Blog Archives

“Lashings of empathy”, Tina Shaw

From the Ashes Deborah Challinor HarperCollins, $37.00, ISBN 9781460754122 What You Wish For Catherine Robertson Black Swan, $38.00, ISBN 9780143772811 Discovering that From the Ashes is a sequel to Fire, Challinor’s 2006 novel, makes sense of this novel’s title. Fire…
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Knowing one another, Maggie Trapp

The Beat of the Pendulum: A Found Novel Catherine Chidgey Victoria University Press, $35.00, ISBN 9781776561704 Tess Kirsten McDougall Victoria University Press, $25.00, ISBN 9781776561001 Gabriel’s Bay Catherine Robertson Black Swan, $38.00, ISBN 9780143771456 Imaginative writing takes the hurly-burly of…
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Loosening stiff upper lips, Charlotte Graham

Leap of Faith  Jenny Pattrick Black Swan, $38.00, ISBN 9780143770916 Good Sons Greg Hall Mary Egan Publishing, $32.00, ISBN 9780473383787 It seems there are two major challenges for any author wanting to write about New Zealand in some of its…
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Tea and comfort, Sarah Laing

The Hiding Places Catherine Robertson Black Swan, $37.00, ISBN 9781775536420 Where is the line between popular and literary fiction? If the latter is rich with poetic language and literary references, then Catherine Robertson has crossed it. But if popular fiction…
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War stories, Anne Else

Passing Through Coral Atkinson Dancing Tuatara, $35.00, ISBN 9780473262693 Heartland Jenny Pattrick Black Swan, $37.00, ISBN 9781775535850 Tropic of Guile Sue McCauley Xlibris, $42.00, ISBN 9781483683195 All three of these novels centre on hard-won survival against the odds of poverty,…
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Being Minnie, Lawrence Patchett

The Day She Cradled Me Sacha de Bazin Black Swan, $38.00, ISBN 9781869797744   The Day She Cradled Me is about Minnie Dean, the Southland “baby-farmer” hanged for infanticide in 1895. Therefore it has the problem of any such novel…
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The voice of the monster, Bernard Carpinter

Blood Men Paul Cleave Black Swan, $36.99, ISBN 978869792718 Containment Vanda Symon Penguin Books, $28.00, ISBN 9780143202295 Cut and Run Alix Bosco Penguin Books, $37.00, ISBN 9780143011910 What Remains Behind Dorothy Fowler Black Swan, $29.99, ISBN 9781869792084 New Zealand’s reputation…
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Posted in Fiction, Literature, Review

That old stuff, Coral Atkinson

The Sea Between Carol Thomas HarperCollins, $36.99, ISBN 9781869507626 Weathered Bones Michele Powles Penguin Books, $28.00, ISBN 9780143011248 Flashback Forward John Cairney Black Swan, $29.99, ISBN 9781869419219 After generations of being like adolescents with no interest in “that old stuff”,…
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Mermaids, miners and mystics, Anne Else

Saltskin Louise Moulin Black Swan, $27.99, ISBN 9781869419608 Ribbons of Grace Maxine Alterio Penguin Books, $35.00, ISBN 9780143006442 Acts of Love Susan Pearce Victoria University Press, $29.99, ISBN 9780864735652 Three first (or at any rate, first published) novels, all by…
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Posted in Fiction, Literature, Review

Coming of age for Kiwi baddies, Bernard Carpinter

The Cleaner Paul Cleave Black Swan, $29.95, ISBN 9781869417604 The Killing Hour Paul Cleave Black Swan, $27.99, ISBN 9781869418663 Overkill Vanda Symon Penguin, $28.00, ISBN 9780143006657 From My Cold, Cold Hands David McGill Silver Owl Press, $34.99,  ISBN 9780958245159 The…
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