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Book review: Frederick's Coat
Johno Ryan is doomed, it seems. He's barely out of short pants when his father and his grandfather sit him down and explain that their family are criminals: that's what they do.
After the silence
A family’s story can be far more tumultuous than any blockbuster, as Linda Herrick discovers in a conversation with author Lloyd Jones.
Book review: The Sound Of Things Falling
People who read a lot of novels develop certain discriminations.
Book review: <I>The Travel Book</I>
Unless you're a gazillionaire signed up for one of those trips into space, your next holiday is somewhere inside these pages.
Book review: The Last Days Of The National Costume
Anne Kennedy is an award-winning poet who has also developed a solid reputation writing novels and screenplays.
Book review: Fallen Land
It seems strange, in the age of information overload, that we should still be swamped by the fear of the unknown.
Book review: Apple Tree Yard
The halls of government prove to be an enthralling setting for courtroom drama, writes Stephen Jewell.
Book review: The Luminaries
Every now and then you get to read a novel that elevates you far beyond the bric-a-brac of everyday routine, takes you apart, reassembles you, and leaves you feeling as though you have been on holiday with a genius.
Book review: This House Is Haunted
There are no prizes for guessing what this book is about. This House is Haunted is about a haunted house and, if you like spooky ghost stories, John Boyne’s latest novel does the trick.
Haunted by the tour
A fiery episode in our recent history is plumbed for drama, writes Rebecca Barry Hill.
Book review: Joyland
When did the amusement park coming-of-age story become a thing? Did I miss the memo?
Book review: Round House
This well-told story won the American National Book Award last year.
Pursuing the primate
Carl Hiaasen needn’t look far for a story on which to base a novel. It’s all right outside his door in Miami, he tells Stephen Jewell.
Book Review: The Fall Of Light
Rudy’s 43rd year is not a good one. He’s on bad terms with his wife and daughters; his parents (living or dead); his assertive younger fellow-architects. He’s falling off the booze wagon and he’s just fallen off his Vespa.
Book Review: The Odd Angry Shot
Filmed 30 years ago, out-of-print for quarter of a century, The Odd Angry Shot is a savage and mordantly funny novel that follows a group of Aussie SAS troopers in South Vietnam during the ugly, unjustified war of the 1960s.
Review: The Keeper Of Secrets
A violin's journey invokes smiles and tears, writes Nicky Pellegrino.
Chris Columbus' novel approach
Long-time Hollywood director Chris Columbus wants his latest success story to stay on the page — for now, anyway, writes Stephen Jewell.
Book Review: Anticipation
The materially successful but spiritually bereft Janine Harding finds herself, in her early 40s, living in a “do-up” on an island in the Hauraki Gulf, where time on her hands sets her to thinking about her family history.
Book Review: The Astronaut Wives Club
Stories told of the mostly unknown women behind US astronauts.