The Anniversary by Stephanie Bishop

In The Anniversary by Stephanie Bishop, author J.B. Blackwood, takes her husband, Patrick, a famous film director, on a cruise to celebrate their anniversary. J.B. is nursing a secret – she has won a yet-to-be-announced major literary prize. A storm hits, and Patrick falls from the ship. That might sound overly dramatic, but actually, this book is a moral thriller, and the story unfolds from that point onward (and there’s a lot more to it).

In a story… the feeling of not knowing what happens next is often a thing of pleasure: the cornerstone of our delight… But the same feeling of not-knowing, as it happens in one’s real life, is rarely so pleasurable… Continue reading

Reading the Stella Prize shortlist – Body Friend by Katherine Brabon

I’m loathe to focus on a particular aspect of Katherine Brabon’s novel, Body Friend, for fear of giving away an important aspect of the story (which is best revealed to readers in their own time). The particular aspect of the story that I won’t comment on is the central character’s two new friends, Frida and Sylvia, both of whom she meets while recovering from major surgery (Frida at the hydrotherapy pool and Sylvia in the park). Continue reading

Stella Prize 2024 Shortlist

Argh! I didn’t get a chance to make my predictions before the 2024 Stella Prize shortlist was announced this morning. I’ve been in the Tasmanian wilderness and happily out of range for five days (more on that later). Continue reading

Reading the Stella Prize longlist – Hospital by Sanya Rushdi

I’m keeping my 2024 Stella Prize reviews brief, otherwise I simply won’t get through them before the shortlist is announced on April 4.

I read Hospital by Sanya Rushdi in one afternoon. It’s a novella (124pp), and although the cover clearly states that it’s fiction, the main character has the same name as the author, and it’s written in the first person… so… autofiction? I don’t want to assume but I have read that it’s based on true events. And that’s important to note because the story focuses on Sanya’s third admission into a psychiatric ward. Continue reading

Reading the Stella Prize longlist – Edenglassie by Melissa Lucashenko

I’m keeping my 2024 Stella Prize reviews brief, otherwise I simply won’t get through them before the shortlist is announced on April 4.

Next on my list was Edenglassie by Melissa Lucashenko, which tells two Indigenous stories set five generations apart. One story is set at the peak of colonial unrest, when ‘saltwater people’ still outnumber the British, and the other in the present, when a woman and her centenarian grandmother, clash over the meaning of legacy. Continue reading