book editor, bibliophile + word nerd
Talk about H is for Hard. If this wasn’t one of my book club reads I think I would have given up, but I am glad I persevered. It is not an easy book to read but the words on the page are simply beautiful and I now know more about goshawks than I thought ...
As a tea drinker—and a coffee fiend—I really appreciated the attention to detail which author Josephine Moon pays to the timeless brew in this debut novel. The fictional chain store ‘The Tea Chest’ in not unlike some of the wonderful boutique tea shops that I have frequented, and for me, it’s like visiting a magical ...
Courtesy Harper Loneliness, loss of faith and alcoholism in 1950s Ireland are just some of the “cheerful” themes Brian Moore tackles in his portrayal of Judith Hearne. The Lonely Passion of Judith Hearne was first published in 1955 under the simple title of Judith Hearne and was Moore’s first book penned under his own name. It is still regarded today as ...
Courtesy Allen & Unwin This outback saga combines crime and intrigue with romance and mateship as it tracks a young woman’s plight to succeed in what many consider a man’s world. Red Dust Red Dust is the story of Gemma Sinclair, a young Australian farmer who has just buried her husband after witnessing him die in a light aircraft crash that at ...
Courtesy Allen & Unwin Deservedly shortlisted for the Prime Minister's Literary Awards 2010, Lovesong by Alex Miller is a beautiful book celebrating the complexities of love. Miller wrote the book in two years for no other reason than his own pleasure and describes the final result as being more complicated that he first set out for it to be. There are stories ...
Courtesy Scribe Publication What Christos Tsiolkas did for Melbourne in his Booker-longlisted novel The Slap, Fiona McGregor has mirrored for Sydney in her latest novel Indelible Ink. Both thought-provoking books take an uncomfortable in-your-face look at a side of Australian society that is not pretty. Fitting then that Tsiolkas rates McGregor amongst his favourite Australian authors. About Indelible Ink When 59-year-old Marie King finds herself ...
Courtesy of Pan Macmillan Australian author Di Morrissey’s novel The Plantation is a family saga set amongst the rubber plantations of Malaysia pre- and post-World War II. Morrissey is well-renown for writing about Australians at home in their native country and abroad, and in true Morrissey style, The Plantation crisscrosses between modern-day Malaysia, the time before and during the war and independence when the ...
The Road A father and his son walk alone through burned America, heading slowly for the coast. Nothing moves in the ravaged landscape save the ash on the wind. They have nothing but a pistol to defend themselves against the men who stalk the road, the clothes they are wearing, a cart of scavenged food ...
Courtesy of Hatchette Worse Things Happen at Sea by Australian actor William McInnes and his wife, filmmaker and animator Sarah Watts, is a wonderful celebration of Australian life, families, relationships, parenting, renovating and much more. Each chapter, written by either William or Sarah, takes an intimate look at a stage or event in their lives that has ...
Courtesy of Allen & Unwin Lovesong by Alex Miller, page 59 The change had slipped over the happy simplicity of their lives like the change of a season, the moment when you turn and quietly close a door and retreat a little into yourself. She had watched Sabiha falling in love and not knowing she was falling ...
I am an Australian freelance editor, proofreader and blogger with extensive experience working with books, magazines, newspapers, websites, social media and academic journals.
