Books

THE COURIER’S TALEBY PETER WALKER, BLOOMSBURY, $32.99. This is the story of the only man to tell Henry VIII the truth about his laughable lust for Anne Boleyn and the cold-blooded murders he committed to get what he wanted. Reginald Pole was Henry’s Plantagenet cousin, who came close to becoming both Pope and King of […]

WHY MEN ARE NECESSARY AND MORE NEWS FROM NOWHERE BY RICHARD GLOVER, ABC BOOKS, $27.99. Why Men Are Necessary is something like what you’d get if you crossed Seinfeld with Neighbours. An Australian family, doing nothing particularly extraordinary, is transformed into 24-carat comedy gold. Richard Glover’s beloved Jocasta is a feisty woman “with the body […]

RESCUE BY ANITA SHREVE, LITTLE, BROWN, $32.99. Peter Webster is a good man and a single dad raising teenage daughter Rowan. For 17 years, they’ve lived a simple life together, but they’re missing a wife and mother. The missing wife and mum in question is Sheila Arsenault, who was a young woman on the run […]

The Hundred Foot Journey BY RICHARD C. MORAIS, ALLEN & UNWIN, $27.99. If you enjoy a novel about food, you’re sure to love this tale of restaurant rivalry set in provincial France. When the Haji family arrives in the village of Lumiere – with the dust of Mumbai still on their clothes and intoxicating Indian […]

In 30 words or less, tell us what is great about a book you are reading at the moment. The best critique will be printed in the March issue of The Weekly and the writer will win The AWW Cooking School cookbook, valued at $74.95. FROM BLOOD BY EDWARD WRIGHT, ORION, $32.99.. Is it the […]

Looking out over the gorgeous harbour on a perfect Sydney day, UK singer James Blunt can’t help but confess his love for Australia. “I love it here. I think it’s the most amazing place,” he says. “You can tell anyone who lives here is a lucky person.” The singer, who calls the sun-kissed island of […]

MY LAST DUCHESS BY DAISY GOODWIN, HEADLINE REVIEW, $29.99. This stylish historical novel, set at the turn of the 19th century, gives us beautiful clothes and lavish jewels … a British duke in need of a rich wife … and a lively American heiress with a mother ambitious for her to “marry well”. And so […]

FREEDOM BY JONATHAN FRANZEN, FOURTH ESTATE, $32.99. The hype and the weight of expectation might well have sunk a lesser book, but Franzen delivers with a better, wiser, more dazzling novel even than the one which made his name, The Corrections. He takes one picture-perfect, liberal, Mid-western family – college sweethearts Patty and Walter Berglund […]

THE SMALL HAND: A GHOST STORY BY SUSAN HILL, ALLEN & UNWIN, $24.99. From the mistress of the modern ghost story comes this small and perfectly formed tale that, even weeks after reading, I cannot get out of my head. It haunts me, as a good ghost story should. Our questionable hero is antiquarian bookseller […]

THE WEEKEND BY BERNHARD SCHLINK, WEIDENFELD & NICOLSON, $29.99. Bernhard Schlink writes so elegantly, with such calm simplicity – remember The Reader? – that he can pull you into the darkest and most difficult subjects before you realise where he’s taking you. In this case, it’s the weekend reunion of a group of one-time members […]