‘If every prick in or near a law firm was a target for murder, there would be a blood bath…’
From the blurb:
‘Everyone is going to say what a great guy ‘If every prick in or near a law firm was a target for murder, there would be a blood bath…’
From the blurb:
‘Everyone is going to say what a great guy and a great lawyer he was. He wasn't. He was a prick … And a shithouse lawyer.'
Gavin Jones is dead at thirty-nine. As an in-house lawyer who controlled millions of dollars in fees per year, he was legal firm Howard Greene's biggest client and wielded that power with manipulative contempt. But he saved his worst behaviour for women, at work and at home. The partners of Howard Greene relied on his favour to fund their lavish lifestyles. If sycophantic admiration of the man was all it took to secure work from Gavin, that's what they delivered. But no one liked Gavin. The list of those who suffered from his cruelty was long enough to include pretty much everyone who had contact with him. So who actually killed him?’
Who indeed. Ms Jenkins introduces several possibilities, and while I ruled some out, I wasn’t sure who the murderer was until very near the end. I mean, who cares? Gavin Jones is just such an utterly despicable person that his murder seems totally justified. Fictionally speaking, of course. The story unfolds slowly, mainly through the perspectives of three women. These women are Viv, a new partner at the Brisbane branch of the law firm of Howard Greene; Ruth, a senior partner from Sydney, who is in Brisbane for business; and Anne, who has the misfortune to be Gavin Jones’s wife. Add in a toxic corporate culture, a cast of secondary characters, and a few red herrings. Mix them all together and see where the story takes you.
Yes, I enjoyed this story. Possibly, in part, because Gavin Jones was such a dislikeable character and possibly because aspects of the setting reinforced my own observations of cutthroat corporate life.
‘The Snowy Mountains Hydro-Electric Authority was born on August 1st of this year, when I was appointed as its first employee.’ (William Hudson, 1949)‘The Snowy Mountains Hydro-Electric Authority was born on August 1st of this year, when I was appointed as its first employee.’ (William Hudson, 1949)
This book, published in 2019 to coincide with the 70th anniversary of the Snowy Scheme, is the second edition of Ms McHugh’s book. It is a stunning oral history, capturing the voices of many of those involved: the migrant workers, some of the locals from the areas impacted, as well as engineers and politicians. These days, the Snowy Scheme is often referred to as Snowy 1.0, to differentiate it from Snowy 2.0 which is currently underway to expand the original scheme.
The original Snowy Scheme was built between 1949 and 1974. Most of the workers were migrants, many of whom were resettled in Australia from Europe after World War II. It was dangerous and difficult work: 121 men lost their lives during construction. It was also an extraordinary achievement: it is difficult to imagine any present-day Australian government envisaging and delivering such a scheme.
While many of us are aware of the benefits of the Snowy Scheme (predominantly in electricity generation and irrigation) there have been significant social and environmental costs. Ms McHugh spoke with some of those whose lives were changed by the construction. I am most familiar with the story of Adaminaby, where I spend a significant amount of time. The township was moved but many residents of Old Adaminaby moved away for various reasons, and the advent of Snowy 2.0 has also had an impact on locals. Environmentally, the reduction of water flows has created problems downstream, especially during periods of drought.
I enjoyed reading this book, learning more about the Snowy Scheme, reading about the experiences of some I have been privileged to know and many others who contributed to this marvellous achievement. I would recommend this book to anyone interested in the history of the Snowy Scheme and its impact both at local and national levels.
I’ll finish by including two sentences from the conclusion to this edition:
‘Today Australia is regarded as one of the most successful multicultural societies in the world – and the Snowy was where it all started.’ […] ‘You came here seeking A Better Life – and in the process, you created a better Australia.’
‘Head thrown back, beak wide, tail feathers open and shaking, the bird was mimicking the sounds of human terror, the way she had heard other lyrebirds‘Head thrown back, beak wide, tail feathers open and shaking, the bird was mimicking the sounds of human terror, the way she had heard other lyrebirds mimic chainsaws, car alarms and every other bird in the forest.’
When ornithology student Jessica Weston first heard these sounds in the remote Barrington Tops of New South Wales, she thought she was hearing a woman screaming for her life. Her relief, when she saw the lyrebird, was both profound and short-lived. Jessica realised that the bird must have heard those sounds in order to mimic them. Jessica videoed the bird’s display and took her video to the police, where newly appointed detective, Megan Blaxland was one of the police who investigated. But no-one had been reported missing, and no body was found.
Twenty years later, in the same area, a body was unearthed. Megan Blaxland is brought out of retirement to head the investigation. Jessica Weston, now an associate professor and the mother of a teenaged daughter, is determined to help any way she can.
As the investigation unfolds, we learn more about the lives of Jessica and of the police officers involved. More bodies are found, and painstaking investigation uncovers issues of human trafficking and organised crime. Finding out who is responsible takes those investigating into danger, especially when a bushfire erupts.
While I found the subject matter and a couple of the story twists uncomfortable, I was enthralled. The story held my attention from beginning to end, and I am still wondering about what the future might hold for a couple of the characters.
England, 1650. After the execution of Charles I in 1649, England is again on the verge of civil war. The Parliamentary forces are led by Oliver CromweEngland, 1650. After the execution of Charles I in 1649, England is again on the verge of civil war. The Parliamentary forces are led by Oliver Cromwell, while the Royalists fight in support of Charles II.
In this novel, Ms Stuart combines adventure and romance as Kate Ashley, a widow on the Parliamentary side, becomes responsible for a Royalist estate. Kate receives a letter from Sir Francis Thornton, her nine-year-old son Thomas’s paternal great grandfather, asking her and Thomas to visit. While the Thornton and Ashley families have been estranged for many years, Kate accepts the invitation after Thomas expresses interest in meeting his great grandfather.
Sir Francis’s grandson Jonathan, a supporter of Charles II, makes a clandestine visit to ‘Seven Ways’ while Kate and Thomas are visiting. He and Thomas get on well and Kate finds him intriguing. After the visit, which goes well, Thomas is named as heir to Sir Francis’s estate, ‘Seven Ways’. This is seen as the only way that ‘Seven Ways’ can be kept out of Parliamentary hands. Sir Francis dies. The fighting continues. Kate works hard to look after ‘Seven Ways’. And her path crosses again with Jonathan.
While romance interests me less than adventure, the story drew me in. Aspects of Jonathan’s story were a little too dramatic for my taste, but the entire story portrayed the uncertainties experienced by many during the Interregnum. Jonathan’s past added some complicating factors, and I started to wonder whether there could ever be a happy ending. Kate was my favourite character: I admired her competence and courage.
This book is the first in a series and I am hoping to lay my hands on the remainder.
‘In a rented room outside Plymouth in 1685, a daughter is born as her half-brother is dying. Her mother makes a decision: Mary will become Mark, and M‘In a rented room outside Plymouth in 1685, a daughter is born as her half-brother is dying. Her mother makes a decision: Mary will become Mark, and Ma will continue to collect his inheritance money.’
And when the inheritance money ceases, Mary (as Mark) goes into service. As Mark, s/he can earn more money. When war (the War of the Spanish Succession) is declared in 1701, Mary (as Mark) joins the English navy. A period in the navy is followed by a period in the army, then a brief period on land with life in a more traditional female role. But another change in Mary’s circumstances has her returning to the sea where Mary becomes a pirate.
‘I take because the world has taught me to take.’
In writing this novel, Ms de Tores has largely adhered to what is known of Mary Read’s life. I was swept into Mary’s world through this first-person fictional account. I could smell the salt, appreciate Crow, and wonder about the relationship between Mary and Ann Bonny. Mary’s adventures during the golden age of piracy during the 18th century captured and held my attention, as did her pursuit of a life which transgressed traditional female roles.
Beyond Mary’s story, I wondered about the other women who served as men in the army and navy or became pirates.
Thanks for Having Me: Such a polite phrase, so many possible meanings …
What complex relationships we have with our mothers. As we navigate our way froThanks for Having Me: Such a polite phrase, so many possible meanings …
What complex relationships we have with our mothers. As we navigate our way from total dependence to at least some degree of independence, the relationship changes. Do we thank our mothers for having us? Do we understand their choices and options? Hmm. As described on the cover, this is a novel in stories. Three generations of women from within the same family: Mary Anne, Vivian and Evie. Their stories emerge piecemeal, like the pieces of a large complex jigsaw puzzle with irregular edges.
As I read this novel, I thought of my own experience as a mother (from the 1980s) and my own experience as a daughter (born during the 1950s). Because I don’t have a daughter, I moved back a generation and thought of my maternal grandmother (a mother from the 1930s). Each of the mother daughter relationships was fraught in different ways, and so I can relate (at least in part) to the stories that unfold in this novel.
Through the eyes of Mary Anne, Vivian and Evie, Ms Darragh paints a picture of the complexity of roles that women can occupy (and sometimes reject) during life. But to be abandoned by your mother must be a harrowing experience for any child. A child will believe that anything and everything that goes wrong is somehow their fault. And so, choices made in one generation can reverberate through subsequent generations.
I kept reading. I was reminded of the choices available to some of my generation which were not available to my mother and grandmother. And I was reminded that in the rush to ‘have it all’ (career, family etc) some found biology uncooperative.
I enjoyed this novel and found it challenging. The way in which Ms Darragh constructed her novel enables a reader to pause and reflect on choices and experiences. It is also a reminder that while possibility within society continues to evolve, expectations about individual roles within society still reflect constraints.
‘The desert is a guardian. Of secrets. Of stories adapted to drought.’
This is Ms Hills’s third novel, and both language and silence shape the story an‘The desert is a guardian. Of secrets. Of stories adapted to drought.’
This is Ms Hills’s third novel, and both language and silence shape the story and my response to it. The novel is set in the fictional town of Gatyekarr in the Wimmera, a desert-like region in western Victoria. A barefoot girl walks out of the desert and finds sanctuary with Beth, a regenerative farmer and seed collector. The girl does not speak, and Beth seeks the help of Nate, the local pub owner, to try to understand who the girl is and where she is from.
But Gatyekarr is a small community and like all communities has secrets. And the arrival of the ‘desert girl’, on the eve of the town’s sesquicentennial celebrations is unsettling. Who is she? Where is she from? What is her past? One silent person becomes both catalyst and lightening rod for a town with secrets. Silence is a vacuum, and vacuums are abhorred by nature. Apparently. This vacuum of knowledge is filled with gossip and speculation, with people who see an opportunity in this situation.
And so, the story continues. The land holds the answers. If two narrators, Beth and Nate, provide us with history and human context, I see the land itself as an omniscient third narrator: asking us to listen and observe.
Who is the girl? At some stage in the novel her identity became less important to me than the fact of her presence and her impact on people and place around her.
This is a novel I will revisit. Highly recommended.
‘She hadn’t slept a wink all night, but Ann Inett doesn’t care.’
Ann Inett, mother of two, is found guilty of theft and is sentenced to transportation.‘She hadn’t slept a wink all night, but Ann Inett doesn’t care.’
Ann Inett, mother of two, is found guilty of theft and is sentenced to transportation. She is one of the convicts on the First Fleet which arrived in Botany Bay in 1788, wondering if she will ever see her children again. Naval officer Philip Gidley King, destined to be a future governor of the fledgling colony, is also on the First Fleet.
When Gidley King is sent to establish a colony on Norfolk Island, he asks Ann to be his housekeeper. Living together as husband and wife, Ann is pregnant with their second son, when Gidley King returns to England to report on the colony. Ann, who is hoping they will marry, awaits his return. Imagine her shock when Gidley King returns — two years later— with Anna Josepha, his pregnant wife.
Ms Williams brings this period of colonial history to life. She depicts the hardships and challenges faced both on the eight-month voyage and in the fledgling colony, as well as an unlikely friendship between wife and mistress.
I would recommend this novel to anyone seeking to read historical fiction set during Australia’s early colonial history. The author’s Afterword provides more details about the main (historical) characters while there is a list of Further Reading for those readers keen to know more of the history.
This collection of short stories by the late Georgia Blain (1964-2016) was published posthumously in 2024. I have delayed reading itNine short stories
This collection of short stories by the late Georgia Blain (1964-2016) was published posthumously in 2024. I have delayed reading it, but a recent long road coach trip provided the perfect opportunity. In between stories, I gazed out of the window, moving from New South Wales to Victoria, reflecting on families, life, death and the passage of time.
The nine stories are: Australia Square Dear Professor Brewster Far from home Last days Last one standing Ship to shore Still breathing Sunday We all lived in Bondi then
The story of Australia Square haunts me. The disappearance of a child and the impact of that disappearance. So many questions. And, in Dear Professor Brewster, a daughter corresponds with a doctor about her mother’s dementia. A family is fragmenting, a mother needs care, a daughter tries to hold it all together.
I kept reading, moving through the stories, recognising the familiarity of some situations, wondering ‘What if?’ in others. Ship to Shore had me on the edge of my seat, while Last One Standing had me acutely aware of the loneliness so many of us face as we age.
Each one of these stories is brilliantly self-contained. There’s a deftness in Ms Blain’s writing which directs the reader but does not control. Each story could be told in a novel, but it doesn’t need to be.
‘I was coming back from the buffet car when someone recognised me.’
Bronte learns the hard way about the consequences of posting a drunken rant on TikT‘I was coming back from the buffet car when someone recognised me.’
Bronte learns the hard way about the consequences of posting a drunken rant on TikTok. The immediate impact leaves her without a job, without any money and (probably) without friends. Hoping for a degree of anonymity, Bronte volunteers to be a carer on an isolated property (about 50 kilometres from Bathurst in New South Wales). She will be looking after Veda’s mum, Nell, who lives with dementia. The job is unpaid but will provide Bronte with food and a roof over her head. What could possibly go wrong?
Bronte knows that Veda runs a spiritual rebirthing retreat. But she quickly discovers, after Veda picks her up from the train station, that Veda also claims to be a ‘sovereign citizen’, rejecting the authority of the state. And so, Bronte finds herself in the midst of a clutch of conspiracy theorists. Yes, a wiser person might have left at that stage, but Bronte ignoring several red flags, becomes protective of Nell. The tension increases as the conspiracy theorists make various plans:
‘It was like watching the CWA plan a military coup.’
These people may be misguided, but are they harmless? Hmm. There seems to be a mystery as well: Nell may be confused at times, but there is a secret she keeps referring to.
I’ve read a few novels recently in which ‘sovereign citizens’ play a part. Deluded, misguided and sometimes dangerous, tension is added by their unpredictability. The tension in this story continues to increase as the story builds to the tense finale.
Did I enjoy the story? Not really. I have little patience for ‘sovereign citizens’, their ignorance of the law and their conspiracy theories. But knowing that such people exist (I’ve met some) adds to the tension in this story.
Meet the tea ladies of the Marjorie Marshall Memorial Cafeteria …
… Hilary Halliday, aged 76, ‘the manageress’; Joy Grainger, aged 74, the ‘intern’; anMeet the tea ladies of the Marjorie Marshall Memorial Cafeteria …
… Hilary Halliday, aged 76, ‘the manageress’; Joy Grainger, aged 74, the ‘intern’; and Chloe Foster-Pearson, aged 17, volunteering during school holidays. While Marjorie Marshall herself seems to have been forgotten, the cafeteria has been serving refreshments and raising money for the hospital for over fifty years.
Each of the three women is facing a challenge and then, suddenly, so is the cafeteria. Can Hilary, Joy and Chloe save the cafeteria? Can each of them address their own challenges?
Yes, the word ‘heartwarming’ is often overused, but sometimes it is appropriate. I enjoyed this novel, wondering whether Hilary could come to terms with her changed circumstances and whether Chloe would be able to realise her own dreams. But it was Joy who captured my attention.
In this book, Ms Putnis addresses the journeys made by her Latvian-born grandmothers, Milda (1913-1997‘So, you want to know about Latvia and the war?’
In this book, Ms Putnis addresses the journeys made by her Latvian-born grandmothers, Milda (1913-1997) and Aline (1924-2021), from war-torn Europe to a new life in Australia. In her late twenties, Ms Putnis decided to write about the hidden stories of her grandmothers, about how they survived World War II in Latvia and then journeyed to Australia. By then, Ms Putnis’s maternal grandmother Milda was dead, but she had lived with her daughter’s family for some years beforehand and Ms Putnis had had many conversations with her. Her paternal grandmother, Aline, was willing (after asking some tough questions) to share her story.
In 1942, as a teenager, Aline was separated from her parents and served in Germany’s war-time labour force. In 1944, with the war coming to an end and the Soviet Army poised to replace the Germans, Milda left Latvia with her parents and her eighteen-month-old son Juris. Milda was seven months pregnant. She thought her husband Rudis was dead. Both women ended up in Displaced Persons camps in Germany before arriving in Australia. In the early 1950s, both Milda and Aline settled in Newcastle, where they met through the Latvian migrant community.
There is much more to both stories than this. Stories of heartbreak and trauma, of the need to make difficult decisions and of resilience. Reading this book, I could both understand why the past was not often revisited, and why revisiting the past is so important.
‘Most refugee stories become largely about the next generation born in the new land.’
Understandably, people want to move on from painful memories while also maintaining important cultural and social links and ties. The generation born in the new land will have a different perspective. By providing historical context and speaking with her parents as well as her grandmothers, Ms Putnis succeeds in demonstrating the struggles faced by the Baltic countries of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. These three countries were invaded by Russia, then by Nazi Germany and then by Russia again. Communication with those left behind was difficult.
I finished this book full of admiration for Milda and Aline, and for the way in which Ms Putnis tells their stories.
I would recommend this book to anyone seeking to read an account of how ordinary people navigated extraordinary events during and after World War II.
On Memorial Day in 2019, Geraldine Brooks received a phone call to tell her that her husband of 35 years, Tony Horo‘Is this the home of Tony Horwitz?’
On Memorial Day in 2019, Geraldine Brooks received a phone call to tell her that her husband of 35 years, Tony Horowitz, had died on a Washington DC sidewalk. He was aged sixty.
And there is no time to mourn. The bureaucracy of death requires instant, urgent attention. Like most life partnerships, the work associated with managing and running a household was split, and Geraldine Brooks had to quickly acquaint herself with the responsibilities that had previously been Tony Horwitz’s.
This beautiful memoir shifts between 2019, when Tony Horwitz died, and 2023 when Geraldine Brooks spent time on Flinders Island in Bass Strait giving herself space and time to mourn and reflect, to think about the way other cultures grieve, and to rebuild her own life.
Every page reminded me that most of us, at some stage, will face the death of a life partner. And most of us will be unprepared for what follows. Yes, some people will have made the arrangements required for those who we leave behind, but many of us try to ignore that. Yet, while we are uncomfortable facing our own mortality, few of us would like to leave chaos behind.
‘I suggest that everyone make a document. Call it Your Life: How It Works and periodically update it.’
‘What she was seeing was a human back, a curved spine, and a tangled mess that was human hair.’
Galway, Ireland. Yes, I have read this novel twice. ;-)
‘What she was seeing was a human back, a curved spine, and a tangled mess that was human hair.’
Galway, Ireland. A body is found in a bog. While Detective Cormac Reilly initially thinks it may be an historical find, evidence quickly points to a more recent death. The body belongs to Thaddeus Grey, a local school principal who disappeared two years earlier. He was murdered and his body subjected to ritual mutilation.
Who murdered Thaddeus Grey, and why? Investigations reveal that Grey was a strict disciplinarian who was not well liked but the one person who had a confrontation with him has a strong alibi. In addition to this investigation, Cormac becomes involved in helping his former girlfriend Emma Sweeney, whose husband has disappeared in Paris. He is also under pressure to accept promotion, and his offsider Peter Fisher seems preoccupied.
And elsewhere in Ireland, Carl Rigney thinks he has worked out a perfect plan to win the lottery. The fact that he is employed by the lottery office and therefore ineligible is a minor concern. Cormac and Peter are hard at work on the Grey case when another mutilated body is found on the other side of Ireland. And then a third body. Is there a serial killer at work? And can Cormac find the murderer before anyone else is killed?
There are several separate strands to this story. While I had no difficulty fitting a couple of the strands together, I was less certain about another. Of course, it all made sense by the end, and I remain in awe of Ms McTiernan’s ability to weave together such disparate threads. This is brilliantly plotted fast-paced crime fiction with plenty of twists and a selection of red herrings to keep the reader engaged. And the ending? Both surprising and appropriate.
Yes, I have enjoyed all of Ms McTiernan’s novels so far, but I particularly enjoy the Cormac Reilly series. I hope that there will soon be another instalment.
‘She washes in with the storm, draped upon a tangle of driftwood.’
Dominic Salt and his three children are the final inhabitants on the remote island o‘She washes in with the storm, draped upon a tangle of driftwood.’
Dominic Salt and his three children are the final inhabitants on the remote island of Shearwater, a tiny island between Tasmania and Antarctica and home to the world’s largest seed bank, when an unconscious woman is washed ashore. The Salts are preparing for departure: the sea level is rising, and they are focussed on packing the seeds for transportation.
‘Surviving in remote places is all about setting up contingencies.’
Living on this remote, wild island has had an effect on each of the Salts: Dominic exists in the present but lives in the past; eighteen-year-old Raff is devasted by a loss; seventeen-year-old Fen finds an escape amongst the seals while nine-year-old Orly fears the loss of the natural world he loves.
And the mysterious woman? Her name is Rowan, and the Salts care for her. Why is Rowan on Shearwater? This is one of the mysteries which unfolds, as preparations for departure from Shearwater become more desperate.
What can I say, without spoiling this story? Ms McConaghy has written an atmospheric and engaging novel, one in which heartbreak, love, mystery, secrets and tragedy somehow augment each other in a powerfully effective way. While the natural world is an important part of this story, it was the complex and fragile relationships between individuals that captured my attention.
And the ending? I am still coming to terms with it.
Note: My thanks to NetGalley and Penguin Random House Australia for providing me with a free electronic copy of this book for review purposes.
‘People think that death by drowning would be peaceful. But if there’s any truth to that, it’s a peace that comes after the worst thirty seconds of yo‘People think that death by drowning would be peaceful. But if there’s any truth to that, it’s a peace that comes after the worst thirty seconds of your life.’
Eilean Eadar is a remote Scottish island, with a few hundred human inhabitants and sheep. The story opens with two detective inspectors, Georgina ‘George’ Lennox (who has just returned to duty after an accident) and her partner Richie Stewart arriving on the island from Glasgow. A young man has been found dead at the foot of the island’s lighthouse. What happened?
The islanders, suspicious of outsiders, are not helpful. The local priest inserts himself in almost every interview, and DI Lennox is fighting some demons of her own. Meanwhile, DI Stewart is keen to finalise the case and return home. The island is isolated and claustrophobic, everyone is watchful, and clearly there are secrets. Are those secrets related to the death of the young man?
Part police procedural, part mystery, and totally atmospheric, this debut novel held my attention from beginning to end. DI Lennox’s personal struggles added another dimension to the story, as did the mystery of three lighthouse keepers who disappeared in 1919.
The tension builds as the story moves towards a satisfyingly appropriate conclusion.
Highly recommended.
Note: My thanks to NetGalley and HarperCollins Publishers Australia for providing me with a free electronic copy of this book for review purposes.
Intrigue, treachery, vengeance, violence and some brilliant fantasy: this sequel to ‘She Who Became the Sun’‘How could you fail to achieve your fate?’
Intrigue, treachery, vengeance, violence and some brilliant fantasy: this sequel to ‘She Who Became the Sun’ has it all. In Ms Parker-Chan’s reimagining of the rise of the Ming Dynasty’s founding emperor, Zhe Yuanzhang is utterly ruthless. She completely believes in her ability to seize the imperial throne from the Mongols. But, as the blurb states:
‘…Zhu isn’t the only one with imperial ambitions. Her neighbour, the former courtesan Madam Zhang, wants the throne for her husband – and her powerful kingdom has the strength and resources to wipe Zhu off the map. The only way for Zhu to defeat Madam Zhang is to gamble everything on a risky alliance with an old enemy: the beautiful, traitorous eunuch general Ouyang.’
The stage is set. No spoilers here, but those who are sensitive to violence or relatively graphic descriptions of sexual activity might wish to carefully consider whether this book is for them. I would also note that Zhu is more focussed on action in this sequel, and while I understood the planned endgame, I struggled at times to recognise the Zhu I thought I knew in the first book. Should I also confess that I felt considerable sympathy for Ouyang as the story developed?
My favourite scene is towards the end of the book, on Lake Poyang:
‘That’s what you see out there? Hungry ghosts?’
I finished the novel in two minds. I was reluctant to leave some aspects behind, and happy to farewell others.
Meet Dolly Jamieson. She is seventy-eight years old and was once an international star of the stage. She is n‘Good morning, Dolly. How are you today?’
Meet Dolly Jamieson. She is seventy-eight years old and was once an international star of the stage. She is now ‘between permanent abodes ‘in London: spending her days at the local library keeping warm, sleeping (for the moment) in a stranger’s shed. It could be worse. Dolly enjoys sparring with the officious head librarian while enjoying the free morning tea.
The story shifts between past and present, between Dolly’s life growing up in Geelong, Victoria, and her eventual path to international success, and the uncertainty of present life. And, given Dolly’s successes, I was keen to find out how she found herself homeless in her late seventies.
Enter Jane Leveson. Jane visits the library one day. Dolly recognises her as both a newcomer and a woman in distress. A friendship is formed, and then Jane offers to help Dolly write her memoirs.
Working together enables both women to face tragedies in their lives.
Yes, there are sad aspects in the stories of both women but there are some delightful and fulfilling twists as well. While I enjoyed this novel, with its reminders of life in Australia in the 1950s and 1960s, issues of tragedy and homelessness were never far from my mind. Both Dolly and Jane have important stories to tell, and there is a twist at the end that I found particularly heartwarming. This is the first of Ms Ireland’s novels I have read. I will seek out others.
‘Mystery surrounds the death of a young Melbourne woman whose body was discovered in her St Kilda rental property in the early hours of Saturday morni‘Mystery surrounds the death of a young Melbourne woman whose body was discovered in her St Kilda rental property in the early hours of Saturday morning.’
Nearly ten years later, this murder dubbed ‘the Housemate Homicide’ still baffles Australians. There were three housemates in this house: one dead, one missing and the third accused of murder. Melbourne-based investigative journalist Olive (Oli) Groves worked on this story as a junior reporter and became obsessed by the case.
Oli now works for a different news company and is in a new relationship. Juggling personal commitments and work is a challenge but Oli is drawn back into the past when an apparent suicide north of Melbourne seems to be of the missing housemate: Nicole Horrowitz. Oli, reluctantly paired with millennial podcaster Cooper Ng (apparently, he is good with a camera and has secured an interview with the housemate convicted as a killer) starts investigating.
There are multiple layers to this story. Oli is obsessed by the case and is caught up in a complicated relationship. Oli also must contend with the increasing pressure on print journalism in the immediacy of the digital age. Cooper irritates Oli but their complementary skillsets see them making significant progress. And then the story takes a dark turn.
Plenty of twists, well developed main characters and some truly awful villains all woven together brilliantly.
Wow! This was a book that captured and held my attention from beginning to end.
Jennifer (JC-S)
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