Book Review: A Hibiscus Coast by Nick Mulgrew (Karavan Press) In these turbulent South African times of violence and disquiet, many conversations have turned to emigration. In that context I found A Hibiscus Coast to be an honest, compelling and soothing look at family, migration and dispossession. The author takes us to Durban North, 1997, where a suburban murder rocks…
Tag: books
Book Review – The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society
I am sure many of you have already read the Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society. I know it was written in 2008 so I am very late to this party. Yet what a party it turns out to be. But perhaps, like me, you didn’t read it in 2008 (I suddenly remember why I didn’t. I had two…
Book Review – Death Other Happy Endings.
Way back in the olden days – Also known as Early March 2020 – when we still had Bookclub – I took out Death & Other Happy Endings by Melanie Cantor. It took me a while to knuckle down and read it because I didn’t feel like a death book, especially in the midst of a pandemic. I eventually decided,…
2019 – launches, festivals and fun
My last blog post was in JULY!!! What is wrong with me? Did I get writer’s block? Did I become a recluse? Did I surf too much? NOOOO, none of the above. (I don’t believe in writer’s block, I love ALL the friends and it’s impossible to surf too much.) Instead, I was carried away on the crazy wonderful roller…
Book Review – Surfing With Sartre
Surfing with Sartre by Aaron James Did you know that one of the first casualties of climate change might be surfing as we know it? Desert Point could be the first to go. Even at current sea levels it only works on a low tide. Many other breaks could follow as rising oceans swamp reefs. What greater cataclysm could befall…
May’s Author 18 Feature – Joanne Serling
The debut novelist I am featuring for the month of May is Joanne Serling. Joanne’s book Good Neighbours is Literary Fiction and was published by Twelve. (Twelve is part of the Hachette Book Group, who also publish, among others, David Baldacci, Jeffrey Deaver, Malcom Gladwell and Michael Connelly.) BLURB “Joanne Serling’s ice-pick of a debut novel, Good Neighbors, centers of…
March Authors 18 Feature: “Eight years is a long time to wait . . . He’s taking it all back. His honor, his freedom, and the woman he loves.”
For our March debut author feature, we are in conversation with Sharon Wray about her writing process and her romantic suspense novel, the first of her Deadly Force series, called Every Deep Desire: Rafe Montfort was a decorated Green Beret, the best of the best, until a disastrous mission and an unforgivable betrayal destroyed his life. Now, this deadly soldier…
April’s Author 18 Feature: “One of 19 Debut you novels …. you definitely won’t want to miss.”
A Conversation with Jennifer Haupt, Author of In the Shadow of 10,000 Hills Jennifer Haupt’s moving debut novel, In the Shadow of 10,000 Hills, is a multi-cultural story deftly weaves together the journeys of three women from vastly diverse backgrounds searching for personal peace in post-genocide Rwanda. At the heart of this novel that Bustle.com named as one of…
February’s Author 18 Feature: Amanda Stauffer, Match Made In Manhattan
Amanda Stauffer’s gorgeous voice had me by about line three of the interview I received from our Author 18 collective. She is fresh and funny and I can’t wait to read Match Made In Manhattan. Amanda’s book is Women’s Fiction, and is published by Skyhorse Publishing. It hit the shelves late January which means I am a bit tardy with…
Book Review – The Woolgrowers Companion by Joy Rhoades
Debut Australian author, Joy Rhoades tells the story of a young woman who finds the strength to prevail through difficult economic and emotional times. Don’t we all want to read a story like that, especially when it so beautifully written? (And the physical book is also gorgeous.) It’s 1945 in New South Wales, Australia. The farming district is crippled…
Melissa A Volker 