AustLit

'One of Australia’s leading poets, as well as professor of sustainability and literature at Curtin University, John Kinsella has stated that the “purpose” of his poetry is “to draw attention to the damage being done and to show that we are all implicated”. It’s pretty clear that he has hewn from the same brief in writing the stories that make up this collection.' (Introduction)

'Kathryn Heyman’s Storm and Grace is essentially a novel about domestic violence, though you will find only veiled references to this subject in the recommendations on the book’s cover, which emphasise – somewhat disturbingly – the novel’s darkness and sexiness, and its exploration of the intimate link between love and death. This is disappointing, particularly in the light of what this ambitious and impressive book sets out to achieve. Storm and Grace is the story of a passionate and violent relationship, but it is also an original and compelling critique of what one of the characters bluntly describes as “all that Fifty Shades shit” (Introduction)