If you're new here, why not subscribe to our email updates or follow us on Facebook? You can also add us to your Google Reader. Thanks for visiting! My primary school was a tiny place, one so small that it had no play area to speak of. It did, however, look on to a vast park that wasand still isa favourite landing place for the citys hot air...

Ive been known to complain about author blurbs on books, but in the case of'One Mountain Away the cover quote is fitting indeed. Not only does it warn you up-front about the box of tissues you might need handy, but the quote comes from highly regarded womens fiction author Diane Chamberlain, of whose work this book is strongly reminiscent: it...

Elin Hilderbrands'Barefoot'opens with a scene akin to a drawn-out framing shot in a Steven Spielberg movie: through airport attendant Josh Flynns eyes we see three woman disembarking from a plane, each lost somewhere beneath a personal burden. Josh, whos studying creative writing and is in search of a story to follow, is intrigued by the...

  Well, hello there, deja vu. It was only a few weeks ago that I was reviewing Louise Limericks'Lucindas Whirlwind, a novel about a career-minded aunt called in as a last-minute caretaker after her sister has jet-set off overseas, and here I am reviewing a book that covers some very similar ground. Mysterious how these things work,...

      My family is one thats full of strange rifts and cracks: a grandmother whos sealed herself off from both her own family and her husbands after being slighted as a young woman; an uncle who will drive three hours to put in an appearance at a family event and then hightail it after hes finished his first beer;...

Ah, here I am once again feeling a touch embittered about the fact that Ive been misled entirely by a books cover. I know, I know, dont judge a book and all that, but honestly, if we werent supposed to do so, then we wouldnt have covers, would we? Ive had'Lucindas Whirlwind'sitting in my to-read pile for a...