scribepub's reviews
497 reviews

If you’re looking for something on the literary end of the eurocrime spectrum, The Heart Tastes Bitter is an attractive proposition — full of vivid and unsettling storytelling.
Sydney Morning Herald

[The Heart Tastes Bitter] is the definitive confirmation of Victor's talent as a writer.
Sergio Torrijos, La República Cultural

A novel that entangles you in a spider's web from which it's impossible to escape ... Critics are right to call del Arbol's novel a blend of Carlos Ruiz Zafón and Stieg Larsson.
Colegio de Abogados de Barcelona

Blain just gets better and better. The clarity, warmth, and precision of Between a Wolf and a Dog brings to mind the formal beauty of an exquisitely cut gemstone. Blain looks at the big questions — mortality, grief, forgiveness — through the lens of one family’s everyday struggle to love each other. This portrait of marriage and work, of sisterhood, mothers, and daughters is resolute and clear-eyed; so commanding and beautifully written it made me cry.
Charlotte Wood, Author of The Natural Way of Things

[An] elegant, intelligent and affecting novel from a writer at the height of her powers.
The Saturday Paper

Heartfelt, wise, and emotionally intelligent, Between a Wolf and a Dog is a beautifully tender exploration of the complications of family love, self-knowledge, and the struggle for forgiveness.
Gail Jones, Author of A Guide to Berlin

Blain is a writer of such lucidity and strength that her characters speak, undeniably, for themselves … What makes it possible to contain tragedy in words, so that the reader enters into the experience and passes through it, cleansed? The Greek playwrights had their own answers to this question; but the question, I suspect, is far older than their version of it. Each generation of authors must find the right words for writing about death. Part of the reason Between a Wolf and a Dog succeeds so well is that everything in the novel is heartfelt without being in the least sentimental.
Dorothy Johnston, Sydney Morning Herald

What a marvellously clear eye Georgia Blain has for the ways in which we love and harm one another. Whether she is observing a “coconut-ice” grevillea or meditating on everyday consolations and sorrows, Blain is a quietly profound writer and this is a remarkable book.
Michelle De Kretser, Author of Questions of Travel

Between a Wolf and a Dog is an elegantly told story describing the ambiguities within human relationships. Each evening, when my children slept, I would enter the world of this book — coming to know a flawed, courageous, and creative family of characters, as they struggled to be good, to be whole, and finally, to let go.
Sofie Laguna, Author of The Eye of the Sheep

Picking a favourite Georgia Blain novel is like picking a favourite child … Blain intelligently asks the big questions — about mortality, grief, forgiveness and how hard it can sometimes be to love those we’re supposed to.
North and South

Captures the elusive moment when it's time to forgive, when it's time to stop fighting.
Australian Women’S Weekly

Blain writes enchantingly about the interstices of life, the places where morality and meaningfulness blur, and characters try to justify their actions or deal with their emotions … lyrical and lucid.
Herald Sun

On a rainy day in Sydney, pivotal moments from each character’s past are revisited to illuminate the present. Blain’s domestic detail and her life-affirming pace make this novel substantial and sincere.
Blanche Clark, Daily Telegraph

In graceful prose, Blain’s characters attempt to celebrate the important things in life: love, work, sisterhood and marriage; and struggle as those things unravel … A heartbreaker.
Psychologies

Whenever I need reminding of the preciousness of ordinary life I return to this stunning novel of forgiveness and family, which gives clear, beautiful voice to the fierce luck of being alive.
Charlotte Wood, The Age Best Books of 2016

A heartbreaking, beautiful novel.
Toni Jordan, The Age Best Books of 2016

Like all her novels, Between a Wolf and a Dog explores the often unarticulated complexities of the intersection of the personal and the political with exquisite grace and intelligence.
James Bradley, Australian Book Review Best Books of 2016

My favourite work of fiction in this year was Georgia Blain’s lush and loss-ridden Between a Wolf and a Dog. It’s a novel about the ways in which we hurt each other, or are hurt by the world, yet it is hopeful and redemptive in the small moments and minute joys that it charts.
Fiona Wright, Australian Book Review Best Books of 2016

[A]n elegant novel, written in lucent and, at times, luminous prose. It is a work of delicately detailed emotion and beautiful balance, and it is so well paced that its narrative is utterly compelling. It is a remarkable portrayal of family relationships, and the complex and often competing desires and sensitivities that drive them, but it is mostly a book about love and forgiveness, and holding on to our good fortune and our loved ones, even and especially in the face of loss. It is heartfelt and resonant, and a remarkable novel that lingers long after its final page.
Fiona Wright, Weekend Australian

Although perfectly charming as picaresque, the tragedy of Unger’s plight registers just as strongly as its understated oddness … Wieringa plays for keeps.
Publishers Weekly (Starred Review

The poet Philip Larkin’s famous observation that your mom and dad really mess you up is aptly illustrated in this offbeat, atmospheric novel … [a] haunting book.
Kirkus Reviews

A potent, emotionally moving, beautifully realized novel about a young man seeking to understand his difficult, eccentric parents … Wieringa masterfully examines the complex and often agonizing work that many of us undertake to live our own healthy, independent, adult lives.
Library Journal

Tommy Wieringa’s inventive coming-of-age novel [involves] deeply flawed characters, maddening in their poor choices, but in Wieringa’s nimble hands, they elicit our sympathy.
Cleveland Plain Dealer

Tommy Wieringa’s ambitious novel is a brilliant exploration of the uneasy transition from adolescence into adulthood — the restlessness, yearning for stability, irrational decisions and erotic obsessions.
The Independent (UK)

Though anchored by emotional authenticity, Little Caesar reimagines the coming-of-age novel as surreal picaresque, the search for adult identity a wild and elusive quest with allusions to everything.
Sydney Morning Herald

Beautifully lyrical storytelling under a banner of gray skies and heavy hearts; one gorgeous, epic reminder than no matter what skeletons we have in our closet, we all try our best and our hardest to do well by the ones we love—as Morrissey has sung: ‘That's how people grow up.’
Dan Kennedy, Host of The Moth storytelling podcast, and Author of Rock On: An Office Power Ballad

[A] brilliant coming-of-age story with an outlandish twist … There are more coming-of-age novels than dikes in Holland, but this wonderfully weird novel is not one to miss.
Publishers Weekly

The triumph and tragedy that pepper the story feel authentically random, though the familiar coming-of-age structure lends the book a directionless, episodic feel … Wieringa’s tale takes on the feel of a good road-trip novel perfectly suited to his cast of eccentrics. The setting of rural Holland is convincingly rendered, and the low-key freakishness (think Garp) keeps things at just the right degree of weird.
Booklist

[An] offbeat story of a group of boys searching for meaning … This work conjures John Irving’s A Prayer for Owen Meany but with a lighter touch.
Library Journal

Winsome … Wieringa’s protagonist, Frankie, has an attitude attune to Holden Caulfield, without the anxiety and the quirks … [Frankie’s] unwavering and confident … in-your-face voice … applies literature to life, lyrically, with an attention to minutiae … Charismatic, intelligent, he’s the kinetic energy that thrusts the narrative forward.
Bookslut

Joe Speedboat is never just another would-be inspirational read about overcoming adversity … Expertly translated from the Dutch by Sam Garrett, Tommy Wieringa’s novel offers a rewarding journey into the unfamiliar. It is also witty, thoughtful and surprisingly tender.
The Independent (UK)

Honest, sympathetic, reflective — this is true crime at its best. A striking debut from McKenzie-Murray, which pursues uncomfortable truths with candour and care.
Damon Young, Author of Philosophy in the Garden and Distraction

Martin McKenzie-Murray is a writer of exceptional moral heft. He assays pain and loss with an intimacy few others achieve, never losing sight of the humanity that blooms around trauma. As a journalist, his great project is the unexplainable. Nowhere is that project explored with more clarity than in this book. He feels and is felt on every page.
Erik Jensen, Editor of The Saturday Paper and Author of Acute Misfortune: The Life and Death of Adam Cullen

As my speechwriter and policy adviser, Martin McKenzie-Murray made our world a better place with his insight, his empathy, and his passion. In A Murder Without Motive, he brings these skills to the story of Rebecca Ryle, at the same time brilliantly challenging the tsunami of brutality and banality that male culture can be. This powerful book gives us a glimpse of a vibrant and much-loved daughter, sister, and friend — and I challenge any parent not to be touched by the courage, resilience, and generosity of spirit shown by Fran and Marie Ryle. At the time of her death, one man stripped away Rebecca Ryle’s dignity. In some small way, those involved in the telling of this story have reinstated that dignity with love, thoughtfulness, and a passion to challenge the status quo.
Ken Lay, Former Chief Commissioner, Victoria Police

I can’t think of a better, more literate and perceptive reporter.
Jonathan Green, ABC Radio National

[Martin McKenzie-Murray] is that increasingly rare thing … a reporter who will knock on the doors of the bereaved and afflicted, and write humanely about the people he encounters.
Sybil Nolan, Inside Story

McKenzie-Murray has been a columnist with Fairfax in the past, but as the Saturday Paper’s chief reporter, he’s better than he’s ever been. His writing this year has been unmissable for its earnestness, its probing nature, its compassion and its calm authority. More please.
Crikey, 2014 Columnist of the Year

[T]akes an unorthodox but illuminating approach to his subject, beginning with introspection and, perhaps, atonement … McKenzie-Murray firmly rejects the proposition that the murder was an aberration in a life otherwise considered “normal”, something Duggan’s defence counsel submitted in the absence of a criminal history. Indeed the notion of “normality”, particularly in the light of Duggan’s heinous crime, meets with the author’s disdain.
Martin Leonard, Weekend Australian

Penetrating and insightful … one of the most cogent and persuasive aspects of A Murder Without Motive is [McKenzie-Murray's] candid and forensic analysis of the youth culture of the northern-suburbs badlands and the “swell of casual violence and unripe, immature masculinity” he believed silently festered in these young people.
Bron Sibree, West Australian

[D]eeply thoughtful … The main strength of this book is the way it dips between genres — A Murder Without Motive is part-true crime, part police procedural, part-memoir. It’s a consideration of adolescent ennui in Australian suburbia and an engrossing investigation into masculinity and violence.
Tessa Connelly, Canberra Weekly

McKenzie-Murray’s adolescence is closely entwined with the crime, and his deep, thoughtful examination of the suburban male psyche is one of the many strengths of this remarkable book … Insightful and eloquent … His immaculate prose cuts cleanly through the social murk, and his clarity of vision renders the complicated ideas of male aggression and the ugly side effects of suburban malaise at once shocking and shockingly readable.
Michael McGuire, The Saturday Age

An unusual, wholly convincing voice.
Joyce Carol Oates

Gavin McCrea has in his debut novel, Mrs Engels, done something I admire — he has found a character from a pivotal point in history whom I hadn’t thought much about before, and with wit and humor and force settled her into my mind to stay.
Daniel Woodrell, Author of Winter’s Bone

Lizzie Burns’ voice is pitch perfect. She is a magnificent creation, worthy of comparison to Joyce’s Molly Bloom or Beckett’s Winnie — her voice spills beyond the pages of the book, endless, vital, witty and enduring.
Rebecca Stott, Author of Ghostwalk

Gavin McCrea’s witty, fictional interpretation of the women who loved Engels crackles and fizzes with life. Lizzie Burns and her sister Mary are the dark heart of a book which manages to reconfigure a key period in British history while also showing us the flawed, human side of a great thinker. Lizzie’s narration is wonderfully yet lightly stylised, and this is an excellent debut.
Francesa Rhydderch, Author of The Rice Paper Diaries

This whirlwind of politics and personalities might become dizzying were it not stabilised by Lizzie’s unmistakable voice. She begins life by grabbing what she needs in order to survive; she ends it having achieved deep self-knowledge. She tells her own story with a fierce wit and trenchancy, shot through with poetry … McCrea’s fictional speculation makes a fine symphony out of the silence that surrounds Lizzie Burns.
Helen Dunmore, The Guardian

In Mrs Engels, Lizzie Burns, an Irish-woman from Manchester, narrates the story in her own, deliberately non-modern idiom … Lizzie provides an irreverent working-class take on all the intellectual posturing going on … Gavin McCrea is triumphant in his exuberant debut in creating Lizzie’s voice; she is dazzlingly convincing. Voices that feel authentic to their period and yet brim with life and verve are so rare that Mrs Engels is my book of the month.
Antonia Senior, The Times

[Gavin McCrea] deserves praise for his command of voice in Mrs Engels… This is the best kind of historical fiction — oozing period detail, set in a milieu populated by famous figures and events about which much is known, but seen through the eyes of a central character who, due to her illiteracy, left no ready access to her experience in the form of letters or diary entries: a rich and accomplished first novel.
Lucy Scholes, The Independent

McCrea is triumphant in creating Lizzie’s voice; she is dazzlingly convincing.
The Times

Ambitious and imaginative … McCrea breathes real life into a historical character of whom we know next to nothing.
Nigel Jones, Daily Mail

An assured, beautifully-written debut, about a woman wiser than her lover perhaps, and slowly growing into herself — reminiscent of Molly Bloom in Ulysses. Eleanor Marx wrote that Lizzie was “illiterate and could not read or write, but she was true, honest and in some ways as fine-souled a woman as you could meet”. Going by this, McCrea describes her perfectly.
Mario Reading, The Spectator

Unusual in its focus, and broad in its reach, Mrs Engels does that thing that good historical novels should do: it allows you to see a piece of the past that you have never seen before, and open your eyes to a story that has not yet been told.
Walter Scott Prize for Historical Fiction 2016 Judging Panel

McCrea has cleverly included just enough historical detail to set a very evocative scene, then lets his cast tell the story. The writing always surprises, his characters are compelling without having to be likeable and, as all of we judges noted, Mrs Engels is perhaps the most feminist novel we read for the Prize.
Iain Pears, Chair of Judges for the Desmond Elliot Prize

[Lizzie Burns's] plain, provocative, wittily realistic voice rings truthfully throughout this novel of ideas and ideals. She gives heartfelt, humanising context to the revolutionary politics and principles of Marx, Engels and their conflicted struggles to live morally virtuous lives in late Victorian England. Fiercely but tenderly fighting for heart over mind, Lizzie is one of the most distinctive female characters of modern fiction.
Iain Finlayson, Saga

Richly imagined … McCrea gives the illiterate Lizzie [Burns] a vivid, convincing voice, sparkling with energy and not untouched by pathos. Her sharp, pragmatic observations offer a human perspective on historical icons. But the heart of the novel is the beautifully realized romance between Lizzie and Frederick: a mismatch of values and temperaments, yet also a tender and complex bond.
Publishers Weekly, Starred Review

The fictional Lizzie Burns is a marvellous creation: an illiterate Irish daughter of the Manchester slums whose withering deprecations cut a swathe through the self-delusions and hypocrisies of the founding fathers of Communism … Laugh-out-loud funny, touching and tender, and almost Dickensian in its physical descriptions of the Industrial Revolution's worst excesses, Mrs Engels is a stunningly accomplished debut novel.
Declan Burke, Irish Examiner

Superb … A splendid exploration of the complexities of love and the contradictions between political ideals and intractable personal realities.
Joseph O’Neill, Irish Times

Extraordinarily assured … Lizzie is an ever-intriguing, rounded character.
Sunday Herald

Mrs Engels is a profound achievement, sophisticated and tense in each element of its construction and expression … It is a compelling [work] of remarkable subtlety and insight, a novel which illuminates the power, limitations and gaps in our stories of the past.
Ron Callan, Irish Times

A stellar debut … Lizzie’s voice — earthy, affectionate, and street-smart but also sly, unabashedly mercenary, and sometimes-scheming — grabs the reader from the first sentence and doesn't let go … Who knew reading about communists could be so much fun.
Kirkus

A tour de force … Lizzie provides a bubble-busting, prole’s-eye view of the movers and shakers of socialist theory … It is nothing short of a phenomenon that a youngish male author has managed to inhabit the heart and soul of a middle-aged Victorian Irishwoman, bringing her and her milieu vibrantly alive — and in his debut novel, too.
New Books

Lizzie’s distinctive working-class Irish spin on the foibles of upper-crust London society is at once biting and humorous, and Dublin-born world traveler ­McCrea is a new author to follow for those who enjoy potential Man Booker Prize longlisters. It is a pity that the full biography of the Burns sisters may never be told in nonfiction, yet readers will feel that McCrea has done them justice here.
Library Journal

[M]asterly and original, examining through the eyes of the brave, noisy and clever yet illiterate Lizzie the work and friendship of Marx and Engels and the lives of women.
Kerryn Goldsworth, The Age

The best first novel I read this year.
Alan Massie, The Sctosman

A terrific, startling read: compelling cast, involving story, historically transporting. Gavin McCrea has found an original and atmospheric way of giving resonant voice to the unsung Lizzie Burns. Beguiling, humorous, terrifyingly candid, clandestine agent in a world of hazardous political intrigue and the equally risky complexities of desire and love, McCrea’s Lizzie Burns is an enthralling character who pulls us irresistibly into her fascinating world from her first words to her last.
Rachel Holmes, Author of Eleanor Marx: A Life

A wise and dazzling personal exploration of the beauty and strangeness of Brazil, its history and its culture.
Carmel Bird

[A] closely observed, lyrically written, deeply empathetic account of seven years’ worth of travels though the world’s fifth largest country … it heralds the arrival of a promising new talent in the travel writing field.
Matthew Clayfield Weekend Australian

[Bryson] fills her narrative with characters, culture, and history, often creating vivid scenes in this primer for those curious about the country that will try to reveal itself as the land of the future when it hosts this year's Olympic Games. Travel writers often reveal as much about themselves as the places they explore and the people they encounter. Bryson proves herself to be an amiable and curious explorer ... In Brazil should spur readers towards further forays into understanding the country.
Australian Book Review

[A] multi-flavoured and textured entrée to a country that is once again facing turmoil.
Rebecca Tansley, North and South

A rather fine introduction to this vast, diverse and gloriously unwieldy nation, which should have any Rio-bound revelers checking whether they can add a couple of extra plane-hops onto their visit.
Wanderlust

A breezy, episodic trek around the football nation, all samba voodoo, carnival and ayahuasca … Light and upbeat.
The Spectator

A wise and deeply personal look at the beauty and extremes of Brazil, from religious towns to Rio Carnival.
Elle

Bryson’s curiosity is addictive. This book is a tour of Brazil’s astonishing spiritual diversity — joyful, tragic, full of wonders — and a meditation on how we feel at home.
Delia Falconer

This is an incredibly strong crime novel, I would venture to say that among contemporary crime fiction it is in the absolute top! … This is not a rush job, rather it is solid work crafted by a young man who impresses with his maturity and his analysis of the dark side of Sweden. If you like crime literature, don't miss these novels for the world!
litteraturmagazine.se

Christoffer Carlsson has once again written a beautiful crime novel. Complex, topical and with stylistic verve … This is brilliant and promising.
Borås Tidning

One of Sweden’s most interesting crime authors … Carefully crafted language that is at times very poetic, without becoming over-saturated. It isn’t too long either … Every word carries meaning, every character has fascinating psychological depth.
Magnus Utvik, Gomorron Sverige, Swedish television

Christoffer Carlsson has once again written a beautiful crime novel. Complex, topical and with stylistic verve … This is brilliant and promising.
Per-Axel Svensson, Borås Tidning

An exceedingly relevant, insider deep-dive into a terrifying world where violence and blind obedience is the rule. But also a convincing tale of friendship and betrayal, relationships and double loyalties. A dark, thrilling story that feels close to reality.
Aftonbladet

I seldom appreciate authors who write genre novels, but Carlsson does it so well that one is tempted to call it a reinvention of the genre.
Hallandsposten (SE)

The Falling Detective develops into an ambitious political thriller with an unnervingly topical — and fully plausible — plot … A suspense novel miles above average. So, what is The Swedish Crime Writers’ Academy to do this year?
Jönköping-Posten

… Life-or-death stakes but also literary acrobatics that lure the reader in … Christoffer Carlsson is truly a master of mixing play with gravity and crime genre nostalgia with contemporary realism … Christoffer Carlsson loves the crime genre and that love makes me love reading his books.
Gunilla Wedding, Norra Skåne

Christoffer Carlsson has done it again … a truly excellent crime novel.
Smålandsposten

The best part with The Falling Detective is the psychosocial point of view originating from everyday life in the neglected neighbourhoods, showing how they've been forgotten by society. This creates a breeding ground for extremism.
Helsingin Sanomat

The Falling Detective is an extremely well-written crime novel, but it’s also more than that. It’s a novel that ought to appeal to a much broader audience than the typical crime reader. It’s well-written, thrilling and encapsulated in a dense atmosphere.
Den Döda Zonen

This story hits at the very core of our contemporary society. What I like about this author is that he doesn’t just focus on the suspense of the plot, but is a master at depicting how class and upbringing shapes us into who we are.
Aftonbladet

This is an incredibly strong crime novel, I would venture to say that among contemporary crime fiction it is in the absolute top! […] This is not a rush job, rather it is solid work crafter by a young man who impresses with his maturity and his analysis of the dark side of Sweden. If you like crime literature, don’t miss these novels for the world!
Litteraturmagazinet

Christoffer Carlsson belongs to the truly talented who want to offer more than simply suspense.
Upsala Nya Tidning

Captivating language and a breathtakingly thrilling plot makes [The Falling Detective] a real page-turner.
Allers

Carlsson belongs to the truly talented who want to offer more than simply suspense.
Upsala Nya Tidning

A decent man is pitched into a dangerous world where his strengths are tested and his weaknesses exposed.
Robert Gott, Author of The Port Fairy Murders

The story is an entertaining one … Behind the plot is evidence of a keen moral intelligence … Tanner shows a keen sense of life’s variety and the luck that attends to it.
Ed Wright, Weekend Australian

Comfort Zone is, in many respects, a love letter to the inner-city electorate that Tanner represented … held together and sustained by a wonderful warmth and a lightness of touch.
Michael McGirr, Sydney Morning Herald

We are truly in the middle of an epidemic — through our diet and our lifestyle we are unwittingly destroying the good bacteria in our bodies, the crucial allies we need to arm us against disease. In this life-changing book, Robynne Chutkan gives you simple, foolproof guidance to repair this vital ecosystem and bring you optimal health every day. Read this important book and discover the small changes that can make a huge impact.
Frank Lipman, M.D. Founder of Eleven-Eleven Wellness Centre and Author of The New York Times bestseller The New Health Rules

The exciting research on the microbiome has the promise to help many take charge of their health and reverse chronic ailments But what is so groundbreaking about this book is that it shows you how to put these scientific breakthroughs into practice, step-by-step. With Dr Robynne Chutkan as your guide, you’ll understand how overuse of antibiotics, the standard Western diet and a super-clean lifestyle starve your microbiome, and learn the essential tools to attain sustainable good health. This book is empowering, and indispensable for anyone trying to get or stay well.
Terry Wahls, M.D. Author of The Wahls Protocol

I whole-heartedly agree with Dr Chutkan that there is a rising epidemic of vague symptoms often attributable to a damaged microbiome, from bloating and food intolerances to brain fog and weight-loss resistance. Her mantra “Live dirty, eat clean!” is a scientifically-sound solution. Try her simple program — and get ready to feel the changes immediately. It’s the proven way to build up our “good bugs” and keep your body strong and vibrant, ready to fight illness and disease. It’s something we can all do, each and every day. You will truly transform your health!
Sara Gottfried, M.D., Author of The New York Times bestsellers The Hormone Cure and The Hormone Reset Diet

The Microbiome Solution is the medicine we all need to truly flourish.
Christiane Northrup, M.D., Author of The New York Times bestsellers Goddesses Never Age, Women’s Bodies, Women’s Wisdom and The Wisdom of Menopause

A thoughtful approach to health and wellness.
Sunday Express

A leading gastroenterologist distils the latest research on the microbiome into into a practical program for boosting overall health.
Good Reading

Gastroenterologist Chutkan (Gutbliss) makes a strongly argued proposal that people should “live dirty” and “eat clean” … A thoughtful approach to health and wellness that’s well worth the time of readers.
Publishers Weekly