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Book review – Second Place, by Rachel Cusk

August 21, 2026 / / 0 Comments

Title: Second Place

Author: Rachel Cusk

Publisher: Faber & Faber / Allen & Unwin, 2021; RRP: $39.99

Reviewed by: Frank Thompson, Ballarat Writers Inc. Book Review Group

The author

Rachel Cusk is a Canadian British writer. Her debut novel Saving Agnes (1993) received the Whitbread First Novel Award. Since then, she has produced a significant body of work, including at least nineteen novels and several nonfiction works. Second Place was longlisted for a Booker Prize and awarded second place (ironically) in the French Literary award Le Prix Femina Étrange in 2022.

Cusk studied English at New College Oxford and has been a professor of Creative Writing for Kingston University UK.

The book

This novel, a chance discovery in the library, was inspired by the 1932 memoir Lorenzo in Taos by Mabel Dodge Luanne covering the time D. H.  Lawrence came to stay with her in Taos, New Mexico. This is not the first novel by Cusk drawing inspiration from other literary works. The Country Life in 1997 drew inspiration from Stella Gibbons’ Cold Comfort Farm and Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre.

For Second Place Cusk employs a unique narrative style, bordering on epistolary. The protagonist M addresses a character named Jeffers. The intimacy feels like a letter. M begins by reminding Jeffers that she once told him that she had met the Devil.  She now reveals to Jeffers that earlier on that same day she experienced a personal epiphany when she came across a gallery exhibiting the work of the artist L. M was struggling with her identity, motherhood and quite possibly her sexuality.

I found the use of single capital letters for some characters a little awkward at times.

Having set the story’s context, Cusk moves the time frame forward some fifteen years. M is now married to Tony, she feels strongly connected with her husband and the marshland on which they live, but is looking to understand that connection. To resolve this, M decides to invite L to come and stay.

M and Tony lead lives of sustainable isolation. Their acreage borders an estuary and has significant natural beauty of an ethereal nature. They appear to live a kind of subsistence lifestyle supplemented by earnings from Tony’s fishing with the other villagers. Details are scarce.

Indeed, Cusk is oblique about several things including the timing for the story which appears to be towards the end of the pandemic. Also, the actual geographic setting is left unclear.

Rachel Cusk on her writing process

@ Louisiana Channel

The name Second Place comes from the building Tony and M find when clearing an overgrown area of their property. They fix it up with the intention of using it to accommodate guests – artists, writers and others, thus creating a second dwelling / place on the property.

The story line is relatively simple: M writes to L, inviting him to come and stay on the expectation he will find the surrounding landscape interesting enough to paint.

After initially accepting M’s invitation, he cancels in favour of spending time on an island. Finally, he agrees to come but his circumstances have changed greatly. He is down on his luck – the bottom has fallen out of the art market, and he is financially hard pressed. Eventually, he turns up with another woman in tow: Brett, a wealthy younger woman having a fling with an aging and fallen star of the art world.

The relationship between M and L is difficult, not hostile but strained. M is disappointed with L and his attitude to the Second Place.  

I could see parallels in L and Lawerence’s attitude towards their patrons. Perhaps this has something to do with the expectations people like M can have of an artist. On the surface L appears to be exploiting M’s hospitality. However, L was the one being exploited by both M and Brett, albeit for varied reasons. Perhaps, Brett and M were giving L something physical but in return they wanted part of his artistic soul. This is the basis for the story: the tension and the relationship between the artist and the viewer and/or patron.

Second Place is an intriguing story, and the character exploration is excellent. I enjoyed the way it was constructed and the way Cusk resolved the ending. It is a well-paced story with clever, readable writing. Well worth the trip to the library.

Book review – The Final Target, by Nora Roberts

June 26, 2026 / / 0 Comments

Title: The Final Target

Author: Nora Roberts

Publisher: Piatkus/Hachette, 2026; RRP: $34.99

Review by: Marian Chivers, Ballarat Writers Inc. book review group

The author

Nora Roberts is a prolific multi-published author. She also pens the In Death series under the pseudonym J.D. Robb. Nora began writing when stuck at home in a blizzard with her two young sons. Several manuscripts and rejections later, her first book, Irish Thoroughbred, was published by Silhouette in 1981. Her bio can be read on her website Noraroberts.com 

Nora was one of the first authors to use the Internet to connect with her fans. She launched her site in 1996 and it receives over 140,000 visitors a month.

Since her first bestseller in 1991, Nora’s books have spent a total of 1325 weeks on the New York Times bestsellers list… that’s equivalent to over 25 consecutive years of weekly bestsellers. The Final Target is Nora’s 257th book.

The book

Nora Roberts is an established name in the romance/intrigue/suspense genre and I have read several of her novels over the years. As her statistics above show, she is a consummate storyteller who keeps you turning the pages and this story proves her skill and staying power.

Although the romance genre is often belittled, its power lies in the fact that it is written by women for women and deals with many of the trials that women face such as assault, stalking, misogyny and PTSD.  There is a dedication at the beginning of the novel that sums up the main theme of The Final Target:   

To women.

We’re stronger than we look.

As the blurb explains, Dustin Dubecki, an aspiring writer, turned up at the launch of Arden Bowie’s debut novel; he bought a copy of her novel, showered her with compliments and got her autograph. Then he came to her next event and the one after that. After giving in to his incessant invitations and chatting with him over coffee, she discovers that ignoring her intuition has been a terrible mistake. “He thinks his job is to protect her. But, who will protect her from him?”

Roberts crafts a nice balance of romance and safe, happy family times while evil lurks in the background. The final confrontation is inevitable and we know there will be a happy ending, but that doesn’t mean the characters don’t suffer along the way. 

Read an excerpt of The Final Target

@ Fall into the Story

Dustin is jailed following an assault, and Arden re-establishes herself in another state to escape him. In her new town of Riverbend, Oregon, Arden meets Gideon Riley, a former detective from LA who happens to be gifted at woodwork. Romance blossoms as Gideon crafts bookshelves for her new library (interesting aside: Roberts met her second husband when he built bookshelves for her home).

The tensions build as Dustin is released earlier than expected and the body count rises. The story is told from both Arden and Dustin’s perspectives. Dustin is downright creepy and enough to make any woman bolt her doors and windows: “He fantasized about the different ways he’d hurt her – to teach her a lesson. It gave him a nicer buzz than the wine.”

Arden shows her learned strength and resilience by rescuing herself and Gideon steps in to clean up the mess. How she saves herself is no doubt very satisfying for any woman who’s been treated as a possession by anyone.

Roberts has delivered another satisfying story to add to her impressive opus.

Review copy provided by the publisher.

Book review – The ADHD Field Guide for Adults, by Cate Osborn and Erik Gude

June 12, 2026 / / 0 Comments

Title: The ADHD Field Guide For Adults

Authors: Cate Osborn & Erik Gude with Rennie Dyball

Publisher: Monoray/Hachette, 2026; RRP: $34.99

Review by: Frank Thompson, Ballarat Writers Inc. book review group

Cate Osborn and Erik Gude are writers and educators. They are products of the internet age. Osborn is an author, speaker, Tik Toker, actor, pod cast host, sex educator, and mental health and disability advocate. She is based in Atlanta, Georgia. Gude is known for co-hosting the podcast “Catie and Erik’s Infinite Quest” and for his engaging content on platforms such as TikTok.

Rennie Dyball is a USA Today bestselling author and ghostwriter and editor.

Despite the best attempts of Gude, Osborn and Dyball to bring order to this project, there is clearly a lot of chaos. Though there is a method to the madness. Right at the beginning they explain how to read the book. It is not a book that needs to be read from start to finish; it can be, but also it can be dipped into, flipped through and bits chosen at random. Key information is presented in bite-sized pieces making it easy to grasp. Over the years I have discussed ADHD at length with various people, including psychologists, and I think this book captures the spirit of ADHD and I agree with the importance of building coping mechanisms. 

A lot of time is spent reinforcing the idea that because you don’t appear to fit the normal behaviour patterns of society it is alright, you are okay.  I find this kind of language almost self-defeating, as it highlights difference. But for some people these statements will be reassuring. The book is trying to cover a very broad spectrum of readers. The authors hint at the challenge this presented for them.  There are sections covering ADHD and co-morbidities. I found these enlightening.

Listen to an interview with Osborn and Gude

@ Hacking Your ADHD

A key takeaway from the book is the need to work out how to cope and function in society to participate in all the usual things. Things like relationships, work/career, education, even sex. You do not have be an outsider. It is not about trying harder. Rather, you need to find what works for you.  And sometimes medication helps, as does tolerance from others. It should be about the outcome, not how it is achieved.

Gude and Osborn have not tried to produce a book on the psychology of ADHD, though they inevitably had to provide some background in places and they do draw on formal expertise where necessary. The book is about the experience of living with ADHD in its many variations. It is based on their own lives and on comments from others.

This is an informative book for anyone dealing with ADHD or with people diagnosed as having ADHD. However, on the downside, there are large slabs of the book which I think are culturally and jurisdictional dependant. For example, the advice on dealing with the health system is irrelevant to anyone outside of America.

Overall, I found it an interesting and useful read.

Review copy provided by the publisher.

Book review – The Bookshelf Below, by Georgia Summers

May 29, 2026 / / 0 Comments

Title: The Bookshelf Below

Author: Georgia Summers

Publisher: Hodder & Stoughton/Hachette, 2025; RRP $34.99

Reviewed by: Rhonda Cotsell, Ballarat Writers Inc. book review group

The author

Georgia Summers is a half-British and half-Trinidadian writer who spent most of her life travelling overseas including Russia, Columbia and the US.  She currently lives in London. She is the author of City of Stardust .

The book

The Bookshop Below is a work of magical realism based around Chiron’s bookshop – being the previous owner who has mysteriously disappeared. Beneath it is a second bookshop accessible only by an archway that comes and goes. This subterranean bookshop contains the remains of a dying river made up of ink which imbues magical power to words read loud by those skilled in the use of its magic. So I was in.

Cassandra had been Chiron’s protege until expelled from his employ for sharing that power with others prepared to pay. We meet her first working part-time in a bar to supplement her income as an expert thief, and continuing to use her skill with ink. But then she finally opens a letter from Chiron, to find he has left the bookshop to her, which means he is no longer alive. It also means,  as unwilling inheritor, she is now responsible for maintaining and protecting both bookshop and the dying river.

Georgia Summers discusses The Bookshop Below

@ Confessions of a Book Collector podcast

The main focus of the plot is Cassandra’s trials and tribulations as the bookshop’s caretaker surrounded by a colourful cast of characters who in differing degrees play a role in her search to find out what exactly happened to Chiron. The bookshop was also linked to other tributary bookshops that shared the knowledge of the river and the ink. These are people who already knew her from working with Chiron via the everyday business of selling and buying books. It is also where her reputation as a thief remained, with trust now an issue for some.

Among them is Lowell Sharpe, manager of one of the tributary bookshops who had expected to be Chiron’s successor. Between them however a romance simmers and stumbles with multiple reference to moody eyes, lean and stunning torso, firm and upright stance both personal and physical, and exquisite dress sense. It is also he who forces Cassandra to face her own dark side, not only her thieving but also the role she played in the death of a young man who had begged and paid for her to use her skills with ink on him, and the doubts she herself had ignored.

There is also a secretive, strange and powerful society in the mix, historically connected to the bookshops, but acting separately from Cassandra and company. Its power is ancient, torn by internal dissension and conflicting ambitions as these things tend to be. The members’ names reference the tarot: the Hanged Man, the Empress, Lady Fate, the Magician, Temperance, the Sun, Judgement, the Moon, the Fool and, inexplicably, a Kevin.

Interposed throughout are excerpts, utilising different fonts and formats, including ancient and current from the bookshop: letters, ledgers, diary entries, meeting minutes, notes, scraps, an unsent, half burnt apology from Cassandra to Lowell. The detritus of time. These add a depth and width of time, positioning the society itself and the narrative overall simultaneously in both past and present.

Read an excerpt of The Bookshop Below

@ Hachette

Though a fascinating plot, my immersion was interrupted by many small things that didn’t fit.  Some that either didn’t work or were glossed over. The ink repeatedly referred to as being oily and having a sharp and unpleasant smell, whereas ink smells a bit muddy at worst, and is a thin liquid, not viscous as those of us who use it know it as.  A reference to a stone shivering as it skimmed across a lake when describing the eeriness of the river, though those of us who skim stones know they do not shiver so much as hurtle headlong. The name Kevin in the secret society among a list of tarot related other members just didn’t work; it jarred and rather than coming across as funny it read as contrived.

These things undermine the willing suspension of disbelief vital in works such as this. Authors of anything magic especially have a responsibility not to unhinge their readers’ readiness to hand over, in absolute trust, a willingness to believe the unbelievable. To be confident that somewhere a river of ink transfers words that turn readers into someone they are not – which it could be said they actually do, but that’s not the point.

I also found use of the f-word scattered throughout incongruous, not quite fitting naturally within the way characters spoke the rest of the time, nor always fitting the context in which used, seeming to there more for shock value than anything else. Some silliness, like an unfortunate scene drawing attention to Cassandra’s favourite fluffy socks, performing no obvious role except an invitation to conjure them up and see as something adorable? – yes, she does wrong, and is involved in all sorts of strangeness, but look! Fluffy socks!

 My overall feeling on finishing was disappointment. However this is only one reader’s experience. There are some pleasing descriptive backgrounds of setting and characters. The world created is full of drama and emotions, romance and danger, and moves forward at a good pace. In conclusion, I lean more to the thought that this is one of those books readers will either love or hate – which is not a bad thing, nor uncommon.

Review copy supplied by the publisher

Book review – The Tricky Business of Faerie Bargains, by Reena McCarty

May 15, 2026 / / 0 Comments

Title: The Tricky Business of Faerie Bargains

Author: Reena McCarty

Publisher: Orbit/Hachette, 2026; RRP: $34.99

Reviewed by: Marian Chivers, Ballarat Writers Inc. book review group

The author

Reena McCarty is a lifelong Montanan who’s constantly looking for the perfect balance of hiking, camping and impulse baking cakes. She has a BA in theatre, a Masters in library science and somehow ended up cooking for a living and also for fun. When not writing, Reena can often be found wandering in the woods with her husband, admiring every dog she sees. The Tricky Business of Faerie Bargains is her debut novel.

The blurb

Poppy Cook Hill was stolen as a child from her family’s Montana homestead and taken ‘Otherside’ to the land of the Fae, where she spent more than a century as a cook in the Wild King’s castle. Having been returned to the human world, she works for Carter Lane, a company that brokers faerie bargains, checking for loopholes in their contracts because Othersiders (Faerie) are excellent at spotting and making use of loopholes. It’s all in the wording.

When a dodgy bargain that Poppy is negotiating goes badly wrong, she has to return to the world where she grew up (and really the only world she had known) to try to rectify her mistake, facing danger, intrigue, plots and a pesky ex-boyfriend along the way.

The review

Told in the first person, the reader slips effortlessly into Poppy’s world where she is just now adjusting to human life and finding it hard to leave the Otherside behind as it is familiar, though not always comfortable. Her best friend (or is she?), Sloan,

was tall, close to seven feet. Her hair was gold – not blonde, but the garish color of the pure metal. The last time I’d seen her it hung nearly to her knees, but was now cropped close to her skull like a gleaming helmet. Her skin was gold too, but paler, electrum dusted with flour to dull its shine, and her teeth were sharp in her wide smile. Her eyes were blank and black all the way across, empty of expression. The fingers of her hands, which she reached toward me, were longer than a human’s by an extra knuckle each, with talon-like nails as gold as her hair…Sloan didn’t like it when I showed too much emotion. She thought being human was undignified (p.24)

These faeries rarely look like Tinkerbell.

The worldbuilding is consistent and logical. The author’s interests of hiking, camping and cooking all come through strongly within the story as Poppy finds herself trekking around the Wild Lands trying to find the bargained human and bring her back. But there is a lot more happening than Poppy is aware of and she needs to make choices about who to trust, what she needs to do and ultimately what and who is best for her.

The story kept me reading and all that trekking up and down mountains was quite exhausting but it kept me turning the pages and led to a satisfying ending with enough left open to perhaps lead to a sequel.

I loved the cover of this book. It features many of the elements within the book in a pleasingly aesthetic way. My only hesitation is with the standing stones at the bottom of the cover as they’re not exactly as those described in the story. The flat picture here does not do the cover justice. If you enjoy exploring the Otherside/Faerie, this story with violence but no sex will provide an engaging read.

Book review – The General Hospital, by Anne Buist and Graeme Simsion

May 1, 2026 / / 0 Comments

Title: The General Hospital

Author: Anne Buist and Graeme Simsion

Publisher: Hatchette 2026; RRP: $34.99

Review by: Heather Whitford Roche, Ballarat Writers Inc. Book Review Group

Professor Anne Buist and Dr Graeme Simsion are no strangers to the writing world. Anne Buist, a psychiatrist and chair of Women’s Mental Health at the University of Melbourne, has written five psychological novels as well as co-writing with her husband Graeme the Menzies Mental Health series: The Glass House, The Oasis, and now The General Hospital.  

Graeme Simsion authored the international best seller The Rosie Project and its two sequels. The series was produced in forty languages and sold seven million copies worldwide. Currently a film is being developed with Sony Pictures.

Having read the two earlier novels in this series, I enjoyed this third book the most. The story is largely driven from a psychiatry perspective. Hannah, a trainee psychiatrist, is the main character and the story moves seamlessly between her home, family and her hospital patients. Hannah grew up in a country town with parents who were foster carers for fifty-three children. The consequences of this lifestyle are still affecting the family dynamics today.

Hannah is doing her psychiatry traineeship at the same hospital as she did her internship but this time her focus is on her patients’ mental health, not so much medical conditions, although Hannah discovers the two are linked more than she might have thought.

Her personal life changes when she moves in with a fellow trainee, and his involvement with her family raises questions for Hannah about their ongoing relationship.

Buist and Simsion discuss The General Hospital

@ The Women’s Weekly book club

Some of her patients include Christina, who plans to sue the hospital, and Hannah’s ex-boyfriend. Max, another patient is a larger-than-life character with bi-polar and kidney disease who creates chaos whenever admitted. His journey is real, sad and humorous. And then there is Ishani, a self-inflicted burns patient with a complicated marriage. Hannah digs deeper into Ishani’s circumstances to discover that all is not as it seems. Hospital dynamics and the pecking order in relation to disciplines and status are cleverly played out by Buist and Simsion in this book.  

The General Hospital is a page-turner and easy to read. Buist and Simsion have pulled together a novel that is entertaining, has meaning in today’s world and provides insight into the private and psychological lives of people faced with personal and psychiatric concerns.

It also cleverly places the professionals who work within psychiatry under the spotlight. Psychiatrists, psychologists and therapists in general are ordinary people who have their own issues and complications; the book integrates this notion very well.

Review copy provided by the publisher      

Book review – Once We Were Wildlife, by Inga Simpson

April 17, 2026 / / 0 Comments

Title: Once We Were Wildlife: Stories

Author: Inga Simpson

Publisher: Hachette; RRP: $29.99

Reviewed by: Jason Nahrung, Ballarat Writers Inc. book review group

The review copy of Once We Were Wildlife arrived just as I was catching up with Simpson’s The Thinning, (Hachette, 2024; paperback out now) in which the New South Wales-based writer posits a world of crashing human fertility alongside ecological collapse. It sets up the scenario of a remote outpost of astronomers on the run from government enforcers, the pursuit of two teens serving as a veritable tour of the Warrumbungles and neighbouring environs.

Once We Were Wildlife is, as the name suggests, a different beast, just as saturated in wilderness but with a broader focus on the human relationship with it, and especially its creatures. It’s Simpson’s first collection, following six novels starting with 2013’s Mr Wigg, one work of non-fiction (with a second due out this November), and two books for children. While the subject matter varies, a fairly common theme across the catalogue is the environment.

Once We Were Wildlife comprises 11 short stories (four previously published) – the title story likely edging into novella terrain at 80 pages – and one cannily shaped poem, looking like a top as it spins what I take to be the tale of a platypus. The writing is spare, particularly well suited to both arid landscapes and the aloneness of many of the characters.

The stories are, in the main, slices of life – a near-death ocean swim sparking a quiet epiphany about a relationship, a veteran finding solace in a jungle, a wildlife photographer embracing belonging in an island wilderness. For all their quietness (the characters are hikers and ramblers, not sprinters), the stories skip along, some a mere dozen or so pages long and broken up into scenes. Even the novella, which gives the collection its title, doesn’t dwell in the moment, recounting the relationship of a writer and a tour guide from their meeting to peak to parting via a series of stepping stones rather than a trail. (I suspect the comma after Once in the story’s title was dropped from the cover for artistic purposes, but I prefer the clearer context that the comma affords.)

These are exercises in control and restraint, with each finely drawn character charting their (mostly brief) course with minimum meandering. And through them all flows the natural world, Simpson’s love for it evident, her fears for it as equally apparent in the shadows. For example, in ‘Tanglefoot’, about eco-campaigners in Tasmania, she writes:

The trees’ twisted, tumbledown shapes are familiar and yet strange, like they have rearranged themselves through the year. The fagus are retreating upslope. The pines, too. Behind the camera, it’s as if she can slow the turning of the earth. But there is no stopping it. Or their slow deterioration: a branch fallen here, a crown contracted there, another trunk cracking and crumbling. And underfoot, their ever-more-tangled roots.

The yearning for nature manifests in two stories of transformation that, perhaps in a collection of this size is one too many, with a further dip into the fantastical with a ghost story that holds it pathos for all its overtness. And then a step further, with the platypus poem (‘Tarn’) and ‘Colony’, a story from the view of a migratory bird, perforce coming across as a translation because what do birds call seals? And then further still, with the view of the world from a glacier (‘The Melt’), trying to evoke that sense of deep time against which we try to measure our brief but eventful span, and similarly in the closing story, ‘Out of the Forest’, past, present and future seen through the long-lived experience of trees able to uproot in search of the altitude they need to survive in a climate-changed world.

Given that most of the stories end in separation, death or transition, the resilience seen in the closing stories of ice and trees especially provide a sense of solace if not hope, the world continuing on in whatever form, with or without humans. Which is fitting, because if there is a common current in the collection, it is of the comfort to be found in nature and, in turn, the imperative that if we wish to be around to enjoy it, we better shift our thinking. Books like this may be a part of the mechanism for doing just that.

Review copy provided by the publisher.

Book review – The Second Wife, by Ali Lowe

April 10, 2026 / / 0 Comments

Title: The Second Wife

Author: Ali Lowe

Publisher: Hachette Australia, 2026; RRP: $34.99

Review: Marian Chivers, Ballarat Writers Inc. book review group

The author

Ali Lowe is the author of six novels, including the breakout The Trivia Night, The Private Island, The Running Club, and The School Run, which was a WHSmith Book of the Month. A journalist by profession, she was Features Editor at OK! in London and has written for bridal magazines, parenting titles, websites and newspapers.  She has dual Australian and British citizenship and lives on Sydney’s northern beaches with her husband and three children.

The blurb

The Titan Pacifica is a luxury cruise liner on an eight-day voyage from Sydney to the idyllic, coconut-palm shores of the South Pacific. On the exclusive Deck Nine, Irving Fairchild, CEO of billion-dollar logistics business Fairchild & Sons, celebrates his 70th birthday. His family is invited and he is footing the bill. Irving is about to make the big announcement about his successor and everyone has a vested interest in who will be the chosen one.

But the news is unexpected. Six set sail on the luxurious cruise but not all of the group will make it back to Sydney.

The book

The Second Wife has an interesting structure: it is divided into ten parts (nine days of the cruise with the location and a section titled Afterwards). Within each section there are chapters following three main characters: Gen (the second wife), Celia (the daughter-in-law), and Molly (the concierge with a secret or two). There are also transcripts from a hit podcast The Deadliest Cruise of All Time featuring various members of the crew. In the Afterwards section there are also excerpts from the biography of Storm, a dancer who is roommates with Molly and who also has secrets.

If descriptions of Cartier watches, Hermes scarves, Louboutin shoes and so on is your catnip you’ll enjoy this book. It gives some interesting insights into how a cruise ship functions and the way murder can be handled at sea. Both the morgue and the jail on board get utilised on this particular cruise.   

There are enough plot twists and surprises to keep you reading; trying to work out who’ s next and who really did it. Just how many killers are there? Some members of the family are so obnoxious that it’s a shame their wealth couldn’t buy them a better personality, and the reader almost feels like they deserve to be offed.

There was a point where I became confused as to who’s story was being told: Molly’s or Storm’s. I managed to figure out a few of the clues but was still kept guessing. The mysteries drive the narrative as I found few of the characters likeable or able to be taken at face value. 

The publisher recommends The Second Wife for fans of Big Little Lies and White Lotus and it definitely fits the brief. There are even some sneaky references to similar books within the novel. If you like twisty and suspenseful with a touch of luxe, this novel is for you.

Review copy provided by the publisher.

Book review: How Not to Become a Grumpy Old Bugger, by Geoff Hutchison

April 3, 2026 / / 0 Comments

Title: How Not to Become a Grumpy Old Bugger – A Bloke’s Guide to Living a Better Life

Author: Geoff Hutchison

Publisher: Affirm Press, 2025; RRP: $36.99

Review by: Frank Thompson, Ballarat Writers Inc. book review group

Geoff Hutchison is a retired ABC journalist, and broadcaster. At one time he was associated with the 7.30 Report and was a Foreign Correspondent reporter.

This book is about men, well, blokes, mostly older ones. Despite this, it is not exclusively for men. Wives, partners, family, and friends or anyone who knows someone with a grumpy disposition would find this book a guide to greater understanding. It begs the question, is there an opening for a book about grumpiness in women?

Geoff has written this book in a conversational, interviewer, broadcasting style. Initially, I found this a little off-putting. However, full marks for doing something different. I didn’t see any point in being grumpy about it, and eventually I warmed to it. Which I guess is what a lot of the book  is about.

The first chapter of the book asks if men are in crisis, which is also the title of the chapter. Geoff starts with a story about a time when he asked his father if he was happy and got the reply, “No, not really”.  The implication is that his father’s stoic unhappiness is intrinsically linked to grumpiness.

What follows is a discussion highlighting the move away from seeing men as the solitary breadwinners, defenders, and patriarchs. A move many men find difficult, and a major cause of grumpiness. However, change is inevitable; society and societal values are constantly shifting.

Geoff uses his own life experiences and relationships as starting points for various subtopics. He also draws on contacts from his ABC days to provide subject matter expertise. This is often presented as summarised/edited conversations. Contributors include author of Boys to Men and men’s counsellor Maggie Dent, Nick Bruining on money and finances, and for the delicate topic of sex, he consulted Dr Michael, a seventy-something specialist in male functionality.

The book does not include a list of contributors/interviewees. This is possibly because some wished to remain anonymous. The GPs he talked to about men visiting their doctors chose to use nom de plumes. However, at the end of the book there is a list of resources for anyone needing to talk to someone about their mental health or wellbeing.

Listen to Geoff Atchison introduce How Not to Become a Grumpy Old Bugger

@ Google Play Books

One of his sons gets a chapter to himself, giving a perspective from the younger generation.

Male violence, mostly violence towards women, gets suitable coverage. This is a complex topic, more than a book like this can fully explore. He is explicit about there being no excuse for violence against women. However, he does not let the subject overshadow the rest of the book.

Many of the themes and topics are familiar, for example, lack of purpose after retirement, many men’s reluctance to talk to a doctor, and men’s inability to share emotions and suffer in silence – except they aren’t always silent.  

I thought key messages in this book included: men need to learn to participate more in all aspects of life and living, participation is a two-way process, men should engage with partners and family more constructively, as well as with mates and the community, and be tolerant of change (they might find they like it).

Geoff is light-hearted in his rendering of the issues affecting men, but always respectful and tactful. Hopefully this will encourage those who need this book the most to read it.

Book review — Behind the Screens, by Niraj Lal

March 8, 2026 / / 1 Comment

Title: Behind the Screens: How the internet works and how to make it work for you

Author: Niraj Lal; illustrated by Aśka

Publisher: University of Queensland Press, 2026; RRP:  $19.99

Reviewed by Rhonda Cotsell, Ballarat Writers Inc. Book Review Group

This excellent little book provides basic information about everything screen based – phone and computer – aimed primarily for children in the 8-14 age group. It also serves as a support guide for  teachers and for adult family members or carers at home looking for a guide in a format that is easy to navigate or to read with, or give to, children under their care.

I am particularly impressed not only with its scope and layout but also how it navigates a path between content that shares what there is to enjoy and gain from the internet and also what to be wary of. There is also generous space given to the non-internet time, and what each provides to enrich a child’s life and also what it lacks, and how they work together.

I found it easy to read as both an adult interested in the subject and as a parent already aware of the ups and downs of our relationship with our children regarding this subject.

Now, would I buy this for my grandson? Yes, despite the fact I can see his eyes rolling in disbelief and a despairing ‘Naaaaaann!’ at my presumption, given our shared familiarity with the significant deficits in my knowledge of all things IT, followed by the lofty observation that anyway he can find out all that on the internet (I find blackmail can work at this point; teachers, you’re on your own).

And as a nit picky reviewer thinking about how does it fulfil the promise of its title: Is it up-to-date? How thorough is its coverage? How easy is it to read given its reader/s and does the language bridge the gap between adult and child? How does it ‘sound’ read or spoken and does it inform or does it proselytise or attempt to inculcate? Is it grammatically correct, and especially, who wrote it and can they be trusted?

He can. The author’s background is one rich in science and involvement with children generally. Lal’s qualifications are impressive. He is an ANU Visiting Fellow and host of the ABC kids’ podcast Imagine This. He has a PhD in physics and has appeared on Play School and Catalyst. His awards include a 2021 Celestino Eureka Prize for Promoting Understanding of Science and a 2022 Royal Societies of Australia and New Zealand Piasecki Prize for Outstanding Writing on Social Change. He is also Dad to three children.

Listen to an interview with Dr Niral Lal about internet literacy

@ ABC Radio National

A minor quibble is the lack of an index, and a Contents list of chapter headings that, while catchy, provided little guidance to the information covered in each section – something an index would have solved. However,  the book is only 116 pages and the layout is extremely well designed, making it easy to pick up at a glance what each section contains from paragraph to section level.

The size of the book and layout is for me a significant success re accessibility of information and physical usability. Good for small hands and large, and portable. A lot has been accomplished by skilful use of varying fonts, text boxes, generous spacing for the eye to jump from one piece of information to another. Key words are bolded within concise paragraphs so skimming is effortless. This makes it easy to both locate a particular subject or choose whether to read that section or not. The colour scheme is a pleasant and consistent use of varying shades of blue – no use of the bright and grabby to disconcert. The illustrations are cartoon like. These and short, concise blocks of text break up the larger paragraphs, emphasising important points and allowing the reader to read quickly, picking up important information as an alternative to the slower word-by-word, sentence-by-sentence, but also repeating main points. This is especially good given the different levels of knowledge each reader will have, and level of concentration.

The illustrator Aśka is an award-winning graphic novelist and an ex-quantum physicist passionate about visual literacy and teaching people how to ‘write with pictures’.

Given its aim, it is simultaneously easy to read and engaging. There is an inbuilt and comfortable logical flow from one section to the next. For example,  Chapter 7 Being Healthy with Tech covers bullying and the importance of non-screen time, delves into whole-family involvement and, in a section on screen health, being aware of mood changes. Chapter 8 What To Believe uses the term spidey sense, a lovely word which adults might miss but childrenwill enjoy, to refer to that innocuous suspicion all of us feel looking at certain sites. It then talks about recognising legitimate information, which leads naturally into different opinions and algorithms, its incidental AI equivalent, looking at the pluses and minuses, describes user behaviour and tracking, then defines in simple terms the science used before going into fake news and how to identify it, who benefits from it, and the faking of proof. It also provides hints about trusting yourself – your spidey sense. All of which covers a lot of potentially boring ground for children.

Everything about it physically and in design allows for a variety of usage scenarios – classroom, small-group work, at home one-on-one with parent/carer and child, and solo reading and rereading. Also, though definitely not its aim, I – an older and less confident adult – read it from cover to cover, finding it helpful for understanding some terms, colloquialisms and context, and for checking I am on track with my own screen time.

Overall, an excellent work doing what all good books at the most basic level do best, which is to make its reader emerge knowing more than they did before.

Review copy provided by the publisher

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