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| BiP staff review by Sue |
England and Other Stories
By Graham Swift
July 2014 | Simon & Schuster | $35.00hb
OK all you Graham Swift fans! You may have missed this unassuming hardback at the bottom of the fiction section but, seriously, this is classic Swift. He has returned to his first love, short stories. What makes this such a standout collection for me is that it doesn’t read like one person telling different stories, it reads like different people each telling their own story. I didn’t read the book from cover to cover but chose randomly and this probably enhanced the effect. It also means that I will return to them again and again, since it is not about what happens in each story but how it happens. This collection will stand the test of time.
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| BiP staff review by Leonie |
Deeper Water
by Jessie Cole
Aug 2014 | HarperCollins | $29.99pb *BiP price $24.95
Innocent and unworldly, Mema is still living at home with her mother on a remote, lush hinterland property. It is a small, confined, simple sort of life, and Mema is content with it. One day, during a heavy downpour, Mema saves a stranger from a raging creek. She takes him into her family home, where, marooned by rising floods, he has to stay until the waters recede. His sudden presence is unsettling - for Mema, her mother and her wild friend Anja - but slowly he opens the door to a new world of beckoning possibilities that threaten to sweep Mema into the deep. 'She takes us to a place of the strangest innocence and lovingness ...And she takes us to a physical place that's quite her own, and when you go to her country - the lush but uneasy country inland from Byron Bay - you recognise at once that she's the voice of it, the country speaks in her voice, though the captivating wise gentleness of that voice belongs only to Jessie.' (Peter Bishop). A novel of grace and beauty from a young Australian writer.
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| BiP staff review by Christine |
Nest
by Inga Simpson
Aug 2014 | Hachette | $27.95pb
Nest, the second novel by Inga Simpson, is a gem. Centred on Jen, a retired school teacher and artist who has returned to her childhood home, Simpson’s story meanders gently through Jen’s past and present. Threaded throughout are the lives of those around her and the whole narrative is overlaid by the stunning birdlife which has become Jen’s passion. This keen observation and enthusiasm for birds and their innate freedom shines through so beautifully that I can’t help wondering whether there is an autobiographical note in there somewhere. Nest is a gentle lyrical ode to the life-forces that shape us, the nature of freedom and the sheer brilliance of birds. I liked it very much. More please Ms. Simpson.
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| Recommended by Chris |
Half World
by Scott O’Connor
June 2014 | Scribe | $32.99pb
In the 1950s, the CIA began a clandestine operation known as ‘Project Mkultra’, in which unwitting American and Canadian citizens were subjected to insidious drug and mind-control experiments. In the two decades of the program, countless lives and families were destroyed. Haunted by these events, novelist Scott O'Connor has crafted a literary thriller that vividly imagines the devastating emotional legacy of such a program. Henry March, an unassuming CIA analyst forced to spearhead Mkultra's San Francisco branch, finds himself bridging an untenable divide between his devotion to his family and the brutality of his daily task.
Torn between duty and conscience, Henry's own identity begins to fray, until he reaches the ultimate breaking point. Amid the wreckage, he disappears without a trace. Twenty years later, as the country struggles under the weight of the Vietnam War, another troubled young agent, Dickie Ashby, will risk everything to find Henry. Dickie must piece together the staggering aftermath of these crimes before it is too late. These themes have great moral resonance and relevance today, as notions of privacy and political paranoia play out across all media and national boundaries. Scott O'Connor’s literary thriller examines questions of duty, conscience, patriotism and secrecy.
Torn between duty and conscience, Henry's own identity begins to fray, until he reaches the ultimate breaking point. Amid the wreckage, he disappears without a trace. Twenty years later, as the country struggles under the weight of the Vietnam War, another troubled young agent, Dickie Ashby, will risk everything to find Henry. Dickie must piece together the staggering aftermath of these crimes before it is too late. These themes have great moral resonance and relevance today, as notions of privacy and political paranoia play out across all media and national boundaries. Scott O'Connor’s literary thriller examines questions of duty, conscience, patriotism and secrecy.
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| BiP staff review by Karen |
Your Fathers, Where Are They? And the Prophets, Do They Live Forever?
by Dave Eggers
June 2014 | Hamish Hamilton | $29.99pb
Thomas is a confused man, out of step with others and with his standing in the world. Lately his headaches are becoming worse and the questions are starting to pile up. This is a man who needs answers. Kev is an astronaut. He is tied to a steel post in a decommissioned military building. His captor, Thomas, apologizes and explains that he has no intention of hurting Kev, that he only wants to have a conversation and then he will release him.
This book opens straight to a dialogue between these two characters. Do they know each other? The answers that Thomas receives are not always the expected ones, but they are thought-provoking and challenging to Thomas and to the reader. It also becomes apparent that Kev is not the only captive and that there are threads which tie all of them together. The discussions contained within this story address legitimate real world problems of government, society and the absurdities of living a meaningful life. Thomas is outraged at the injustices he perceives and hankers for direction: ‘Don’t we deserve grand human projects that give us meaning?’. A fascinating and enlightening read, highly recommended for book clubs.
