All Book Reviews

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Review — A Better Place, by Stephen Daisley

Author: Stephen Daisley Reviewer: Jack Remiel Cottrell

‘People in the district would often say Roy Mitchell was not quite the same after he come back from the war. There was a twin brother, Tony. Killed on Crete in 1941. The hut he built when he returned was on a bit of flat ground above the Mangawhero Creek. He called it his whare. Corrugated-iron chimney on the south wall.’

July 2023 release

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Review — Otherhood, edited by Alie Benge, Lil O’Brien and Kathryn van Beek

Editors: Alie Benge, Lil O’Brien, Kathryn van Beek Reviewer: Jackie Lee Morrison

Otherhood's essays are by writers who've felt on the outside looking in, who've lived unexpected lives and who've given the finger to social expectations. Some chose to be childfree, some didn't get to choose and some - through bereavement or blended family dynamics - ask themselves: Am I a mother or am I other?

May 2024 release

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Review — Amma by Saraid de Silva

Author: Saraid de Silva Reviewer: Himali McInnes

‘Intergenerational, diasporic story-telling that is polished and compelling. I consumed it greedily within a few days, much like the young queer character Annie consumes her grandmother’s delicious Sri Lankan cooking.’

March 2024 release

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Adult, Fiction Emma Rawson Adult, Fiction Emma Rawson

Review — Take Two by Danielle Hawkins

Author: Danielle Hawkins Reviewer: Nadene Hall

“Take Two is light and sweet, but never cloying or sickly. Like getting the tea from your school bestie after you've been out of touch for a few years, accompanied by a slice of your favourite cake.”

March 2024 release

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Adult, Fiction, Short Stories Guest User Adult, Fiction, Short Stories Guest User

Review — The Call by Gavin Strawhan

Author: Gavin Strawhan. Reviewer: Ruth Shaw

Strawhan's crime novel is cinematic, which comes as no surprise given his previous writing credits. The co-creator of Go Girls and Nothing Trivial, he also has form in the TV crime thriller genre, including Bad Mothers and This Is Not My Life. While The Call doesn't read like a screenplay, it could easily become one. The scenes are sharp, ending with an eye to the cut: a wry line and then a clean shift to a deserted beach, a flashback, or a suburban gang house.

March 2024 release

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Review — When I Open the Shop

Author: romesh dissanayake. Reviewer: David Hill

“The format is intriguingly diverse: emails, texts, passages of verse are scattered throughout. An immediate, coming-at-ya present tense keeps the plot belting along. Dissanayake knows when to pause, to leave things for the reader. He manages some excellent imagery”

March 2024 release

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Adult, Fiction Emma Rawson Adult, Fiction Emma Rawson

Review — The Secrets of the Little Greek Taverna

Author: Erin Palmisano Reviewer: Emma Rawson

This story has love and heart, and gorgeous descriptions of the little magical village make you feel like you're exploring the cobbled streets of Potamia alongside Jory. This is author Palmisano's own supernatural talent, bringing places to life. The delicious passages about food and baking where the language is stripped bare to its raw ingredients are also a treat.

February 2024 release

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Adult, Fiction, Historical fiction Guest User Adult, Fiction, Historical fiction Guest User

Review — The War Photographers

Author: S.L. Beaumont. Reviewer: Jessie Neilson.

This novel incorporates two main timelines, one set in the middle of the 20th century and the other set in 1989. The historical backdrop of war-era Bletchley Park and its remarkable team of codebreakers is fascinating. Author SL Beaumont spends sufficient time developing this setting. Similarly, the Cold War era and its aftermath provide rich material that expands throughout the book's second half.

February 2024 release

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Extract— The Girl from London

Author: Olivia Spooner

Line up your summer reading plans! Read an extract from Olivia Spooner’s captivating (and bestselling) debut. London, 1940. Ruth, a young schoolteacher, volunteers to escort children evacuating war-torn England to Australia and New Zealand…

November 2023 release

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Review — Checkerboard Hill

Author: Jade Kake. Reviewer: Vaughan Rapatahana

‘An impressive debut … Kake paints her novel as much as pens it: there are colours and textures portrayed throughout, while shades of light, passages of penumbra also pervade the pages.’

October 2023 release

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