Helen Garner’s new book, The Season, follows her youngest grandson’s season playing with an under-16s Australian Rules football team in Melbourne’s inner west in 2023. Garner writes with honesty about her experience of ageing – not just the physical changes – but the fear of being alone and redundant as she watches her grandchildren move into adulthood.
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The Clunes Booktown Festival returns this weekend marking its 19th year as one of Australia’s most cherished regional literary events.
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Les Pitt’s Mud, Blood and Gold provides brief vignettes of some of Daylesford’s founders and administrators, a summary of the various goldmines and leads, the development of the Daylesford Hospital, some of the scandals of the era and the establishment of some of the institutions we still have today.
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Federation University Honourary Professor Barry Golding launched his new book, Six Peaks Speak, Unsettling Legacies in Southern Dja Dja Wurrung Country, at the Castlemaine Visitor Information Centre last week in front of a diverse crowd of about 100. The book tells the stories of six significant volcanic peaks in the Central Victorian goldfields.
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The Paradise Books Review Crew presents a range of books for young readers. And just in time for Christmas!
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John Boyne’s “Water” and Jelena Dokic’s “Unbreakable” explore issues of child abuse. Both books, one fictional, one factual give us some insight into how indicators of child abuse can be ignored. Reading them can help start conversations about how and what we can do to respond.
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The Review Crew is a monthly free program run by Devon at Paradise Bookshop for local kids aged 10–15 years old. The Crew meets after school on the last Monday of every month to read and review new books and help curate the Young Adult and Junior Fiction shelves. This is the first of their reviews!
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Michael Gawenda, former senior editor of The Age, has a Jewish background and his book is a reflection of what that has meant in his personal life and his professional career.
Read MoreMichael Klim has recently released his memoir, Klim, the subject of September’s 2nd Thursday Book Review on Hepburn Radio. He talks about his swimming career, his family history and his struggles with debilitating illness. Lesley Hewitt says the book will inspire more than those who are only interested in swimming as a sport.
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Words in Winter is a celebration of words, stories and ideas shared by locals and visiting authors and artists through readings, poetry, theatre, music, talks, workshops and exhibitions. The festival starts this evening and runs through the weekend.
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From the Top, a memoir by Tom Robb describes his life as a “Traveller, Outlaw, and Producer”. The book is full of anecdotes about the various countries Tom’s Australian Entertainment Company (AEC) performed in, including Europe, the Middle East and Asia. It is in the end, a warm and moving account of a life well lived.
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Lesley Hewitt reviews “My Father’s Suitcase”, a disturbing book about sibling abuse by local author, Mary Garden.
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