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!