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Courting controversy, Emma Martin

Fiction
The Suicide Club
Sarah Quigley
Vintage, $38.00,
ISBN 9780143771012

Midway through Sarah Quigley’s The Suicide Club, Lace, one of its three troubled young protagonists, recalls a story told to her by her father, a celebrated film-maker who, along with Lace’s mother and younger sister, died in horrifying circumstances when Lace was eight – a loss which she has learned to accommodate, but from which she has in no way recovered. In the story, a beautiful princess develops an allergy to sunlight, which leaves her crying salty tears that form small ponds around her. The allergy becomes progressively more extreme until she is unable to tolerate even artificial light, leaving her living in darkness with only a blind manservant for company.

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Posted in Fiction, Literature, Review

“thethrillingalchemy”, Emma Martin

From the Cutting Room of Barney Kettle Kate De Goldi Longacre, $30.00, ISBN 9781775535768 Kate De Goldi’s writing for children and young adults has been acclaimed for its vibrancy and verisimilitude. De Goldi often takes the reader into psychologically complex

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Posted in Fiction, Literature, Review, Young adults

New waters, Emma Martin

Reach
Laurence Fearnley
Penguin, $38.00,
ISBN 9780143571728

Novels about art sometimes also seem to be novels about novels. Laurence Fearnley’s latest work, Reach, not only explores the relationship between life and creative expression but also, in a sense, enacts it. It picks out recognisable elements of contemporary New Zealand life, shakes them around a little, turns them inside out, and searches for the meanings within.

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Stories from nearby, Murray Bramwell

Two Girls in a Boat Emma Martin Victoria University Press, $35.00, ISBN 9780864738936 Tough Amy Head Victoria University Press, $28.00, ISBN 9780864736987 Tales from the Netherworld Jo Randerson Steele Roberts, $25.00, ISBN 9781877577888 One of the many pleasures of reading

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Posted in Literature, Review, Short stories
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