Book Review: The Final Curtsey
Margaret Rhodes, a self-confessed "publishing sensation", takes the cake for what must be one of the worst book covers ever
Margaret Rhodes, a self-confessed "publishing sensation", takes the cake for what must be one of the worst book covers ever
Shelley Harris' remarkably assured debut novel is rooted in the Silver Jubilee celebrations of June 1977.
Robert Hardman has had access to "every level" of the Royal Household, he trumpets in the introduction to this exhaustive study of HRH.
Gigi Fenster has made a standout debut with her novel, The Intentions Book. The writing is tight, the protagonist memorable and the revelations stitched with a subtle finesse.
Anything by John Irving is going to be memorable. And powerful. And provocative. So it is with his 13th novel, the story of five decades in the life of bisexual Billy.
The world watched in horror as, in 2010, Haiti's main city Port au Prince collapsed under a shocking earthquake, its buildings crashing down and killing around a quarter of a million people.
Emily Perkins' sumptuous new book, The Forrests, is a novel to savour slowly: line by line, character by character, revelation by revelation.
I have to confess a prejudice against novels where the characters are continually lighting cigarettes and lifting drinks, and where the author continually tells you they're doing so.
April 25 may be a public holiday on both sides of the Tasman, but a batch of new picture books and novels will ensure its meaning is not forgotten for another generation of young readers.
Sadie Jones’ highly entertaining third novel seems perfectly conceived to appeal to two popular tastes — fascination with the Edwardian country house and the revival of the English ghost story.
Georgina Harding's Painter of Silence is set in Dumbraveni in Romania, and spans the period from the onset of World War II, through the war's ongoing impact, to the imposition of Communism.
Lurid yarn fails to score a favourable impression with Nicky Pellegrino.
Dear Heart takes its title from a poem by Michele Leggott addressed to her dead mother and is a pointer to what makes Green's collection different from its predecessors.
Tanveer Ahmed has written a memoir that entertains but also gives you something to think about. The Exotic Rissole explores mixed cultural relations.
Lenny is "a perfectly unremarkable 20-year old who just happens to be in a wheelchair". He's there because of a rugby accident and he doesn't want to live any more. So he kills himself, in front of a parish priest.
If you were to write a story set in Bombay, as the poet Jeet Thayil prefers to call the city now known as Mumbai in his outstanding debut novel, you don't have to work too hard.
Tumbling tresses, midnight-pool eyes, alabaster brow. None of these features in the debut novelist's publicity photo should be held against her.
Those who are nervous about speaking in public usually have the perfect way out. They simply don't do it.