AuthorBarbie

Atlas Productions, Australia, 2020

This debut novel set in Brisbane in the 1890s provides the perfect vehicle for an author with the twin passions of history and social justice.

Joanna Beresford chooses for her heroine Lilian, a young working class woman from an immigrant background, who is forced to fend for herself in the quest for education and improved social standing – and often merely to survive.

Hachette, Australia, 2020

Set in Baghdad, Iraq, in the time of Saddam Hussein, this novel explores questions of trust, of truth and honour, of the love of family and of grief.

Allen & Unwin, Australia, 2020

Known to television audiences as one of the founders of The Chaser, Dominic Knight is also the author of The Strayan Dictionary, Strayapedia and Trumpedia.

The 2020 Dictionary continues his satirical analysis of Australian culture, this time through a set of wry definitions of and observations upon aspects of this extraordinary year.

Allen & Unwin, Australia, 2020

Described as a memoir, Son of the Brush does indeed introduce us to some of the key figures of the art world in Australia in the 20^th and 21^st century,  in the context of the life of the author, son of painter John Olsen.

Tim Olsen grew up surrounded by people we now consider luminaries, but it is the personal, the candid appraisal of self and family that touched me most deeply in this book.

(A Chic Lady’s Guide to Woman’s Best Friend)
Murdoch Books, Australia, 2020

This is a book that has enjoyed sumptuous production treatment with its striking fashion illustration style hard cover and velvety velour spine with cursive gold font. It is indeed an object of desire and worthy of its subject, the mystique of the cat.

Ventura Press, Australia,  2020

This is the fifth of Blanche d’Alpuget’s Birth of the Plantagenets series and I confess that I come to it as a stand alone novel, not having yet read the four previous books. However, while reading the entire series is ideal and recommended, it is perfectly possible to enjoy this one alone.

Hachette, Australia, 2020

This is the third of Joanna Nell’s novels, each of which explores aspects of ageing and particularly ageing for women. Jo writes with gentle humour, with compassion and respect, but never shirks from addressing the tough matter of this subject.

Illustrated by Jane Ostler
Brogo Books Australia, 2020
https://www.brogobooks.com/

This charming tale of a recue greyhound recounts the (mostly) true story of the author’s adoption of her dog Swifty through Greyhound Connections, a voluntary Canberra based organisation that rehomes former racing greyhounds.