After the Darkness by Honey Brown, Viking, $29.95 There’s a sense of foreboding craftily interwoven with the darkness of sexual desire running right from the first to the last sentence in this achingly powerful suspense thriller. Although it takes a while to realise how every tiny observation and throwaway comment forms a tile in the […]

How to be a Man , by Glenn O’Brien, Hardie Grant, $29.95 A handsome volume to encourage gentlemanly behaviour — the ideal gift for the modern man seeking advice on hair (“nothing perfectly symmetrical”), clothes (“real men wear good socks”) and how to deliver a stinging insult (“be precise and specific; anyone can launch a […]

The Flight Attendant’s Shoe by Prudence Black, New South, $49.95 On a chilly international flight the other day, I asked the harried attendant for a blanket. “No blankets on this plane”, she said, before scuttling off with my $3 for a bottle of water. Ah, the glamour. If it’s tough on passengers, think what it […]

How I Became A Famous Novelist, By Steve Hely, Black Inc, $19.95 Pete Tarslaw is a washed-up but well-read loser who works out that the easiest way to make a fortune (plus impress his old girlfriend) is to write a best-selling novel. He analyses what works, draws up a list of rules (note to self: […]

George Harrison: Living in the Material World by Olivia Harrison published by Abrams $49.95 He was the quiet Beatle. The spiritual Beatle. Not as charismatic as the pretty ones, John and Paul, and on stage he would sometimes stare out at the screaming girls and look as though he would rather be elsewhere. George Harrison’s […]

Women’s Stuff by Kaz Cooke, Viking; $59.95 Not so much a book as a 770-page compendium of womanhood, jam-packed with sensible advice on everything from food to moods to workplace bullies to money management (including a caution against sugar daddies). There’s almost no condition, disorder or problem it doesn’t address, which gets a bit overwhelming […]

Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy by John Le Carre, Sceptre (Hachette), $19.99 One of the world’s most iconic spy thrillers has stood the test of time. First published in 1974, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy is back on shelves to coincide with the release of the film adaptation. George Smiley is a sadder man than his name […]

Sarah Thornhill by Kate Grenville, Text Publishing, $39.95 The daughter of convicts, Sarah Thornhill has grown up a comparatively wealthy young woman on the banks of the Hawkesbury River in the Colony of New South Wales. But a mysterious missing brother, the strange behaviour of her father, and a thwarted love affair will lead her […]

Why Be Happy When You Could Be Normal? By Jeanette Winterson, Random House. $29.99 At six weeks old, the baby who would become the successful novelist Jeanette Winterson was given up for adoption. And so started a life story that would inspire the bestselling book and television series Oranges Are Not The Only Fruit. Her […]

Lady Almina and the Story of the Real Downton Abbey by Lady Fiona Carnarvon, Hodder & Stoughton, $32.99 The perfect gift for lovers of the television series Downton Abbey, a show filmed at magnificent Highclere Castle, home of Lady Almina, Countess of Carnarvon, from 1895 until 1923. The much loved but illegitimate daughter of a […]