The eagle-featured mother in Angela Carter’s Bluebeard story “The Bloody Chamber” was an electrifying discovery as a student and lives on in me to this day. Back then, I’d read about oppressive mothers, unreliable mothers, fearsome mothers and loving mothers but never a fierce, swashbuckling mother like this one. Early in the story we learn … Continue reading Author Talks: Leah Swann on Inventive explorations of motherhood in fiction
Domestic Violence
Book Review: The Secrets of Strangers by Charity Norman
The Secrets of Strangers... About the Book: A gunshot rings out in a London cafe and the lives of five strangers will never be the same again. The only thing that's certain is that nothing is as it seems. Five strangers, one cafe - and the day that everything changed. A regular weekday morning veers … Continue reading Book Review: The Secrets of Strangers by Charity Norman
Book Review: The Girl She Was by Rebecca Freeborn
The Girl She Was... About the Book: At the cafe in the small town of Glasswater Bay where she works after school, seventeen-year-old Layla enters into a volatile relationship with her married boss. Twenty years later, she receives a message from her former boss’s wife. As Layla relives the events from her youth that have … Continue reading Book Review: The Girl She Was by Rebecca Freeborn
Book Review: Sheerwater by Leah Swann
Sheerwater… About the Book: Emotional, powerful, unforgettable. From a stunning new literary talent, you won't be able to put down this novel about a mother's love for her children - it will break your heart. Ava and her two young sons, Max and Teddy, are driving to their new home in Sheerwater, hopeful of making … Continue reading Book Review: Sheerwater by Leah Swann
Book Review: Allegra in Three Parts by Suzanne Daniel
Allegra in Three Parts… About the Book: ‘I can split myself in two... something I have to do because of Joy and Matilde. They are my grandmothers and I love them both and they totally love me but they can't stand each other.’ Eleven-year-old Allegra shuttles between her grandmothers who live next door to one … Continue reading Book Review: Allegra in Three Parts by Suzanne Daniel
Book Review: A Lifetime of Impossible Days by Tabitha Bird
A Lifetime of Impossible Days... About the Book: Tabitha Bird’s stunning debut is a magical, life-affirming novel about heartbreak, healing and learning to forgive yourself. Meet Willa Waters, aged 8 . . . 33 . . . and 93. On one impossible day in 1965, eight-year-old Willa receives a mysterious box containing a jar of … Continue reading Book Review: A Lifetime of Impossible Days by Tabitha Bird
New Release Book Review: The Orchardist’s Daughter by Karen Viggers
The Orchardist’s Daughter... About the Book: A story of freedom, forgiveness and finding the strength to break free. International bestselling writer Karen Viggers returns to remote Tasmania, the setting of her most popular novel The Lightkeeper's Wife. Sixteen-year-old Mikaela has grown up isolated and home-schooled on an apple orchard in south-eastern Tasmania, until an unexpected … Continue reading New Release Book Review: The Orchardist’s Daughter by Karen Viggers
New Release Book Review: The Cottage at Rosella Cove by Sandie Docker
The Cottage at Rosella Cove... About the Book: Why had the house stayed empty so long? Why had it never been sold? LOST Nicole has left her city life for the sleepy town of Rosella Cove, renting the old cottage by the water. She plans to keep to herself – but when she uncovers a … Continue reading New Release Book Review: The Cottage at Rosella Cove by Sandie Docker
New Release Book Review: Return to Roseglen by Helene Young
Return to Roseglen... About the Book: A moving and insightful family drama about three generations coming to terms with the family matriarch facing her final days. At times like these families should be coming together, not tearing each other apart. On her remote North Queensland cattle station, Ivy Dunmore is facing the end of her … Continue reading New Release Book Review: Return to Roseglen by Helene Young
New Release Book Review: The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart by Holly Ringland
The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart... About the Book: An enchanting and captivating novel, about how our untold stories haunt us - and the stories we tell ourselves in order to survive. After her family suffers a tragedy, nine-year-old Alice Hart is forced to leave her idyllic seaside home. She is taken in by her … Continue reading New Release Book Review: The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart by Holly Ringland
