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New Books+Publishing reviews out now

Books+Publishing’s latest Reviews newsletter contains 18 reviews of books publishing in September and October 2016.

Goodwood (Holly Throsby, A&U, October) is one of three books to receive the highest score of 4.5 stars. Impressed by Throsby’s ability to apply ‘the moody introspection of her songs to a page-turning mystery’, reviewer Carody Culver calls Goodwood ‘a nuanced portrayal of the damage created by hidden truths in tight-knit communities’.

Clementine Ford’s Fight Like a Girl (A&U, October) is an ‘engaging debut’ that ‘surveys what it means to be a girl in the world today’, writes Veronica Sullivan, who also gives the book 4.5 stars. Sullivan recommends it for ‘young people encountering feminism for the first time’, as well as ‘readers seeking a thoughtful snapshot of the modern movement’s most urgent priorities’.

The third book to receive 4.5 stars is From the Edge: Australia’s Lost Histories (Mark McKenna, Miegunyah Press, October). ‘From the Edge is striking in its ability to fold together the present and the past and illuminate the way in which so much of Australia’s Indigenous and local history has remained neglected,’ writes reviewer Aron Paul.

Also reviewed are:

Audiobook:

The Boy behind the Curtain (Tim Winton, Bolinda, October).

Fiction:

The Best of Adam Sharp (Graeme Simsion, Text, October); The Better Son (Katherine Johnson, Ventura Press, October); The Birdman’s Wife (Melissa Ashley, Affirm Press, October); Family Skeleton (Carmel Bird, UWA Publishing, September); The Fence (Meredith Jaffé, Macmillan, September); The Locksmith’s Daughter (Karen Brooks, Harlequin, October); On the Blue Train (Kristel Thornell, A&U, October); and The Science of Appearances (Jacinta Halloran, Scribe, September).

Nonfiction:

1787: The Lost Chapters of Australia’s Beginnings (Nick Brodie, Hardie Grant, September); Bob Ellis: In His Own Words (Bob Ellis, Black Inc., October); The Death of Holden: The End of an Australian Dream (Royce Kurmelovs, Hachette, September); Pitched Battle: In the Frontline of the 1971 Springbok Tour of Australia (Larry Writer, Scribe, October); The Promise of Things (Ruth Quibell, MUP, October); and Shine: The Making of the Australian Netball Diamonds (Jenny Sinclair & Megan Maurice, Finch, October).

This month also features interviews with Clementine Ford, Meredith Jaffé and Holly Throsby, and Q&As with international authors Lionel Shriver, Angela Flournoy, Chris Cleave and Lev Grossman in advance of their writers festival appearances.

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Category: Recently published by B+P