I have just read and thoroughly enjoyed the third book by Carrie Tiffany who is a most original Australian writer. This latest one is called Exploded View, by which is meant the sort of diagrams you might find in a car manual. It all ties in.
The story is told in the voice of an adolescent girl who has not spoken for many weeks. Most of the time the family is securely placed in a car on a long drive, perhaps to Perth. The narrator is very imaginative and makes many observant and amusing remarks in her head but there is an atmosphere of fear. Something bad is happening and bit by bit it becomes clear.
I recommend all three of her books which also include Mateship with Birds (which was the winner of the first Stella Prize in 2013 and also shortlisted for the Miles Franklin Literary Award in the same year) and Everyman’s Rules for Scientific Living, her debut which also took out a slew of awards and shortlistings.
Carrie Tiffany recently appeared at the 2019 Sydney Writers’ Festival and I made sure I got a ticket for that session.
I’ve also had a good time reading an exciting thriller written by Catherine Steadman called Something in the Water. It begins with the narrator digging a grave for her husband in the Norfolk Woods. How did this come about? Short sharp sentences. All very exciting. The author is also an actress who appeared in Downton Abbey, as Mabel Lane Fox (I think she was a rival to Lady Mary in the marriage stakes in the later episodes).
I’ve already reminded you in my previous post, that on Abbey’s Home Page there are separate squares for you to check the stock we have here for Cambridge University Press and Oxford University Press. Other very useful boxes are the box directing you to Penguin Black Classics and Popular Penguins. You can choose to browse through the 'in stock' titles or to look at the entire wonderful range. We can, of course, order any title for you for prompt delivery.
Happy reading, Eve
Since 1968 ~ Abbey's 131 York Street Sydney ~ An Aladdin's cave for readers
I’ve just eagerly read the final book in Steven Carroll’s wonderful Glenroy series. This one is set in 1917 Melbourne when the city is in a ferment of discussion about whether to accept conscription or not. The central character is Maryanne, Michael’s grandmother. She is almost forty, pregnant and unmarried. A stalwart character who is determined to keep her child (who becomes Vic) and not give him up to the Church as expected. It is called The Year of the Beast and although sixth in the series it is a prequel. You have yet to meet engine-driver Vic, wife Rita and their son Michael, their neighbours and workmates, living in a newly emerging suburb on the outskirts of Melbourne.
Steven Carroll’s style is quite addictive. Short rhythmic sentences, graceful and tender prose. If you haven’t met these life-like characters yet you have a treat in store. The Art of the Engine Driver and The Gift of Speed, should be read first, in my opinion, while the other titles can be read in any order. They are The Time We Have Taken, Forever Young and Spirit of Progress. Steven is a Miles Franklin Award winner as well as several other big prizes. He is Australia’s John Updike and I think these books are marvellous.
Carroll has written another series all about T.S.Eliot. Those titles are The Lost Life, A World of Other People and A New England Affair. Take your pick! Enjoyment guaranteed.
Steven spoke at Abbey's in 2011 on the writing of Spirit of Progress. Excerpts:
Prize winning Poet, Barry Hill wrote a glowing report in the Australian Review last Saturday for The Poems Vol.III in the Cambridge Edition of The Works of D. H. Lawrence, which includes Uncollected Poems and Early Versions. It is not cheap, although we have sold some already. He says "Dig into Lawrence dear readers. Fork out for this book. It is all process, and contemporary".
Bear in mind that Abbey’s carries a very extensive range of books published by Cambridge University Press especially, and also from Oxford University Press. On our website homepage there are currently two links, one each for Cambridge and Oxford, showing you all the titles in stock. You will be amazed! And if we are out of stock we can get it for you quickly.
Happy reading, Eve
Since 1968 ~ Abbey's 131 York Street Sydney ~ An Aladdin's cave for readers
I have already recommended to you the books written by newish Australian writer Jock Serong. First he wrote two thrillers called Quota and The Rules of Backyard Cricket and then On the Java Ridge, another thriller about asylum seekers and now he offers a terrific piece of historical fiction. It is called Preservation and is based on the wreck of the Sydney Cove which happened at the entrance to Bass Street in 1797.
The survivors from this wreck set off in a longboat to get help from Sydney but they were again shipwrecked. The survivors from this second shipwreck, including some lascars, then set off to walk 300 miles to Sydney. Only three people reached Sydney. One of these people published a diary of the trek which was published in a newspaper at the time.
Jock Serong has taken this epic story and with great care given us his version of the events. You can bet your bottom dollar this is thrilling but not a thriller. Wonderful characters include the earnest assistant to Governor Hunter who is deputed to find out the truth from the arrivals, and his self-confident wife, as well as the most evil baddie you can ever hope for.
Contact with the indigenous people is nicely handled and all ends well when a rescue ship is sent down to Preservation Island where the original survivors are still clinging to hope. This forgotten shipwreck will now be well-remembered I am sure.
Biologist James Watson, 1962 Nobel Prize co-winner with Francis Crick for discovering the double-helix form of DNA has been in trouble again over his views about racial intelligence. You can find his famous story about the decoding of DNA on the shelves at Abbey’s. It is called Double-Helix: A Personal Account of the Discovery of the Structure of DNA. Full of gossip and rivalry, this was a best seller for us at the time.
There was talk that they had used X-Ray photographs done by Rosalind Franklin, without her permission, and there was a book about this, Rosalind Franklin: The Dark Lady of DNA. Her family were involved with the firm of Routledge and Kegan Paul and I recall going to lunch with her brother who had come to Sydney to promote their books.
I’ve been to see Mary Poppins Returns and can assure you it is totally terrific. Indulge.
Happy New Year,
Since 1968 ~ Abbey's 131 York Street Sydney ~ An Aladdin's cave for readers
I am a great fan of the wonderful illustrated books of Shaun Tan. His latest is called Cicada, a simple story everyone can understand. It will appeal especially to anyone feeling under-appreciated, but every reader will enjoy it!
I see some excellent reviews for the third volume of Philip Dwyer’s biography of Napoleon. It is called Napoleon: Passion, Death and Resurrection and is very readable. If you haven’t already read Anne Whitehead’s Betsy and the Emperor: The True Story of Napoleon, a Pretty Girl, a Regency Rake and a Colonial Australian Misadventure, add this to your purchase as well. A really good story about Napoleon’s time on St Helena.
V S Naipaul, one of the greatest writers of the 20th century, died in August. He was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 2001, as well as the 1971 Booker Prize for In a Free State, which was also nominated for the recent Golden Man Booker.
If you find some recent fiction dissatisfying, try one of his other novels such as The Enigma of Arrival or A House for Mr Biswas. For a really perceptive view of India, look in Travel Literature for the views of this special Indian born in Trinidad. Three separate visits to India - An Area of Darkness, A Wounded Civilisation and A Million Mutinies Now - are collected in one volume under the title India.
I was especially pleased to hear the interview on ABC Radio’s The Science Show with scientific journalist Mark Lynas. His new book is called Seeds of Science: Why We Got it So Wrong on GMOs. Not before time. I used to worry about Plant Patent Rights.
Have you heard about a book by Amor Towles called A Gentleman in Moscow? This is one of those very stylish books which becomes a secret bestseller. Several people recommended it to me and so it goes on.
Just after the revolution, Count Alexander Rostov is declared by the Kremlin to be an unrepentant aristocrat and is sentenced to live for life in the Hotel Metropol. Not in his usual luxurious suite, but in an attic, a very tiny attic. But the count is an educated, erudite gentleman and is determined to live a life of purpose.
You will not want to read this quickly. You should take the time to appreciate the style, to reflect upon the adventures of the characters and to remember the historical events he mentions in passing, or the many literary references. You will pause before reading the next meaningful vignette. Terrific. It is called a 'fairy tale' and I suppose it is because all turns out well, but there are some anxious moments. Enjoy.
Amor Towles’ previous novel, Rules of Civility, is another fairy tale about two wisecracking gals from the mid-west making their way in 1930s New York. It is now on its way to become another bestseller. Fun ahead. What will he write next?
Keep well,
Since 1968 ~ Abbey's 131 York Street Sydney ~ An Aladdin's cave for readers
What would Australian crime writing be like if Peter Corris hadn't given us Cliff Hardy? If Peter Corris hadn't persisted for four years to get the first Cliff Hardy novel (The Dying Trade) published?
Over more than three decades and forty two Hardy novels later, the crime fiction scene in Australia has changed, but it would not perhaps be as strong as it is without the hard-bitten private investigator and his creator. Indeed, Corris was often described as the godfather of Australian crime, and when you think about it, there is no other person who could wear that description so aptly.
Hardy is the quintessential larrikin, with a quick eye and a colourful turn of phrase. His method of solving crime was not straight-forward; often it seemed as if he was pouring petrol on a fire to force the perpetrators into giving themselves away. One of the pleasures in reading the novels he featured in, was not just the recognisable 'Australianess' but also the recognisable 'Sydney-ness.' Over the years the city and its society changed, but there was Cliff, with his cigarettes and booze and talent for attracting trouble, observing it all and reflecting back to the reader a gritty moll of a city with its corrupt and undeniable beauty.
Abbey's customers have always been loyal devotees of Hardy, and each new title was greeted with delight and anticipation - what was Hardy getting up to now? We have generally stocked an extensive range of Hardy novels, and they are consistent sellers - once discovered by a new reader, the vivid descriptions and twisty storylines prove addictive!
Vale Peter Corris; your fans will mourn you but be forever grateful you turned your vast talents to creating such a marvellous character and in doing so, changing the landscape of Australian crime writing.
Lindy Jones
Former Manager at Abbey’s, Ann Leahy shared her anecdote of Peter:
“We asked him to come to the opening of Hunter St Books in Newcastle and he came. The audience begged him to set a Cliff Hardy novel in Newcastle. He did. What a legend and a lovely man.”
Peter was also a regular columnist for The Newtown Review of Books, which Abbey's has a long association with, run by Peter's wife, Jean Bedford, and Linda Funnell. Everyone at Abbey's sends their well wishes for Jean and her family.
- The Dying Trade (1980)
- White Meat (1981)
- The Marvellous Boy (1982)
- The Empty Beach (1983)
- Heroin Annie: Cliff Hardy cases (1984)
- Make Me Rich (1985)
- The Big Drop: Cliff Hardy cases (1985)
- The Greenwich Apartments (1986)
- Deal Me Out (1986)
- The January Zone (1987)
- Man in the Shadows: Cliff Hardy cases (1988)
- O'Fear (1990)
- Wet Graves (1991)
- Aftershock (1992)
- Beware of the Dog (1992)
- Burn: Cliff Hardy cases (1993)
- Matrimonial Causes (1993)
- Casino (1994)
- The Washington Club (1997)
- Forget Me if You Can: Cliff Hardy cases (1997)
- The Reward (1997)
- The Black Prince (1998)
- The Other Side of Sorrow (1999)
- Lugarno (2001)
- Salt & Blood (2002)
- Master's Mates (2003)
- The Coast Road (2004)
- Taking Care of Business: Cliff Hardy cases (2004)
- Saving Bille (2005)
- The Undertow (2006)
- Appeal Denied (2007)
- The Big Score: Cliff Hardy cases (2007)
- Open File (2008)
- Deep Water (2009)
- Torn Apart (2010)
- Follow the Money (2011)
- Comeback (2012)
- The Dunbar Case (2013)
- Silent Kill (2014)
- Gun Control (2015)
- That Empty Feeling (2015)
- Win, Lose or Draw (2017)
Plus the audiobooks are also great to listen to:
And in closing, you might like to read this entertaining and candid interview with Peter, on the Pulp Curry blog, titled:
A sit down with the Godfather: an interview with Peter Corris.
What point did you think Cliff Hardy went from imitative to unique?
"The Empty Beach."
And that was made into a movie.
"That’s the one. Ratshit movie. Terrible film. But the money enabled me to put a deposit on a house. My stand-up comedy line is that I much preferred the house to the film."
Since 1968 ~ Abbey's 131 York Street Sydney ~ An Aladdin's cave for readers
