Last Man in Tower Aravind Adiga Allen & Unwin The good people of an old apartment block in Mumbai have been offered a fortune to move out.  It is as if they have won Lotto.  But unless they all accept the offer, no-one can benefit.  There is a problem, however – Masterji does not want […]

For the patriarch Angelo Loukakis Krinos The glowing endorsement on the front of this collection of short stories is from Patrick White and at first glance I thought ‘What? Did he speak from beyond the grave?’ but my confusion was short-lived. This is a new publication of Angelo Loukakis’ 1981 volume. The original won a […]

The Unforgiving Rope: Murder and Hanging on Australia’s Western Frontier Simon Adams UWAP Have you got one of those relatives, the kind who insists that the answer to all the world’s problems is to bring back hanging? You know who I mean. They usually live in a fantasy land called the Good Old Days. Yes? […]

Utopian Man Lisa Lang Allen & Unwin I enjoy reviewing books for the Overland blog. This is my fourth. I tell all my friends and anyone who will listen about the books I am reading. A few weeks ago I met my friend Sarah for a coffee and she asked, ‘What are you going to […]

My Sister Chaos Lara Fergus Spinifex Press There are three characters in this intense story: twin sisters and a house. The women are never named and the location of the house is never given – although the trams suggest somewhere in Melbourne – and their shared history suggests Bosnia or perhaps Kosovo. Fergus has been […]

From Moree to Mabo: The Mary Gaudron Story Pamela Burton UWAP From Moree to Mabo is the compelling and readable biography of a remarkable lawyer. Although some of the detailed analysis of the key cases and political turmoils of Mary Gaudron’s time as Solicitor General of NSW can be overwhelming, it is hard to put […]

Life on the Edge: The Autobiography of Ralph de Boissière Lexicon Trinidad Limited Ralph de Boissière lived for a hundred years and wrote five novels but this autobiography may be the story that de Boissière was always meant to tell. Born in Trinidad in 1907 he migrated to Melbourne in 1948 and lived the rest […]