The Blackman family letters paint a picture of a cultural moment

The Blackman family letters paint a picture of a cultural moment

The letters between Charles and Barbara Blackman capture a decade in Australia’s cultural life.

  • byChloe Wolifson

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Walking a tightrope during Stalin’s reign of terror

Walking a tightrope during Stalin’s reign of terror

The protagonist of Malcolm Knox’s new novel is an old chum of Lavrentiy Beria,one of the most sadistic of Stalin’s colleagues.

  • byDaniel Herborn
What to read:A documentary novel about the pandemic,and the joys of trees

What to read:A documentary novel about the pandemic,and the joys of trees

Our reviewers cast their eyes over recently published fiction and non-fiction.

  • byCameron Woodhead andFiona Capp
Escaping the bonds of class and ‘the heterosexual dictatorship’

Escaping the bonds of class and ‘the heterosexual dictatorship’

Christopher Isherwood is best known as the creator of the Berlin stories that were turned into the play,musical and film,Cabaret. But there was more to his life than that.

  • byOwen Richardson
Welcome to the season for big novels from big names

Welcome to the season for big novels from big names

September marks the beginning of the peak publishing season. Here is a selection of the novels coming from here and overseas in the next couple of months.

  • byNicole Abadee
Someone used the Maori chef’s knives for murder,but was it him?

Someone used the Maori chef’s knives for murder,but was it him?

J.P. Pomare’s latest crime novel uncovers the role racism plays in the criminal justice system.

  • bySue Turnbull
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In the air with the man who hunted Hitler’s giant battleship

In the air with the man who hunted Hitler’s giant battleship

When Mark Baker writes about the operational activities of the men who sank the Tirpitz,his book really flies.

  • byEdmund Goldrick
How the death of his brother left this writer unmoored

How the death of his brother left this writer unmoored

When Gideon Haigh’s brother died he was utterly bereft. Now he has written about how the tragedy changed his life.

  • byPeter Craven
The Australian female pioneers who blazed a trail in the United States

The Australian female pioneers who blazed a trail in the United States

Yves Rees’ book tells the story of 10 Australian women who left the country to find their way in early 20th-century America.

  • byRachelle Unreich
What to read:A propulsive Brisbane satire and a warning from history

What to read:A propulsive Brisbane satire and a warning from history

Our reviewers cast their eyes over recently published fiction and non-fiction.

  • byCameron Woodhead andSteven Carroll
The hidden darkness that lies at the heart of Impressionism

The hidden darkness that lies at the heart of Impressionism

Sebastian Smee’s book looks at the wider influences on visual art that are not necessarily marked on the canvas.

  • bySimon Caterson