Tag Archives: books by women

Book Review: Devotion by Hannah Kent

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I’m a huge fan of Hannah Kent having read Burial Rites and The Good People. Devotion is a totally unexpected book.

This is Hanne Nussbaum’s story tracing her life with her twin brother and parents in the Lutheran village of Kay in 1836 Prussia. Hanne is a loner enjoying the company of birds and trees rather than people, until she meets Thea who with her parents moves to the town. Theirs is a frugal life filled with religious teachings until it becomes impossible to worship freely and they with most of the village begin the arduous voyage to freedom in South Australia in 1838.

Essentially this is an obsessional fantasy story of love between Hanne and her friend Thea. They connect on every level to the exclusion almost of everyone else. I was shocked by the twist in the middle of the book which jarred me a little until, like Hanne, I learnt to accept. It was extremely clever as Kent makes the reader feel the emotion and disbelief just as the character would. The reader is just as bewildered and as lost as Hanne is as we come to grips with what has happened. We spend a lot of time inside her head trying to make sense of the changes she faces.

From that point, I felt it began to disintegrate a little. The love for Thea was one sided leaving the rest of her family, in particular, her twin brother behind. I struggled to buy it and the second half of the book just didn’t work in quite the same way as the first half. Hanne’s woe became repetitious and the religious component failed to fully enlighten me about the Lutheran religion. The tension around the suspicions of witchcraft by Thea’s also seemed anticlimactic.

Yet, the writing is sublime as is the description of place.  The reader is brought into the belly of the overcrowded ship, smelling the stifling air, like Hanne does. The South Australian landscape is vivid as are the people. The beginnings of the Hahndorf settlement was also enlightening.

“I found a whaling station that smelled of death and disruption, white men missing teeth, their faces greased mean with hunger for sea pelt, and even through the coastline there was a deep love song of granite submitting to time and weather, I felt uneasy.”

It’s hard not to give away the twist but I wondered why the story couldn’t have continued without it. Perhaps that might have worked a little better to develop the forbidden relationships entwined with the expectation of women of that time. The end was wrapped up neatly yet I was a little bewildered by the where the story took us.  This one didn’t quite work as for me but I am glad I read it and will always read more of Hannah Kent.

Book Review: All That He Is by Jill Staunton

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Daniel O’Callaghan, ex-combat dog handler, is a man trying to come to terms with his tragic past. Travelling on his motor bike, he almost knocks Finneen (Neen) Murphy over in an outback town of Greenvale, northern Queensland. Neen is absorbed with her own problems and lets her fiery temper get the better of her. But sparks seem to fly. Daniel and Neen encounter each other again when they rescue abused dog Bess, an action which brings unexpected repercussions, hurling Daniel back to Afghanistan.

This was an interesting novel. Listed as a romance novel it’s not a genre I normally read so I wasn’t quite sure what to expect. But I was pleasantly surprised. The dynamics between Daniel and Neen is charged and the growth of their relationship unfolds throughout the story as we’re given both points of view.

This novel is much more than just a romance novel. Themes of environment particularly wildlife poaching, animal care and post traumatic stress were sensitively explored and threaded through the narrative, creating interest as well as some drama. The sexual tension between Neen and Daniel was well done and I enjoyed the dynamics between these two and their backstories. Is there anything that Daniel can’t do? He’s a man who’s almost too good to be true. He meets his match with Neen, an academic, strong and feisty with a strong sense of justice.

The real star of the show is the dog, Bess whose own story is fascinating. And of course the Australian bush landscape. Staunton certainly knows her setting and I could visualise the heat, the dirt, scrub, cattle, pale-headed rosellas and those black cockatoos.

If you like a great story, easy to read, then this one might be one to put on your list.

Thank you to the publisher, Boolarong Press for an advanced copy.

My Book Anniversary

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They say time flies but I had no idea how much until I began to look back to 10 March 2016 when I published my debut novel, Climbing the Coconut Tree.

My writing journey began two years earlier when I was inspired to write a fictionalised account of a double murder which occurred on a little-known place called Ocean Island. You can read more about how it started here.

What is Climbing the Coconut Tree about?

Set in 1948, eighteen-year-old Bluey Guthrie leaves his family in Australia to take the job of a lifetime on a remote island in the Central Pacific. Bill and Isobel, seasoned ex-pats help Bluey fit in to a privileged world of parties, dances and sport.

However, the underbelly of island life soon draws him in. Bluey struggles to understand the horrors left behind after the Japanese occupation, the rising fear of communism, and the appalling conditions of the Native and Chinese workers. All this is overseen by the white colonial power brutalising the land for Phosphate: the new gold.

Isobel has her own demons and watches as Bill battles to keep growing unrest at bay. Drinking and gambling are rife. As racial tensions spill over causing a trail of violence, bloodshed and murder, Bluey is forced to face the most difficult choices of his life.

I’m proud of my debut and in the years since, I’ve written and published three more books.

Out of Nowhere: A collection of short stories published in 2017

A quirky and delightful mix of short stories taking the reader into unexpected territory.

A Perfect Stone published in 2018

A sweeping tale of love and loss, an old man’s suppressed memories resurface after a stroke. He finally confronts what happened when, as a ten-year-old, he was forced at gunpoint to leave his family and trek barefoot through the mountains to escape the Greek Civil War in 1948.

The Good Child published in 2021

Rich in detail and epic in scope, The Good Child is a powerful novel of emotional and financial resilience, loss and unexpected friendship between two women.

So yeah, I guess I’ve been a little busy. No wonder time has flown.

Book Review: Child of Fear and Fire by G.R.Thomas

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I don’t think I’ve ever really read a dark gothic fantasy novel before so I wasn’t sure what to expect. From the first page though I was taken on a ride and kept turning the pages of this short novel until I was done.

It’s about a young maid, Eliza who works for the Norlane family. Her life is miserable, taunted as she is by three sisters who are particularly horrible and nasty. The parents are little better and Eliza lives in constant fear and with nowhere else to go she must endure the harsh life of cruelty. Her only ally is the cook who dotes on Eliza treating her like a daughter. But even she can’t protect Eliza.

The story builds as we are drawn into the darkness entering Eliza’s mind as she senses something else is watching her. Her fear is palpable and the dark forces surrounding her and the house builds the tension right until the gruesome end.

I’ll admit it was a tough one to read not because it’s not well written, it is, but because of the subject matter. It’s disturbing and dark. But the author does a great job to immerse us into the dark world. The world building is exceptional and despite the hot summer day when I was reading, I felt the cold, dank and wet setting. The forest is particularly eerie and I wanted to stop Eliza from going into it.

“The wind whipped harder, its whistle more a song in her ear. She could have sworn upon the bible itself she heard a voice in it.”

Yes, I’m still recovering but then I am a bit of a scaredy cat. If you like dark fantasy then this one might appeal.

Book Review: The Swift and the Harrier by Minette Walters

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A civil war in England breaks out in 1642 tearing the countryside apart, forcing families and villages to decide whether they support Parliamentarians or the King.

This is a beautifully told tale of a female physician Jayne Swift who is caught up in the war. From a Royalist family, she declares herself neutral prepared to offer her medical knowledge to people who need her from either side. She meets William Harrier who has many mysterious hats raising her curiosity each time their paths cross.

You might think that this is a novel about war but it is much more than that. It’s a novel about a strong and independent woman forging a career while the war rages around her. She’s an unusual character for the era – straight talking, single minded, witty as she is charming and knowledgeable. I suspect that a real- life character such as Jayne might have had many more difficulties in the day. Walters however does a good job in throwing many challenges Jaynes way and we as the reader constantly cheer for her.

As for William Harrier, he is a mystery – a mercenary, a tough fighter, wearing coats of different colours, his true character slowly evolves as does his interest in Jayne.

The medical knowledge and practices were fascinating and no doubt thoroughly researched and the siege of Lyme well conveyed. I’d not read a book about the Civil war before and there was a large focus on the content of battles and the history of both sides.

What I did find interesting is that the relationship between Jayne and William takes a back seat, weaving in and out of the story until the end when the last two chapters provide a quick summary. This surprised me a little as it felt like an information dump.

Having said that, I did enjoy the book, the writing and appreciated the history. It’s easy to read and although long, is very quickly absorbing.

Book Review: Lucky by Marissa Stapley

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Can a criminal who holds a winning lottery ticket cash it in without being caught?

This fast-paced dual timeline novel is very easy and quick to read and was exactly what I needed when my husband contracted Covid-19 and I was forced to isolate. I managed to fill in my time with a few good books and this is one of them.

This is the problem faced by Lucky Armstrong whose life as a grifter has led her down a path of crime. Brought up by her con-artist father, Lucky only knows a life of lies, fake id’s and running when the authorities are close. When she and her boyfriend are preparing to flee to Dominica to begin a new life and enjoy the millions they’ve appropriated from the gullible, she buys a lotto ticket. Things don’t go to plan and she finds herself alone and on the run.

The character Lucky reveals herself as guilt-ridden for her actions yet naïve and gullible which is understandable as a child under the control of her father but as an adult hard to swallow. Finding out who she really is slowly unwinds with some predictable twists.

Down and out, she finds out that she holds the winning numbers and there is a cat and mouse game interspersed with her own longing to find her mother. Somehow this was the bit I found hardest to swallow despite the motivation of getting her ‘mum’ – a complete stranger – to cash in her ticket.  Yet it added another story line to Lucky’s flawed character.  Of course, there is a predictable Hollywood happy ending which I expected although it did seem a tad rushed.

All in all a good holiday read and no doubt this one will be on our screens soon.

Book Review: Smokehouse by Melissa Manning

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Smokehouse is a book of linked stories set in southern Tasmania, more particularly, the region around Kettering and Bruny Island.

I visited this region only a few years ago and it’s a stunning landscape of rugged beauty. And Melissa Manning not only paints the landscape but she fully immerses the reader right into it.

“She walked down to the beach, sat in the sand throwing shells into the frothy swash of waves, and considered whether all of this might be a sign that it was a time to move on.”

The book begins with the title story Smokehouse Part 1 which is almost a novella about Joy, who with her husband builds a mud-brick home, a dream home away from the bustle of Hobart. Her new life begins to fracture and the consequences of her actions resonate not only on her family but within the small community around her.

“She had never expected to feel so absent, as though her identity had bled out into the fabric of their family. She longed to feel the margins of herself.”

The last story Smokehouse Part Two, set in Joy’s future, gives us a glimpse into her life as an older woman. In between are short stories whose characters link with the community or Joy’s life.

There was a lot I enjoyed. There is a tenderness in the tragedy and trauma. The reference to food brings joy and pain. “… she dished field mushrooms onto her side plate and ate them with her fingers, let the juices run own her chin and into her lap and tried not to think about the night to come. “

Each story is beautifully written and evocative. The characters are rich in detail and drawn so fully, you feel you know them, their pain, their joy and the problems they encounter. Manning treats the characters and the themes of grief, sorrow, health decline and loss with empathy and dignity.

I thoroughly enjoyed this and am not surprised it was shortlisted in 2021 for Queensland Literary Awards as well as Victorian Premier’s Literary Awards. It’s a stunning debut by an extraordinary author. Highly recommend this one.