In the Shadows

Lyra Belaqcua, also known as Lyra Silvertongue, is one of my favourite heroines. This plucky girl stole my heart in Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials trilogy - Northern Lights (aka The Golden Compass) (1995), The Subtle Knife (1997) and The Amber Spyglass (2000). Almost thirty years later, I continue to enjoy the stories of Lyra and her daemon, Pantalaimon. 

Pullman's second Lyra trilogy - The Book of Dust - adds layers to our heroine. La Belle Sauvage (2017) went back in time to Lyra as an infant. The Secret Commonwealth (2019) has Lyra as a young woman, now age 20, studying at St Sophia's College Oxford and living in residence at Jordan College. Malcolm Polestead, the young man who rescued her in La Belle Sauvage is now an academic. 

Lyra and her daemon have fallen out with one another. Having been painfully severed in The Amber Spyglass (2000), they have had difficulty reconnecting with the same closeness they once shared. Lyra has been reading books by Simon Talbot and Gottfried Berne which have influenced her philosophy, calling into question the nature of daemons. Pan regards these texts as dangerous and sees that they have somehow caused Lyra to lose her imagination. 

One night, Pan witnesses the murder of a man, botanist Roderick Hassall. He confides in Lyra and together they seek to find out who Hassall was and what happened to him. This puts Lyra in grave danger and needing the support of Malcolm and Oakley Street agents. There is some mystery about roses that only grow in one location, the Karamakan desert in Tashbulak, and the valuable oil extracted from these flowers is studied at a remote botanical research station which has been attacked. Pan and Lyra separately travel across Europe and the Levant towards Central Asia, the geographical distance straining their relationship further.

Meanwhile, the Magisterium is meeting in Geneva where Marcel Delamere, head of an organisation called La Maison Juste, is manoeuvring to bring about a change of power. Malcolm, posing as a journalist, seeks to learn more about Delamere's intentions. Olivier Bonneville, son of experimental theologian Gerard Bonneville who pursued the infant Lyra in La Belle Sauvage, is searching for Lyra using a new, unstable method of reading the aleithometer. I won't say more about the plot for fear of giving away the story. Suffice it to say that The Secret Commonwealth takes readers on an adventure involving spies, refugees, big pharma, facsism, and more. 

The Secret Commonwealth feels very much like the middle book in a trilogy, setting readers up for the gripping conclusion. Pullman's novel is dark, melancholy and compelling, pushing the story from one for  young adults, to one that has aged with the reader. Lyra, is changing as she enters adulthood, having lost some of free-spiritedness and become more anxious and cautious, engaging in critical thinking, and forming her own world view. Pan challenges her to remember her younger self and hold on to her imagination and creativity.

I power-read this alongside Michael Sheen's excellent audiobook narration. He is such a good choice for this series, able to voice countless characters and accents, varying his tone and pace. Brilliant! 

I read Pullman's His Dark Materials trilogy before I began blogging. But my review of The Book of Dust (volume one) - La Belle Sauvage (2019) is available.  

The third and final volume of this trilogy, The Rose Field (2025), is due out in October. I cannot wait to see how The Book of Dust concludes.

High Ground

Barbara Kingsolver's Demon Copperhead (2022) has been on my 'to be read' pile since it was published. Winner of the 2023 Women's Prize for Fiction and the 2023 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, this critically acclaimed novel appeared on countless 'Best Books' lists and the New York Times list of the 100 Best Books of the 21st Century. I was eager to read it, but wanted to re-read David Copperfield (1850), the Charles Dickens classic which inspired Kingsolver. Having completed my prolonged re-read of Dickens, I was ready to immerse myself in Kingsolver's Appalachian coming-of-age story.

Damon 'Demon' Fields was born into poverty in Lee County Virginia. His teenage mother is addicted to drugs and alcohol; his father died before he was born. They live in a trailer on the Peggot family's land. Demon befriends the Peggot's grandson 'Maggot', whom the elderly Peggots care for while his mother is in jail. Demon's mother remarries a vicious biker named Stoner, and when she relapses into addiction he is placed in foster care. He stays on a tobacco farm where he meets other boys in the foster system - Fast Forward and Tommy. After his mother overdoses, as an eleven-year old orphan, he is sent to the McCobbs who take him in for the carer's allowance. They exploit the boy - sending him to work and garnishing his wages - and fail to provide for him. 

Demon eventually runs away to find his paternal grandmother Betsy. She arranges for him to live with Coach Winfield and his daughter Agnes, allowing Demon a semblance of normal life, schooling and a chance to play football. But addiction runs in his family and access to opioids is easy in Lee County. Soon Demon finds himself into the destructive world of Oxy. But this kid is resilient, and has some good people championing his success. Will he turn his life around?

Demon Copperhead is an absolute triumph of a novel - worthy of all its accolades and acclaim. Kingsolver gave Demon a distinct narrative voice, peppering the tale with colloquialisms, and I particularly liked how Demon would often end sentences with 'so'. Other characters - Aunt June, Agnes, Coach, U-Haul and Tommy - are vividly drawn, inspired by but not copies of their Dickensian counterparts.

Taking a Victorian novel and transplanting it in 1990s Appalachia was a wonderful idea. Just as Dickens used his novel to critique poverty, child labour and the plight of the working class, Kingsolver turns her social justice lens to the opioid crisis, big pharma, education, the child welfare system and economic inequality. I particularly appreciated the way in which she commented on the denigration of the people of Appalachia and showcased the ways in which country-folk cared for one another. She gives an example of Peggot's 'Hillbilly Cadillac' bumper sticker on the back of his truck:

"The world is not at all short on this type of thing, it turns out. All down the years, words have been flung like pieces of shit, only to get stuck on a truck bumper with up-yours pride. Rednecks, moonshiners, ridge runners, hicks. Deplorables." (p78)

Demon and Tommy understand their position in the world and how they have been looked down on: 

"This is what I would say if I could, to all smart people of the world with their dumb hillbilly jokes: We are right here in the stall. We can actually hear you." (p329)

As Demon learns from Mr Armstrong, 'A good story doesn’t just copy life, it pushes back on it' (p531).  With Demon Copperhead, Kingsolver has pushed back, reflecting the intelligence, love and courage of the people in Lee County. This is a big, gripping novel full of heart. 

I am so pleased I chose to read this while listening to the audiobook. Brilliantly narrated by Charlie Thurton, the audio version brings the story to life by using the local accent and word emphasis. It was such a delight to listen to and added to my enjoyment of the novel.

While you don't need to have read David Copperfield to enjoy this novel, familiarity with the source material will greatly enhance your reading experience. It also made me appreciate Kingsolver's skill as a writer even more. In many respects she improved upon the original story, not dissimilar to what Percival Everett achieved with James (2024).  

Prime Minister's Literary Award Shortlist 2025

The Prime Minister's Literary Awards Shortlist for 2025 has been announced. These awards have a significant prize pool ($600K) and serve to recognise 'established and emerging Australia writers, illustrators, poets and historians'. 

Here are the 2025 shortlisted titles in the categories I have most interest in.

Fiction

• 
  Emily Maguire - Rapture
• Fiona McFarlane - Highway 13
• Michelle de Krester - Theory and Practice 
• Mykeaela Saunders - Always Will Be
• Tim Winton - Juice

I have read and adored Rapture. I have had my eye on the de Krester and the McFarlane as both were shortlisted for the Miles Franklin, and of course de Krester won the Stella Prize this year.  I am intrigued by the Tim Winton and will need to see if I can fit it in to my reading schedule too. This is one of those shortlists where I would be happy with anyone winning.

Non-Fiction

• James Bradley - Deep Water
• Adele Dumont - The Pulling
• Rick Morton - Mean Streak
• Khin Myint - Fragile Creatures
• Samah Sabawi - Cactus Pear for My Beloved

I have read none of these shortlisted titles. However I am familiar with Rick Morton's work - both his memoir One Hundred Years of Dirt (2018) and his journalism. Mean Streak is his book on Robodebt - an important work on the illegal federal government scheme which traumatised so many poor people. 

Australian History

• 
  Darren Rix and Craig Cormick - Warra Warra Wai: How Indigenous Australians discovered Captain Cook and what they tell about the coming of the Ghost People
• Gerladine Fela - Critical Care: Nurses on the frontline of Australia's AIDS Crisis
• Peter Kirkpatrick - The Wild Reciter: Poetry and Popular Culture in Australia 1890-2020
• Amanda Laureen - Australia in 100 Words
• Clare Wright - Naku Dharuk The Bark Petitions: How the People of Yirrkala changed the course of Australian democracy

I love historian Clare Wright and of all these titles hers is the one I am most interested in. 

The PM Literary awards also cover Children's Literature, Young Adult Literature and Poetry. For information on these categories and on all the nominated titles, see the Creative Australia website. The winners will be announced on 29 September 2025.

The Gathering

Last year I read Anne Enright's wonderful novel The Wren, The Wren (2023), and since discovering her I have been slowly working my way through her back catalogue. 

The Green Road (2015) is a novel about the Madigan family - matriarch Rosaleen, and her children Dan, Emmet, Constance and Hanna - told in two parts. 

The first half, 'Leaving', spans the years 1980 to 2005 with chapters presented from differing perspectives, focussing on each of the children. It begins with twelve-year-old Hanna describing the tension in the house when her older brother Dan announces he will enter the priesthood. Rosaleen is hysteric and disappears into her bedroom, refusing to leave. We follow Dan to New York during the early 1990s where he is part of the queer community navigating the spectre of the AIDS epidemic. We return to Ireland, where Constance is a mother with young children, disappointed by many things in her life, and worried about her health. Then we find Emmet in Mali, working as an aid worker, drifting through his life.  

In the second half, 'Coming Home', Enright changes the narrative again as the Madigan children return to Ardeevin for Christmas with their mother. Rosaleen, now a 76-year-old widow, has decided to sell the family home and move in with Constance, not that her daughter wants her to. The children are all adults with various complications - depression, fear of commitment, alcoholism, career stagnation. The siblings love each other, but don't like one another or have much in common. Tensions arise, as they so often do at family gatherings, with the children seeking to hold on to the childhood home that they were all so desperate to escape from.

I particularly enjoyed the way Enright chose to share the perspective among the family members, rather than give readers a single protagonist. It reads almost as a collection of interwoven short stories.  The story of Dan in New York is one of the most heartbreaking tales I have ever read, leaving me in tears as Enright follows men who contracted HIV/AIDS and the fear and shame so many gay men felt during that period. Enright also chose to write in first person plural - 'we' - to demonstrate the impact on a whole community. This chapter alone is enough to make me recommend this book, as I well recall those terrible early years and Enright has captured them perfectly. 

Enright is such a gifted writer, precisely crafting every sentence. She transports readers, and we laugh and cry along with the characters she created. As I have done with other Enright novels, I listened to the audiobook recording as I read along. Narrated by Caroline Lennon, the story more engrossing to hear the narrative in her Irish accent. 

The Green Road was critically acclaimed and received many award nominations, including being shortlisted for the 2016 Women's Prize and longlisted for the 2015 Booker Prize.  

My reviews of other novels by Anne Enright are available on this blog:

• The Gathering (2007)
• The Wren, The Wren (2023)

Booker Prize Longlist 2025

This week the Longlist was announced for the 2025 Booker Prize. 

A few weeks ago I released my predictions of who might make the list and I managed to correctly guess only one of the titles (marked with an asterix). Clearly I am terrible at guessing this list! Of course I had three Australian authors on my list, and sadly none made it through this year. 

So let's take a quick look at the nominees:

Claire Adam - Love Forms  (Trinidad)

In Trinidad, 1980, a sixteen year old Dawn Bishop travels to Venezuela where she gives birth to a daughter and leaves her with nuns for adoption. Later Dawn relocates to England, marries and has two sons. But all the while she wonders about her first child. Forty years later Dawn is contacted by a woman who may be this lost daughter. The judges described Love Forms as 'a rare and low-pitched achievement. It reads like a hushed conversation overheard in the next room'. Adam is a Trinidadian author who now lives in London. Her first novel Golden Child (2019) was critically acclaimed. Love Forms is her second novel.

Tash Aw - The South   (Taiwan)

Set in Malaysia in the 1990s, teenage Jay travels south to a failing farm his grandfather has left his family. He attempts to work the land or sell it. He befriends the son of the farm manager, Chuan, and together they explore illicit pastimes and their sexuality. The judges described this as 'a story about heritage, the Asian financial crisis and the relationship between one family and the land'.  The South is the first novel in a planned quartet. Tash Aw is the acclaimed author of five novels, three of which have been longlisted for the Booker. He was previously longlisted for Five Star Billionaire (2013) and The Harmony Silk Factory (2005).

Natasha Brown - Universality   (UK)

When a man on a Yorkshire farm is bludgeoned with a gold bar, a young freelance journalist, Hannah, seeks to uncover the motivations for the attack. This satirical novel is told through shifting perspectives. The judges write that Universality 'reveals the contradictions of a society shaped through entrenches systems of economic, political and media control'. Brown is best known for her first novel Assembly (2021). She has been called one of the best young British novelists. Universality is also a finalist for the Orwell Prize.

Jonathan Buckley - One Boat   (UK)

Teresa has lost her father so she goes to the place where she grieved her mother nine years earlier - a small town on the Greek coast. Here she immerses herself in the town, becoming reacquainted with people she met on her previous visits. The judges described this as a 'novel of quiet brilliance and sly humour, packed with mystery and indeterminacy'. One Boat is Buckley's thirteenth novel. He is also the author of numerous travel guides. 

Susan Choi - Flashlight   (USA)
Ten-year-old Louisa and her academic father Serk go for a walk on a beach when tragedy strikes. Serk has disappeared.  Louise and her mother Anne are left to put together what happened. The novel moves between the post-war Korean immigrant community in Japan, suburban American and North Korea. The judges said 'We admired the shifts and layers of Flashlight's narrative, which ultimately reveal a story that is intricate, surprising and profound'. Choi is an American author of six novels. She is best known Trust Exercise (2019) which won the US National Book Award for Fiction.

Kiran Desai - The Loneliness of Sonia and Sunny   (India)

Sonia and Sunny are captivated by one another when the cross paths on an overnight train. Sonia wants to be a writer and has returned from America to India to see her family. Sunny is a journalist based in New York. Together they search for happiness. The judges said 'We loved the way in which no detail, large or small, seems to escape Desai’s attention, every character (in a huge cast) feels fully realised, and the writing moves with consummate fluency between an array of modes: philosophical, comic, earnest, emotional, and uncanny.' Desai's novel will not be published until September, meaning readers won't get to enjoy it during the longlist period. Desai won the Booker Prize in 2006 for her novel The Inheritance of Loss. 

Katie Kitamura - Audition   (USA)

A middle-aged actress meets a much younger man at a Manhattan restaurant. The woman is nervous and wonders what passers-by will make of the couple. Will they be seen as mother and son, age-gapped lovers, or something else? The pair have an unsettling conversation, giving way to more disquiet. The judges said ' Aside from the extraordinarily honed quality of its sentences, the remarkable thing about Audition is the way it persists in the mind after reading, like a knot that feels tantalisingly close to coming free.' Kitamura is an American author of five novels. She is best known for the criticially acclaimed Intimacies (2021).

Ben Markovits - The Rest of Our Lives   (USA)

Tom Layward resolved to end his marriage as soon as his children have grown and left home. When his youngest turned 18 and he is driving her to college, he remembers his resolution and decides to keep driving. This one-man road trip is a journey of self-discovery and reflection - meeting old friends, encountering strangers, and deciding what to do about his work and long-term marriage. The judges write 'It’s matter of fact, effortlessly warm, and it uses the smallest parts of human behaviour to uphold bigger themes, like mortality, sickness, and love.' American author Ben Markovits has written twelve novels.

Andrew Miller - The Land in Winter   (UK)

Set in England's West Country, in December 1962, a local doctor sets out on his rounds. A violent blizzard traps two couples in their homes. The judges write 'As a winter storm wreaks havoc on their lives, these characters become pivotal figures in a community precariously balanced between history and future: between the damage wrought by the war and the freedom for women that lies ahead. In beautifully atmospheric prose, Andrew Miller brings suspense and mystery to this seemingly inconsequential chapter in British history.' Miller is based in Somerset UK and is the author of ten novels. His novel Oxygen was shortlisted for the Booker Prize in 2001.

Maria Reva - Endling   (Canada)

In Ukraine in 2022 three women are travelling together in a mobile lab made from a converted camper van. Yeva is a scientist trying to breed rare snails. She funds her research working for a company that runs romance tours. Through the company, Yeva meets sisters Nastia and Solmiya. Posing as a mail order bride and her translator they plan to kidnap foreign bachelors to draw attention to the patriarchy of the bridal industry. The judges praised Reva's debut novel saying Endling 'examines colonialism, old and neo, the role of women, identity, power and powerlessness, and the very nature of fiction-writing.' Author Reva was born in Ukraine and grew up in Canada. 

*David Szalay - Flesh   (Canada)

The story follows Istvan's life from his lonely teenage years to his isolated middle age. Along the way he  has an affair with a much older woman, serves in the military, moves from Hungary to London, and struggles with events outside his control. The judges praised Szalay's writing, saying 'using only the sparest of prose, this hypnotically tense and compelling book becomes an astonishingly moving portrait of a man’s life.' Flesh is Szalay's fifth novel. He was previously shortlisted for the Booker in 2016 for All That Man Is. This was the only longlisted book I correctly predicted.

Benjamin Wood - Seascraper   (UK)

Thomas lives a quiet life in Longferry, working as a shanker, scraping the Irish shore for shrimp. Mornings are spent at the waterfront with his horse and cart, and afternoons he sells his wares. When an American arrives in town, Thomas questions his days of monotonous drudgery and wonders if there can be a different future.  The judges said 'It’s a book about dreams, an exploration of class and family, a celebration of the power and the glory of music, a challenge to the limits of literary realism, and – stunningly – a love story.' Wood is the author of five novels, including The Bellweather Revivals.

Ledia Xhoga - Misinterpretation   (Albania)

In New York City an Albanian interpreter works with Alfred, a torture survivor, during his therapy sessions. The interpreter cannot help but become entangled in her client's trauma, which stirs up memories of her own. This leads to a series of questionable decisions. Concerned about her mental health, she takes an unplanned trip to Albania to visit her mother. She must then return to face the consequences of her actions. The judges said 'Misinterpretation subtly blurs the distinction between help and harm. We found it propulsive, unsettling, and strangely human.' This is Albanian author Xhoga's debut novel.

The Booker Prize Longlist is often a mixed bag of novels, but what I love about the Longlist is that it introduces me to many authors and books I do not know. Last year's Longlist was fantastic and I enjoyed reading a number of the titles.  

This year, I don't feel the same urgency to read these novels. While I have no doubt they are wonderfully written, they don't excite me in the same way previous linguists have. Of all the titles, the ones I am interested in are those by Adam,  Brown, and Markovits. 

The Shortlist will be announced on 23 September 2025 and the winner on 10 November 2025. Better get reading!

Sacred Soil

I have just spent a wondrous week in Iceland - hearing the wind howling across the snowy treeless landscape, watching the sunlight glisten on the water of the fjords - all from the comfort of my home in Sydney.  I was transported there by Australian author Hannah Kent's memoir Always Home, Always Homesick (2025) in which she lovingly describes Iceland's people, places and customs, and how it became entwined in her being. I was not surprised to be utterly captivated by Iceland, as I have felt this way before, over a decade ago when I read Hannah Kent's novel Burial Rites (2013). 

When she was a seventeen-year-old high school student in Adelaide, Kent took up an opportunity to do a year-long foreign exchange through Rotary. She was sent to Iceland, to the small northern town of Sauðárkrókur - about as different from life in South Australia as possible. Here she is billeted with a series of families, attends school, gets a job in a local cafe, and learns the Icelandic language and culture. 

During her year in Iceland, Kent hears the story of Agnes Magnúsdóttir, the last person executed in the country in 1830, and a seed was planted. Over the years, as Kent began her writing career, Agnes' tale would call to her. Kent returned to Iceland as a PhD student researching the circumstances in which Agnes, a servant, was convicted of murdering her abusive master Natan Ketilsson.  Years later she would return again, to attend a writers festival after her novel about Agnes, Burial Rites, was published.

Always Home, Always Homesick is a wonderful, beautifully written memoir. I loved hearing about Kent's writing process, her self-doubt, and the challenges she overcame. It was also an emotional story, as Kent is embraced by families in Sauðárkrókur, and formed lifelong bonds. 

I now want to go back and read Agnes' story again. In September 2013 I reviewed Burial Rites and praised Kent's research and detailed descriptions which brought the story to life. Having read her memoir of writing Burial Rites, I have so much more appreciation for her work and long to experience it again. Indeed, while Always Home, Always Homesick can be read on its own, it will have more meaning for those who have read Burial Rites.

My reviews of other books by Hannah Kent are available on this blog:

• Burial Rites (2013)
• The Good People (2016)
• Devotion (2021) 

Miles Franklin Award Winner 2025

The winner of the 2025 Miles Franklin Literary Award, Australia's most prestigious literary award, was announced on 24 July 2025. This year the award and its $60,000 prize went to Siang Lu for his novel, Ghost Cities.

Ghost Cities is set across multiple timelines. In modern Sydney, Xiang Lu is fired from his job as a translator at the Chinese Consulate. He doesn't speak the language and had been relying on Google Translate to do his work. He begins posting online as #BadChinese and is contacted by filmmaker Baby Bao who takes him to a film set in the fictional ghost city of Port Man Tao. Bao has populated the city with actors who inhabit a dystopian world, peppered with ancient Chinese myths. In a parallel narrative, in ancient China, a paranoid Emperor clings to power. 

The judges said "Siang Lu’s Ghost Cities is at once a grand farce and a haunting meditation on diaspora. Sitting within a tradition in Australian writing that explores failed expatriation and cultural fraud, Lu’s novel is also something strikingly new. In Ghost Cities, the Sino-Australian imaginary appears as a labyrinthine film-set, where it is never quite clear who is performing and who is directing. Shimmering with satire and wisdom, and with an absurdist bravura, Ghost Cities is a genuine landmark in Australian literature.”

Brisbane based author Siang Lu actually completed the novel a decade ago but had a hard time getting it published. I bet there are a lot of publishers regretting their decision to reject his manuscript! His previous novel The Whitewash (2023) won the Abia Audiobook of the year. 

I have not read this novel, and am not entirely sure it is for me. But the premise sounds intriguing, especially the part about Xiang's 'translation' work.

Quiet Achiever

I have had Barbara Trapido's novel Brother of the More Famous Jack (1982) on my wish list for years. I first heard about it on the ABC TV program The Book Club in 2015, when Jennifer Byrne, Marieke Hardy and Elizabeth Gilbert raved about this novel. I had never heard of it, or author Barbara Trapido, but was intrigued by a novel that seemed to be a secret book that women put in the hands of others. I have tried to find a copy ever since, in second hand shops and through online vendors. When it recently came back in stock online, I quickly added it to my basket.

Brother of the More Famous Jack is narrated by Katherine Browne, an eighteen year old university student who befriends her philosophy professor Jacob Goldman and his family. Browne grew up in a conservative, traditional household full of manners and cleanliness. The wildly eccentric Goldmans - Jake and Jane and their six children - are the complete opposite. Katherine visits their Sussex home and discovers a family that speak openly of sex, talk back and challenge one another. I loved the depiction of this rambling home, filed with dirt and broken chairs and the basket of wellingtons of various sizes all labelled with the name of the eldest child who got to wear them first. 

Katherine is drawn to Roger Goldman, the handsome, reserved eldest son. They begin a relationship which does not end well. Heartbroken, Katherine takes off to Italy to teach English. Here she is drawn to an unworthy lover and is dumped when she needs him most. After a devastating loss and a decade abroad, Katherine returns home to England and becomes reacquainted with the Goldmans. The intervening years have changed everyone, but her love of this family remains. 

Brother of the More Famous Jack is a coming-of-age novel which explores love, heartbreak, grief, longing and motherhood. The characters are vividly drawn - especially that of Katherine, Jacob and Jane, and the two eldest brothers.  I enjoyed seeing Katherine grow into herself. Trapido has a real gift for language and the novel is filled with some of the most fantastic lines like: "Isn't it wonderful what Oxford does for people? They get to know more and more about less and less.' (p165) 

I wish I had first read this novel in my twenties. I suspect I would have read it quite differently then and been in awe of the Goldmans, wishing that I too could have been adopted into their family. Reading it now I was more aware of the way in which women were portrayed and the narrow choices they had. Housewife Jane's powerful rant, pleading with her daughters-in-law to ensure they do not carry the full burden of domestic duties, was brilliant and changed my perception of Jane completely.

Some have referred to this novel as a 'bohemian Brideshead Revisited'. I can understand that comparison. Indeed, reading this novel reminded me of the writing of Murial Spark, Rachel Cusk, Penelope Lively, Sylvia Plath and Sally Rooney. I also reckon Emerald Fennell drew on this novel for her film Saltburn. Regardless, this novel is uniquely Trapido's voice - a voice which deserves to be more widely known.

Brother of the More Famous Jack won the Whitbread Special Prize for Fiction in 1982.

Into the Woods

One of the most imaginative and inventive novels I have read in the past five years is Susanna Clarke's Piranesi (2021). Winner of the 2021 Women's Prize for Fiction, Clarke created a fantastical world in which Piranesi resides alone in a labyrinthine house, writing a journal of his days. Clarke's previous novel, published 17 years earlier, was the acclaimed Jonathan Strange and Mr Norell (2004). 

Clarke suffers from chronic fatigue and often finds it difficult to sustain her writing for periods of time. As such, fans of Clarke's writing have to wait a long time between novels. But sometimes she releases a short story to tide us over. 

Her latest work is The Wood at Midwinter (2024), a gorgeously illustrated short story, published as a slender hardcover. At just sixty pages, Clarke tells the story of Merowdis Scot, a nineteen-year-old mystical young woman. Merowdis is deeply connected to nature and can talk with animals. She is most at home in the woods, where her parents believe young ladies should not wander. Her supportive sister Ysolde drops her off one wintery morning at the wood gate, and leaves her to ramble with her dogs, Pretty and Amandier, and pet pig, Apple. As Merowdis and her pets  walk they chat with the animals they meet along the way - a fox, raven, - and the wood itself. Then they meet a darkly clad figure who makes Merowdis a promise about her future.  

The Wood at Midwinter is a very short story and can be read before your cup of tea goes cold! I was just starting to enjoy the world Clarke created when the story quickly came to an end. Indeed, I felt rather flat once the story finished, as if I had only read a teaser for a larger, more engrossing work. 

While I wanted more from the story, Victoria Sawdon's illustrations make this book truly delightful. Indeed, she should have been listed on the front cover, as her work is integral to the reading pleasure of this tale. 

Overall, I am happy have read The Wood at Midwinter, but wanted more from it. I understand Clarke is working on a new novel, set in the world of Jonathan Strange and Mr Norell. Fingers crossed we don't have to wait too long for it to be finished.

And so it begins

This year I entered the Elizabeth Strout universe by reading her most famous novel, Pulitzer Prize winning Olive Kitteridge (2008), followed by her most recent novel, Tell Me Everything (2024). I greatly enjoyed both novels and soon discovered that Strout has created a whole world of interlinked stories to explore. So, I have gone back to the start to where it all began, her debut novel.

Amy and Isabelle (1998) tells the story of a relationship between single mother and her teenage daughter over a long, hot summer in New England. Isabelle Goodrow lives in a tiny rental house at the edge of the town of Shirley Falls. She works at the local mill where she does not really know how to engage with her fellow workers, and has a secret longing for her boss. She is a devoted member of her congregation and a good soul. Isabelle longs for a social life of her own, yet has put all her energy into raising her daughter Amy. But there is tension in the house, with Amy and Isabelle unable to communicate and frustrations growing. Fortunately Isabelle has secured a summer job for Amy at the mill, so she can keep an eye on her daughter. 

We flashback to what has happened over the past few months, and how the two have drifted apart. Aged almost sixteen, Amy is thinking about being a teacher when she finishes high school. She spends much of her time hanging out with her best friend Stacy, secretly smoking cigarettes, and talking about Stacy's boyfriend. Amy is shy, hiding behind a mane of wavy blond hair. She has never had a boyfriend and has few friends, other than the rambunctious Stacy. 

The arrival of a substitute math teacher, Mr Robertson, has brought Amy out of her shell. She forms a crush on the married teacher which distracts her from her schoolwork and causes her to act out of character. As her relationship with Mr Robertson becomes closer, she begins lying to her mother about her whereabouts. Things reach a boiling point between Amy and Isabelle, when Amy's sexual secrets are discovered, and it is a hard road back for their relationship to recover.

Strout has an incredible ability to realistically portray the ordinary, mundane business of life - work, family, church, school. She dishes out the backstory of various characters in delicious morsels, building well rounded individuals that the reader cannot help but be intrigued by. I particularly loved the development of Isabelle's character - her attempts at self-development through reading, the befriending of colleagues at the mill, her fear of scandal, and the realisation that the object of her desire is not so desirable. 

I have met Isabelle Goodrow before, in Tell Me Everything, set decades after Amy and Isabelle, she is the bestfriend of Olive Kitteridge. In this later novel we find out more about what happened between the mother-daughter duo after the original story ended. 

Having now read three of Strout's novels, I completely understand her popularity and critical acclaim. I cannot wait to explore the other books in this series.

My reviews of other books by Elizabeth Strout are available on this blog:

• Olive Kitteridge (2008)
• Tell Me Everything (2024)

Booker Prize 2025 Predictions

The Booker Prize Longlist will be announced at the end of July. It has been a wonderful year for books, but always a challenge to predict which novels will be chosen for the longlist as the Booker is known for its surprises. 

To be eligible, the novel has to have been written in English and published in UK/Ireland between 1 October 2024 and 30 September 2025. While I am not across when novels were published in UK/Ireland, I am going to take a guess at who might appear on the longlist. 

My predictions for the Booker longlist this year are:

1. 
   Michelle de Krester - Theory and Practice 
2. Adbulrakaz Gurnah - Theft
3. Alan Hollinghust - Our Evenings
4. Laila Lalami - The Dream Hotel
5. Melissa Lucashenko - Edenglassie
6. Roisin O'Donnell - Nesting
7. Torrey Peters - Stag Dance
8. Anthony Shapland - A Room Above a Shop
9. David Szalay - Flesh
10. Madeleine Thien - The Book of Records
11. Tim Winton - Juice
12. Nussaibah Younis - Fundamentally

I had to narrow down my list and lost Anne Tyler (Three Days in June) and Ian McEwan (What We Can Know) along the way. I know there is no way there will be three Australian authors on the list, but I am hoping that at least one of these three - de Krester, Lucashenko or Winton - make the cut. I have only read O'Donnell from my list but I am keen to read the Hollinghurst, Winton, Shapland and more. 

The judging panel this year consists of author Roddy Doyle (Booker winner in 1993), longlisted authors Ayobani Adebayo and Kiley Reid, actor Sarah Jessica Parker, and literary critic Chris Power. I can't wait to see what they came up with and how well I guessed.

The longlist will be announced on 29 July, followed by the shortlist on 23 September and the winner announcement in 10 November. 

Balance of Power

It is hard to believe that Trump's second presidency is only six months old given the scale of change he has wrought upon the world. In pursuing his 'America First' ideology, Trump has upended the global order and turned his back on old alliances. Through punishing tariffs, drastic immigration crackdowns, and the withdrawal of American overseas aid, Trump has signalled a dramatic repositioning of America's place in the world. 

Hugh White's Quarterly Essay (QE98), Hard New World: Our Post American Future (2025) is a timely exploration of this new world order and the ways in which Australia needs to navigate the changing landscape. 

The Trump world is multipolar in which Russia's ambitions in Eastern Europe and China's objectives in Asia are matched by Trump's aspirations in North America. America's containment strategy has given way. No wonder he wants Canada, Greenland and the Panama Canal to form part of his American hegemony. 

White writes:

'That scene in the Oval Office with Zelenskyy perfectly exemplified Trump's vision of America in the world. He rejects the whole idea of America as the global leader, upholding and enforcing international order and promoting American values for the good of the world as a whole. To Trump, America's sole purpose in them world is too to protect America's direct interests in its own security and prosperity". (p11)

Trump's international relations are transactional, all about doing deals and trade offs. People gasped when he proposed a Riveria-style reimagination of Gaza, but this is how a real estate baron sees the world - through hotels, golf courses and casinos. He admires 'strong man' leaders - Putin, Netanyahu, Xi Jinping - and has increasingly distanced himself from the institutions and conventions that keep peace in our world. 

White's exploration of the balance of power in Asia was perhaps the most interesting as he considers where Australia fits in the new world order. He questions the AUKUS arrangement and Australia's dependence on America, arguing that eight subs (if delivered) will not deter Chinese expansion in south east Asia. With Australia trying to solidify relationships with South Pacific island nations through sports and other investments, this may not be enough to secure peace in our backyard. White reckons that Taiwan will be the flashpoint in which China tests the world's resolve - will America back Taiwan? Will Australia join America? Let's hope this fragile peace is not tested.

Over the past few days, as I read this essay, Israel and Iran have gone to war and America bombed nuclear sites. It feels as though the world is on a precipice, and I am increasingly doubtful that the leaders and institutions that prevented nuclear war will prevail. All the more reason to read this essay and gain a better understanding of what is at stake. 

Hugh White is emeritus professor of strategic studies at ANU and author of Australia's Defence White Paper 2000. White has written three previous Quarterly Essays focussed on international relations:

• Power Shift: Australia's Future between Washington and Beijing (QE39) - August 2010
• Without America: Australia in the New Asia (QE68) - November 2017
• Sleepwalk to War: Australia's Unthinking Alliance with America (QE86) - June 2025

Miles Franklin Award Shortlist

 The Miles Franklin Award Longlist was announced this week. The following six titles are up for Australia’s most prestigious literary prize:

• 
  Brian Castro - Chinese Postman 
• Michelle de Krester - Theory and Practice
• Winnie Dunn - Dirt Poor Islanders
• Julie Janson - Compasion
• Siang Lu - Ghost Cities
• Fiona McFarlane - Highway 13

I was travelling when the Longlist was announced in May so I did not write about it. The Longlist included some brilliant titles that did not make the cut: The Burrow (Melanie Cheng); Politica (Yumna Kassab); The Degenerates (Raedon Richardson); Juice (Tim Winton). I hoped that The Burrow would have made the shortlist as it is a brilliant novel, and had expected previous winner Winton to be on the list.  

If I had to pick a winner, I would put my money on the Michelle de Krester for Theory and Practice as she is on a roll, having just won the Stella Prize. But the title I am most interested in is Highway 13 - a collection of short stories about the impact of a serial killer. All will be revealed when the winner is announced in July. 

The Missing

Dervla McTiernan's crime series continues with the third novel in the DS Cormac Reilly series, The Good Turn (2020). Picking up shortly after the events of the last novel, The Scholar (2019), Reilly continues to work at a Galway police station under the watchful eye of Superintendent Brian Murphy. Reilly suspects Murphy is corrupt and just needs to figure out how to prove it. 

The story gets off to a quick start when a young girl is kidnapped. Reilly's colleague Garda Peter Fisher has to make rapid decisions in a quest to find her. The station is under resourced with everyone else assigned to a potential drug bust and Fisher is on his own. When things go wrong, Fisher is reassigned to a tiny station in his childhood hometown. Reilly is suspended, freeing him up to investigate possible corruption. 

To make matters worse, Reilly's home life is unstable. His partner Emma has moved to Europe to take up a position in a lab and their long-distance relationship is under strain. Reilly knows he has to decide between Emma and the Garda, as Emma's career is now in Europe. 

McTiernan has added interesting layers to her characters. I enjoyed learning more about Fisher and his past in this novel, particularly his relationships with his estranged father and his beloved grandmother. Reilly too is evolving, trying to figure out what he wants from his life. 

The Good Turn is a page-turner with plenty of twists and turns to keep readers guessing. In this third outing, McTiernan has perfected her storytelling. She paces out reveals and I was interested to see the ways in which she brought various story threads together. The Good Turn can be read as a standalone novel, but it is far more interesting to read this series in order. 

The Reilly series continues in The Unquiet Grave (2025) which I hope to read soon. My reviews of other novels in the Cormac Reilly series are available on this blog:

• The Ruin (2018) - Cormac Reilly #1
• The Scholar (2019) - Cormac Reilly #2

Revisiting Murder on the Canadian

I have just returned from a holiday in Canada. One of the highlights of my trip was to spend four days on The Canadian travelling from Vancouver to Toronto. The Via Rail train took us through the Rocky Mountains, across the Prairies and over the Canadian Shield, showcasing the natural beauty of Canada's trees, rivers, fields and canyons. When I arrived in Toronto many of my friends jokingly asked whether there had been a murder on the train! 

As children in the 1980s we had read Eric Wilson's novel Murder on the Canadian (1976), the first in his Tom and Liz Austen mystery series, and my friends' question reminded me of the story. While in Toronto I picked up a copy of the book and refreshed my memory of this tale from long ago which I initially read when I was 9 or 10 years of age. Would the story still hold up forty years later?

Young Tom Austen is obsessed with the Hardy Boys and longs to be a detective. He boards the Canadian in Winnipeg bound for Vancouver to spend time with his grandparents. He is a solo traveller, but soon finds his frenemy Dietmar Oban is sharing his berth. The two boys are in search of adventure and their imaginations run away with them as they explore the train. 

A scream brings Tom running down the corridor to the scene of a crime. A woman is dead and Tom reckons he can find the killer. Using the deduction skills he has learned from Sherlock Holmes and the Hardy Boys he looks for clues. As he begins to piece together what occurred he finds himself face-to-face with the killer!

The Canadian - Dome Car

Murder on the Canadian is aimed at young adults. Not unlike an Agatha Christie novel, Wilson has used the confined space of the moving train to his advantage in the plotting of this novel. Having been on The Canadian, I enjoyed Wilson's descriptions of the dome car and the dining car, which remain as they were half a century ago. Wilson has also filled the train with interesting passengers for Tom to encounter as he attempts to rule out suspects.

Revisiting this novel as an adult was a nostalgic experience. As a child Tom's adventures were thrilling, and he was a delightful protagonist with his quick wit and ability to get out of tricky situations. There is something very pure about Tom's naiveté. At only 122 pages, it is a quick and easy read.

This is the first of twenty books in the series, which includes Vancouver Nightmare (1978), Terror in Winnipeg (1979), The Lost Treasure of Casa Loma (1980), and Cold Midnight in Old Quebec (1989). I recall reading a couple of these in my childhood, before I moved on to the Choose Your Own Adventure series. 

Ultimately, I would recommend this for young readers and found that it is still an exciting story all these years later.  For older readers, I would highly recommend travelling on The Canadian - it is an unforgettable journey!

Women's Prize Winners 2025

The Winners of the 2025 Women's Prize have been announced! 

The Non-Fiction prize was awarded to Rachel Clarke for The Story of a Heart, while the Fiction prize was presented to Yael van der Wouden for The Safe Keep. Each author receives £30,000 The Women's Prize also announced a one-off Outstanding Contribution Award would be presented to Bernadine Evaristo in recognition of her body of work and her advocacy for women.

Women's Prize for Fiction

The Safe Keep is set fifteen years after the end of World War II, the Netherlands is quiet and has been reconstructed. In a rural Dutch province, Isabel lives a peaceful life in her late mother's country home. When her brother Louis and his girlfriend Eva show up for an extended stay, Isabel's life is disrupted in ways she could not have imagined. With great skill, the author navigates the post-war reckoning and the legacy of loss and dispossession. Dutch author Yael van der Wouden is a lecturer in literature and creative writing, and this is her first novel. The Safe Keep was also shortlisted for the 2024 Booker Prize. I loved this novel, and as I wrote in my review (available on this blog) the story is engrossing ad the characters stay with you long after you finish reading. 

Kit de Waal, Chair of Judges, said of the winner:

‘The Safe Keep is that rare thing: a masterful blend of history, suspense and historical authenticity. Every word is perfectly placed, page after page revealing an aspect of war and the Holocaust that has been, until now, mostly unexplored in fiction. It is also a love story with beautifully rendered intimate scenes written with delicacy and compelling eroticism. This astonishing debut is a classic in the making, a story to be loved and appreciated for generations to come. Books like this don’t come along every day.’

I am delighted that Yael van der Wouden has been recognised for this novel.  As I wrote in my assessment of the shortlist, I had hoped that Miranda July would win for All Fours, but if it couldn't be July, I am so pleased that van der Wouden has been recognised.

Women's Prize for Non-Fiction

Palliative care doctor Rachel Clarke writes about nine-year-old Keira who was in a devastating car accident. Keira's brain and organs began to shut down, but her heart continued to beat. Her family agreed to donate her heart and it was gifted to nine-year old Max. Max had been in hospital for a year with a virus which affected his heart. Clarke tells this story of grief and a lifesaving gift, and the impact on two families. Rachel Clarke is the author of three bestselling non-fiction books including Breathtaking (which was adapted into a tv series) and Dear Life about her work in an NHS hospice (which was nominated for the 2020 Baillie Gifford Prize). 

Kavita Puri, Chair of Judges, said of the winner:

‘The Story of a Heart left a deep and long-lasting impression on us. Clarke’s writing is authoritative, beautiful and compassionate. The research is meticulous, and the story-telling is expertly crafted. She holds this precious story with great care and tells it with dignity, interweaving the history of transplant surgery seamlessly. This is a book where humanity shines through on every page, from the selfless act of the parents who gift their daughter’s heart in the depths of despair, to the dedication of the NHS workers. It is unforgettable, and will be read for many years to come.’.

I have not read this book but it sounds like an incredibly moving story.

Outstanding Contribution Award

To celebrate 30 years of the Women's Prize for Fiction, a special award was created for an author "in recognition of her body of work, her significant contribution to literature, and her strong advocacy for women.” To be eligible, authors must have been previously longlisted, shortlisted or winners of the Women’s Prize for Fiction in the past thirty years and they must have published a minimum of five books. The award was presented to Bernadine Evaristo in recognition of her work.

Kate Mosse, Women's Prizes Founder Director, said:

We felt that Bernardine Evaristo’s beautiful, ambitious and inventive body of work (which includes plays, poetry, essays, monologues and memoir as well as award-winning fiction), her dazzling skill and imagination, and her courage to take risks and offer readers a pathway into diverse and multifarious worlds over a forty-year career, made her the ideal recipient of the Women’s Prize Outstanding Contribution Award. Significantly, Evaristo has consistently used her own magnificent achievements and exceptional talent as a springboard to create opportunities for others, to promote unheard and under-heard women’s voices and to ensure that every female writer feels she has a conduit for her talent. Congratulations to Bernardine and a huge thank you to my fellow judges for such a joyous and celebratory process.

When I wrote about this award I had anticipated it might go to Margaret Atwood or Barbara Kingsolver might win. While I had not selected Evaristo, I am so pleased that she won and I concur with Kate Mosse's sentiments above. I had the great fortune of seeing Evaristo speak and meeting her at the 2023 Sydney Writers' Festival and she is tremendous. 

Want more?

The Women's Prizes were presented at a celebration in London on 12 June 2025. Here is a video of the presentation. 

Stella Prize Winner 2025

The winner of the Stella Prize has been announced. Author Michelle de Krester won for her novel Theory and Practice.

Set in Melbourne in 1986, a young woman is researching the novels of Virginia Woolf. In bohemian St Kilda she meets artists, activists, students. She also meets Kit and as they become lovers, her work on Woolf is sidelined. Theory & Practice looks at desire and jealousy, truth and shame.

“Theory & Practice is an exceptional novel of hyper realism in which Michelle de Kretser, an author at the height of her powers, interrogates the messiness of life found in the gap between theory and practice.” - Astrid Edwards Judges' Chair.

Michelle de Krester gave a remarkable acceptance speech, well worth viewing (below), in which she spoke out against the atrocities in Gaza and made an impassioned plea for supporting the Palestinian people. In doing so she highlighted the cost of speaking out, and the willingness of the media, academia and others to equate commentary denouncing the genocide with anti-Semitism. Absolutely brilliant.