High Land by Sarah Hawthorn (Transit Lounge) Guest author post by Sarah Hawthorn about High Land for PaperbarkWords blog High Land: the story behind the story During Covid my daughter Tessa – then single – spent weeks in lonely lockdown at her home in Melbourne, whilst I was tucked away in country NSW. We’d chat […]
Read More High Land by Sarah HawthornThe Song of Stork and Dromedary by Anjet Daanje (translated by David McKay) (Scribe Publications) The Song of Stork and Dromedary is a masterful labyrinthine roman à clef. Dutch author, Anjet Daanje uses different voices and literary forms to inhabit sisters who represent the Brontë sisters, as well as others, to amplify their tale. extract […]
Read More The Song of Stork and Dromedary by Anjet DaanjeThe Phantom Surrealist by Geoffrey Gates (Transit Lounge) “… Thus I was introduced to that gorgeous Australian surrealist, Robert J. Wake, to whom this book is dedicated. I have since understood the significance of the painting in broad historical and cultural terms, but what I saw at the time was an amorphous red bulge on […]
Read More The Phantom Surrealist by Geoffrey GatesMine by Adam Ouston Transit Lounge “… considering the situation, which was in large part where the element of terror originated, the sense that there was something else happening, something bigger than him, a secret story beneath the apparent one, for which he had no words or even capacity for understanding, more mindbloggling than the […]
Read More Mine by Adam OustonThe Secret Landscapes: On Not Pleasing Your Mother by Clara Brack Upswell Publishing Clara Brack, daughter of Australian art royalty, audaciously reinvents her parents’ lives in The Secret Landscapes. In an alternate reality, her father, renowned painter John Brack (Collins St 5pm), reveals his inner thoughts to a therapist, T. Her mother, overlooked cerebral artist […]
Read More The Secret Landscapes by Clara BrackThe Old Fire by Elisa Shua Dusapin (Scribe Publications) I was transfixed while reading Elisa Shua Dusapin’s new literary novel, The Old Fire. Translated from the French by Aneesa Abbas Higgins, the author disrupts what seems to be a cosy, country atmosphere with discordant layers between sisters, who haven’t seen each other for years, waiting […]
Read More The Old Fire by Elisa Shua DusapinThe Season for Flying Saucers by Brendan Colley (Transit Lounge) Brendan Colley writes about the inspiration behind The Season for Flying Saucers, his artful, left-field novel for adults, for Joy in Books at Paperbark Words blog. In 2014 I was playing around with some narrative poetry, like I usually do as a warm-up before I […]
Read More The Season for Flying Saucers by Brendan ColleyBeth is Dead by Katie Bernet Published by Penguin Random House Beth is Dead is Little Women on steroids. Based on Louisa May Alcott’s classic novel, Katie Bernet’s debut YA/adult novel reads like the best fanfiction. Told from the viewpoint of each of the four March sisters in the past and present, it is addictive. […]
Read More Beth is Dead by Katie BernetDeparture(s) by Julian Barnes Published by Jonathan Cape, an imprint of Vintage, Penguin Random House Julian Barnes is the eminent English author who won the 2011 Booker Prize for his novel The Sense of an Ending. He is a ‘hybrid’ author, whose books range from the fictional Flaubert’s Parrot and The Only Story to non-fiction, […]
Read More Departure(s) by Julian BarnesSuper-Frog Saves Tokyo by Haruki Murakami Translated from the Japanese by Jay Rubin Illustrated by Seb Agresti, illustrated and designed by Suzanne Dean Published by Harvill, Penguin Random House Illustrated Short Story for adults Book review by Joy Lawn (Joy in Books) at Paperbark Words blog “Katagiri found a giant frog waiting for him in his apartment […]
Read More Super-Frog Saves Tokyo by Haruki Murakami
