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In Brief

To Know My Crime by Fiona Capp

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March 2017, no. 389
Gretchen Shirm reviews 'To Know My Crime' by Fiona Capp

Described as ‘modern literary noir’, Fiona Capp’s novel delves deeper into the psychology of its characters than most in the genre. The opening is sleek and pacey, as Capp guides us expertly through the central intrigue.

Ned is squatting in a boatshed on the Mornington Peninsula, having entrusted the investment of the sum of his and his sister’s inhe ...

Only: A singular memoir by Caroline Baum

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March 2017, no. 389
Gillian Dooley reviews 'Only: A singular memoir' by Caroline Baum

Some ‘only’ children have revelled in that status. Iris Murdoch called her family unit ‘a perfect trinity of love’. Caroline Baum sees her family less happily as a triangle: ‘There’s something uncomfortable about a triangle: it’s all elbows, suggesting awkward unease.’ We find out in the following 380-odd pages the whats and whys of this discomfort. ...

Scoundrel Days: A memoir by Brentley Frazer

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March 2017, no. 389
Duncan Fardon reviews 'Scoundrel Days: A memoir' by Brentley Frazer

Brentley Frazer, one of many scoundrels in his memoir Scoundrel Days, documents coming of age on the boundary of civilisation. His father’s vocation as the only policeman in a small northern Queensland mining town subjects Frazer to a chaotic side of life: a lockup only a stone’s throw from his bedroom; housing criminals and murderous poachers; bloodied ...

Poum and Alexandre: A Paris memoir by Catherine de Saint Phalle

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January–February 2017, no. 388
Kate Ryan reviews 'Poum and Alexandre: A Paris memoir' by Catherine de Saint Phalle

Catherine de Saint Phalle’s memoir brings us the developing consciousness of a star-struck but lonely child as she struggles to understand and negotiate parents who ...

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The Museum of Modern Love by Heather Rose

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January–February 2017, no. 388
Duncan Fardon reviews 'The Museum of Modern Love' by Heather Rose

E.B. White once said there were three New Yorks, comprised of those who were born there (‘solidity and continuity’), the daily commuter (‘tidal restlessness’), and the searcher on ...

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The Birdman’s Wife by Melissa Ashley

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January–February 2017, no. 388
Anna MacDonald reviews 'The Birdman's Wife' by Melissa Ashley

The Birdman’s Wife is about passion, obsession, and ambition. Narrated by Elizabeth (Eliza) Gould, the novel relates her marriage to, and creative partnership with ...

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Where the Light Falls by Gretchen Shirm

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January–February 2017, no. 388
Josephine Taylor reviews 'Where the Light Falls' by Gretchen Shirm

In the midst of preparing for an important London exhibition, photographer Andrew is drawn back to Australia by the sudden disappearance of his former girlfriend, Kirsten ...

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Black British by Hebe de Souza

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November 2016, no. 386
Sonia Nair reviews 'Black British: A novel' by Hebe de Souza

Set against the milieu of India’s recent emancipation from British rule and the indelible scars left by the country’s 1947 partition with Pakistan, Black British subverts the ...

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On the Blue Train by Kristel Thornell

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November 2016, no. 386
Francesca Sasnaitis reviews 'On the Blue Train' by Kristel Thornell

On the Blue Train is Kristel Thornell’s reimagining of Agatha Christie’s mysterious disappearance in 1926. Thornell might have let her imagination fly, given that both Dorothy ...

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Wood Green by Sean Rabin

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November 2016, no. 386
Dilan Gunawardana reviews 'Wood Green' by Sean Rabin

The cover of Sean Rabin’s first novel, Wood Green, depicts a foggy eucalypt forest at dawn (or dusk), and a ghostly figure in the glow of torchlight. With the added element of the story’s ...

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