William Stoner is an ordinary person. He begins life on a farm and is destined to follow in his father’s footsteps; however, he goes to school and, at the insistence of his teacher, continues on to university. He eventually falls in love, marries the wrong person, fathers a child, and becomes an important part of …
An infestation of rats in the town of Oran on the Algerian coast quickly develops into bubonic plague. Although the men in charge initially refuse to acknowledge that which is blindingly obvious, as people begin to die they are left with no choice but to call the illness by its right name and close the …
This is a brilliant book about George Orwell (or Eric Blair as he was actually called) and the creation of his novel Nineteen Eighty-Four. Not only beautifully written, it is meticulously researched, and it exhibits a deep understanding of a man who was both driven and physically tormented. It may be worth noting that the …
An Australian fairytale, beautifully told, Eucalyptus does not follow a set template. Like many of the trees that play a major role in the book, it twists and turns both back on itself and away from itself, leading the reader into places he or she does not even anticipate. On the surface, Eucalyptus is the …
This book was first published in Bengali in 1993; in 2017 it was published (also in India) in English. At only 167 pages The Aunt Who Wouldn’t Die is more of a novella than a novel and, depending on the reader, can be seen as a one-sitting read. Delightfully different it is coloured by the …
Well researched, Poison Murder Trials Down Under is a resource for anyone wanting to know more about poison crime in Australia (1844 – 1953). The book may also be helpful for people trying to track down information about their forebears; although, of course, one can only hope that these family-tree researchers do not discover an …
Set in Sydney and NSW at the beginning of the nineteenth century, Elizabeth & Elizabeth tells about the developing relationship between the wives of two important men, Governor Lachlan Macquarie and the sheep baron John Macarthur. The book is a work of fiction, but it is fiction based on fact, and for any fictional story …
The year is a few decades into the future: the sun is fading fast, and Earth is looking at a catastrophe of immense proportions; within a couple of decades there will be no life left on the planet. Countries that would normally be enemies have anxiously banded together to find an answer. A probe sent …
A thought-provoking play in two acts, where the past (in the form of flashbacks) and the present intertwine. Willy Loman, the salesman, is a man in his sixties who, though he has failed to make anything of his life, acts as though he is successful and that everyone likes him. The American dream of success …
This book, subtitled The Untold Story of Those Who Survived the Great American Dust Bowl, should be compulsory reading for everyone. Not just Americans but everyone. The environmental disaster that coined the expression ‘dust bowl’ was not an accident of climate, it was caused by people, in the same way that similar environmental tragedies are …