A few months back I got a nose job. The week before the operation I told my Editor I was having it done and she took one look at me said, “great story – write it’. Gak! I wasn’t overly keen to share the fact that I was undergoing cosmetic surgery with more than two […]

Do you find teenagers to be vain, self-obsessed and materialistic with an infuriating sense of entitlement? Many people attribute these feelings to being old, grumpy and disillusioned, but a US study has another theory: we feel that way because it’s true. Jean Twenge, a professor of psychology at San Diego State University presented a paper […]

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 […]

Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll Some of the world’s greatest books were written for children and Alice’s Adventures In Wonderland takes, for me, pride of place in that pantheon. Carroll’s surreal fictional world maybe full of games and riddles and bizarre characters but it is Alice herself with whom we engage – the […]

The Golden Prince by Rebecca Dean, HarperCollins, $32.99 Buttercup blond, blue-eyed 16-year-old Edward VIII – heir to the British throne and love-thwarted subject of novel, The Golden Prince – bears an uncanny physical resemblance to another young prince and heir to the British throne, about to wed in London this Easter. But this is where […]