I have categorised The Star on the Grave as historical fiction because it is derived from historical events, but I read it more through a lens on the contemporary issues it explores. This is the book description: In 1940, as the Nazis sweep toward Lithuania, Japanese diplomat Chiune Sugihara defies his own government and secretly […]| ANZ LitLovers LitBlog
A story of exile, Abdulrazak Gurnah’s fourth novel Paradise tells the story of Yusuf who was born in Tanzania at the turn of the 20th century. His family is poor, and it’s a treat when Yusuf finds a bone in his soup, but the family manages to put on a feast for the regular visits of Uncle […]| ANZ LitLovers LitBlog
Nadine Gordimer’s July’s People (1981) is a deeply unsettling book, as it was meant to be. This is the book description from the back cover: For years, it had been what is called a ‘deteriorating situation.’ Now all over South Africa the cities are are battlegrounds. The members of the Smales family – liberal whites […]| ANZ LitLovers LitBlog
First published in 1973, The Honorary Consul is a one of Graham Greene’s later works. It’s one of nine of his novels listed in 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die, and I’ve now read all of them except It’s a Battlefield. This is the book description from the back cover of my edition: […]| ANZ LitLovers LitBlog
Mary Barton (1848, revised edition 1854) is one of three books by Elizabeth Gaskell that are listed in 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die. The other two are Cranford, (1853, see my review) a…| ANZ LitLovers LitBlog
13 posts published by Lisa Hill during August 2025| ANZ LitLovers LitBlog
Dottie, the third novel from 2021 Nobel laureate Abdulrazak Gurnah, is #No11 of #20BooksofWinter, but despite the looming deadline (August 31) to read the other nine books, I have taken my time to …| ANZ LitLovers LitBlog
Listed in 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die, Nobel Laureate Nadine Gordimer’s Burger’s People (1979) is a superb novel about the collateral damage to family members of activists. …| ANZ LitLovers LitBlog
As Robert Burns once wrote ‘the best laid plans of mice and men often go awry’… and yes, I’m a day late with my plan to foreshadow #ShortStorySeptember with a post about Chr…| ANZ LitLovers LitBlog
This month, this year, the theme for Spell the Month in Books hosted by Reviews from the Stacks, is… This month’s theme is “set in a fantasy world or fictional place!” Oh, this was hard! I d…| ANZ LitLovers LitBlog
For lovers of Australian and New Zealand literary fiction; Ambassador for Australian literature| ANZ LitLovers LitBlog
Readers know right from the start of Catherine Chidgey’s new novel The Book of Guilt that there is something odd about this narrator… Before I knew what I was, I lived with my brothers …| ANZ LitLovers LitBlog
At first, I was a bit puzzled by award winning Emily Maguire’s venture into historical fiction in her new novel Rapture. I know her as an author who writes powerful novels that explore cont…| ANZ LitLovers LitBlog
Barefoot Doctor turned out to be the perfect #WITmonth choice after the apocalyptic horror of Craig Harrison’s The Quiet Earth. It’s a quiet homage to the barefoot doctors who provided…| ANZ LitLovers LitBlog
This month’s choice for #AYearofNZLit is a classic work of Kiwi Science Fiction… Wikipedia and Goodreads tell us that Born in England in 1942, Craig Harrison came to New Zealand in 1966…| ANZ LitLovers LitBlog
