In which I discuss recent reading which deserves particular attention: two novels, spanning an African immigrant’s contemporary experience in London and a trio of English sisters’ experience of the interwar years, and a graphic memoir spanning a young boy’s experiences in Syria, France and Libya. In Harare North (2009), Brian
In any given moment, I could answer this a different way: what is my favourite Margaret Atwood? Both Second Words and The Door stand out for me, as early ventures into forms which I didn’t think I enjoyed reading (essays and poems). And when I was beginning to seriously
“With her book, her roses and her cake she was separated from the other members of the family in a kind of frosty seclusion.” Alayne’s frosty seclusion doesn’t sound all that bad, does it? But the point is that Alayne feels her separateness. And that's not always comfortable. Nor
"The AWW challenge was set up to help overcome gender bias in the reviewing of books by Australian women. The challenge encourages avid readers and book bloggers, male and female, living in or outside Australia, to read and review books by Australian women throughout the year. You don’t have
The second book published in the series naturally focuses on Alayne, who was introduced as an independent young woman, who left her New York publishing career behind when she fell in love with one of the Whiteoak boys, in the series’ first volume, Jalna (published in 1927). Viewing the
