Allen& Unwin

Cover image for Becoming Liz Taylor by Elizabeth Delo

Becoming Liz Taylor by Elizabeth Delo: ‘It was probably safe to dress up now’

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That eye-catching jacket, redolent of movie star glamour, might suggest a setting more alluring than Weston-super-Mare for Elizabeth Delo’s debut, Becoming Liz Taylor. No disrespect to any readers from the seaside resort but I have childhood memories of mud rather than the glorious sandy beaches of my hopeful imagination. Delo’s novel begins in Weston where […]

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The Life to Come by Michelle de Kretser: The way we live now

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Last year’s reading got off to a very satisfying start with a book by an Australian author – Jennifer Down’s compassionate, clear-sighted and lovely debut, Our Magic Hour. Coincidentally, this year’s has also begun with a beautifully crafted, thoroughly engaging Australian novel. I’d read and enjoyed Michelle de Kretser’s Questions of Travel a few years

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Cover image for The Last Painting of Sara de vos by Dominic Smith

The Last Painting of Sara de Vos by Dominic Smith: Art and fakery

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I’m not sure how I managed to miss Dominic Smith’s novel last year, although the hardback edition’s jacket is somewhat off-putting. In his author’s note Smith tells his readers that the eponymous Sara is loosely based on one of the first women to be admitted to St Luke’s Guild in the 17th-century Netherlands, explaining that

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