Billie King by Shannon Kelly-White

 

Stirring! Heartbreaking! Fair dinkum! Beautiful! I’ve run out of adjectives; it’s a bit hard to think, smiling through my tears. My parents were children of Depression-era Australia, and if they were still around today I think they would say Shannon Kelly-White has nailed it. 

Heroes come in all kinds of shapes and sizes, and there are some true heroes in this story. Billie King lives with her broken down, alcoholic father, Ken. She knows Ken loves her but he is unable to provide adequately for her, and she goes to school wearing ragged clothes which makes her an object of derision for the kids at school. As well, she is beaten by the judgmental, sadistic Sister Claire; so school isn’t where Billie wants to be. Billie has a burning need to find her mother, Anna, who disappeared when Billie was a baby.

This is the story of Billie’s search for Anna. The story is written in the Australian vernacular which it makes it even more poignant, somehow. There are some shining, beautiful souls out there in the bush, from the lady bushranger to the carnival boxer. I was taken back to my childhood when we were given a half day off to go to the Brookvale show; the scary drumbeat, the skinny young fellas in their robes standing up on the platform, inviting the punters to come up and have a go at knocking one of them out.

Shannon Kelly-White writes about animals with the kind of sensitivity which would make the late Jillie Cooper proud. Billie King belongs with Cloud Street and Boy Swallows Universe as an Australian classic. I feel privileged to have read it; I congratulate Shannon Kelly-White and I thank NetGalley for giving me this opportunity.

Published by Harper Collins

Honey by Imani Thompson

 

As I got into this book I kept thinking in the back of my mind that it would be a hard one to review; that is, until I got to the serial killer bit, and I was back in my comfort zone.

Yrsa is doing a PHD at Cambridge on ‘how Afropessimism is shaping black women’s discourses on their liberation’. Yrsa’s interactions with her parents and especially her Caribbean grandmother have influenced her way of thinking as well as, of course, her studies into her chosen PHD subject.  She has a genuine need to protest on behalf of black women’s rights, but she has become obsessed, thereupon opening the box in which her basic instincts have been hiding, and now she doesn’t want to put the lid back on.

Yrsa kills bad men who need killing. She doesn’t waste much thought on her victims after each deed is done, except for making sure she doesn’t get caught. She also hooks up with men she is attracted to but hates. There are some funny lines through the book, such as …“Why can’t she just shag in peace? Why do men have to speak?” but as Yrsa’s mental state appears to deteriorate they’re not so funny any more. There is an important clue towards the end of the book which goes a long way towards explaining how Yrsa acts the way she does, and is the kind of thing that stories like this one usually start with. Honey was altogether a very interesting read.

Thank you NetGalley for giving me the opportunity to read this book. I hope Imani Thompson is planning on writing more.

Published by Harper Collins

Henry Goes Bush by Wayne Marshall

 

In 1892 J F Archibald, publisher and editor of the Sydney newspaper The Bulletin, promoted a debate between Australia’s best known and best loved poets, Henry Lawson and Banjo Paterson. Lawson’s poetry spoke of the hardships endured by people living in the outback, while Paterson’s poems were all about the romantic beauty and heroic challenges of life in the bush. Archibald had a couple of problems with Henry, however, one being that Henry had never been any further out of Sydney than Bathurst; and the other, more importantly, was Henry’s drinking which, by the time Henry was twenty five, was out of control. In an attempt to solve both problems, Archibald had Henry brought to his Sydney office where he gave him five pounds and a train ticket to Bourke, where he was to try experiencing the real bush and so coming up with more poems to add to the debate.

In Henry Goes Bush, Wayne Marshall imagines a weird and wonderful version of Henry Lawson’s time in Bourke. Obviously, it is going to be up to everyone who reads the book to come up with her or his own interpretation of Henry’s psychedelic adventures. I’ve decided Henry was suffering delirium tremens, but then again, his friends weren’t, were they? I’m not a profound enough thinker to solve the mysteries in the book but I do know that I enjoyed every page of this kind of colonial Australian Alice in Wonderland meets The Wizard of Oz. I had my own rather battered collection of Henry Lawson’s books from my long ago childhood days but, sadly, they were destroyed in a flood three years ago.

There is just one thing I would suggest to Wayne Marshall: pack up a copy of this book and send it to Quentin Tarantino immediately. I’ve already seen the movie in my head but it needs to get out into the world. 

Published by Picador, Pan Macmillan Australia.

The Architects of Control by Harold Greene

 

The Allagash woods, northern Maine near the Canadian border , in the not too distant future. A massive solar farm has been erected over many hectares of land outside the town of New Denmark by Brightleaf, a company whose representatives had made convincing arguments regarding the company’s integrity as well as many benefits for the community, including a new fire station complete with brand new fire engine.

The Architects of Control is an intense, exciting, imaginative political thriller. Here in Australia where our population is less than a tenth of America’s we have compulsory voting, and each voter’s name is crossed off the electoral role as they register on the day of the election. The system is probably open to rorting of some sort; I don’t know how effectively it could be done, but I’m sure that if it can happen, it will. But what if, instead of rigging the votes, it could be made possible to rig the voters’ minds? The death of democracy by stealth!

Meanwhile, back in New Denmark, Deputy Robert Pures is dealing with the discovery of some unusual illegal immigrants, and also a critical incident involving young Deputy Anders Erikson. Robert is a grieving widower whose daughter, Lucy, is the town manager. Robert’s beloved wife, Sarah, is introduced into the book in the prologue so I suggest you tuck her away into a safe space in your mind before you proceed with your reading.

Regardless of which side of the divide you are on in relation to American politics, if you like political thrillers you will love this. Harold Greene has written a superb story about politics now, and into the possibly foreseeable future.

Published by Black Trumpet Press.

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The Italian Correspondent by Belinda Alexandra

 

I’m casting the movie of The Italian Correspondent in my mind and I keep seeing Blake Lively as Veronica because I think she could capture the kind of mid-twentieth century glamour that belongs with this story. Veronica Gold began her career in the 1930s as a cadet journalist with the New York Times, then became Vogue Magazine’s Italian correspondent attached to the Eighth Army during the Second World War.

By 1951 Veronica is trying to bring some peace, calm and orderliness into her life; living in Italy, covering fashion shows and attempting to write a novel about Pompeii. She has witnessed the horrors of war and also taken two enormous personal blows. The stunning backdrop to her story is Italy, from Rome to Positano and the Italian countryside.

After the war to end all wars came the Cold War, countries were developing nuclear weapons, there were spies everywhere, Burgess and McLean defected and the CIA had a presence in Italy. In the midst of all this Veronica’s life is once again filled with drama; there is intrigue, romance and a shocking murder.

Veronica Gold is one person whose parting words were never going to be: Is that all there is?

Good one, Belinda!

Published by Harper Collins

Talking it over and Love, etc by Julian Barnes

 

I’ve just finished reading Talking it Over, followed by Love, etc. Talking it Over was typically fabulous Julian Barnes but it did require a sequel - or I did anyway, and Love, etc was the perfect sequel.

Oliver, Stuart and Gillian are the narrators through both books, with an occasional appearance, when necessary, from related voices. Sensible, plodding Stuart and barbed tongued, narcissistic Oliver are childhood friends, and irresistible art restorer Gillian is, at first, Stuart’s love interest. But what Stuart has, Oliver wants and so it begins. No one is particularly nice or well behaved, not even, and probably especially not, Stuart. Gillian seems to exist for the purpose of shaping Stuart’s and Oliver’s destinies. I went from not caring much for her at all to sympathising deeply with her.

I hate coming to the end of a Julian Barnes book which is why I was so happy to discover Love, etc. Is there yet another chapter to this story? I will have to find out.

Published by Vintage books

When the Party’s Over by Katie Hoskins

 

There is a line in this book which says it all: “Knowing they had so much, yet unable to bear not having more”. 

Natalie has a husband, Ben, and three small children, the youngest being Toby who is eighteen months old. Natalie is having a party at home for her 36th birthday, her parents will be keeping the children at their home and Natalie is looking forward to a child-free night among friends. It is, however, the  morning after when disaster strikes, and Natalie’s world starts to fall apart.

Meanwhile Natalie’s friends, Amanda and Sammy, have troubles of their own, Amanda being happy with what they have, and Sammy wanting more. Although the quote above was written about them, it applies pretty much to everyone in the book. 

Another friend, Lisa, single and gorgeous, also hankers for what she can’t have. I must admit I didn’t twig to who was the cause of Lisa’s problem until just a few pages before it was revealed. I must also admit to being stunned by the revelation regarding Natalie and her family. I’m not giving anything away here, though.

This is definitely a book about First World problems, but that label is not meant to diminish their importance. I liked Katie Hoskins’ writing very much, and I hope she is planning to come up with more thought-provoking books in the future.

Published by Pan Macmillan.