here are 10 new books
This week’s releases include quiet crime fiction, family drama, wartime spy tales from suburban Melbourne and illuminating memoirs by tennis legend Bjorn Borg.
FICTION SELECTION OF THE WEEK
Detective
Matthew Reilly
Macmillan, $44.99
Blockbuster action thrillers are Matthew Reilly’s bread and butter. But as fans will know, he can be promiscuous, having written about everything from sci-fi fantasy to historical espionage. The only constants are full throttle pacing and readability, and these qualities have not left it for many years. Detective. His private investigator Sam Speedman is a super nerd. Diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder, Sam is the kind of guy who orders the same food every time, enjoys tinkering with cars or solving exotic math problems, and has never had a girlfriend. His superpowers lie in his extraordinary mind and intense focus on his work; He’ll need both of them to solve this terrible case. After a hurricane sweeps through Louisiana, a grisly discovery is made: the body of a baby hidden inside an antique doll. Speedman will leave no stone unturned on this case, but even he can’t be prepared for the terrible secrets the truth will reveal. Reilly has created a arguably flawed sleuth and a plot that works like clockwork. Regular readers will appreciate the nod to high-octane action before descending into the gothic tendrils of a mystery with dark roots in the South’s deep history of racial prejudice and violence.
friendship
Nathan Harris
Tinder Press, $34.99
After its success Sweetness of WaterNathan Harris looks back at the Reconstruction Era of U.S. history in the deep south. Coleman and his sister, June, were given as slaves to the Harper family when they were still children. Now that the Civil War is over, they are legally free, but their lives have not changed much. They are now the family’s servants, that’s all. The brothers are separated when the head of the house, Wyatt Harper, goes on an expedition to Mexico to seek luck on the frontier – Coleman, who accompanies Wyatt in June, leaves to guard the fort along with the highly irritable Mrs. Harper and her cantankerous daughter, Florence. Years later, a reunion looms on the horizon, but the Harper women are no better prepared than the smart, sensitive Coleman to face the dark shadows of what at first seems like a clear path to freedom. Harris gravitates towards the narrative architecture of the Western, but his natural talent is not action, but sustained characterization. The relationship between the two siblings and their adoptive family has a sharp, meticulously observed quality that transcends the plot itself.
Circle of Traitors
Jonathan Freedland
John Murray, $34.99
A former school principal. A disgraced diplomat. A bureaucrat in finance. A Countess secretly helps Jews escape from the camps. These members of the German elite gathered in a small apartment in Berlin in September 1943 – ostensibly to celebrate his 50th birthday, but the real reason was to discuss the inevitable fall of Hitler and the restoration of democracy. Our anti-Nazi opponents are not fervent. The only thing that motivates them to resist is the scale of the disaster that has befallen Germany. But there is a traitor among them who is ready to betray them to the Gestapo. Circle of Traitors It moves from paranoia about a Judas in the rebel ranks to a chilling perversion of crime fiction, complete with Gestapo interrogations and propaganda show trials. The corruption of justice in Nazi Germany is revealed strikingly, as is the psychology of resistance. Guard Columnist Jonathan Freedland details historical research (the book is inspired by true events) with keen empathy for characters who take a potentially lethal ethical stance.
Lucky Sisters
Rachael Johns
Penguin, $34.99
Sisterhood stories are familiar ground for Rachael Johns. best seller Patterson Girls followed four adult sisters reconciling a shared past. In the last one, the two sisters are identical twins. Nora and Stevie may have the same genetics and adoptive parents, but otherwise they are chalk and cheese. Nora is hard-working and disciplined; is a pastry chef who runs a stylish Perth restaurant with her husband; Stevie is more of a fun-loving agent of chaos; She has never been married, works in a charity shop and is proud to have brought up her daughter Cherry without being tied to a partner. About to turn 50 and with their adoptive mother having recently died, Nora thinks it’s time to reveal the identity of her biological parents. What they find turns the twins’ perceptions of their priorities and choices upside down, forcing them to live as if each day was their last. Is this a Sword of Damocles situation, or a timely souvenir to be used as an incentive for change? Lucky Sisters A big, character-driven and emotionally rich novel. True, Johns’ writing isn’t nimble enough to avoid cliché, but this is focused and fluid storytelling.
Summer on Mount Asama
Masashi Matsuie
Indigo Press, $29.99
The incident takes a backseat in this quiet novel about an architect living in Japan in the early 1980s. Narrated by Tōru Sakanishi, Summer on Mount Asama He recalls the beginning of his career under a mentor named Shunsuke Murai, who was influenced by Frank Lloyd Wright. It’s an era before CAD software, and the entire Murai office leaves its pens in tow at a summer house on Mount Asama. While Murai enters his office in a rare competition to design the new National Library of Modern Literature, Tōru himself is distracted by his romantic attraction to his mentor’s niece, Mariko. A complex courtship and architectural contest, both conducted in the shadow of an active volcano, seem to hold dramatic promise. But Masashi Matsuie lets most of it simmer in the background, eschewing the pyrotechnics, deliberate slowness, and analog rhythms of creative life for contemplation. It is a meticulous structure, imbued with architectural philosophy and a nostalgic evocation of a bygone style of working; but readers looking for high drama may be disappointed by the consistency with which this book continues to move in the opposite direction.
NON-FICTION PICK OF THE WEEK
Code of Silence
Diana Thorp
Monash University Press, $37.99
There were 66,000 women in the services during World War II; This number was included in highly secret intelligence work. They were so secret (signing the Official Secrets Act could mean armed attack if they chattered) that it took decades for their stories to be told. Fresh out of boarding school, Jessie Edgar is assigned to an apartment block in suburban Melbourne called Monterey. This was a station outside Bletchley Park in the UK, where he received captured Japanese messages, had them decoded and translated, then sent to Victoria Barracks in the city. Every hour! And we’re not talking about petty nonsense here, because the intelligence handled by people like Jessie was crucial to victories like the Battle of Midway and the New Guinea campaign. There are many gripping stories here, such as the so-called “Garage Girls” operating in Brisbane; one of these was Helen Frizell (Kenny), who became SMH’s Literary editor after the war. Diana Thorp has done an excellent job of summarizing the stories of these remarkable women who were unable to tell anyone about their war work, not even their families. Thanks came late; Edgar and Frizell received the Bletchley Park medallion from Prime Minister David Cameron in 2009. Many are dead, but they live on in their stories.
heartbeats
Bjorn Borg
Globe, $34.99
After his fifth straight win, the press began calling Wimbledon the Bjorn Borg Invitational. His memories of telling his wife give us a behind-the-scenes picture of the ice Borg performance. From a young age he wanted to be the best, not just number 1. And he devoted most of his life to realizing this dream. Until the dream got worse. At 26, having lost his sixth Wimbledon final to John McEnroe in 1981 and having ruled the tennis world for years, he knew he was a spent force. The Ice-Borg melted. He began to have panic attacks, fame became something he was condemned to, and he longed for solitude. Drugs took over, marriages came and went and business ventures foundered. Still, he is “not someone who lives with regrets.” These days, he spends most of the year in Ibiza, where he is another beer-drinking man by the sea, and he shares with his extended family the pride he once felt in playing tennis. In some ways, it’s a cautionary tale: Be careful what you wish for.
Windsor Heritage
Robert Jobson
Wink, $36.99
When you sum up the number of scandals that have rocked the House of Windsor, as in this clearly written report card from veteran royal watcher Robert Jobson, it’s surprising they’ve survived at all. Formerly of the dynasty of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, George V wisely changed the name to Windsor during World War I, prompting his cousin Kaiser Bill to suggest that Shakespeare had suggested the dynasty. The Merry Wives of Windsor will be renamed The Merry Wives of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha. This may have saved them from anti-German backlash, but self-inflicted scandals dogged the house for more than a century. Edward’s abdication in 1936 remains the most famous. And it wasn’t just the Simpson women who alarmed parliament; It was Edward’s open admiration for Nazism and Churchill’s posting him to the Bahamas for much of the Second World War. From the MI5 files to Diana, Harry and Meghan, Jobson documents the difficult journey of a dynasty (largely held together throughout Elizabeth’s long reign) that now stands at “a turning point”.
Curious Diplomat
Lachlan Strahan
Monash University Press, $39.99
What exactly does a diplomat do? This is a question Lachlan Strahan is often asked. His richly detailed 30-year history in the game (mostly excluding meetings, negotiations and conferences) is a portrait of a career diplomat. Strahan, who is also a historian, sees change as the “stuff of history” and his personal story is a document of the massive changes the world has gone through since he began his career in the 1990s, particularly the collapse of the Soviet Bloc and the end of the East/West Cold War. He was in Bonn as Germany prepared to move the capital back to Berlin, reporting regularly to Canberra on, among other things, the post-USSR situation. His postings in Europe, Korea, India, and the Pacific drew him into important issues such as nuclear and chemical weapons and climate change, which he saw as “our biggest problem.” Engaging and deeply informed.
100 Rules for Living to 100
Dick Van Dyke
Globe, $34.99
Dick van Dyke, who turns 100 this month, does not describe this as a guide to living a long life because he does not believe in telling people how to live. Let’s say he tips for life. Like tuning into your inner child and keeping in touch with the things you were passionate about when you were younger. In that spirit, there is a lot of talk about the pure joy and wonder of being alive. But there is also sadness and tragedy, such as the sudden death of his 13-year-old grandson. And cautionary observations, such as his struggles with alcoholism and cigarette addiction. Naturally, he draws heavily from his television and film career and learns lessons from them, such as not acting your age. It’s light, has its moments, and is mostly sincere.
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