Review: THE DESERT NURSE by Pamela Hart

July 26, 2018 | THE DESERT NURSE by Pamela Hart is published by Hachette. RRPTrade $29.99, ebook$9.99, audio $44.99. Available now.

THE DESERT NURSE is an epic tale set in wartime Egypt. Readers of Hart’s previous three wartime historical novels will really enjoy the links between the books. (The Soldier's Wife, The War Bride, A Letter From Italy) Don’t feel you have to read those first, though. This book will stand on i...

Review: The Love That I Have by James Moloney

June 7, 2018 | The Love That I Have by James Moloney is published by Harper Collins. RRP $27.99

When I received book mail this week, I opened my parcel to discover a copy of THE LOVE THAT I HAVE by James Moloney inside. It’s always such a thrill to receive a book, and I cracked it open in an excited rush, intending to read the first few pages and then move on to other work. But this nove...

Review: The Lace Weaver by Lauren Chater

March 22, 2018 | The Lace Weaver by Lauren Chater is published by Simon and Schuster. RRP $29.99 (trade) and is available now.

When is a shawl not a shawl? When it is knitted of fine Estonian wool, and each fine thread is stitched with story. When it passes to a new owner with a prayer of good fortune, and the hope in dark times for survival and legacy. When it can pass through the golden band of a weddi...

Review: Lincoln in the Bardo by George Saunders

January 30, 2018 | Winner of the Booker 2017. Lincoln in the Bardo by George Saunders is published by Bloomsbury RRP$29.99 (available in all formats)

  It was a conversation George Saunders had with his wife’s cousin that inspired the award winning novel LINCOLN IN THE BARDO. Did he know that on the day Abraham Lincoln buried his son Willie, he returned to the crypt in Oak Hill Cemetery in Georgetown to hold his son once more? This ...

Review: How To Stop Time by Matt Haig

September 6, 2017 | How To Stop Time is published by Canongate. Available now, RRP $29.99

I’m going to admit straight up that I have put off writing this review, not because I didn’t like HOW TO STOP TIME, but because I adored it. It’s one of the best books I’ve ever read and will go on my all-time favourites list where it will reside forever. And because of this I want to wr...

Review: Fifth Avenue Artists Society by Joy Callaway

January 17, 2017 | Fifth Avenue Artists Society by Joy Callaway is published by Allen and Unwin. RRP $29.99, available now.

  It’s 1891 and Virginia Loftin has just been jilted by her childhood love (who is also the boy next door). She takes solace writing feverishly her novel where she can rewrite their story with a happy ending. She finds herself invited to an elite salon at the Fifth Avenue Mansion of...

Review: The War Bride by Pamela Hart

April 16, 2016 | RRP $29.99

It’s 1920, and after a two-year separation, war bride Margaret is journeying from England to Australia to reunite with her husband and begin a new life with him in Australia. But when the ship docks, her husband, Frank, isn’t part of the welcoming crowd. Margaret is devastated to learn that ...

Review: The Danish Girl by David Ebershoff

March 12, 2016 | Penguin Random House RRP $16.00

Here is a delicate novel set in the 1920’s, that is about love and humanity in the face of extreme personal challenge. The Danish Girl by David Ebershoff, is the story of married couple, Einar and Greta Wegener. They are both painters, Einar the more successful of the two, and together they l...

Review: The Perfumer’s Secret by Fiona McIntosh

September 30, 2015 | RRP $32.99

It is 1914 and against her will, Fleurette Delacroix is to marry Aimery De Lasset in a match of convenience that would unite two prestigious perfume families of Grasse. When the Cathedral bells toll at midnight to call their men to war, Fleurette (saved by the bell from sharing a bed with Aimery...

Review: The Tailor’s Girl by Fiona McIntosh

August 22, 2015 | Penguin

As soon as I cracked the spine on this wonderful offering from Fiona McIntosh I was swept away. I have loved Fiona's previous offerings in this genre- Fields of Gold, The Lavender Keeper and The French Promise are all excellent books, with grand and sweeping stories. If you haven't read them yet,...

© 2015 Melissa Sargent