Biography and memoir
Graft: Motherhood, Family and a Year on the Land by Maggie MacKellar
In any study of nature, there must be some attempt to grapple with the cycles of life. Maggie MacKellar has perhaps had more cause than most to contemplate these rhythms. In Graft, which is billed as a memoir of…
I Had a Father in Karratha by Annette Trevitt
Following the sudden death of her father, Annette Trevitt becomes a regular visitor to Karratha as the executor of her father’s will. What follows is an almost three-year journey to untangle the web he has left behind. Between Karratha and…
Did I Ever Tell You This? by Sam Neill
I feel like I have known Sam Neil my whole life. I cannot remember a time when he wasn’t on my screen. And it is always a joy to see him. His memoir (of sorts) is exactly what I expected…
The God of No Good by Sita Walker
It’s hard to believe that The God of No Good is Sita Walker’s first book. Almost from the outset, Walker establishes the stakes: ‘Love and pain are two fangs of the same snake. You cannot be pierced by one without…
Still Pictures: On Photography and Memory by Janet Malcolm
The cliché says that a picture is worth a thousand words, but it’s hard to imagine erudite and prolific Janet Malcolm ever letting a photo do all the talking. In the posthumously published Still Pictures: On Photography and Memory…
Wandering with Intent: Essays by Kim Mahood
This is a rich and enjoyable collection of writings that combines Kim Mahood’s reflections on art and literature with her unique life experiences. Moving between desert and coast, between the sparsely populated remote interior and densely populated cities, the 17…
Diary of a Tuscan Bookshop by Alba Donati
Once upon a time in a tiny walled medieval village in Tuscany, with roughly 180 inhabitants, not long before a great plague descended, a woman returned to her birthplace. This beautiful place made of stone and brick had elliptical, concentric…
A Year with Wendy Whiteley by Ashleigh Wilson
There’s something about those cool girls who hang out with dangerous boys: think Marianne Faithfull, Anita Pallenberg, and of course, Wendy Whiteley. Wild, smart, stylish, artistic and hypnotic, they were often tagged with the term ‘muse’, but they were so…
Novelist as a Vocation by Haruki Murakami
Haruki Murakami was the first fiction writer who spurred me into reading books. He is a constant reminder of why I enjoy reading, and it is an honour for me to write this review, and a treat to discover the…
Tell Me Again: A Memoir by Amy Thunig
The best memoirs immerse readers in the world of the author, becoming a viewfinder through which you experience not just the events of someone’s life but also the perspective and frame of mind that underpin those moments. Gomeroi academic Amy…
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