The Patron Saint of Eels by Gregory Day
11 April, 2005
You know those books where when you finish, you need to pause for a moment, holding the book tightly, because it was just so lovely? The Patron Saint of Eels is one of those. The blurb focuses on Fra Ionio, the saint of the title, who has come to a Victorian coastal town following his flock who migrated from Italy post-war.

Deception by Celeste Walters
11 April, 2005
Young adult and adult readers who love a solid and thought-provoking read will relish this new novel from the author of The Killing of Mud-Eye. Josh is in his final year of school and having a hard time of it. His mother Liz works in a factory to support him and his grandad. She takes a second job as cleaner to a highflying and corrupt businessman, who becomes attracted to her despite her opposition to everything he stands for.

The Last Word by Jenny Chantry & Mike McKay
20 March, 2005
Decides to write review in style of novel just read. Suggests to reader that if this is not to taste, avoid book. Gives up after three sentences as lack of pronouns and definite articles begins to grate. This style of writing can be a really cute, fun and interesting narrative device. However, maintain it—with no other style for contrast—over nearly 300 pages and you risk having a recipe for intense reader aggravation. The premise of The Last Word is terrific.

Vincenzo's Garden by John Clanchy
20 March, 2005
If you were looking for a collection of perfect short stories, you could hardly do better than to pick up John Clanchy’s new book. The seven tales in Vincenzo’s Garden are uniformly controlled, beautifully constructed and masterfully executed. In ‘Late Cruising’, a middle-aged man revisits his past, a disastrous driving tour of southern France, when his insecurities over money and sexuality led to a breakup with his best friend.

The Catch by Marg Vandeleur
20 March, 2005
Being single isn’t easy and theatrical agent Letty Summers knows it. Her partner has dumped her for an orthodontist, she can’t commit to Weekly Weighers and the events manager for Solos Online feels sorry for her. At 35, she knows her time is running out. Every week Letty juggles work, comedians, Tim Tams and yet another hilarious encounter with perspective sperm donors. Until Robert Darling—unattached, gay, gorgeous and desperate for a child—places an ad.

The Wish List by Melanie La'Brooy
20 March, 2005
Set in Melbourne, reading Melanie La ‘Brooy’s latest book The Wish List is like sitting down with a local cast of ‘Sex in the City’ meets ‘Friends’. The story revolves around a very likeable group of girlfriends—Chloe (think Charlotte from ‘Sex in the City’), Meg (think Samantha), Lucy (a scattier and cuddlier version of Carrie) and their various male interests. But the core of the story is the relationship between Lucy and Tom; an on again/off again couple who can’t seem to turn off their quirky bond.

The Mermaid Cafe by Andy Maconachie
3 March, 2005
Country boy and upcoming artist Wallace Newman is awarded an arts grant and moves to a hotel at Sydney’s Coogee beach to paint pictures of mermaids. Almost as soon as he arrives, he becomes involved in the lives of an array of characters, including an embittered prostitute, a highly strung hotel manager and an elusive swimmer who develops into his mermaid-like muse.

Odd Socks by Ilsa Evans
2 March, 2005
Ilsa Evans, author of Spin Cycle, Drip Dry and now Odd Socks has a mission to celebrate the ordinary in life. Enter divorcee mother of two Terry Diamond and her fairly typical suburban life: mismatched boyfriend, bearable job, tricky family life and a best friend with a Rudolph-the-reindeer fetish … See!

The Raft by Alan Mills
2 March, 2005
A long-running comic series about a mythical superhero called Zardan has been the life’s work of middle-aged Martin Napier. Devastated when he finds out the series is being axed, Napier agrees to his wife’s request to take a family holiday on a property in isolated Far North Queensland.

Raw by Scott Monk, read by David Tredinnick
28 February, 2005
Brett Dalton is in trouble. He’s an angry young man, with a dangerous temper and no future. When a magistrate sentences him to three months at ‘The Farm’ for a break-and-enter, Brett is given the time, and support, to evaluate his life and learn painful lessons about friendship, trust, love, and loss. Monk’s engaging tale provides his readers with didactic elements on conflict resolution, and coping strategies that don’t involve using your fists.

The Best Australian Science Fiction Writing: A Fifty Year Collection by Rob Gerrand (ed)
27 February, 2005
Black Inc’s ‘Best Australian’ series—short stories, essays, sports writing and now poetry—have become an annual staple. This massive anthology is a rather different beast—a 50-year survey of a genre in which Australian authors are still very well represented, but arguably not as well known as they should be: science fiction.

The Turning by Tim Winton
26 February, 2005
Just the thought of a new Tim Winton must have every bookseller in the country rubbing their hands together with glee and ordering up big! (Bear in mind that, according to APA figures, Dirt Music sold over 100,000 copies in hardback alone.) Winton’s new book, The Turning, is an extraordinary collection of short stories linked by their locations and many of their characters. Set in the small coastal towns at the southern end of Western Australia, Winton gives his readers an incredibly sensual picture of Angelus and its neighbours.

The Goddamn Bus of Happiness by Stefen Laszczuk
26 February, 2005
Recipient of the best unpublished manuscript award at this year’s Adelaide Festival Awards for Literature, Stefan Laszczuk’s novel The Goddamn Bus of Happiness is a quirky and unusual piece of writing. The story centres on 28-year-old Mico—unemployed, uneducated, going nowhere except the local pub.

I Have a Bed Made of Buttermilk Pancakes by Jaclyn Moriarty
26 February, 2005
Jaclyn Moriarty’s first novel for adults is wacky, sensitive and just plain fun. Better known as a writer for young adults, Moriarty’s newest book is billed as ‘a fairytale for grown-ups’ and it certainly lives up to the tag—this is feel-good comedy with a touch of magic.

The Iron Tree by Cecilia Dart-Thornton
26 February, 2005
Cecilia Dart-Thornton has returned with a new tale set in a new world, Tir. The Iron Tree is the first novel in the ‘Crowthistle’ trilogy. In her hallmark style, Dart-Thornton weaves a story that is at once new, but also familiar as it brings to mind half-forgotten folk tales.

No Trace by Barry Maitland
26 February, 2005
Three young girls have disappeared—the police think that the first two cases are almost definitely linked, but what of the third missing girl, the daughter of a publicity-seeking artist? Set among the art world in the recently and uneasily gentrified East End of London, Maitland’s eighth Brock and Kolla novel combines a page-turning plot with well-drawn characters.

Seeing George by Cassandra Austin
26 February, 2005
This review gives the game away so don’t read on if you want to be surprised by the twist in Seeing George’s tale. That said, readers discover relatively early that Seeing George is about a woman who ‘sees’ a dragon—a green- and purple-scaled Irish sea dragon no less—where other characters see a man.

Becoming Billy Dare by Kirsty Murray
26 February, 2005
Following his mother’s wishes, Paddy Delaney begins studying to be a priest at St Columcille’s seminary in Dublin. When his mother dies suddenly Paddy runs away from the strict seminary life and stows away on a ship bound for Australia.

Indo Dreaming by Neil Grant
26 February, 2005
In this follow-up to 2002’s Rhino Chasers, Neil Grant takes his protagonist on a spiritual expedition to find his dead friend and ultimately himself. Goog’s journey mirrors that of the reader. Where Rhino Chasers took the characters to dangerous places against a familiar backdrop, Indo Dreaming takes both protagonist and reader to uncharted territory and off the map of what is safe and known.

Wrong about Japan: A Father's Journey with His Son by Peter Carey
26 February, 2005
In a departure from what we have come to expect from this two-time Man Booker prize-winning novelist, Peter Carey’s latest offering is a memoir about travelling to Tokyo with his 12-year-old, five-foot-eight son Charley. The story he tells offers insight into his relationship with his adolescent son and provides an interesting account of what it is to be a gaijin (foreigner) in one of the most exciting and intriguing places on earth.

The Hanging Tree by Jillian Watkinson
25 February, 2005
This book gave me strange dreams. Clear, starry nights; orange, dusty nowheres; voices around campfires; the smell of chlorine on hot family days around a pool in the suburbs. And, always, the sound of grown men sobbing.

I Have Kissed Your Lips by Gerard Windsor
25 February, 2005
Tales about both fallen priests and incest seem to exert an endless fascination on the Australian mind. We are rightly shocked and horrified when we hear stories of abuse, but when the issue is not paedophilia but sex between consenting adults, the lines become blurred.

Almost Perfect by Dianne Blacklock
21 February, 2005

The Chronicles of Kydan Book 1: Born of Empire by Simon Brown
21 February, 2005

Coronation Talkies by Susan Kurosawa
21 February, 2005