Gripping Narratives and Thrilling Tales: Carmel Bird on her top 5 summer reads

Gripping Narratives and Thrilling Tales: Carmel Bird on her top 5 summer reads

About the Author:

Carmel Bird is a writer of both fiction and non-fiction. Her first collection of short stories appeared in 1976. Since then she has published novels, essays, anthologies, children’s books and also manuals on how to write.

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The Year of the Farmer – by Rosalie Ham

Drought is on everybody’s mind, again. And the author of the famous Dressmaker, will now take you to an Australian town where water is the key to everything, where two fabulously funny and awful women are at war with each other, and where another even more dire female is about to turn everything upside down. You will laugh and cry, and generally delight in this new rural satire from Rosalie Ham.

The True Colour of the Sea – by Robert Drewe

Eleven short stories from one of the best writers in Australia. These tales are dark but they are thrilling, and they roll along, taking the reader into marvellous places on the earth and in the sea, as well as biting into truly terrible parts of the mind, the heart and the spirit. And believe me, they are often very funny.

Dark Emu – Bruce Pascoe

This book is a bright and shining revelation. The author has documented, in vivid and often lyrical prose, the untold history of Australian indigenous use of the land. There were villages, irrigation schemes, and sophisticated farming. Be amazed, be informed.

From the Wreck – Jane Rawson

This novel is mysterious and magical, featuring a weird sea-creature-woman from another dimension. This woman is seeking refuge on earth, and becomes involved with a man who, in 1859, survived a tragic shipwreck in South Australia. History meets fantasy in this gripping narrative that will startle and move you, trouble and haunt you, and generally inhabit your mind.

Trying to Save Piggy Sneed – John Irving

This a kind of writer’s memoir, published in 1996. I first read it a long time ago. A friend recently found a copy of it lying in a gutter in Hobart. So I was moved to read it again, and I still love it. It’s a delicious collection of writing that reflects on writing, and it’s perfect for reading on holiday – or any time. At the end there is an homage to Charles Dickens, and also one to Gunter Grass. Yes!

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        Carmel Bird
        About the author

        Carmel Bird

        Carmel Bird is a writer of both fiction and non-fiction. Her first collection of short stories appeared in 1976. Since then she has published novels, essays, anthologies, children's books and also manuals on how to write.

        Books by Carmel Bird

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