Tale soars with derring-do
The Fabulous Flying Mrs Miller tells the story of a little-known and fascinating adventurer.
Books
City of the 60s in focus
Bruce Beresford fell in love with Madeleine St John’s novel The Women in Black as soon as he read it.
Alt-right turns to Austen
References to the bonnet-wearing author repeatedly pop up in speeches by leaders of the mostly male movement.
Reese’s next Aussie story
After Big Little Lies, Reese Witherspoon’s production company have their eyes on another Australian book.
Suburbs a kind of prison
A strong sense of place is a vital characteristic of our national literary imagination.
Daily doses of dread
“Today I saw an eight-year-old being given a weapon to execute an old man,” starts an entry in this frightening book.
Escape is all about the ball
Sexually speaking James Brown was a drive-through in his years as the editor of Loaded.
Clues on nature of wildness
Yellowstone’s most famous fish resident, the cutthroat trout, is in trouble.
Poison and its companions
Helen Garner celebrates an author who combines lethal clinical science with poetic human storytelling.
Overlords and underworld
A working girl dies during a debauched orgy. Her death sets in train events in which lives are snuffed out.
Carey’s historical sweep
Peter Carey has lived in New York for the past 25 years but his forthcoming novel transported him back to Australia.
Ingenue finds love, she thinks
This is a love story, though this is the least worldly romance you will likely read this year.
Struggle to save Spain
The barbarity of the Spanish Civil War is brought graphically into focus by author Adam Hochschild.
Real misery and anger
Europe of the late 18th and early 19th centuries was ablaze with war and revolution.
‘How the hell did this happen?’
PJ O’Rourke’s take on Donald Trump’s rise to power is funny, serious and full of questions no one can answer.
Women kick goals 100 years ago
In fits and starts, women’s AFL has been hampered and helped by world wars, cultural change, and popular opinion.
Modern twist to a gore-fest
Greek mythology continues to play a leading role in the works of David Vann.
Messiah search ends in tears
Only Paul Keating’s takeover from Bob Hawke in 1991 could be considered a success.
Soap opera of giants and gods
Neil Gaiman approaches the myths reasonably accurately, reasonably colourfully and reasonably chronologically.
Feminism for elite white women
Ariel Levy’s new book buys into corrosive myth that feminism promises each woman she can have whatever she wants.
Original URL: https://www.theaustralian.com.au/arts/books/page/198