AustLit

'Trying to forget the staggering hypocrisy of politicians who publicly slam negative gearing and then quietly use it for their own benefit?Falling about laughing as State Treasurer Curtis Pitt explains he’s not stealing money from the public servants’ super fund to prop up his Budget, he’s merely “repatriating’’ it?Wondering how gullible we are imagined to be when Labor Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk announces the best person in Australia to run the Commonwealth Games just happens to be a former Labor premier?'

'Books When Jane Harper put her debut novel up for an award she hoped for feedback, but she won, and scored a film deal. First-time authors often talk about the “journey” of writing their debut novel. Frequently it involves a love of story-­telling as a child, endless journal writing, pages and pages of short stories, first drafts and the seemingly never-ending struggle of getting ­noticed by a publisher.None of that is the experience of Jane Harper, whose first novel, The Dry, is ­released on Wednesday.'

'The Australian settings of previous Caroline Overington novels are a large part of their charm. So it was somewhat disappointing to delve into the Walkley Award winner’s latest to discover it is set in California.'

'The Secret Recipe for Second Chances is also a recipe for success in women’s fiction. Sydney chef Lucy has left her lying, cheating husband Leith, who has undermined her for years, the last straw being her loss of the restaurant they created together. ...'