Set in Scotland in 1695, this is the story of Malie, a young woman struggling with grief, oppression, her relationship with nature and her own inherent wildness within during Europe’s ‘little ice age’. Malie grew up hearing tales of selkies: shape-shifting women who shed their seal skins to seduce fishermen on the Orkney shores. That’sContinue reading “Q&A with Lauren Keegan on The Woman in the Seal Skin”
Tag Archives: adult fiction
Love is an Algorithm review: can compatibility be quantified?
Eve wants to make music that’s fuelled by love, passion, and rage (feelings!). She trusts her gut and her friends and in no way wants to rely on technology, let alone AI, to tell her how she feels. Danny is anxious – about his dad, his dating life, his coffee order (why is it twelveContinue reading “Love is an Algorithm review: can compatibility be quantified?”
Review: ‘The Slip’ showcases original, discomfiting stories
These dark, feral and unforgettable stories are about the things we can’t hold onto: a marriage drifting out with the tide, a family collapsing like a wave, a young woman’s affair that dissolves as quickly as it ignites. From Melbourne to regional Victoria and beyond, lovers flounder in the push and pull of desire, andContinue reading “Review: ‘The Slip’ showcases original, discomfiting stories”
Q&A with Kay Kerr on Might Cry Later
Meet Nora Byrne. Over-thinker, under-achiever, champion vibes-killer. After spectacularly blowing up her life, twenty-one-year-old Nora Byrne retreats to the family home with little to show for herself but a shiny new autism diagnosis. But it’s hard to process this news under the critical eye of her mother, who already treats her like the black sheep,Continue reading “Q&A with Kay Kerr on Might Cry Later”
A Complete Fiction Review: Who owns a story?
With little evidence, would-be author P.J. Larkin serves a “nibble” on the trendy new social-media app Crave, accusing editor George Dunn of stealing the novel she submitted to him for publication. The nibble shoots to the top of the site’s Popular Menu Items and before you can say “unpaid literary labor,” George is embroiled inContinue reading “A Complete Fiction Review: Who owns a story?”
Review: ‘The Ex-Boyfriend’s Favourite Recipe Funeral Committee’ serves up delicious food and emotional healing
Twenty-nine-year-old Momoko has been tragically dumped. So Momoko does what many broken-hearted people do – she gets incredibly drunk. So drunk that she passes out in a nearly empty café. When she wakes, she pours her heart out to Iori, the curious and impossibly handsome manager, and Hozumi, a Buddhist monk in training and caféContinue reading “Review: ‘The Ex-Boyfriend’s Favourite Recipe Funeral Committee’ serves up delicious food and emotional healing”
December Book Club: Alone with You in the Ether by Olivie Blake
Two people meet in the Art Institute by chance. Prior to their encounter, he is a doctoral student who manages his destructive thoughts with compulsive calculations about time travel; she is a bipolar counterfeit artist, undergoing court-ordered psychotherapy. By the end of the story, these things will still be true. But this is not aContinue reading “December Book Club: Alone with You in the Ether by Olivie Blake”
Review: Love, shame, and redemption in Madeleine Gray’s Chosen Family
Books about friendship are not often described as love stories, but this is one.At the age of twelve, Nell has accepted that hers will likely be a friendless existence. She’s not interested in boys or makeup or competing to see who can eat the least – so fitting in at her all-girls’ school feels impossible.Continue reading “Review: Love, shame, and redemption in Madeleine Gray’s Chosen Family”
Review: ‘The Farm’ delivers suspense and reflections on women’s body autonomy
When 37-year-old Leila suffers a health tragedy, she doesn’t recover as quickly as she expected. Her partner, James, suggests a year away from the city – they’ll stay on his family farm, where the wide, open spaces and clean country air will help her come to terms with her grief. But the property is remote and the houseContinue reading “Review: ‘The Farm’ delivers suspense and reflections on women’s body autonomy”
Review: Cosy, bibliophile friendly vibes in Dinner at the Night Library
The Night Library on the outskirts of Tokyo isn’t your ordinary library. It’s only open from seven o’clock to midnight. It exclusively stores books by deceased authors, and none of them can be checked out — instead, they’re put on public display to be revered and celebrated by the library’s visitors, akin to a bookContinue reading “Review: Cosy, bibliophile friendly vibes in Dinner at the Night Library”