LOVE that BOOK

  I was really drawn to this book, FIRST WE MAKE THE BEAST BEAUTIFUL for the title and the beautiful cover. It’s the idea that we can change our perspective and alter the way we approach and manage a situation. What if the beast we wrangle could be understood and seen a different way? ...

If you thought that Elle Campbell would slink off into the night at the end of THE MUMMY BLOGGERS, think again! HOW TO BE PERFECT, the second novel from Holly Wainwright, picks up and charges forward into the modern cult of self-improvement and social media Elle has schemed her way into a new...

    When I first started to read Bluebottle, by Belinda Castles, the first thing that struck me was the strong sense of place. Set in the northern beaches suburbs of Sydney, the novel begins, There was a house on a honeycomb cliff above the Pacific, perched over a beach in air a...

From the talented author of the celebrated novels In the Quiet and Ache comes a poignant and moving book that explores the stories we tell ourselves about our families, and what it means to belong. A random but violent accident at the café where Gwendolyn Pearson works after school trigg...

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...

I first read this book as a teenager. Back then, with limited experience of the romantic variety and certainly no actual understanding of Cornwall and country life, it was Phillip’s story that drew me in. The mystery, the obsession, the ending; all of it beautifully written, haunting in qualit...

This utterly charming novel reminds me of everything I love about Japan. It has a pared back simplicity which belies depth of story, it has a thoughtful connection with nature that is both subtle and essential to the essence of the text and it is quirky. The Travelling Cat Chroniclces is ...

The second book from Australian author, Eliza Henry Jones, the haunting ACHE, is an exploration of grief, loss and coping mechanisms related to trauma experienced after a terrible bushfire. A year before the opening lines, Annie’s world fell apart. Her grandmother was killed during a catast...

Voluntarily give up your son to the victim's family as atonement for accidentally killing their son...This is the compelling beginning to LaRose, by Louise Erdrich. I don’t think I would have crossed paths with this book unless I had read and enjoyed Commonwealth, by Anne Patchett. (You ca...

In this novel, Commonwealth, we follow the lives of six siblings who are part of a blended family, across a period of 50 years. The story is a slow reveal through the eyes of each of the children, of a single traumatic event that occurred on one blissful holiday in their childhood, and the long-...