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497 reviews
Kiffy Rubbo: curating the 1970s by Janine Burke, Helen Hughes
It is hard not to feel that the culture of the past 35 years has been the poorer without Kiffy Rubbo’s ongoing contribution. But this book testifies to what she gave in her time.
Owen Richardson, The Saturday Age
A reminder of what an extraordinary time the seventies was … I was amazed by what she achieved.
Suzanne Steinbruckner, Readings Monthly
Vividly recalls a leading light at a defining moment in Australian contemporary art.
Art Guide
Among the small but fast-growing cohort of art curators in Australia during the 1970s, Kiffy Rubbo’s light shone the brightest. Kiffy’s ideas for thematic exhibitions were unique for the period, and have echoed through artistic and curatorial practice ever since. The essays in this book are lively, informative, and moving. So, too, are her letters to her elder brother Mike — like her, a member of a remarkably creative family. This book attests to the ongoing impact of her commitment to experimental art, to her infectious enthusiasm for showing it, and to her loving spirit.
Terry Smith, Faha, Australia Council Visual Arts Laureate and Author of Talking Contemporary Curating
I was lucky enough to fall briefly, but memorably, within the aura of Kiffy Rubbo and her pioneering curatorial work during my 1975 visit to Australia. I met some wonderful women who have remained friends for decades. All our exchanges confirmed our passionate belief that women coming together and supporting each other in art and life would change the world ... still a work in progress.
Lucy R. Lippard, author, art critic, activist, and curator
This rich collection of memoirs and documents from a broad circle of artists, critics, friends, and family reveals Kiffy Rubbo to have been an extraordinary advocate for experimental art. A mentor of the avant-garde through the tumultuous era of the seventies, Kiffy Rubbo is a must-read for anyone with a passion for Australian art.
Dr Ann Stephen, Faha, author, art historian, and senior curator, University of Art Gallery and Art Collection, The University of Sydney
Kiffy Rubbo was ahead of her times. To my mind she was the first Australian curator of contemporary art. She believed deeply in the cause of advanced art and artists. She had an extraordinary empathy with artists — and patience! — which gave her a singular place in the Australian art world. How strange but how reassuring it is that a life that was devoted to relatively ephemeral events such as the management of a gallery, exhibitions, installations, and symposia lives on as a memory and source of inspiration to others. She would have been so pleased, so non-plussed and so amused!
Patrick McCaughey, art historian and author of Strange Country: Why Australian Painting Matters
Owen Richardson, The Saturday Age
A reminder of what an extraordinary time the seventies was … I was amazed by what she achieved.
Suzanne Steinbruckner, Readings Monthly
Vividly recalls a leading light at a defining moment in Australian contemporary art.
Art Guide
Among the small but fast-growing cohort of art curators in Australia during the 1970s, Kiffy Rubbo’s light shone the brightest. Kiffy’s ideas for thematic exhibitions were unique for the period, and have echoed through artistic and curatorial practice ever since. The essays in this book are lively, informative, and moving. So, too, are her letters to her elder brother Mike — like her, a member of a remarkably creative family. This book attests to the ongoing impact of her commitment to experimental art, to her infectious enthusiasm for showing it, and to her loving spirit.
Terry Smith, Faha, Australia Council Visual Arts Laureate and Author of Talking Contemporary Curating
I was lucky enough to fall briefly, but memorably, within the aura of Kiffy Rubbo and her pioneering curatorial work during my 1975 visit to Australia. I met some wonderful women who have remained friends for decades. All our exchanges confirmed our passionate belief that women coming together and supporting each other in art and life would change the world ... still a work in progress.
Lucy R. Lippard, author, art critic, activist, and curator
This rich collection of memoirs and documents from a broad circle of artists, critics, friends, and family reveals Kiffy Rubbo to have been an extraordinary advocate for experimental art. A mentor of the avant-garde through the tumultuous era of the seventies, Kiffy Rubbo is a must-read for anyone with a passion for Australian art.
Dr Ann Stephen, Faha, author, art historian, and senior curator, University of Art Gallery and Art Collection, The University of Sydney
Kiffy Rubbo was ahead of her times. To my mind she was the first Australian curator of contemporary art. She believed deeply in the cause of advanced art and artists. She had an extraordinary empathy with artists — and patience! — which gave her a singular place in the Australian art world. How strange but how reassuring it is that a life that was devoted to relatively ephemeral events such as the management of a gallery, exhibitions, installations, and symposia lives on as a memory and source of inspiration to others. She would have been so pleased, so non-plussed and so amused!
Patrick McCaughey, art historian and author of Strange Country: Why Australian Painting Matters
What the Dog Knows: The Science and Wonder of Working Dogs by Cat Warren
What the Dog Knows is a fascinating, deeply reported journey into scent, death, forensics and the amazing things dogs can do with their noses: sniffing out graves, truffles, bedbugs, maybe even cancer. But it's also a moving story of how one woman transformed her troubled dog into a loving companion and an asset to society, all while stumbling on the beauty of life in their searches for death.
Rebecca Skloot, The New York Times Book Review
It you have ever loved a dog, you must read this book. I loved it!
Robert Crais, Author of Suspect
A personal, informed account of the myths and truths of working dogs.
Los Angeles Times
Masterfully shows how even the best technology cannot compete with our best friends. If you have ever wondered what dogs are truly capable of, this is the book for you.
Brian Hare, Author of The Genius of Dogs
A book for anyone who loves dogs, and has watched them catch a scent on the wind or in the leaves on the ground and wondered about that brilliant organ they possess: the nose.
Virginia Morell, Author of Animal Wise
A meaty, fascinating tour of not only what led humans to train dogs to sniff drugs, bombs and dead bodies but also the science behind why dogs can be good at these tasks.
Raleigh News & Observer
Warren writes with verve and provides rare insight into our working partnership with canines.
Kirkus Reviews
A beautifully written, fascinating, heartwarming, and oft-hilarious homage to working dogs.
Maria Goodavage, Author of Soldier Dogs
It’s a lively read, rich with details on the exhausting and rewarding process of training a working dog, but in the end, you realize that the process is really about bonding in a way that transcends — or perhaps sidesteps knowing.
Natural History
This moving account is one of the most engaging and fascinating books you will read, and the perfect gift for the dog lover in your family.
Canberra Weekly
Rebecca Skloot, The New York Times Book Review
It you have ever loved a dog, you must read this book. I loved it!
Robert Crais, Author of Suspect
A personal, informed account of the myths and truths of working dogs.
Los Angeles Times
Masterfully shows how even the best technology cannot compete with our best friends. If you have ever wondered what dogs are truly capable of, this is the book for you.
Brian Hare, Author of The Genius of Dogs
A book for anyone who loves dogs, and has watched them catch a scent on the wind or in the leaves on the ground and wondered about that brilliant organ they possess: the nose.
Virginia Morell, Author of Animal Wise
A meaty, fascinating tour of not only what led humans to train dogs to sniff drugs, bombs and dead bodies but also the science behind why dogs can be good at these tasks.
Raleigh News & Observer
Warren writes with verve and provides rare insight into our working partnership with canines.
Kirkus Reviews
A beautifully written, fascinating, heartwarming, and oft-hilarious homage to working dogs.
Maria Goodavage, Author of Soldier Dogs
It’s a lively read, rich with details on the exhausting and rewarding process of training a working dog, but in the end, you realize that the process is really about bonding in a way that transcends — or perhaps sidesteps knowing.
Natural History
This moving account is one of the most engaging and fascinating books you will read, and the perfect gift for the dog lover in your family.
Canberra Weekly
The Ice-Cream Makers by Ernest van der Kwast
Van der Kwast tells his multigenerational tale with great sensitivity, demonstrating through powerful observations the long-term effect of one person's decision upon others throughout the generations. A delightful read; smooth as ice cream on a hot summer day.
Kirkus Reviews
A delightfully quirky and sensual exploration of an Italian family’s obsession with two of the greatest pleasures in life: ice-cream and poetry. What’s not to love?
Jo Riccioni, Author of The Italians at Cleat’s Corner Store
The passion for making good ice-cream, the alchemy of creating a new flavour and the historical background of ice cream makers who used to make their ice-cream from mountain snow lend this page-turner its charm.
Dagblad Van Het Noorden
A moving story about two brothers growing apart.
Algemeen Daglad
The Ice Cream Makers is a rewarding novel. A second reading reveals just how perceptively it pits family pressures against the desire for freedom down the generations. The contrast between Giovanni’s world of high culture and that of his ice cream making brother Luca is cleverly realised. Van der Kwast leaves the reader in no doubt as to who the real poet is: the ice cream maker, of course.
NRC Handelsblad
It is an ode to poetry and to women. A tale of the tradition of ice cream making and the price is exacts. But above all The Ice Cream Makers is a book that sweeps you along like an avalanche.
Noordhollands Dagblad
Van der Kwast is simply magnificent when he describes the voluptuousness of pretty girls: you can feel the curves under your fingers. I want to sleep with all of these paper women. There are some truly moving scenes in The Ice-Cream Makers.
Humo
A beautifully poetic family saga.
Glamour
A compelling novel about the yoke of family relations.
Elle
Kirkus Reviews
A delightfully quirky and sensual exploration of an Italian family’s obsession with two of the greatest pleasures in life: ice-cream and poetry. What’s not to love?
Jo Riccioni, Author of The Italians at Cleat’s Corner Store
The passion for making good ice-cream, the alchemy of creating a new flavour and the historical background of ice cream makers who used to make their ice-cream from mountain snow lend this page-turner its charm.
Dagblad Van Het Noorden
A moving story about two brothers growing apart.
Algemeen Daglad
The Ice Cream Makers is a rewarding novel. A second reading reveals just how perceptively it pits family pressures against the desire for freedom down the generations. The contrast between Giovanni’s world of high culture and that of his ice cream making brother Luca is cleverly realised. Van der Kwast leaves the reader in no doubt as to who the real poet is: the ice cream maker, of course.
NRC Handelsblad
It is an ode to poetry and to women. A tale of the tradition of ice cream making and the price is exacts. But above all The Ice Cream Makers is a book that sweeps you along like an avalanche.
Noordhollands Dagblad
Van der Kwast is simply magnificent when he describes the voluptuousness of pretty girls: you can feel the curves under your fingers. I want to sleep with all of these paper women. There are some truly moving scenes in The Ice-Cream Makers.
Humo
A beautifully poetic family saga.
Glamour
A compelling novel about the yoke of family relations.
Elle
The Heart of Henry Quantum by Pepper Harding
Harding is a great writer who really gets under the skin of her very different protagonists, providing a fascinating portrait of two halves whose jagged edges can’t seem to fit together to make up a whole.
Daily Mail
A fascinating trip into the mind of a very intriguing man, a modern-day Walter Mitty whose thoughts and dreams are in a never-ending battle with reality. [Harding] has skilfully created a set of interesting, well-developed characters whose lives readers can relate to … The Heart of Henry Quantum is a highly entertaining read.
Booklist
Daily Mail
A fascinating trip into the mind of a very intriguing man, a modern-day Walter Mitty whose thoughts and dreams are in a never-ending battle with reality. [Harding] has skilfully created a set of interesting, well-developed characters whose lives readers can relate to … The Heart of Henry Quantum is a highly entertaining read.
Booklist
What is a Refugee? by William Maley
This book is an eye-opener. It is an elegant, expert account of the history of refugees, their formal rights, and their shrinking prospects. It will leave no reader unmoved, and no conscience untroubled.
Philip Pettit
William Maley has done the world a great service — introducing one of the key questions of our times with rich insight and clarity. His book is a thoroughly readable and essential exploration of refugee issues. I learnt a huge amount from his writing, and I highly recommend it.
Patrick Kingsley, Migration Correspondent, The Guardian
This is truly a book for its time?… It shows that now, more than ever, it is immoral to remain silent.
Julian Burnside
With the crisis about boat people out of sight for the present, it’s time to calmly consider what refugees are … Maley discusses this global epidemic with facts, cool accounts of the laws, and careful compassion for the individuals caught in the rip-tide of war.
Adelaide Advertiser, Four Stars
Philip Pettit
William Maley has done the world a great service — introducing one of the key questions of our times with rich insight and clarity. His book is a thoroughly readable and essential exploration of refugee issues. I learnt a huge amount from his writing, and I highly recommend it.
Patrick Kingsley, Migration Correspondent, The Guardian
This is truly a book for its time?… It shows that now, more than ever, it is immoral to remain silent.
Julian Burnside
With the crisis about boat people out of sight for the present, it’s time to calmly consider what refugees are … Maley discusses this global epidemic with facts, cool accounts of the laws, and careful compassion for the individuals caught in the rip-tide of war.
Adelaide Advertiser, Four Stars
The Hit by Nadia Dalbuono
A racy thriller.
Joseph Farrell, TLS
Brilliantly conceived … A captivating yarn in every sense.
Jon Wise, Weekend Sport
Dalbuono has an intimate knowledge and understanding of Italy, its criminal underbelly and the often twisted and corrupted state that functions on the back of its relationship with the Mafia … A fresh voice in a well-trodden field … This is Euro-noir of the highest order.
New Books
[A] fast-moving and complicated story … difficult to put down once started.
Crime Review
Joseph Farrell, TLS
Brilliantly conceived … A captivating yarn in every sense.
Jon Wise, Weekend Sport
Dalbuono has an intimate knowledge and understanding of Italy, its criminal underbelly and the often twisted and corrupted state that functions on the back of its relationship with the Mafia … A fresh voice in a well-trodden field … This is Euro-noir of the highest order.
New Books
[A] fast-moving and complicated story … difficult to put down once started.
Crime Review
The Queen of Katwe by Tim Crothers
A moving and universal story of the power of potential and the wonder of perseverance. This story will inspire you — and will make you wonder how many more Phionas there are among us.
Gayle Tzemach Lemmon, NYT-bestselling author of The Dressmaker of Khair Khana
[A] story of a young woman’s triumph over the unimaginably cruel fortune … would pierce a heart of stone.
Hillary Jordan, NYT-bestselling author of Mudbound and When She Woke
Almost too uplifting to believe … Crothers tells Phiona Mutesi’s story in a crisp, reportorial style, but it’s nearly impossible to read without a strong emotional response … Inspiring.
Booklist
In The Queen of Katwe Tim Crothers gives us an inspiring and heart-wrenching story.
Chessville
Crothers portrays Phiona’s story with depth and sensitivity … in bringing the story to a world audience, Crothers has shone light on a neglected corner of the globe, and he reveals what a difference hope, care and encouragement can make to people's lives.
Dominion Post
If you don’t already know the name [Phiona Mutesi], it’s time you learned about this amazing person and how she achieved such goals in the face of near impossibility.
Examiner
[A] moving account of an impoverished Ugandan girl’s unlikely rise to prominence … a poignant reminder of the power of hope.
Kirkus
Not just inspirational but a corrective to our most damning assumptions … A must-read.
Library Journal
Masterful … an important book. We tend to forget how most of the world lives. Phiona’s story is a moving reminder that every life holds value, and we have the opportunity to influence the endgame. A gritty inspiration.
Life Is Story
An extraordinary account of one young woman’s exceptional achievement. It is also a lament for this world in which only a tiny number of incredibly fortunate and exceptionally determined children have any chance of escaping the dehumanising poverty that prevails in Katwe and places like it.
NPR
An inspirational profile of an amazing chess player from one of the world’s worst slums.
Shelf Awareness
Powerfully captures the crushing poverty in which Mutesi and her family still live.
The Age
Tim Crothers’ story is engrossing and inspiring … a heart-warming testament to Phiona’s determination and courage.
Toowoomba Chronicle
One of the most inspiring, thought-provoking, humbling books I’ve ever read.
Sivi Sankrithi
Gayle Tzemach Lemmon, NYT-bestselling author of The Dressmaker of Khair Khana
[A] story of a young woman’s triumph over the unimaginably cruel fortune … would pierce a heart of stone.
Hillary Jordan, NYT-bestselling author of Mudbound and When She Woke
Almost too uplifting to believe … Crothers tells Phiona Mutesi’s story in a crisp, reportorial style, but it’s nearly impossible to read without a strong emotional response … Inspiring.
Booklist
In The Queen of Katwe Tim Crothers gives us an inspiring and heart-wrenching story.
Chessville
Crothers portrays Phiona’s story with depth and sensitivity … in bringing the story to a world audience, Crothers has shone light on a neglected corner of the globe, and he reveals what a difference hope, care and encouragement can make to people's lives.
Dominion Post
If you don’t already know the name [Phiona Mutesi], it’s time you learned about this amazing person and how she achieved such goals in the face of near impossibility.
Examiner
[A] moving account of an impoverished Ugandan girl’s unlikely rise to prominence … a poignant reminder of the power of hope.
Kirkus
Not just inspirational but a corrective to our most damning assumptions … A must-read.
Library Journal
Masterful … an important book. We tend to forget how most of the world lives. Phiona’s story is a moving reminder that every life holds value, and we have the opportunity to influence the endgame. A gritty inspiration.
Life Is Story
An extraordinary account of one young woman’s exceptional achievement. It is also a lament for this world in which only a tiny number of incredibly fortunate and exceptionally determined children have any chance of escaping the dehumanising poverty that prevails in Katwe and places like it.
NPR
An inspirational profile of an amazing chess player from one of the world’s worst slums.
Shelf Awareness
Powerfully captures the crushing poverty in which Mutesi and her family still live.
The Age
Tim Crothers’ story is engrossing and inspiring … a heart-warming testament to Phiona’s determination and courage.
Toowoomba Chronicle
One of the most inspiring, thought-provoking, humbling books I’ve ever read.
Sivi Sankrithi
Dead in the Water by Tania Chandler
Chandler creates believable characters, having the ability to make the struggles of ordinary people compelling. Brigitte is an original hero — an ordinary person, with her own struggles, drawn into extraordinary events. The domestic drama is as compelling as the crime investigation.
Graeme Simsion, Author of The Rosie Project
Dead in the Water unsettles with an all-too-imaginable homegrown brand of suspense.
Honey Brown, Author of Through the Cracks
When your last name is Chandler, your writing had better be good, and Tania Chandler delivers again. A crime writer who cares about her sentences as much as her characters, her atmospheric writing is taut and terrific. Dead in the Water is that rare book that satisfies as a stand alone novel but is actually a sequel. Whether you start with this or her first book, Please Don’t Leave Me Here, Chandler demonstrates her ability to deliver a psychologically nuanced portrayal of damaged lives.
Aoife Clifford, Author of All These Perfect Strangers
Graeme Simsion, Author of The Rosie Project
Dead in the Water unsettles with an all-too-imaginable homegrown brand of suspense.
Honey Brown, Author of Through the Cracks
When your last name is Chandler, your writing had better be good, and Tania Chandler delivers again. A crime writer who cares about her sentences as much as her characters, her atmospheric writing is taut and terrific. Dead in the Water is that rare book that satisfies as a stand alone novel but is actually a sequel. Whether you start with this or her first book, Please Don’t Leave Me Here, Chandler demonstrates her ability to deliver a psychologically nuanced portrayal of damaged lives.
Aoife Clifford, Author of All These Perfect Strangers
Lady Cop Makes Trouble by Amy Stewart
Smart, atmospheric fun.
Kirkus
A smart, romping adventure, featuring some of the most memorable and powerful female characters I’ve seen in print for a long time. I loved every page as I followed the Kopp sisters through a too-good-to-be-true (but mostly true!) tale of violence, courage, stubbornness, and resourcefulness.
Elizabeth Gilbert
Lady Cop Makes Trouble is a keeper. The satisfaction of watching Constance out-work and out-detective her male colleagues is enormous, and knowing that she really existed only makes it better. Let’s hear it for ladies throughout history making trouble.
Constance Grady, VOX
Both a gem of rediscovered female history and a pleasingly page-turning crime novel.
Annie Rutherford, The Skinny
Stewart combines the rough-and-tumble atmosphere of early 20th-century New York with the story of three women determined to live on their own terms … This is one of the best mystery novels of the year with entertaining characters based on meticulous research, understated humour, and an accurate snapshot of the times.
Crime Review
Stewart’s meticulous research provides the reader with a wealth of period detail.
The Irish Times
Lady Cop Makes Trouble takes readers on a lively chase through a lost world. It’s a colorful and inventive adventure tale that also contains a serious message at its core about the importance of meaningful work to women’s identities and, in some cases, survival.
Maureen Corrigan, Washington Post
Whether Constance is tackling a criminal ‘in what had to be the most undignified position a woman had ever been seen in on the streets of Brooklyn’ or pouring punch in a theater lobby for Fleurette’s Christmas pageant, her days and nights come vividly to life. And although the real crimes are solved by the end of the novel, Stewart leaves the reader wondering about one mystery still developing unsolved: the relationship between Constance and her married boss, Heath … Readers will just have to wait — impatiently, no doubt — for book No. 3.
Boston Globe
Constance and her sisters are every bit as enjoyable in this outing as their first. Stewart deftly combines the rough-and-tumble atmosphere of early 20th-century New York City with the story of three women who want to live life on their own terms. The addition of supporting female characters who are also pushing societal boundaries is a welcome touch to the series.
Library Journal, Starred Review
In the long-awaited sequel to Girl Waits With Gun, Constance has to take matters into her own hands. Lady Cop Makes Trouble, based on actual events, is another irresistible madcap adventure featuring the Kopp sisters.
Popsugar
Amy Stewart (Girl Waits with Gun) continues the fictional adventures of Miss Constance Kopp in Lady Cop Makes Trouble. Constance is based on a real woman who, just prior to World War I, became a deputy sheriff in New Jersey, one of the first of her kind in the country. And yes, she does make trouble. Escaped convicts don’t stand a chance against this adventurous woman, as Stewart crafts a heady brew of mystery and action in a fast-moving, craftily written novel that’s fueled by actual news headlines of the day.
Bookpage
It’s True Grit, New York style. Stewart (Girl Waits With Gun) delivers the second novel in her series based on the real-life antics of Constance Kopp, one of the few female deputy sheriffs who lived 100 years ago. With encouragement from her two sisters, Constance tracks a German con man through the streets of the Big Apple. The book’s title is inspired by several actual newspaper headlines of the time about the small number of women who worked in law enforcement.
New York Post>/i>
Constance Kopp is one of the most fascinating characters in recent mystery fiction. The fact that Stewart bases her on a real person and uses real events in her plots make Constance even more fascinating … Lady Cop Makes Trouble is one of the best mystery novels of the year: wonderful and very entertaining characters based on meticulous research, understated humor, and an accurate snapshot of the times just prior to America’s entry in WWI. One could hunt for a downside to Amy Stewart’s series, but it would be a vain search. Kudos to Amy Stewart and Constance Kopp. May there be many more sequels to follow.
New York Journal Review of Books
The second entry in Amy Stewart’s historical mystery series based on the real-life Kopp sisters is as compulsively readable and effortlessly enjoyable as the first … Stewart expertly plays imagination and research off of one another in a way that is a pleasure in itself … So bring on more of the Kopp sisters! I can’t wait to see what they get up to next.
Emerald City Book Review
Girl Waits With Gun by Amy Stewart was one of the most enjoyable literary surprises of 2015, and the sequel, Lady Cop Makes Trouble (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt), pursues its clever premise. Based on the real-life Kopp sisters of Bergen County, New Jersey — and the career of Constance Kopp, one of America’s first female deputy sheriffs, in particular — this adventure finds Constance’s deputy sheriff status at stake when she is tricked by a nefarious con man. The multiple crimes that Stewart weaves into her tale are one thing, but equally compelling are the lovingly rendered characters, including a shining cameo by William Carlos Williams.
Seattle Review of Books
The multiple players in the story provide wry situational humor and a backdrop for Kopp’s unique, forceful character, while Sheriff Heath's surprisingly supportive regard lends a hopeful relational perspective. Stewart adeptly introduces details of early twentieth-century life in Hackensack, New Jersey, a burgeoning city on the outskirts of New York, and timely concerns such as jail reform and women’s rights, rounding out this immensely satisfying mystery.
Booklist
In this comic mystery set in 1915 and based on actual events, Constance Kopp, the first female deputy sheriff in Bergen County, N.J., is still packing a pistol and an attitude after her first crime-fighting adventures in Girl Waits with Gun. Stewart’s second volume in her Kopp Sisters Series is a clever, suspenseful, and funny tale of a formidable woman facing crime, politics, social stigma, all while nailing evildoers … Fans of the first Kopp Sisters novel will find another treat in this follow-up.
Publishers Weekly
Kirkus
A smart, romping adventure, featuring some of the most memorable and powerful female characters I’ve seen in print for a long time. I loved every page as I followed the Kopp sisters through a too-good-to-be-true (but mostly true!) tale of violence, courage, stubbornness, and resourcefulness.
Elizabeth Gilbert
Lady Cop Makes Trouble is a keeper. The satisfaction of watching Constance out-work and out-detective her male colleagues is enormous, and knowing that she really existed only makes it better. Let’s hear it for ladies throughout history making trouble.
Constance Grady, VOX
Both a gem of rediscovered female history and a pleasingly page-turning crime novel.
Annie Rutherford, The Skinny
Stewart combines the rough-and-tumble atmosphere of early 20th-century New York with the story of three women determined to live on their own terms … This is one of the best mystery novels of the year with entertaining characters based on meticulous research, understated humour, and an accurate snapshot of the times.
Crime Review
Stewart’s meticulous research provides the reader with a wealth of period detail.
The Irish Times
Lady Cop Makes Trouble takes readers on a lively chase through a lost world. It’s a colorful and inventive adventure tale that also contains a serious message at its core about the importance of meaningful work to women’s identities and, in some cases, survival.
Maureen Corrigan, Washington Post
Whether Constance is tackling a criminal ‘in what had to be the most undignified position a woman had ever been seen in on the streets of Brooklyn’ or pouring punch in a theater lobby for Fleurette’s Christmas pageant, her days and nights come vividly to life. And although the real crimes are solved by the end of the novel, Stewart leaves the reader wondering about one mystery still developing unsolved: the relationship between Constance and her married boss, Heath … Readers will just have to wait — impatiently, no doubt — for book No. 3.
Boston Globe
Constance and her sisters are every bit as enjoyable in this outing as their first. Stewart deftly combines the rough-and-tumble atmosphere of early 20th-century New York City with the story of three women who want to live life on their own terms. The addition of supporting female characters who are also pushing societal boundaries is a welcome touch to the series.
Library Journal, Starred Review
In the long-awaited sequel to Girl Waits With Gun, Constance has to take matters into her own hands. Lady Cop Makes Trouble, based on actual events, is another irresistible madcap adventure featuring the Kopp sisters.
Popsugar
Amy Stewart (Girl Waits with Gun) continues the fictional adventures of Miss Constance Kopp in Lady Cop Makes Trouble. Constance is based on a real woman who, just prior to World War I, became a deputy sheriff in New Jersey, one of the first of her kind in the country. And yes, she does make trouble. Escaped convicts don’t stand a chance against this adventurous woman, as Stewart crafts a heady brew of mystery and action in a fast-moving, craftily written novel that’s fueled by actual news headlines of the day.
Bookpage
It’s True Grit, New York style. Stewart (Girl Waits With Gun) delivers the second novel in her series based on the real-life antics of Constance Kopp, one of the few female deputy sheriffs who lived 100 years ago. With encouragement from her two sisters, Constance tracks a German con man through the streets of the Big Apple. The book’s title is inspired by several actual newspaper headlines of the time about the small number of women who worked in law enforcement.
New York Post>/i>
Constance Kopp is one of the most fascinating characters in recent mystery fiction. The fact that Stewart bases her on a real person and uses real events in her plots make Constance even more fascinating … Lady Cop Makes Trouble is one of the best mystery novels of the year: wonderful and very entertaining characters based on meticulous research, understated humor, and an accurate snapshot of the times just prior to America’s entry in WWI. One could hunt for a downside to Amy Stewart’s series, but it would be a vain search. Kudos to Amy Stewart and Constance Kopp. May there be many more sequels to follow.
New York Journal Review of Books
The second entry in Amy Stewart’s historical mystery series based on the real-life Kopp sisters is as compulsively readable and effortlessly enjoyable as the first … Stewart expertly plays imagination and research off of one another in a way that is a pleasure in itself … So bring on more of the Kopp sisters! I can’t wait to see what they get up to next.
Emerald City Book Review
Girl Waits With Gun by Amy Stewart was one of the most enjoyable literary surprises of 2015, and the sequel, Lady Cop Makes Trouble (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt), pursues its clever premise. Based on the real-life Kopp sisters of Bergen County, New Jersey — and the career of Constance Kopp, one of America’s first female deputy sheriffs, in particular — this adventure finds Constance’s deputy sheriff status at stake when she is tricked by a nefarious con man. The multiple crimes that Stewart weaves into her tale are one thing, but equally compelling are the lovingly rendered characters, including a shining cameo by William Carlos Williams.
Seattle Review of Books
The multiple players in the story provide wry situational humor and a backdrop for Kopp’s unique, forceful character, while Sheriff Heath's surprisingly supportive regard lends a hopeful relational perspective. Stewart adeptly introduces details of early twentieth-century life in Hackensack, New Jersey, a burgeoning city on the outskirts of New York, and timely concerns such as jail reform and women’s rights, rounding out this immensely satisfying mystery.
Booklist
In this comic mystery set in 1915 and based on actual events, Constance Kopp, the first female deputy sheriff in Bergen County, N.J., is still packing a pistol and an attitude after her first crime-fighting adventures in Girl Waits with Gun. Stewart’s second volume in her Kopp Sisters Series is a clever, suspenseful, and funny tale of a formidable woman facing crime, politics, social stigma, all while nailing evildoers … Fans of the first Kopp Sisters novel will find another treat in this follow-up.
Publishers Weekly
The Winterlings by Samuel Rutter, Cristina Sánchez-Andrade
Rich, sensual prose perfectly conjured by Samuel Rutter’s evocative translation.
Lucy Scholes, The National
The haunting story of two witchy sisters who return to their late grandfather’s home in the Spanish village of their childhood … skilfully written and powerfully imaginative.
Kerryn Goldsworthy, Sydney Morning Herald
Gripping … With nods to magical realism and the American gothic tradition, [The Winterlings] follows a pair of sisters as they return to their deceased grandfather’s home in a Galician village – but their reappearance brings the insular parish’s dark secrets to the fore.
Vogue
A novel like The Winterlings refutes, by far, the so-called crisis of the genre … Under the splendid references of Valle-Inclán, Cunqueiro or the first Luis Mateo Díez, this novel is a tribute to the popular oral narrative. A novel shaped by intrigue, a perfect recreation of rural atmospheres, and a tempestuous past. A novel of disturbing humour, rigorous writing, and accomplished ambition.
Jesús Ferrer, La Razón
Cristina-Sánchez-Andrade is, simply, one of the best writers in Spain. Her language is vastly rich. A memorable narration. A flawless and unusual novel.
Xurxo Fernández, El Correro Gallego
Sánchez-Andrade’s dark humour and simple language befit the magical-realist realm of this enigmatic tale about how the repercussions of human action, however ancient, can re-emerge at unpredictable times.
TLS
An intoxicating introduction to [Cristina Sánchez-Andrade’s] work.
Lucy Scholes, Bookanista
Lucy Scholes, The National
The haunting story of two witchy sisters who return to their late grandfather’s home in the Spanish village of their childhood … skilfully written and powerfully imaginative.
Kerryn Goldsworthy, Sydney Morning Herald
Gripping … With nods to magical realism and the American gothic tradition, [The Winterlings] follows a pair of sisters as they return to their deceased grandfather’s home in a Galician village – but their reappearance brings the insular parish’s dark secrets to the fore.
Vogue
A novel like The Winterlings refutes, by far, the so-called crisis of the genre … Under the splendid references of Valle-Inclán, Cunqueiro or the first Luis Mateo Díez, this novel is a tribute to the popular oral narrative. A novel shaped by intrigue, a perfect recreation of rural atmospheres, and a tempestuous past. A novel of disturbing humour, rigorous writing, and accomplished ambition.
Jesús Ferrer, La Razón
Cristina-Sánchez-Andrade is, simply, one of the best writers in Spain. Her language is vastly rich. A memorable narration. A flawless and unusual novel.
Xurxo Fernández, El Correro Gallego
Sánchez-Andrade’s dark humour and simple language befit the magical-realist realm of this enigmatic tale about how the repercussions of human action, however ancient, can re-emerge at unpredictable times.
TLS
An intoxicating introduction to [Cristina Sánchez-Andrade’s] work.
Lucy Scholes, Bookanista