Category Archives: Historical

The Only Living Lady Parachutist by Catherine Clarke – 2021

Posted on August 15, 2021 by alysonebaker

Lillian Hawker, Gladys Van Tassel, Gladys Freitas, Leila Adair, Lillian Rayward … are they one woman or many women? They are all aeronauts, ascending in hot air balloons, descending under parachutes – if all goes well. Through all her various … Continue reading →

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The Convict Stain by David McGill – 2021

Posted on July 13, 2021 by alysonebaker

The latest in the Dan Delaney series and Dan is nearing 70, he has lived through a lot and is disillusioned with politics, religion, life … He is in Sydney with his family to launch their Vukovich Vineyards Sauvignon Blanc … Continue reading →

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City of Vengeance by D.V. Bishop – 2021

Posted on May 1, 2021 by alysonebaker

It is Florence, 1536. Cesare Aldo is an officer of the Otto, a criminal court with its own investigators. Aldo has secrets, and Florence runs on the trading of secrets. Aldo ends up investigating the murder of a moneylender Samuele … Continue reading →

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Soldiers by Tom Remiger – 2020

Posted on April 27, 2021 by alysonebaker

A group of New Zealand soldiers during the Second World War, we follow them from England to their deployment in Crete – in boredom, in terror, in transit, in confusion. Before leaving England, one of lower-rank, Cousins, is killed during … Continue reading →

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Katipo Joe by Brian Falkner – 2020

Posted on February 28, 2021 by alysonebaker

Joseph St George is enjoying his life as the son of British diplomats in late 1930s Berlin. His only regret is not being allowed to wear long trousers like his older friend Klaus, and not being old enough to join … Continue reading →

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The Forger and the Thief by Kirsten McKenzie – 2020

Posted on November 11, 2020 by alysonebaker

Florence 1966, a magnet for tourists and art students, a paradise full of art treasures, leaky buildings full of history, their walls displaying famous paintings, their hallways home to famous statues. Florence 1966, the war still present in the injured … Continue reading →

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Remote Sympathy by Catherine Chidgey – 2020

Posted on November 2, 2020 by alysonebaker

“My Country, Right or Wrong” – the slogan that sits on the lintel above the gate to Buchenwald concentration camp in Remote Sympathy. But is it a call to blind patriotism? – the harbour for those ‘just following orders.’ Is … Continue reading →

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Clearing of the Mist by Owen Clough – 2020

Posted on July 31, 2020 by alysonebaker

Clearing of the mist is the third part of Clough’s Whispers of the past trilogy. In the first part, best mates Bob, Shane, and Sam, get transported from 2014 to 1863 when they wander into a mist during a DOC pig-culling trip in … Continue reading →

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The Manger, the Mikdash and the Mosque by David McGill – 2020

Posted on April 5, 2020 by alysonebaker

1975, Dan Delaney, now ‘damn near 60’, travels with his devout wife, Jas, and two daughters to ‘… this busy city on a hill in the middle of nowhere, the centre of everywhere’ – Jerusalem.  There he encounters kidnappings, bomb … Continue reading →

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Josephine’s Garden by Stephanie Parkyn – 2019

Posted on December 27, 2019 by alysonebaker

What does it mean to be a woman in a time of revolution, a time of colonial expansion?  Was Rose de Beauharnais an extraordinary woman or a woman in extraordinary times?  She hailed from exotic Martinique, narrowly survived the reign … Continue reading →

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