The Fifth Sun is a fascinating, scholarly and moving portrayal of a people surviving colonisation.
Review: Shuggie Bain by Douglas Stuart
A tale of despair, illness and poverty that captures the swooping highs and devastating lows of life.
Review: The Portrait Of A Lady by Henry James
A novel that does what it says, painting a portrait of an ambitious and charming young woman as she seeks to experience all life has to offer.
The best books I’ve read 2020
The books that have had the biggest impact on me this year.
Review: A Couple Of Things Before The End by Sean O’Beirne
These stories are about traditional Aussie men, all at sea in their emotions.
Review: The Adventures Of China Iron by Gabriela Cabezón Cámara (translated by Fiona Mackintosh and Iona Macintyre)
Lesbians! Cowboys! Argentina!
Review: The Discomfort of Evening by Marieke Lucas Rijneveld (translated by Michele Hutchison)
This is a novel that does what it says: a truly discomforting tale of death and grief set in a grim twilight world.
Review: A Treacherous Country by K. M. Kruimink
A strange and misty novel set in colonial Van Diemen’s Land.
Review: Eggshell Skull by Bri Lee
Eggshell Skull is a compelling and infuriating insight into the justice system, and the psychology of victimhood.
Review: Guillotine by Eduardo C. Corral
These are brutal, bruised poems, like desert storms, lit with lightning strokes of beauty.
