AustLit

Crossing the Lines is a book that smiles and offers cake while it thinks. Sulari Gentill delivers ideas and narrative entertainment, and it’s a bonus that her novel is also sub-acidly satirical.

'When a friend irritated by protagonist Madeleine’s unavailability laughs in response to her apologetic explanation that she is completely herself only when writing, 'scorn was cut into the mirth like some bitter essence folded into whipped cream.'' (Introduction)

'Big questions lie at the heart of The Green Bell. What is love? Madness? Poetry? Are there boundaries? The focus is on Paula Keogh’s intense relationship with poet Michael Dransfield when they meet in M Ward, the psychiatric ward of Canberra Community Hospital, in 1972.

Keogh was admitted after a breakdown following the death of her best friend Julianne, but with Dransfield’s arrival in M Ward their story takes flight. ‘‘His eyes are teasing’’ as he smiles at her. They bond with wordplay and poetry and find refuge nearby under the green bell of a willow by the shores of Lake Burley Griffin.' (Introduction)

'These two books capture a profound diversity in contemporary Australian short-story writing. Seven Stories is a collection of short stories from Tasmanian writers published by the elusive Dewhurst Jennings Institute. The stories are set around the world, the seven writers connected only by dint of being Tasmanian. In contrast, the slow-burn stories in Melanie Cheng’s Australia Day speak of middle Australia. They are an examination of some quiet lives in contemporary Melbourne.'