Daniel Defoe (born Daniel Foe) may well have been the first English novelist. At least that is the contention in the play Defoe’s Plague, which starts with a man in a thin, eerie, long nosed mask performing an incense cleansing. The head covering looks like that worn by doctors in bygone days and intended to protect them…
The dictionary definition of the term “bodice ripper” is: “a novel, on a historical subject, that involves some sex and violence”. Well, now the television equivalent is ripping its way into your lounge room in the form of Netflix’s hit series Bridgerton. Think Emma meets Gossip Girl and you’ve got a pretty good idea where…
It’s been a long time since I have read George Johnston’s 1964 Miles Franklin Award-winning My Brother Jack. However, through the lens of undergraduate literary-study nostalgia, I still recognise the seminal Australian novel’s place as part of our country’s canon, despite its challenge to our comfortable assumptions of national character. Still, like many I imagine,…
I love streaming. It offers so many choices for you to enjoy at your leisure. I also hate streaming. I mean, it offers you just so many choices to enjoy at your leisure. The convenience is great, but the deluge of shows and movies means things – great things – can slip right by you….
A heady novel of love, intrigue and taking chances, Fiona McIntosh’s The Last Dance is a book made for reading in bed all night long. I’ve had this on my shelf for a while, but as I do sometimes, I left it for a while, wanting it for the right moment (I do that with…
