Books

The Hypnotist’s Love Story, by Liane Moriarty, Macmillan Australia, $32.99. Australian author Liane Moriarty is a regular choice for our Great Read and with The Hypnotist’s Love Story she’s done it again. This is a gripping romance with a thriller edge that probes the rather in-vogue subject of stalking in an intriguing way. The tale […]

Well bred, well connected and with a reputation for making magic, Jacquetta of Luxembourg has a fascinating tale to tell. Bestselling author Philippa Gregory continues her series, The Cousins’ War, with The Lady of the Rivers, mother of the White Queen. To read the first chapter of The Lady of the Rivers by Philippa Gregory […]

At 58, farmer John is ready to find love again. After spending the past 14 years as a widower, the Farmer Wants a Wife contestant has opened his heart in the hopes of finding a new partner to share his life with. “The nights start to get very lonely,” John says. “I am in the […]

In Cocktail Hour Under the Tree of Forgetfulness Alexandra Fuller braids a multilayered narrative around the perfectly lit, Happy Valley-era Africa of her mother’s childhood; the boiled cabbage grimness of her father’s English childhood; and the darker, civil war- torn Africa of her own childhood. At its heart, this is the story of Fuller’s mother, […]

The Psychopath Test by Jon Ronson, Picador, $32.99. Remember Al “Chainsaw” Dunlap? The Packer family’s corporate cost-cutter of the early ’90s? Well, he’s exhibit A in Jon Ronson’s new investigation into the madness industry — specifically, whether many leading CEOs and politicians are in fact diagnosable psychopaths. Lord knows how Ronson persuaded him but he […]

Amexica: War Along The Borderline by Ed Vulliamy, Random House, $35. A tough, gritty — and most disturbingly, true — report from the Mexican-US border, where drug cartels wage war on each other, and anyone gets in their way. More than 28,000 have been killed since the official war on drugs was declared five years […]

Gilgamesh by Joan London, Random House, $23.95. This is an oldie-but-goody, recommended with such enthusiasm by a fellow reader I felt I had to give it a go — and so enjoyed the experience I am now passing it on. Drawing on the epic of Gilgamesh, the world’s oldest known poem, it is both a […]

A Visit from the Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan, Corsair, $24.95. “Time’s a goon, right? You gonna let that goon push you around?” As if anyone can stop the clock. This exciting novel, winner of this year’s Pulitzer Prize for fiction, takes us on a wild ride across 40 years in the lives and loves, […]

Until Thy Wrath Be Past by Asa Larsson, Quercus, $32.99 The first chapter of Until Thy Wrath Be Past is so shockingly powerful, beautiful and terrifying, I forgot to breathe. It sat on the bedside table as I took a few deep inhalations before I could continue, but once picked up again it was only […]

A Decline in Prophets by Sulari Gentill, Pantera Press, $29.99. Travel back in time to 1932 and book yourself a first-class suite on the luxurious passenger liner RMS Aquitania, but take care, for among your fellow well-heeled passengers is an elegant ruthless killer. Also travelling the seas in style is wealthy young Australian pastoralist and […]