Culture
Books
A melancholy family saga, a year of mudlarking and other new books
Our reviewers cast their eyes over new fiction and non-fiction releases.
- by Cameron Woodhead and Steven Carroll
Latest
Get your kids off their screens with our pick of 2024’s kids’ books
Lure your kids away from their screens these holidays with our top pick of picture books, middle-grade and young adult fiction.
- by Frances Atkinson
Retelling of Iranian embassy siege is as gripping as an action film
Ben MacIntyre’s thrilling account of the siege that gripped the world offer some astonishing new details.
- by Simon Caterson
Alex Miller’s novel skilfully explores the redemptive power of art
Miller has often drawn on the experience of art and artists and The Deal is no exception.
- by Michael McGirr
John Marsden kick-started a boom in Australian YA fiction
The phenomenally successful author, who died last week, believed “intensity” was the key to writing for teenage readers.
- by Jane Sullivan
John Marsden taught me how to have a big, brave life
Marsden had huge respect for young people and wrote for them with genuine authenticity. He also challenged the ways we might parent our children.
- by Sally Rippin
Updated
Vale
Acclaimed Australian author John Marsden dies aged 74
The bestselling author’s 1993 novel Tomorrow, When the War Began was a major hit that was adapted into a film and TV series.
- by Lachlan Abbott and Debbie Cuthbertson
Australian gothic, cat ladies and an elegy to oceans: eight new books
Our reviewers cast their eyes over new fiction and non-fiction titles.
- by cameron woodhead and Fiona capp
I am baffled by Nikki Gemmell’s new ‘feminist’ novel
Wing features a cast of truly awful, nasty people. What is Gemmell trying to achieve here?
- by Helen Elliott
Woman who cried Woolf: contradictory voices bring us closer to truth
Michelle de Kretser’s seventh novel blends genres of essay, fiction and memoir.
- by Jo Case
Crime writer Jacqueline Bublitz gives a voice to forgotten women
The New Zealand-born author was warned off writing from a dead woman’s perspective but ignored the advice.
- by Kerrie O'Brien
Original URL: https://www.watoday.com.au/culture/books