Tag: book review

Deadly Tide, by Sandy Curtis

When Chayse is assigned to an undercover op working on a fishing boat, he is determined not to get personally involved. But that determination is in danger of cracking when he meets the new skipper of the trawler, Samantha Bretton.

Samantha has her own reasons for not getting involved – not with Chayse, or any other man. On top of whatever lurks in her past, her father has been wrongly charged with murder and has a broken leg preventing him from returning to the boat. Samantha must work the trawler or her father faces losing it.

Thrown together by the confines of the boat and by a series of misfortunes, Samantha and Chayse fight their feelings for each other. Even when they acknowledge their bond, each has secrets which could break the relationship apart. Despite this, however, the pair continue to work at solving the murder attributed to Sam’s father. Perhaps if they can unravel that mystery they can begin to work out their other problems.

Deadly Tide is the first gripping mystery title from author Sandy Curtis. With a special combination of mystery, suspense and romance, it is a compelling read.

Deadly Tide, by Sandy Curtis
Pan Macmillan, 2003

Papua, by Peter Watt

When two men on opposing sides meet on the battle fields in World War I, neither can predict the ways their paths will cross in the future. Jack Kelly, a captain in the Australian army, shows compassion towards his prisoner Paul Mann, a German officer, forming an unusual bond. When the two meet again after the war, it is in Port Moresby, the capital of Papua. The friendship they quickly forge will last a lifetime.

In Papua both are working towards new beginnings, in search of freedom and financial security. Both want to leave behind the memories of the war and find stability for their families. But post-war life has as many lows as it does highs – both men have enemies who wouldlove tosee them fail. Only together will they overcome the odds.

Papua is a compelling story of love, loyalty and family overcoming greed and treachery, fro the author of the bestselling Curlew trilogy. For those with an interest in the jungle paradise of Papua New Guinea, both past and present, the story and characters will strike a chord.

Papua, by Peter Watt
Macmillan Australia, 2002

The Prosperous Thief, by Andrea Goldsmith

In Hitler’s Germany, two men who have never met have vastly different experiences. One, who has lived a life of poverty, deprivation and petty crime, finds his fortunes much improved when he finds work in the army. Finally there is food enough, clothes and shelter. The other man, a Jew, has been reduced from a prosperous businessman and respected community member to an outcast struggling for survival.

When the paths of these two strangers crosses, something happens which will impact on the descendants of both men.

After the war the children of both lead different lives in different countries, but when their paths and those of their children cross once again in Australia, the truth begins to emerge. Is it possible to undo the past, to forgive a theft of unimaginable depths?

The Prosperous Thief is a story of the Jewish Holocaust and of it’s legacy, as the decendants of those involved live in its shadow. It is also a story about the concepts of justice and revenge. A quality read.

Andrea Goldsmith worked as a speech pathologist both in Australia and overseas. Her previous books include Gracious Living, Facing the Music and Under the Knife.

The Prosperous Thief, by Andrea Goldsmith
Allen & Unwin, 2002

Journey to the Stone Country, by Alex Miller

Finding her once-predictable, stable marriage in tatters, Annabelle flees to the security of her family home in Townsville and the support of an old friend. Invited on an archeological survey she meets Bo, a man who tells her they have met before and hints that he knows much about her.

As they get to know each other, Annabelle is disconcerted by Bo’s suggestion that he holds the key to her future. At the same time she is drawn to him in a way she has not been drawn to any other man.

Together the pair travel through places and memories which lead towards understading of themselves and each other, but at the same time threatens their possible happiness.

Whilst romance and landscape each play a part here, Journey to the Stone Country is about much more. The stone country traversed by the book’s characters is not just a part of remote Australia, but an inner landscape which we all must travel and explore. It is a story of our own time – of accepting our past – individual and collective, of moving toward a combined future. A story about racial differences and common ground. It is a story for every Australian.

Alex Miller was born in London and came to Australia when he was seventeen. His previous works have included the Ancestor Game (1997) which won the Miles Franklin Award, and the Commonwealth Writers Prize, and Conditions of Faith (2000), which won the Christina Stead Prize for Fiction.

Journey to the Stone Country, by Alex Miller
Allen & Unwin, 2002.

Kimberley Sun, by Di Morrissey

Lily Barton, recently retired and looking for a fresh challenge, is delighted to return to Broome, in the northwest of Australia. She has family links there, discovered only in her adult life, and loves the lifestyle of the town. Her thirty year old daughter, Sami, is not so thrilled. She is joining her mother in Broome for the first time, and has many reservations, not sure she wants to be drawn into this family she doesn’t know and this lifestyle so different to her own.

In Broome the two women will be drawn into adventures they could not have foreseen. Business opportunites arise, relationships blossom and unlikely friendships are formed. They also become entangled in the mystery of the murder of a German tourist.

Along the way to finding a new common ground, stories are told which reflect the multitude of cultures and backgrounds which converge in the town of Broome.

Kimberley Sun is the latest offering from popular Australian author Di Morrisey. Morrisey weaves the various stories into a rich carpet, providing a detailed sketch of the lifestyle and cultures of this part of Australia. Lovers of family sagas and Australian stories will find themselves enjoying this, Morrisey’s eleventh novel. Most readers will be able to overlook the occasional lapses in editing which can cause distraction in places.

An unforgettable adventure.

Kimberley Sun, by Lily Barton, recently retired and looking for a fresh challenge, is delighted to return to Broome, in the northwest of Australia. She has family links there, discovered only in her adult life, and loves the lifestyle of the town. Her thirty year old daughter, Sami, is not so thrilled. She is joining her mother in Broome for the first time, and has many reservations, not sure she wants to be drawn into this family she doesn’t know and this lifestyle so different to her own.

In Broome the two women will be drawn into adventures they could not have foreseen. Business opportunites arise, relationships blossom and unlikely friendships are formed. They also become entangled in the mystery of the murder of a German tourist.

Along the way to finding a new common ground, stories are told which reflect the multitude of cultures and backgrounds which converge in the town of Broome.

Kimberley Sun, is the latest offering from popular Australian author Di Morrisey. Morrisey weaves the various stories into a rich carpet, providing a detailed sketch of the lifestyle and cultures of this part of Australia. Lovers of family sagas and Australian stories will find themselves enjoying this, Morrisey’s eleventh novel. Most readers will be able to overlook the occasional lapses in editing which can cause distraction in places.

An unforgettable adventure.

Kimberley Sun, by Di Morrissey
MacMillan, 2002
MacMillan, 2002

Attempts to Draw Jesus, by Stephen Orr

Being without a job means being aimless. For Rolly, living in Adelaide, it means retracing familiar routes, watching people, applying for jobs he does’t want. For Jack, living in a small country town, it means being nobody. The two have never met, but when they both answer the same ad and apply for jobs as jackaroos, their lives come together.

Neither boy has any experience of Outback life, but both have plenty of will and nothing to lose. This is an experience they hope will make them into something.

Attempts to Draw Jesus, the first novel for Adelaide author Stephen Orr, is partly based on the story of Simon Amos and James Annetts, two young boys who took on jackaroo work in the 1980s and were subsequently found dead in the Great Sandy Desert. This is not, however, a non-fiction piece. Instead, Orr gets inside the heads of his own characters, whose lives do overlap those of Amos and Annetts, to show the motivations, the emotions and the growth of his characters. He also leads them through a journey of self-discovery which makes the novel more uplifting than the newspaper articles which reported the real-life event.

Orr also creates adventures and friends for the pair, rich in their diversity and in the various ways they touch the lives of Jack and Rolly.

Attempts to Draw Jesus is an insightful and richly developed novel.

Attempts to Draw Jesus, by Stephen Orr
Allen & Unwin, 2002

Their Doorstep Baby, by Barbara Hannay

Claire and Adam Townsend are happily married. VERY happily married. After eight years they are still very much in love and in lust. But one thing prevents their lives from being complete – the lack of a child to complete their family.

With no medical reason for her failure to fall pregnant, Claire becomes increasingly depressed. The pressure on their previously stable marriage is immense. Then, when a baby is left on the doorstep of their isolated Outback home, Claire thinks her prayers have been answered, but Adam is not so sure.

Their Doorstep Baby by Australian author Barbara Hannay released in May in the UK, in June in Australia, and in September in the United States. The Outback setting, uniquely Australian, is used to tell a story which will tug at the heartstrings of all who are mothers and all who long to be.

Hannay offers characters with believable emotions and responses, in a predicament bound to test the strongest of relationships. She moves the story along with an excellent sense of timing and tension. A great read.

Barbara Hannay can be visited on the web at www.barbarahannay.com. You can also read an extract from Their Doorstep Baby

Their Doorstep Baby,by Barbara Hannay
Mills and Boon, 2002 ISBN: 0 263 83007 1

Going Solo in Your Own Small Business, by John English

Do you dream of being your own boss? Of working at something you love, answering only to yourself? The dream of running a small business of their own is one thousands of Australian’s share, yet many lack the knowledge to make that dream a reality.

Going Solo in Your Own small Business, by John English, may be the book that brings you to make the leap from working for someone else to working for yourself in your own small business.

In this handy guide, English guides the reader through the process of deciding to go into a small business, to deciding what sort of business to set up, and through the many considerations and realities of the daily running of a solo business. There is advice on registering business names, gaining appropriate permits, utilising your own skills as well as those of others, paying taxes, managing money and much much more.

English presents his information in a manner so straightforward and practical it is akin to having a personal business advisor standing next to you. He continually challenges the readers to consider how his advice applies to their own situation.

John English has created and run several small businesses of his own. He is an associate Professor in the Faculty of Commerce at the University of Tasmania, a Certified Practising accountant and a business consultant. His previous books include How to Organise and Operate a Small Business in Australia and Australian Stockmarket Investor.

Going Solo in Your Own Business will help you turn your dream of independence into a reality.

Going Solo in Your Own Small Business, by John English
Allen & Unwin, 2002

Eating Out Again, by Natalie Scott

The art of a good short story is to provide the reader with a total experience in a form much more brief and concise than in a novel. Australian author Natalie Scott has developed this art to become a master of the form.

In Eating Out Again and Other Stories Ms Scott shares twenty stories which readers can savour individually, or devour in a few sittings.

And savour and devour are fitting words, for, as the title hints, there is a recurrent motif in the collection, of food being shared. Many of the stories take place in restaurants or cafes, with tensions and intrigues playing out over a table shared by the players.

In Kissy-Kissy a man meets his ex-wife in a restaurant to discuss their son. In The Loft, a woman reaches a deciding point in her marriage over dinner with her husband, and in An Apple From the Teacher, a teacher deals with a child who does not have lunch to bring to school. This recurrent theme is complemented with a selection of recipes from the stories included at the back of the book.

A second common thread is that of the challenges of aging. Characters in several of the stories are faced with the realisation that they are no longer young, and need to confront where they are in their lives. Many characters have been betrayed by other players and are facing the need to rely more on themselves.

Ms Scott’s first short story collection, Eating Out was the winner of the National Library Australian Book Award in 1997. She has also published novels for both adults and children.

Lovers of the short story will be impressed by the quality of this outstanding collection.

Eating out Again and Other Stories, by Natalie Scott
Otford Press, 2002

Lancashire Legacy, by Anna Jacobs

If you are a fan of the historical saga , then you are surely familiar with the name Anna Jacobs. Jacobs is undoubtedly queen of this genre in Australia, with her stories about her native Lancashire and Australia, her adopted home. Fans of Ms Jacobs will not be disappointed with Lanacshire Legacy, new out in paperback.

The heroine, eighteen year old Cathie, loves her family, but wants desperately to escape the bush home that she shares with them. Life in the bush is hard, and Cathie longs to return to England, to make contact with relatives in Lancashire and to have an adventure.

When Cathie’s Uncle agrees to pay her fare, Cathie travels to England, where she finds that the adventure she has is far removed from the adventures she had hoped for. Attacked on the docks after her arrival, Cathie loses her memory. Rescued by a man with problems of his own, she struggles to remember her past and to find the answers she is seeking about her father and brother. As she does so, she becomes a part of the family of her rescuer, the handsome Magnus Hamilton, towards whom she feels an increasing attraction.

As she learns about her past, Cathie discovers that she is moving in a society where rich established families have the power to destroy her own chances at happiness, and that of those around her, including Magnus, her young brother Francis, and three half-brothers she didn’t know she had.

As we follow the journey of Cathie’s self discovery we also revisit the life of her mother, Liza, who was introduced in Jacobs’ earlier title, Lancashire Lass. Whilst the novel continues the story of Liza and her family, the first title is not prerequisite reading for a full enjoyment of the second. Be warned though, that having read Lanacshire Legacyyou will want to learn more of this family and will, like this reviewer, be looking out for more stories in the future.

Lancashire Legacy, by Anna Jacobs.
Hodder & Stoughton, 2001 (Paperback edition 2002)