Desire Lines... About the Book: Arctic Circle, 2012. On a lightless day at the end of the polar winter, landscape architect Evie Waddell finds herself exhuming the past as she buries Australian seeds in a frozen mountain vault - insurance against catastrophe. Molong, 1953. Catastrophe is all seven-year-old Paddy O'Connor has known. Shipped from institutional … Continue reading Book Review: Desire Lines by Felicity Volk
Australian Women Writers
Book Review: The Diamond Hunter by Fiona McIntosh
The Diamond Hunter... About the Book: When six-year-old Clementine Knight loses her mother to malaria during the 1870s diamond rush in southern Africa, she is left to be raised by her destitute, alcoholic father, James. Much of Clementine’s care falls to their trusty Zulu companion, Joseph One-Shoe, and the unlikely pair form an unbreakable bond. … Continue reading Book Review: The Diamond Hunter by Fiona McIntosh
Book Review: Springtime – A Ghost Story by Michelle de Kretser
Springtime... About the Book: 'Picking up her pace, Frances saw a woman in the shadowy depths of the garden. She wore a wide hat and a trailing pink dress; a white hand emerged from her sleeve. There came upon Frances a sensation that sometimes overtook her when she was looking at a painting: space was … Continue reading Book Review: Springtime – A Ghost Story by Michelle de Kretser
Book Review: The Bee and the Orange Tree by Melissa Ashley
The Bee and the Orange Tree... About the Book: It’s 1699, and the salons of Paris are bursting with the creative energy of fierce, independent-minded women. But outside those doors, the patriarchal forces of Louis XIV and the Catholic Church are moving to curb their freedoms. In this battle for equality, Baroness Marie Catherine D’Aulnoy … Continue reading Book Review: The Bee and the Orange Tree by Melissa Ashley
Book Club Buddy Read Event: The Weekend by Charlotte Wood
The next Buddy Read Event for the Page by Page Book Club with Theresa Smith Writes has been set. By majority vote, The Weekend by Charlotte Wood was selected as our title. We'll be reading The Weekend from November 10th to the 30th with discussions extending from December 1st to the 8th. If you'd like … Continue reading Book Club Buddy Read Event: The Weekend by Charlotte Wood
Book Review: Just One Wish by Rachael Johns
Just One Wish... About the Book: Three women, three secrets, one life-changing journey. Alice has always been a trailblazer as a scientist, activist and mother. She knew her choices would involve sacrifices, but now, on the eve of her eightieth birthday, she's beginning to wonder if she's sacrificed too much. Alice's daughter, Sappho, rebelled against … Continue reading Book Review: Just One Wish by Rachael Johns
Book Review: Invented Lives by Andrea Goldsmith
Invented Lives... About the Book: Knowing what you want is hard. Accepting what is possible is harder still. It is the mid-1980s. In Australia, stay-at-home wives jostle with want-it-all feminists, while AIDS threatens the sexual freedom of everyone. On the other side of the world, the Soviet bloc is in turmoil. Mikhail Gorbachev has been … Continue reading Book Review: Invented Lives by Andrea Goldsmith
Jolley Prize 2019 (Winner): ‘The Point-Blank Murder’ by Sonja Dechian
Sonja Dechian is the winner of the 2019 ABR Elizabeth Jolley Short Story Prize. She receives $5,000 for her story ‘The Point-Blank Murder’. Dechian was announced as the winner of the Jolley Prize by award-winning author Maxine Beneba Clarke at a special ceremony at Readings Hawthorn on 11 September that featured readings from all three … Continue reading Jolley Prize 2019 (Winner): ‘The Point-Blank Murder’ by Sonja Dechian
Book Review: Meet Me At Lennon’s by Melanie Myers
Meet Me At Lennon’s... About the Book: As university student Olivia Wells sets out on her quest to find an unpublished manuscript by Gloria Graham – a now obscure mid-twentieth century feminist and writer – she unwittingly uncovers details about a young woman found murdered. Strangled with a nylon stocking in the mangroves on the … Continue reading Book Review: Meet Me At Lennon’s by Melanie Myers
Book Review: The Boy with Blue Trousers by Carol Jones
The Boy with Blue Trousers... About the Book: 1856, China In the mulberry groves of the Pearl River Delta, eighteen-year-old Little Cat carries a terrible secret. And so, in disguise as a boy in blue trousers, she makes the long and difficult passage to Australia, a faraway land of untold riches where it is said … Continue reading Book Review: The Boy with Blue Trousers by Carol Jones
