ARA Historical Novel Prize Shortlists 2024
Congratulations to authors Melissa Lucashenko and Tony Birch, both of whom I love, and Lenny Bartulin, who I haven't read yet, for making the shortlist for the Historical Novel Society Australasia's 2024 ARA Historical Novel
A Book A Week – April 2024
This month was full of faery tales, monster myths reimagined, and the new book from one of Australian literature’s national treasures... 17 - Stone Blind by Natalie Haynes I loved Stone Blind by English writer,
A Book A Week – March 2024
This month was full of faery tales, monster myths reimagined, and the new book from one of Australian literature’s national treasures... 11 - At the Coffee Shop of Curiosities by Heather Webber Heather Webber’s At
Favourite books of 2023
I read so many incredible books last year – 80 that I reviewed, plus a few I forgot to mention – and it’s almost impossible to narrow down the ones I loved most. But here
Year in review 2023
Hello! I’m sending love and joy to you, and magical summer solstice blessings, and wishes for a wonderful festive season and an enchanted, enchanting new year. As the summer solstice dawned, I started pondering the
A Book A Week – August 2023
This month I read two awesome books by two favourite authors, Heather Webber and Selina Fenech, some important Australian classics and a moving collection of short stories, took a chance on a new author, and
A Book A Week – July 2023
This month I read one of my favourite novels of the year - Morgan Is My Name - and bought my first special edition book (a reward for finishing and submitting my second oracle deck,
A Book A Week – June 2023
June was a good reading month, with four books by Australian authors and another four from around the globe. I especially loved Like A Curse by wonderful Scottish writer Elle McNicoll and The Gift of
A Book A Week – May 2023
May is the Sydney Writers Festival, so I tried to read as many books by authors who I would see there before it started, then I began reading some of the fellow authors who would
A Book A Week – April 2023
I only managed to read four books in April, but I loved them all. Three were by awesome Australian authors, and the fourth was by a US favourite. 19 of 80 - Not Meeting Mr
A Book A Week – March 2023
My March reads included lots of faery tale research, and two wonderful novels - The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart by Aussie author Holly Ringland and South of the Buttonwood Tree by Heather Webber -
A Book A Week – February 2023
February was a busy reading month, with a huge range of genres, from historical fiction to magical realism to hard hitting truth disguised as fiction to a charming kids book by a talented First Nations
Practical Magic is finally here!
Hello, and brightest blessings to you as we dance through the seasons into autumn in the southern hemisphere, and spring in the north. It’s February 2023, and I haven’t written a blog or a newsletter
A Book A Week – January 2023
January was full of wonderful books, many with a faery tale bent. I became obsessed with faery tale author Helena Nyblom after reading Holly Ringland’s The Seven Skins of Esther Wilding, and tracked down a
Favourite books of 2022
Another year of the Book-A-Week challenge has passed, and I read 90+ books - 52 of them by Australian authors, and one of them 1200 pages long! There were so many beautiful, touching, empowering, inspiring,
A Book A Week – December 2022
December was a big book month - Juz and I have been celebrating the Icelandic tradition of Jolabokaflod (Yule book flood) since we met. I especially loved The Seven Skins of Esther Wilding by Holly
A perfect night…
How awesome is the beautiful Icelandic tradition of gifting people books on Christmas Eve, then staying up all night drinking tea, eating chocolate and reading?! Known as the Jolabokaflod, the Yule Book Flood, it’s the
A Book A Week – November 2022
November brought another book by two of my favourite authors, Shankari Chandran and her incredible novel Son of the Sun God, and Heather Webber’s magical realism novel In the Middle of Hickory Lane. I also
A Book A Week – October 2022
I read ten awesome books in October, helped a little by cardiac rehab and recovery time. I loved Midnight At the Blackbird Cafe by Heather Webber so much I bought her next three audiobooks -
Well that was unexpected…
I’m okay, I promise, but last Monday I had a heart attack. ( PSA to all my women friends – it didn’t feel all dramatic and serious like on tv, my chest just hurt, and