Books

A Guide to Australian Etiquette by Ita Buttrose, Viking, $29.95 “There are those who claim manners no longer matter, but I don’t agree,” writes Ita Buttrose. “Times may have changed but good manners never go out of fashion.” Neither does Ita Buttrose. Many may remember Ita’s original The Guide to Modern Etiquette published in 1985, […]

The Lacuna by Barbara Kingsolver, Faber & Faber, $23.99 My current literary love affair is with Barbara Kingsolver’s The Lacuna. The story of Diego Rivera and Frida Khalo’s cook, it begins in 1930’s Mexico and ends in post-War America, taking in the hero’s ever-hopeful femme fatale mother, the exiled Trotsky and the ghoulish functionaries of […]

Left Neglected by Lisa Genova, Simon & Schuster, $32.99 Sarah, the main character in Left Neglected (Lisa Genova’s follow up to Still Alice) has a husband she loves, three happy children and is a high powered executive at the top of the corporate food chain. Some would say she has it all, but not the […]

22 Britannia Road by Amanda Hodgkinson, Fig Tree, $32.95 There is no shortage of stories inspired by the terrors of World War II and the Nazi occupation of Europe, but Amanda Hodgkinson’s debut novel is so much more than that — beneath the story’s wartime bunker is a complex, intriguing and, in snatched moments, deeply […]

Someone Else’s Son by Sam Hayes, Headline, $32.99 Carrie Kent creates sensational television by manipulating grieving victims of crime, and luring explosive confessions from the perpetrators. She’s rich, famous, and demands perfection in every part of her life, except for her own performance as a mother. It’s not until her own son, Max, is stabbed […]

Bury Your Dead by Louise Penny, Sphere, $29.99 Three mysteries unfold together in this latest Armand Gamache novel, keeping even the sharpest of readers in suspense from page one. He’s one of the truest and bravest Chief Inspectors, but what went so badly wrong that it drove an anguished Gamache to seek solace with an […]

Daniel by Henning Mankell, Harvill/Secker, $32.95 Hans Bengler is a 19th century loser, running away from his purposeless, hopeless life in Sweden. Deep in the Kalahari Desert he finds a young boy who’s survived the massacre of his entire family. With the kindest of intentions he adopts the child, re-names him Daniel, and takes him […]

The Little Coffee Shop of Kabul by Deborah Rodriguez, Bantam Australia, $32.95 Sunny is a Southern gal who’s made herself a home, and a buzzing small business, in the middle of a war zone. Her coffee shop in Kabul, Afghanistan, is a place where men check their weapons at the door, and women support each […]

Vanity Fairby William Makepeace Thackeray With tongue-in-chic and cheeky chutzpuh, Becky Sharp was the Madonna of her day, flaunting tradition and challenging hypocritical sexual mores. And what a survivor. After the nuclear holocaust, all that will be left are a couple of cockroaches and Becky. Okay, she had a few minor faults – snobbery and […]

Emma by Jane Austen I adore Emma because it reminds me of what we should expect from men when it comes to courtship; the gallantry of Mr Weston, the generosity of Frank Churchill, the chivalry and honesty of Mr Knightley and the perseverance of Mr Martin. We should only accept hand-written and delivered invitations (not […]