What Am I Reading?
Daughters of Durga – Manjula Datta O’Connor
Clinical psychiatrist Dr Manjula Datta O’Connor’s non-fiction book Daughters of Durga: Dowries, Gender Violence and Family in Australia (Melbourne University Press 2022) opens with the sobering statistic of a cluster of seven suicides in one small Indian/Australian...
Obsession – Nicole Madigan
Nicole Madigan is an investigative journalist and writer, and her book Obsession: A journalist and victim-survivor’s investigation into stalking (Pantera Press 2023) is an absolutely unputdownable non-fiction book that reads with the page-turning suspense of a novel...
Reclaim – Dr Ahona Guha
Reclaim (Scribe Publications 2023) is a non-fiction book by Dr Ahona Guha about ‘understanding complex trauma and those who abuse’. A clinical and forensic psychologist, Dr Guhu provides a highly accessible work that covers a lot of ground, and is illustrated by...
Gemini Falls – Sean Wilson
What a joy to discover a story with the beautiful lyricism of poetry, the depth of characterisation and wisdom of a family saga, and the page-turning intrigue of a crime mystery. Although Gemini Falls (Affirm Press 2022) is Sean Wilson’s debut novel, his background as...
Gathering Storms – Kerry McGinnis
Gathering Storms (Penguin Random House 2022) by Kerry McGinnis is set in the Gulf country’s monsoon season, and while the drama and mystery of the story gradually unfold, it is this harsh, unforgiving, brutal climate and environment that dominates this novel of...
The Last Love Note – Emma Grey
Author Emma Grey has published two novels for Young Adults, a musical, a non-fiction book and a parenting memoir, but her debut adult fiction novel is a romantic comedy, The Last Love Note (Penguin Random House 2023), written after her husband’s death in a ‘fictional...
I’ll Leave You With This – Kylie Ladd
Families are complicated beasts, sometimes more so when aging parents have died and adult children are left to navigate the shifting boundaries of their new extended family. Kylie Ladd explores this issue so well in her new novel I’ll Leave You With This (Penguin...
Fire With Fire – Candice Fox
In ten years, Candice Fox has cemented her reputation as one of Australia’s finest and most thrilling crime writers. Her most recent novel Fire With Fire (Penguin Random House 2023) not only lives up to that reputation but exceeds it, a story with immediacy,...
After the Smoke Clears – Kylie Kaden
Brisbane author Kylie Kaden’s fifth novel After the Smoke Clears (Pantera Press 2023) is a page-turning and emotional mystery/drama/crime that showcases her development as an established writer who gets better with each book. I thoroughly enjoyed this intriguing story...
Crows Nest – Nikki Mottram
Always great to discover another local (Queensland) author with not only a fascinating debut crime novel, but a second already in the works. Author Nikki Mottram uses her background in psychology and child protection to inform the writing of her crime fiction, and her...
Twenty-Six Letters – Charlotte Nash
Author Charlotte Nash’s most recent novel, Twenty-Six Letters (Allen and Unwin 2022) has a little of everything: mystery, family drama, romance, secrets, endearing characters, humour and a page-turning plot. I adored the premise of this story, the gradual release of...
Cut – Susan White
Cut (Affirm Press 2022) by Susan White is indeed a sharp and cutting drama set against the issues of sexism, misogyny and trauma that led to the #METOO movement. Set within a major city hospital surgical team, Cut may be a fictional novel but the characters very much...