Tag Archives: australian authors

Book Review: The Conversion by Amanda Lohrey

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I loved The Labyrinth and The Conversion was written in much the same way.

Nick had tried to persuade Zoe to buy an old run down church which they can renovate and live in. Their sons are grown up and have moved away. She could never see his vision for it as all she can see are the stained-glass windows and the isolation of a small country town in a valley of coal mines and vineyards.

Yet she finds herself buying the church and moving in alone, looking to start her life alone.  She is stuck unable to move forward with converting the building into a home. Along the way she manages to strike up friendships with formidable women and somehow comes to a decision about what to do.

This is a gentle novel drawing the reader into Zoe’s world for what she has lost, her past and the difficulty she faces with what her future will look like.  The conversion of the church conjures up the ghosts of her lost relationships but it does also inspire new ones.

I enjoyed the characters which crossed Zoe’s path and I understood her loss and the betrayal she felt. Her inertia was palpable as she camped out in the church. Melanie, a powerful force turns up and convinces her that the church is the only place for a school concert. A friendship of sorts is promised but is never satisfied.

I was also interested in the relationships with her two sons. One who is married with children provides her with support and comfort while the other is virtually estranged. I would have loved the author to delve more into that. But like most things in the novel, we are given glimpses into Zoe’s past life and for the most part that is enough.

The writing is beautiful and the scene setting visual. I enjoyed this one.

My Reading Year and Book of the Year for 2023

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Like many other readers, I set myself a challenge on Goodreads. For 2023 my goal was 30 books and I surprised myself by reading 41. My goal for 2022 was 24 and I read 35 so it looks like I need to set myself a higher target for 2024.

Here are the stats:

Pages read: 12555

Average book length: 306

Average rating I gave: 4.1 stars

How many books by women?: 31

How many Australian authors?: 27

What was my book of the year?

I had a number of five star reads, and like picking out a favourite child I found it quite difficult to single just one out. But if I really have to then, my vote goes to The Good Wife of Bath by Karen Brooks which only just pipped all the others.

What’s your favourite book for 2023?

A snapshot of the books I read are below. How many of these have you read too?

Until next year…

Happy New Year everyone.

 Book Review: Love Stories by Trent Dalton

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Let me say at the outset that I do love Trent Dalton’s books and actively seek them out. And let me confess that I originally thought this book was fiction until I sought the help of a lovely librarian who pointed it out in the non-fiction section.

Dalton sat down on a busy Brisbane Street at his folding chair and table with a sign inviting passers-by from all walks of life to tell him their love stories. Now, that’s really setting yourself up for a challenge.

This book is a collection of those tales interspersed with Dalton’s observations of people and his questioning about what love really means. It’s a sentimental journey and includes stories of his own family and his love for them.

There are various stories of love lost and love found. Some were incredibly moving and heartfelt making the reader reflect on love in a whole new way. Some stories were inspiring and those from older people where full of wisdom and learning.

I enjoyed reading the many stories and there were times when I wanted to know more. Dalton with his journalistic hat tried to probe further but some stories could never be elaborated on. People protected their privacy and sanitised their own versions and I don’t blame them. Describing love is as emotional as you can get and some stories just bring on tears whether you like it or not.

It’s a gutsy effort to put the stories into a book and Dalton does it well. There was some filler here and there which I could have done without, but overall I liked this one.

In a world where everything seems doom and gloom, it’s good to be reminded about the power of love and never taking the love of those around you for granted.

Book Review: Stone Yard Devotional by Charlotte Wood

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I always like reading a Charlotte Wood novel and I particularly loved The Natural Way of Things for which she won the Stella Prize.

Stone Yard Devotional is a gentle rhythmic story of one woman’s withdrawal from her family, friends and society to live with a group of nuns in a religious community not far from where she grew up. There is no plot or fast-moving action just a contemplative reflection on the people who live there and exploration of the woman’s own guilt and failings about her parents and her part in bullying a young girl called Helen.

There are three significant events that happen while the woman is there. A mouse plague of biblical proportions arrives, the skeletal remains of a nun which is returned for burial with a woman who turns out to be Helen from her childhood.

The writing is as you’d expect, brilliant and I couldn’t help but be transported along this woman’s journey looking for forgiveness.

‘In the night I am drawn from sleep by a deep, thrumming rattle. I switch on my bedside lamp and see that the fly screen over my closed window is crawling with leaping, climbing mice. When the light goes on a shiver goes through the mass, and their scrambling becomes more frenzied.”

The mouse plague made my skin crawl and the mice grow more grotesque in description, the more uncomfortable the woman becomes with her reflections of guilt. It was a relief when the mouse plague ended for the reader and the woman. And that for me is the mark of great writing.

This book won’t be for everyone but it’s not long and I found myself rivetted even though we never really get answers to the question of why she decided to withdraw herself from everything. We contemplate and surmise it but the answer not handed to us.

It’s a thought-provoking personal story of a woman’s journey to find peace, beautifully told.

Book Review: The Hummingbird Effect by Kate Mildenhall

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I always enjoy a Kate Mildenhall novel and this one was no exception. This is a story told from the points of view of four different women and four different timelines.

We start with Peggy in 1933 in a Melbourne meat works and follow her journey into the workforce, marriage to a meat worker and automation of work and it’s consequences. Then we skip ahead in time to Hilda in an old people’s home in 2020 when the pandemic begins. The third story is set in 2031 about La who is forced to work in a warehouse dealing with automation and robots where work time is clocked to the mini-second.  Fast forward to 2181 where we learn about Maz and Onyx living in a post- apocalyptic world where their work continues to control them.

Each story delves into the everyday lives of work, the environment and how each woman fights to survive. The stories alternate with each other which for some may be off-putting and confusing. Of course, I love an alternate chapter. Its not until the end that we see the connections. And in between, AI is asked for an analysis of what went wrong with humanity.

I really enjoyed this book, what it had to say, the observations of women’s lives and the world they occupy. I particularly enjoyed Peggy’s story which I think stood out as the strongest for me. I warmed quickly to each of the characters who are well drawn by the skilful Mildenhall.

A mix of historical fiction, fantasy and dystopian, it has a lot to say. Easy to read and thought-provoking, I recommend this one.

Book Review: Bridge Burning and Other Hobbies by Kitty Flanagan

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This is another of Kitty’s books which I listened too. Her narration is terrific and makes it all the more enjoyable. But this one is very different as it is autobiographical.

It’s a collection of anecdotes and observations from her life. We are privy to her life with her family, her awkward teenage years, loves and travels. Her self-reflection and her review of her personal relationships is told honestly yet with a side of humour.

Her recollection of her work life was funny although the fact that she was locked in a freezer by a boss who just wanted to shut her up was eye-opening and made me shudder at the wrongness of it. Yet it reminded me of so many work practices that were unjust back then.  

The book is divided into sections and the one about her relationships was funny particularly the grave digger. Yet I was very sympathetic to the young Kitty whose relationship controlled her and her difficulty of escaping it.

I learnt a lot more about Kitty, yes I truly am a fan and appreciated her candour and honesty told with incorrigible humour.

If you’re a fan or not, this is a good one.

Book Review: The Mother’s Promise by Sally Hepworth

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Finally catching up on this authors backlog and she releases another – The Darling Girls, another one to read.

The Mother’s Promise, like all the others is again a gripping page turner, full of emotion and family intricacies.

Alice, a single mother is dying but she keeps this information from her anxiety-ridden teenage daughter, Zoe. Alice is not in touch with the father of her child, has no friends and the only family she has is her alcoholic brother who can’t look after himself let alone a teenage girl. Enter two other women, Kate her oncology nurse who has had several miscarriages and social worker, Sonja whose marriage in trouble. They each must navigate through their problems and with a couple of bombshells along the way, it makes for a riveting read.

Hepworth deals with numerous themes of cancer, anxiety, OCD, abuse, and alcoholism. The dilemma of what should happen to a child after their mother dies and how the foster and health system deals with this, is explored well.

The characters were all likeable but I particularly warmed to Henry, Zoe’s only friend and Kate the caring nurse.

The ending is neatly wrapped up and probably a bit too Hollywood, but nevertheless satisfactory. If you’re looking for a good story, this one won’t disappoint.