‘Right before bad stuff happens, there’s always a little warning, you just have to pay attention.’
Grace (aged 15) and Tally (aged 13) are‘Right before bad stuff happens, there’s always a little warning, you just have to pay attention.’
Grace (aged 15) and Tally (aged 13) are sisters, living on the outskirts of society, dragged from one remote place to another by their father Max as he relocates his drug lab. But when the house blows up, with Max inside, the girls are separated. Grace thinks that Tally was inside so, thinking herself alone, she hitchhikes to the city. Travelling to the city was once a shared dream: the girls thought life would be better there. Tally travels to the city as well, in search of Grace. But the city is not the welcoming refuge the girls thought it would be.
In this near future dystopian world, one needs documentation to live in the city. Without documentation, Grace and Tally are restricted to a marginal and dangerous existence. Without documentation, they do not exist. Without documentation they are vulnerable. Everything has a price; everyone is under surveillance. Grace is focussed on survival, and finds some people willing to help her. Tally is trying to find Grace.
‘Being secret didn’t make a place safe.’
Behind the scenes in this city, a man known as Milk, can manipulate mood using light, scent and sound. Milk prefers to work behind black glass, to maintain his anonymity while working his magic to increase casino profits. Business and government are also interested in Milk’s skills: surveillance and manipulation are valuable tools. And there’s an investigative journalist named Damon who is after a big story.
So, where does it end? What kind of society have we entered, where a city is divided into zones, and undocumented people are ‘rounded up’? Will Tally and Grace ever find each other?
I found this novel unsettling. Some elements of this dystopian future are recognisable, other elements all too believable. The novel is narrated in a report format which heightens the effect of all-pervasive surveillance.
I finished the novel, and looked over my shoulder.
In this novel, set in the near future, a shipload of migrants is seeking a better future. The‘How did the captain know which way to sail?’
In this novel, set in the near future, a shipload of migrants is seeking a better future. These migrants, aboard the Steadfast, are seeking to leave overcrowded, disease-ridden countries in Europe, and are looking for a fresh start in prosperous Australia. Our window into the journey is via the points of view of three characters. Cleary Sullivan is nine years old, has been deaf for three years, and is travelling with his mother. Cleary is looking for adventure and new friendships. Billie Galloway, a Scots nurse assistant, is looking to put the past behind her, while English schoolteacher Tom Garnett is hoping for a brighter future. All the passengers have been subjected to rigorous health checks, so when a crew member is found murdered and passengers start falling dangerously ill, the Steadfast descends into chaos. Who killed the crew member? What is making passengers so ill, and can it be treated?
‘The facts point to commercial sabotage.’
The Steadfast becomes a modern plague ship, travelling though the ocean, unwanted. Cleary’s mother becomes ill: Cleary, Billie and Tom join forces. Who will survive? Will they find a place of safety?
This is a deeply unsettling novel. The near future of this fiction is (in slightly different forms) the current reality for many. We already have groups that are anti-migration, we already have island-sized patches of plastic choking our oceans and no-one needs to look too hard to find heartless politicians (who, distressingly, reflect a significant degree of public opinion). It’s not too difficult to believe that greed and inhumanity will (continue) to triumph.
How will it end? You’ll need to read it for yourself
‘Stories, Reflections and the Last Appearance of Jack Irish’
Peter Temple (10/3/1946-8/3/2018) wrote crime fiction. He was the first crime‘Stories, Reflections and the Last Appearance of Jack Irish’
Peter Temple (10/3/1946-8/3/2018) wrote crime fiction. He was the first crime writer to win the Miles Franklin Award, in 2010, for his novel ‘Truth’. ‘Truth’ was the sequel to ‘The Broken Shore’: I read both novels in 2014, and then read ‘Shooting Star’ in 2015. I always meant to read the Jack Irish series, but I haven’t done so yet. I will now.
Michael Heyward’s introduction to the book, entitled ‘A Charismatic Curmudgeon’ sets the scene and mood perfectly. Michael Heyward is the publisher at Text Publishing.
‘The Red Hand’ contains a significant fragment (89 pages) of ‘High Art’, an unfinished Jack Irish novel which has me wanting to read the four complete novels as soon as possible. It also includes sixteen pieces under the heading ‘Reflections, Reviews and Essays’. I enjoyed each of them, especially ‘Remembrance of Books Past’, ‘The Fitzroy Youth Club at the 2001 Grand Final’, ‘James Ellroy: The Demon Dog of American Fiction’, and ‘Reading Raymond Chandler’. There are also six short stories to enjoy, and the screenplay of ‘Valentine’s Day’.
Peter Temple was an astute observer and a gifted writer. I’d recommend this book to everyone with an interest in crime fiction generally, and in Peter Temple specifically.
London, 1964: gang warfare and widespread police corruption are part of the landscape. If you pay the right people eno‘Nobody’s innocent.’
London, 1964: gang warfare and widespread police corruption are part of the landscape. If you pay the right people enough money, you can get away with just about anything. Charles Holborne’s reputation as a respected and successful barrister continues to rise. He and his former clerk Sally have moved into a house together: the future is looking good. But Charles is restless. He knows that he is still on the radar of the Kray twins, and despite well-intentioned advice from others, he wants one last boxing fight before he is too old. Charles is training hard and that, together with his work, leaves him less time to spend with Sally.
And then he is approached in an unorthodox fashion, seeking his help to defend a young boy, Teddy, accused of murder. There’s nothing straightforward about this case: Teddy is accused of murdering an associate of the Kray twins, and he’s reluctant to talk. Senior politicians are involved, Teddy is also in danger, and Charles tries to keep him safe.
In the meantime, Charles has a fight to prepare for. He’s under pressure from both his Chambers and the Krays to drop his defence of Teddy, and Sally is not happy. Life is further complicated when he is photographed with the Krays and Sonny Liston, and when a glamorous American actress enters his life.
There’s a twist in this story I didn’t see coming, as well as a couple of developments that had me wanting to throw the book across the room in frustration. How, I asked myself, could such an astute observer of humanity be so stupid? And that’s the thing with this series, Charles Holborne is both flawed and (mostly) likeable. His legal brilliance is tempered by very human frailty.
This is the fourth novel in the Charles Holborne series, and while I didn’t enjoy it quite as much as the first three, I’ll certainly be looking to read the next one.
Note: My thanks to NetGalley and Sapere Books for providing me with a free electronic copy of this book for review purposes.
Danny Stone is walking home from school one day when he is snatched off the street and bundled into a vehicle‘Danny loved his new school.’
Danny Stone is walking home from school one day when he is snatched off the street and bundled into a vehicle. Danny is eleven years old. Danny finds himself locked in a room in a semi-derelict building. He is alone, cold and hungry.
For Danny’s parents, Martha and Richard, this is a nightmare. Who has taken Danny and why? A ransom demand is made. Martha knows that they should be able to raise the money requested, and surely Danny will then be released. But the nightmare is only just beginning. Richard tells Martha that he’s made some investments and can’t come up with all the cash requested.
The kidnappers make contact. Instructions for the delivery of the ransom are given. The police are covertly in place, hoping to arrest the kidnappers once Danny is safe. Richard drives off to deliver the money, but he doesn’t take the route mapped out. Why? What is happening? The police question him, but he lies.
In the meantime, Danny makes an unlikely friend. He’s told that he will be released once the money is paid. Danny would like to believe this, but he is understandably anxious. Can he escape?
It’s difficult to write more about the story without spoiling it. Richard has secrets, secrets which may destroy his marriage and will undermine the efforts to release Danny. There are a few twists in this story, there’s plenty of tension, and a couple of surprises before the end.
Recommended.
Note: My thanks to NetGalley and Sapere Books for providing me with a free electronic copy of this book for review purposes.
‘Arkady was an Investigator of Special Cases, and if a bear running loose in the heart of Moscow was not a special case, he didn’t know what was.’‘Arkady was an Investigator of Special Cases, and if a bear running loose in the heart of Moscow was not a special case, he didn’t know what was.’
Arkady Renko is worried. His lover, journalist Tatiana Petrovna, has been on assignment for over a month, and doesn’t arrive home on her scheduled train from Irkutsk. Renko is convinced that something is wrong, but no-one else seems concerned. Could one (or more) of her numerous enemies have silenced her?
Renko’s boss Zurin wants him to go to Siberia to oversee the prosecution of a Chechen terrorist, who tried to kill the Moscow Prosecutor. Renko agrees: Zurin threatens harm to his stepson if Renko does not follow orders. He’s reluctant, until he learns that Tatiana might still be in Siberia doing a story on Mikhail Kuznetsov, the so-called ‘hermit billionaire’ who may run against Vladimir Putin at the next election. Kuznetsov, a wealthy oligarch, who has made his money in oil and is seen as a political dissident, is the first to pose any real threat to Vladimir Putin in over a decade. Could he be the perfect candidate to take on corruption in Russian politics?
It’s cold and dangerous in Siberia. Renko finds Tatiana, but can they survive?
I’ve been a fan of Arkady Renko since ‘Gorky Park’. This is the ninth book in the series, and I think that committed Renko fans will enjoy it. If you are new to this series, go back to ‘Gorky Park, where it all began.
Note: My thanks to NetGalley and Simon and Schuster (Australia) for providing me with a free electronic copy of this book for review purposes.
‘When the streets are at their darkest and quietest, a girl settles at a small desk in the cellar of a dollmaker’s shop.’
London, 1850. Iri‘When the streets are at their darkest and quietest, a girl settles at a small desk in the cellar of a dollmaker’s shop.’
London, 1850. Iris, an apprentice dollmaker is working in Mrs Salter’s doll factory. Iris would love to be an artist, but she knows that she’s fated to work here. One day she might marry, and then she’ll exchange one form of drudgery for another. Iris’s sister Rose also works for Mrs Salter. Rose was once the beautiful sister, but smallpox has scarred her and made her bitter and jealous of Iris.
‘She will never escape. She will never be free.’
Meet Albie, a small boy who lives with his sister in a brothel. Albie supplements their income by finding strange things which he takes to Silas, who is a taxidermist and a collector, and by making things for Mrs Salter’s doll factory. And then there is Louis, an artist with the Pre-Raphaelite brotherhood. When Louis offers Iris a position as a model in exchange for art classes, her life changes. She is estranged from her sister and parents, but still looks out for Albie. But a chance meeting in Hyde Park, as the Great Exhibition is being built, will prove fateful. Iris meets Silas, who quickly becomes obsessed by her. Silas’s fixation on Iris takes over his life and threatens to ruin others.
I picked up this novel and found it difficult to put down. Ms Macneal recreates Victoria London with its great extremes of wealth and poverty, with exploited children and hypocritical adults. There is some beauty in this world, but it is difficult to focus on when looking at the situation Albie and his sister are in. And then there is the deluded evil embodied in Silas.
How will it end?
I understand that this is Ms Macneal’s debut novel. I hope it is the first of many.
‘She was a crime boss and a force to be reckoned with in the Sydney underworld.’
Kathleen Mary Josephine Leigh (née Beahan; 10 March 1881 –‘She was a crime boss and a force to be reckoned with in the Sydney underworld.’
Kathleen Mary Josephine Leigh (née Beahan; 10 March 1881 – 4 February 1964) was an Australian underworld figure who rose to prominence as an illegal trader of alcohol and cocaine from her home in Surry Hills, Sydney, Australia during the first half of the twentieth century. Kate Leigh was one of the leading figures in the notorious Sydney razor gang wars: she had more than 100 criminal convictions to her name. She was also known for her acts of generosity to members of her local community during the Depression.
So, how does a rebellious teenager from Dubbo, sent to a reformatory become the wealthy ‘Queen of Sly Grog’ in eastern Sydney? How does a woman, known for dealing in cocaine, owner of brothels come to be spoken of highly by the police at her funeral?
Kate Leigh was both villain and benefactor, and certainly seems to have been regarded as a local hero in Surry Hills.
‘Some criminals have the advantage of being born in the right place at the right time.’
I picked up this book after reading Ms Straw’s books about Lillian Armfield and Dulcie Markham. I was curious to learn more about Kate Leigh and her place as a leading underworld figure. While I found the book interesting, I’m not sure that I found Kate Leigh particularly admirable. Still, in a world dominated by men she certainly made her mark.
And so begins Neilma Sidney’s collection of seven short stories, published in 1959. It’‘It was just an ordinary Saturday afternoon …’
And so begins Neilma Sidney’s collection of seven short stories, published in 1959. It’s a slender volume, hard cover, with line drawings by Alison Forbes. The copy I have, bought from a second-hand bookshop some years ago, came with its own bookmark: a withdrawal slip from the Bank of New South Wales Savings Bank Limited denominated in pounds. Now that brings back memories. The book itself cost 22s. 6d. (which converts to $A2.25)
I used this bookmark, as I read the stories slowly over a period of days. The settings vary: two of the stories involve Australian settings (the Yarra River in Melbourne; sailing from Hobart across Bass Strait); four of the others involve European settings. One involves a journey of fantasy:
‘Life was a dreary thing that winter in Melbourne and by late August all one’s vitality had ebbed.’
While my favourite opening paragraph (from ‘Of Land and Sea’) is this:
‘Once in a while, perhaps for a week in an occasional summer, a woman can break away from where she belongs, free herself from all that is expected of her, to partake in an adventure that is real to her and has all the more reality because it is unnecessary, unrelated to anything else. She can rise from her shell and live for a moment on wings, shedding the tedium of her domestic life’s routine, or her worry about the school fair, the church dance or the arts society’s drive for membership. She can scale mountains, fly planes, float down by parachute or go ocean sailing over the rim of the horizon; such is the strength of her freedom. She can stand on deck in a roaring gale, toss laughter back at the gods and exult.’
There’s a restlessness in these stories, as well as a sense of place. While I found something in each of these stories, it was ‘Saturday Afternoon’ which will stay with me.
Well worth reading if you enjoy short stories and can locate a copy.
Neilma Sidney (7 November 1922 – 15 June 2015) was a pseudonym used by Neilma Gantner (née Myer). ‘Saturday Afternoon’ was her first collection of short stories published in 1959. She also published three novels, two additional collections of short stories, and a travel book.
While trying to find out more about Neilma Sidney, I read about the Neilma Sidney Myer Travel Fund, which recognises the unique value of travel in the development of new writing and literary careers. The Fund was launched in Neilma Sidney’s honour in 2017 and is intended to support Australian writers and literary sector workers. Applicants can apply for grants between $2,000 and $10,000.
‘I think there’s a time, in all bad things, when you wonder how it came to this.’
Two hundred and eight pages, twenty-one short stories. Th‘I think there’s a time, in all bad things, when you wonder how it came to this.’
Two hundred and eight pages, twenty-one short stories. The stories range in length from (just under) one page, to forty pages. These concrete metrics provide physical parameters … but tell you nothing about the characters which each story brings to life.
This is a debut collection of short stories, covering several different life situations, situations about which (and sometimes within which) silence is considered appropriate. The stories include experiences of illness and bereavement, betrayal, disappearance, vulnerability. Some experiences we don’t talk about, others we hope to avoid. Look closely, the stories seem to be saying to the reader, look beyond what is obvious, move beyond observation into sensation. How does it feel? What happens next?
Each of these stories had an impact, some more than others. My favourite is ‘Things’, about a woman whose hoarding seems (to me) to be both a way of holding onto the past while denying the possibility of a different future. And in the present, where we find her, is an outsider looking in seeing what?
I finished each story, wondering what came before and what might happen next. Each story is self-contained, but it need not remain so.
… this book was written does not surprise me, the fact that I read it (mostly) does because minimally punctuated stream o‘The fact that …’
… this book was written does not surprise me, the fact that I read it (mostly) does because minimally punctuated stream of consciousness writing is hard on my concentration, regardless of the fact that I can relate to musings about Laura Ingalls Wilder and the fact that the world is stressful, the fact that children and parents need to be worried over as does survival as we march towards destruction, the fact that cherry pies need to be latticed and the fact that it is hard to absorb facts.
Deep breath.
The fact is I found this book amusing, challenging, clever and irritating and the fact is that it is either too long or not long enough.
And no, I am not surprised that it has been nominated for the Booker Prize. The fact is that I won’t be surprised if it wins, or if it doesn’t.
‘Walking, whether to Redemption Point or not, became a kind of therapy.’
Ted Conkaffey, a former police detective, moved to the north Queen‘Walking, whether to Redemption Point or not, became a kind of therapy.’
Ted Conkaffey, a former police detective, moved to the north Queensland town of Crimson Lake. He hoped to disappear from public view after being accused but not convicted of abducting and raping Claire Bingley. But Claire’s father, Dale, has other plans.
Down at the Barking Frog Inn, two young bartenders are found dead. This is Detective Pip Sweeney’s first homicide investigation. Amanda Pharrell, the local private detective who has employed Ted previously, is employed by father of one of the bartenders to look into the murder and turns up to ‘assist’.
Pharrell and Conkaffey are an interesting duo. Amanda Pharrell has an interesting past, convicted of murder, covered with tattoos, and has a forensic eye for detail. Ted Conkaffey, while not convicted, has not been found not guilty, and there are plenty who believe that he is. So, while Ted tries to convince Dale Bingley that he did not abduct and rape Claire, he and Amanda try to work out who killed the two bartenders. Ted and Dale form an uneasy partnership, trying to find out who really abducted Claire.
There is plenty of suspense in this novel, and more than a few twists. Is redemption possible for Ted Conkaffey? At what price? And who killed the bartenders and why?
This is the second of Ms Fox’s Crimson Lake series (three novels published so far). It can be read as a standalone, but I’d recommend reading all three of the novels. The backstories (of both Ted and Amanda) are intriguing and they are revealed to us gradually throughout the novels. There are also some other fascinating characters.
‘When four-year-old Mervyn Sly woke on the morning of Tuesday, 12 January 1904 in the inner city of Sydney, he did not know how close he was to death.‘When four-year-old Mervyn Sly woke on the morning of Tuesday, 12 January 1904 in the inner city of Sydney, he did not know how close he was to death.’
Ellie Sly became a ‘suicide bride’ when he husband Alicks murdered her and then killed himself with a cut-throat razor in January 1904. Their four children, all under the age of eight (Bedford, Basil, Mervyn and baby Olive) were orphaned. In her research for this book, Tanya Bretherton discovered that Ellie was one of a number of Australian suicide brides during this period.
Set against the background of domestic violence in Sydney at the turn of the twentieth century, this book looks specifically at the case of the Sly family and wonders whether nature or nurture is responsible for the production of depraved criminals.
‘The story of the Sly family tree had begun on the Apple Isle with two branches and two brothers: John and James. In 1904, the constabulary of Sydney would meet one of their descendants: Alicks Sly. Twenty-five years later, they would become well acquainted with Frederick Sly, grandson of John.’
I confess that the question of nature versus nurture interested me less than the fate of the Sly children, especially the sons. The daughter was adopted; the sons were moved into the care of the Catholic Church. I was particularly moved by the story of Bedford, traumatised and never able to settle. How does anyone, let alone a child, come to terms with such violence and its consequences?
From sociological and psychological perspectives, the issue of nature versus nurture is important. If some of the factors that produce depraved criminals can be identified, we might be able to reduce them. In theory at least. Perhaps.
This book raised several questions for me and answered none of them. That’s okay: it’s a reflection of the complexity of the issues rather than any deficiency in Tanya Bretherton’s research. Domestic violence is never an easy topic to address, and the consequences are lifelong. I did not enjoy this book, but I am glad I read it.
A novel which moves between Melbourne and Prague, a novel which explores the ties between family mem‘People carry little brown suitcases.’
A novel which moves between Melbourne and Prague, a novel which explores the ties between family members, the ties between past and present, the role of both love and opportunity.
It starts in Prague, in 1938, when Eva runs into a man as she is running down the street. That encounter will change many lives. And in Prague in 1980, a city blanketed by fear, Ludék is free. His Babi is waiting for him in their warm flat. His world. Half a world away, in Melbourne, Malá Liška and her grandmother climb the stairs to their third floor flat. Here, Máňa and Bill have created a new life, a life tied in many ways to the Prague they once lived in and where they still have family.
‘There is still love. And there is still cake, sometimes.’
How are these elements of the story tied together? How did Máňa and Bill leave Prague? How are the connections maintained with those left behind? Ludék’s mother is travelling outside Prague, performing with the Black Theatre, and all he wants is for her to return home. In the meantime, he explores Prague in search of landmarks from stories he is told at home. In Melbourne, Malá Liška learns about her grandparent’s life in Prague. Ludék’s mother is visiting, and she is torn between wanting to establish a new life with new opportunities and returning to the family she loves in Prague. In 1980, having both is not possible.
There are differences between life in Prague and life in Melbourne in 1980, but for Malá Liška and Ludék, secure in their homes with their grandparents, those differences are muted somewhat by love.
‘Nothing is all good or all bad,’ he said. ‘There are problems everywhere.’
I kept reading, wanting to learn more about the past, about the connections between people, about how the two sisters came to be separated by World War II, about transplanted lives and secrets.
‘Old people liked the old ways.’
This is Ms Parett’s third novel, and I loved it. This is a novel to read slowly, to consider and to revisit. She has dedicated it to her grandparents: while it is fictional, it is loosely based on both her family and actual events.
Note: My thanks to NetGalley and Hachette Australia for providing me with a free electronic copy of this book for review purposes.
Madeleine D’Leon is a successful writer: her crime fiction series featuring Veronica Killwilly serie‘This is my life, not just a story, …’
Madeleine D’Leon is a successful writer: her crime fiction series featuring Veronica Killwilly series is very successful. But Madeleine is drawn to a different story. She creates a new character, Edward McGinnity, a writer of literary fiction, and as she begins to imagine his life, becomes drawn into it.
Metafiction, or mystery? Or both …
Edward is in danger, but so is Madeleine. As she becomes caught up in Edward’s world, she retreats into it, spending less time with her husband Hugh. In Madeleine’s story about Edward, he is accused of murder. In Madeleine’s ‘real world’ her husband is increasingly concerned about her wellbeing.
‘Yes, it’s just imagination if you can stop. Delusion has a life of its own.’
First published in Australia as ‘Crossing the Lines’ in 2017, this novel is imaginative and intriguing. It’s also very different from Ms Gentill’s Rowland Sinclair series. I kept reading, wanting to know whether (and how) Ms Gentill would bring her characters under control. Was Edward guilty of murder? Could Madeleine break free from her creation or, had Edward been made real, free to walk off the pages and exert his own influence quite independent from Madeleine? Some characters are like that.
I enjoyed this novel. Be warned: you’ll need to concentrate, in order to keep track.
Note: My thanks to NetGalley and Poisoned Pen Press for providing me with a free electronic copy of this book for review purposes.
‘Does telling your story mean you are free of it? Or that you go fettered, into your future?’
In 1992, just three years after the Berlin Wa‘Does telling your story mean you are free of it? Or that you go fettered, into your future?’
In 1992, just three years after the Berlin Wall fell, a section of it was erected outside the Harmonie German Club in Canberra. I have walked past it many times. It looks quite insignificant now, a reminder of a past when Germany was divided, a time which many would prefer to forget.
In this book, published in 2002, Ms Funder tells the stories of both some of the victims of the East German secret service (the Stasi) and some of those who worked for it. It’s an important book: much of this brutal history is in the process of being destroyed, forgotten or lost. According to the Stasi File Authority’s calculations, it would take forty workers 375 years to reconstruct the Stasi files. At the time those calculations were made, the Authority had thirty-one workers. How hard it must be, for those people waiting for ‘the torn-apart pieces’ of their lives to be put back together.
‘Why are some things easier to remember the more time has passed since they occurred?’
I read about a repressive regime in which unemployment did not exist (even if individuals could not obtain jobs), where one in 50 East Germans informed on fellow citizens. I read about individuals from both sides of the wall, of families separated, lives lost or destroyed.
‘You know, they just want to stop thinking about the past. They want to pretend it all didn’t happen.’
As I read, how long it will take Berlin to recover, and whether full recovery is even possible. ‘There is an art, a deeply political art, of taking circumstances as they arise and attributing them to your side or the opposition, in a constant tallying of reality towards ends of which it is innocent.’
I’ve had this book on my bookshelf for ten years: it was one of those books I knew I needed to read, but somehow kept deferring. Now that I have read it, I wish I’d read it earlier. On the other hand, I’m now wondering how much progress the Stasi File Authority has made in the 17 years since the book was published and how many people have had ‘the torn-apart pieces’ of their lives put back together. I wonder, too, how many have passed away before they received any answers.
Next time I walk past the section of the Berlin Wall in Canberra, I’ll reflect anew.
Jennifer (JC-S)
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