Shot, by Gail Bell (Picador,$28)
When the author is 17, she is shot in the back. The crime is never solved and Gail, although changed forever by the trauma and suffering of on-going side effects, carries on with her life. This book is her exploration of the event – the police investigation, the experience, her emotional reaction, other victims, the gun culture. Once again, Bell’s fine writing skills has turned an unusual topic into an interesting, lively and absorbing piece of story-telling that never flags for a moment and will appeal to a wide audience.
The Touch, by Colleen McCullough (Century, $49.95)
A historical romance and family drama that revolves around Alexander Kinross, who has become rich and successful since leaving Scotland, young Elizabeth Drummond, selected to be his wife at the age of 16, when she is sent to join him and the luscious Ruby Costevan, Alexander’s mistress and her son, ‘Jade Kitten’ Lee. Set in colonial Sydney, it is a big, sprawling novel that sends its tentacles out to all sorts of social issues and events, with the human heart and its strange ways at the centre of it.
Blackie, by Stephen Downes (Random House Australia, $27.95)
A heartfelt story about a man, his cat and his efforts to save his “mate” when the cat becomes ill. Beautiful to look at and touch, this slender volume is engaging in every way. I liked its thoughtfulness and the writing, which takes off at times into interesting tangents. And the fact that it is a man writing so emotionally about his attachment to a cat, somehow made it more poignant, especially when Blackie dies. Eventually, the heartbroken author comes to terms with the loss and sees the gift in having known and the little black stray.
A Woman of Independence, by Kirsty Sword Gusmao (Pan Macmillan, $30)
The story of how Kirsty came to work undercover for the East Timorese independence movement and, finally, into contact with the jailed leader of the resistance movement and the man she would eventually marry, Xanana Gusmao. It begins with the excitement, colour and exuberance of the independence celebrations, then flashes back to Kirsty as a young woman with a growing political commitment. The relationship between Kirsty and Xanana, is a classic one of unrequited love while he is in prison. An interesting book, although the ommission of some of the personal detail – like what it was like when they were finally able to be together – seems a major one.
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