Monday, December 05, 2016

Historical novels by Australian women writers for #AWW2016, and on to 2017

I'm wrapping up my second year of participation in the Australian Women Writers Challenge.  Now that I'm part of the associated Facebook group, I'm seeing the impressive reading accomplishments of the other participants, which far surpass mine, but I'm pleased to have met my 2016 goal of six books read, four reviewed.  I reviewed all six, which are as follows:

The Wife's Tale by Christine Wells, a dual-time romance/mystery set in modern and Georgian England.

The Memory Stones by Caroline Brothers, literary fiction about what happens to an Argentine family during the country's Dirty War.

Call to Juno by Elisabeth Storrs, the final book in her trilogy set in ancient Rome and Etruria.

The Railwayman's Wife by Ashley Hay, a literary novel about the aftermath of loss, set in the Australian seaside town of Thirroul beginning in 1948.

Daughter of Albion by Ilka Tampke, a gritty historical fantasy set in first-century England.  In the UK and Australia, the title is Skin.

And the final review was for a book-length literary study on the historical fiction genre by Gillian Polack, History and Fiction: Writers, Their Research, Worlds, and Stories, which I reviewed for the nonfiction section of November's Historical Novels Review.

Thinking about it, I'm realizing I actually read seven that fit.  The one which I didn't review (because I read it on vacation) was Barbara Hannay's The Secret Years, which uses the popular multi-era format to tell the story of a north Queensland family from WWII to the present.  It used to be on sale for Kindle in the US but isn't any longer.

I've also signed up again for 2017; I have plenty of books by Australian women writers waiting on my physical and virtual shelves to be read.  I'm especially eager to get my hands on Lucy Treloar's Salt Creek, which finally came back in stock at Fishpond.  With everything I'm assigned to read by various publications, I'm not sure if I can make it past my 2016 goal, but we'll see.


4 comments:

  1. Congratulations on completing the 2016 challenge!
    I've fallen by the wayside with my participation but there's still time for me to complete it.
    The Wife's Tale, The Railwayman's Wife, The Secret Years and Salt Creek are all in my TBR pile. Hopefully I'll get to them soon.
    I'm signing up for the 2017 challenge too, with every intention of doing better than this year :-)
    I'm looking forward to seeing what books you read.

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    1. Thanks, Yvonne! There's still some time left but there's always next year to read more. I'll look forward to your thoughts on what you end up reading, either this year or next.

      I'm just looking now and Barbara Hannay's books are back on US Kindle! I'm going to grab her newest novel (The Grazier's Wife) which I hope will be as good as the previous one.

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  2. I've added The Grazier's Wife to my wish list, as well as one of her earlier novels, Moonlight Plains.

    Like you I have quite a few books by Australian women writers in my TBR pile and expect I'll start with those for the 2017 challenge. However, my plans may go awry depending on what treats are released next year!

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    1. Same here!

      Moonlight Plains looks good too - it isn't one I've come across before.

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