The Wing of Night by Brenda Walker The horsemen sailed at five o'clock when the day was almost over and although they were travelling to do the hard work of fighting England's enemies it felt like knock-off time on the last day of the harvest: a golden afternoon, full barns and a safe year ahead, … Continue reading My Reading – March to May 2025

The Whispering Muse by Laura Purcell The offer was too good to be true. I knew that from the start. The Drowned by John Banville He had lived alone for so long, so far away from the world and its endless swarms of people, that when he saw the strange thing standing at a slight … Continue reading My Reading – February 2025

Citizen to Soldier: Australia Before the Great War : Recollections of Members of the First A.I.F. by J N I Dawes and L L Robson Most of the 416,000 men who enlisted in the 1st A.I.F. had their attitudes shaped during the first decade of Australian Federation. Tin Man By Sarah Winman All Dora Judd … Continue reading My Reading – January 2025

Crucible by J.P. McKinney“Any erfs, madam?”“Oui, m’sieur. Assayez-vous.” Held by Anne MichaelsWe know life is finite. Why should we believe death lasts forever? The Season by Helen GarnerI pull up at the kerb. I love this park they train in.

The Gates of Memory: Australian People’s Experiences of Memories of Loss and the Great War by Tanja Luckins On 11 November 1993, the 75th anniversary of the end of the Great War, an Unknown Soldier was entombed in the Hall of Memory at the Australian War Memorial in Canberra. Digger Smith and Australia’s Great War: … Continue reading My Reading – October & November 2024

The Middle Parts of Fortune by Frederic Manning The darkness was increasing rapidly, as the whole sky had clouded, and threatened thunder. There was still some desultory shelling. Broken Nation: Australians in the Great War by Joan Beaumont Clarence Joe Russell, known to his family as Joe, volunteered to serve in the Australian Infantry Force … Continue reading My Reading – July to September 2024

Long Island by Colm Tóibín ‘That Irishman has been here again,’ Francesca said, sitting down at the kitchen table. The Labour of Loss: Mourning, Memory and Wartime Bereavement in Australia by Joy Damousi ‘No event has ever destroyed so much,’ wrote Sigmund Freud a year after the outbreak of the First World War, ‘that has … Continue reading My Reading – May & June 2024