I think it was about page 42 of Trent Dalton’s latest when I messaged my sister: “This is not what I expected, but if he can land it, I’ll be impressed.” He landed it, and again, I’m impressed with Dalton.  Which I am sure means so, so much to him. All of Dalton’s books are different enough that I wouldn’t even say he has a consistent genre, beyond “Australian fiction.”  All Our Shimmering Skies was a fable, Lola In The Mirror was akin to an […]

I’ve just finished reading Boy Swallows Universe and my heart is still racing. From the beginning that is an ending to the ending that is a beginning, I thoroughly enjoyed this book. Admittedly I did just tear through it in four days in preparation to see the stage adaptation this week but honestly that impetus  wasn’t needed – I genuinely wanted to read it in every spare minute I had. Eli Bell is a teenager growing up through the 80s and 90s in suburban Brisbane. […]

All our shimmering skies was beautiful. The descriptions were vivid, the world described alive with colour and feeling and trauma and the watchful eye of a Superego-like sky. The story of Molly, the 12 year old gravedigger’s daughter who thinks her heart is turning to stone because her family is cursed, takes place in Darwin, Australia and it follows the structure of a good old-fashioned quest: a magical object, a walkabout, a wizard, a curse and the struggle to reverse the curse. Molly is not […]