Louisa Young's enthralling novel begins in the gorgeous, leafy light of upper-class Edwardian England where wealthy, bohemian-ish families plan lives filled with art and beauty, and ends in a darkened world transformed by the violence and pain of World Wa
John Boyne, author of The Boy in Striped Pyjamas, has published a new novel with links to World War I. The Absolutist traces the experiences of a young serviceman through a deft weave of past and present.
Travelling with the original Lonely Planet as a guide, writer Brian Thacker finds what's changed in 35 years.
Books editor Linda Herrick talks to historian Anne Sebba about her new biography of the woman the royal family — and Britain — loved to hate.
It's a gutsy first-time novelist who writes a book about New York society in the early 20th century.
In this volume the Griffith writers look inward and backwards to gain some fresh insight into not only their own lives but the lives of us all.
This thoughtful little tome of short stories is perceptive and entertaining.
Can we relearn a sense? A chef apparently did, finds Nicky Pellegrino.
Mike Ashma is the director of the NBR New Zealand Opera's production of the double-bill Cav & Pag opening in Auckland on September 15.
I was in two minds when it came to choosing The Story of Beautiful Girl by Rachel Simon for my September feature read.
A terrible thing happened, that day, up at Blackwoods' place, in The Secret River, the first of Grenville's historical novels set in the penal colony of New South Wales.
Every city can lay claim to its fair share of eccentrics. This book is about one of Melbourne's: Edward William Cole.
Why are we so enthralled by the pronouncements of the latter-day gurus of self-help, asks Alex Clark.
Stephen Jewell talks to New Zealand actress-turned-writer Barbara Ewing about why she’s mesmerised by researching times gone by.
His books sell abroad, but not here. Paul Cleave tells Nicky Pellegrino why.
This book might more accurately have been titled In Love With Dante. It is a wholehearted piece of advocacy for the 14th century writer, of whom Wilson says it "could be argued that he was the greatest of all European poets, of any time or place".
Through coincidence rather than design, there's a strong American influence in this month's Fiction Fix hotlist of new novels.
Only in Ireland could a half-forgotten route be named the Way of St Declan or the way of St Patrick's Cow.
Australian writer Arnold Zable talls Graham Reid about giving voice to people in his work and his good fortune in post-revolution China.
The thing about the movies that we've never got over is that they move. In doing so, they evoke a facsimile of life better than life itself. Even the "fractured flickers" of the early cinema commanded an instant suspension of disbelief.
The official Harry Potter website has let the first lot of fans into its online realm. Harriet Walker was one.