstein was an advocate for women's rights, a campaigner for peace, fought for the distribution of wealth, and a trail-blazer who provided leadership and inspiration to innumerable people. Blazing her trail at the dawn of the twentieth century, Vida Goldstein remains Australia’s most celebrated crusader … Continue reading Quick Shots Book Review: Vida by Jacqueline Kent
Book Review: The Pull of the Stars by Emma Donoghue
The Pull of the Stars... About the Book: In an Ireland doubly ravaged by war and disease, Nurse Julia Power works at an understaffed hospital in the city centre, where expectant mothers who have come down with an unfamiliar Flu are quarantined together. Into Julia's regimented world step two outsiders: Doctor Kathleen Lynn, on the … Continue reading Book Review: The Pull of the Stars by Emma Donoghue
Book Review: Walking by Kim Kelly
Walking... About the Book: Sydney, 1948. Brilliant German surgeon, Hugo Winter, is dead, and his protégé, Lucy Brynne, is tasked with sorting his papers. Among them, Lucy finds glimpses of Hugo’s past that paint a disturbing picture of war and prejudice – a portrait of Australia she can barely recognise. That same week, an intriguing … Continue reading Book Review: Walking by Kim Kelly
Book Review: The Electric Hotel by Dominic Smith
The Electric Hotel... About the Book: From the award-winning author of the acclaimed New York Times bestseller The Last Painting of Sara de Vos comes a luminous novel tracing the intertwined fates of a silent-film director and his muse. Dominic Smith's The Electric Hotel winds through the nascent days of cinema in Paris and Fort … Continue reading Book Review: The Electric Hotel by Dominic Smith
Book Review: You’ll Never See Me Again by Lesley Pearse
You’ll Never See Me Again... About the Book: You have to keep running if you want to survive. When her husband returns shell-shocked and broken from the Great War and his mother makes her life a misery, Betty Wellow discovers how bitter and hard life can truly be. But it is not until a devastating … Continue reading Book Review: You’ll Never See Me Again by Lesley Pearse
New Release Book Review: The Victory Garden by Rhys Bowen
The Victory Garden… About the Book: From the bestselling author of The Tuscan Child comes a beautiful and heart-rending novel of a woman’s love and sacrifice during the First World War. As the Great War continues to take its toll, headstrong twenty-one-year-old Emily Bryce is determined to contribute to the war effort. She is convinced … Continue reading New Release Book Review: The Victory Garden by Rhys Bowen
Release Day for Sunshine by Kim Kelly
Sunshine... About the Book: A tale of longing, loss and growing love under the bright Australian sun. It's 1921 and the Great War has left in its wake untold tragedy, not only in lives lost, but in the guilt of survivors, the deep-set scars of old wounds and the sting of redoubled bigotries. In the … Continue reading Release Day for Sunshine by Kim Kelly
New Release Book Review: The Last Days Of The Romanov Dancers by Kerri Turner
The Last Days of the Romanov Dancers... About the Book: Petrograd, 1914. A country on a knife edge. The story of two people caught in the middle – with everything to lose… A stunning debut from a talented new Australian voice in historical fiction. Valentina Yershova's position in the Romanovs' Imperial Russian Ballet is the … Continue reading New Release Book Review: The Last Days Of The Romanov Dancers by Kerri Turner