'The Maxwell Sisters' by Loretta Hill

Received via NetGalley

From the BLURB:

All families have their problems. No more so than the Maxwells of Tawny Brooks Winery. Situated in the heart of the Margaret River wine region, this world-renowned winery was the childhood home to three sisters, Natasha, Eve and Phoebe.

Today all three women are enmeshed in their city lives and eager to forget their past - and their fractured sibling relationships. Until Phoebe decides to get married at home . . .

Now the sisters must all return to face a host of family obligations, vintage in full swing and interfering in-laws who just can't take a hint. As one romance blossoms and others fall apart, it seems they are all in need of some sisterly advice. But old wounds cut deep. Somehow, The Maxwell Sisters must find a way back to one another – or risk losing each other forever.

‘The Maxwell Sisters’ is the new contemporary fiction novel from Australia author Loretta Hill, who so impressed me with her Pilbara-set romance books: 'The Girl in the Hard Hat' and 'The Girl in Steel-Capped Boots' among them. ‘Maxwell Sisters’ is the first book, and I’m told (by the author herself, via Twitter) that at least two more books are planned in the same Margaret River wine region. 

I had a bit of a sinking feeling as I started reading this, only because it had elements of a Monica McInerney novel I read in 2013, a novel I happened to hate. ‘The Alphabet Sisters’ was about three sisters reuniting at their family home after years of silence following an explosive feud – namely around the youngest sister stealing the middle sister’s fiancée. When they reunited the middle and youngest sister had to have it out (but never really did) over the betrayal, and oldest sister (long thought to be perfect) had to slowly reveal how her marriage was collapsing.

Loretta Hill's had similar elements to McInerney’s novel … or what I thought were similar elements at first. ‘The Maxwell Sisters’ sees youngest sister Phoebe getting married, and calling her feuding middle and older sisters home a month early under the guise of wedding arrangements, but really to mend fences.

Phoebe is marrying Spider, celebrity TV chef and her sister Eve’s former restaurant partner, and best friend … but unbeknownst to her, he’s also the man Eve has unrequitedly loved for years now, and she’s still struggling to come to terms with what could have been.

Meanwhile, eldest “perfect” sister Natasha is returning home with some bad news … her marriage is over, and she and her husband Heath have been living in separate states for the last month. But when she arrives at her parents infamous winery, she is surprised to discover Heath there too – adamant that they still have a marriage worth saving, and banking on Tash not wanting to lose face with her family by pre-emptively telling them about her marriage breakdown.

The stage being set, and the sister’s initially being at odds with one another, Hill’s and McInerney’s books become vastly different in their plots and execution – where ‘The Alphabet Sisters’ fell flat in pretty much every single way for me, I read Hill’s ‘The Maxwell Sisters’ as being a phenomenal contemporary romance cross between King Lear and ‘Pride and Prejudice’ … as the sister’s enjoy spending a month together under the stealthy influence of their beloved patriarch, a famous wine man who has often been called “mad” for his belief in celestial tides affecting the grapes. The Maxwell sisters must grapple with their misconceptions and assumptions about one another’s lives and feelings – having so lost touch with one other over the last few years, the novel becomes about how these three reconnect and fit back into each other’s lives.

Along the way there is romance to be had – for Eve it’s the new manager her father has employed, the delicious Adam “Adonis” (as she calls him) who is running from his own problems. Natasha must decide if she’s really ready to turn her back on her husband and their previously blissful marriage, and Phoebe becomes increasingly suspicious of Spider in the lead-up to their wedding … Hill’s romances for the three are excellent, especially for being so nuanced and proportionate to the bigger issues going on in the sister’s lives and familial relationships. Just as her Pilbara books were more about the female characters surviving in tough, male-dominated work places (that, for their remote locations, became living quarters too), ‘The Maxwell Sisters’ is likewise more about the sister’s realigning with each other than it is solely a vehicle for their love lives to get back in order. I think that’s where Hill really excels in her contemporary fiction – she never forgets the real heart of the story, the meatier characterisation and bonds are not playing second-fiddle to the lovey-dovey stuff.

That being said – and although Hill did a remarkable job of making me root for all the sisters (even the Mary Sue-esque character of Phoebe), I especially loved Eve’s story with Adam/Adonis, which starts off snarky and then progresses to sparky. I especially loved Eve’s story because she is the more underdog sister –unmarried, lusting after her sister’s fiancée (and has been for years) a failed business owner and the shorter/curvier one, compared to her willowy sisters.

By the time she got back to the couch, Phoebe and Natasha were already seated there on either side of her father. They had both seized the opportunity to get his attention while she had rushed off to get stuff organised. How familiar the scene was. As a young girl, she had often thought of herself as the Cinderella of the family. Only the analogy was definitely flawed – neither of her sisters were ugly and her life was still a pumpkin.
‘Here, Dad, drink this.’ She held out the glass of water to her father and sat down on the edge of the coffee table.He took it rather absentmindedly as he gazed at each of his daughters in turn. ‘Look at you all.’ He sipped his water. ‘All of you in the same room. My beautiful girls. My life is literally flashing before my eyes.’

As I was reading this (and I did so in one sitting – staying up until 1AM) I found myself hoping, finger-crossing that Loretta Hill would be turning this into a series … and as I discovered on Twitter, she is! I’m especially keen because there are two other wineries mentioned, and the breadcrumbs laid for the stories around those family-run wineries are intriguing … there’s mention of a Jack Franklin, “the region’s most notorious womaniser,” and member of a rival family; “the Franklins and the Maxwells had been mortal enemies from day one, especially when it came to wine.” Seriously, I cannot wait!

I was lucky enough to receive an advance copy of this e-book via NetGalley, and I did find it funny that after reading it on December 18, it became the first book to make my ‘Favourite Books of 2015’ list, and so soon after mentioning ‘The Maxwell Sisters’ in my ‘Most Anticipated Books of 2015’ list too! It really was a wonderful read, and I can’t wait to return to the region and meet the Franklin family next. Loretta Hill is such a wonderful voice in Australian contemporary fiction; beautifully balancing romance and family tales that tug at the heart.

5/5

Mean girls, bullies and private school privilege: Alice Pung’s Laurinda

My latest column for Kill Your Darlings is an interview with the wonderful Alice Pung

Mean girls, bullies and private school privilege: 

Alice Pung’s Laurinda

P.S. - Laurinda is amazing, and everyone should read it! 

'Runaways' by Sherryl Clark

 Received from the Publisher 

From the BLURB:

The red balloon explodes 

my blood runs hot from skull to toes 

I grab my bag and run.  

Cassie and her brother, Jack, are on the run from the past, from the future and from their failure of a family. But where can they go? And can you ever really run away?

‘Runaways’ is the story of Cassie and her young brother, Jack. School counsellors seem to think Jack is ‘dumb’, and so does their mum – she can’t cope with Jack and is relieved when the kids’ absentee father shows up to take Jack away. But Jack and Cassie won’t be split up and the two of them runaway together.

‘Runaways’ is the new middle-grade verse novel from Australian author Sherryl Clark.

Alternating between Jack and Cassie’s voice, ‘Runaways’ stretches between Melbourne and Adelaide and is the story of sibling bonds and broken families. It’s a cross-country trek in which the kids hitch-hike their way to Grandad’s house, where more drama awaits; 

The bus station arches  

over my head 

everything echoes 

like I’m in a tunnel 

alone 

scared 

worried 

that Jack won’t turn up 

that Jack is lost 

or dead 

buried in the Nullarbor 

somewhere dark and deep

This is a fast-paced verse novel that’s grounded in a story going back to the Hansel & Gretel fairytale. The real heart of ‘Runaways’ is undoubtedly the love and loyalty between Jack and Cassie – their bond is especially poignant since nobody else in Jack’s life seems to care or even like him very much. 

I hug Jack really tight 

and for once 

he doesn’t push my away 

my heart feels like 

it’s on fire  

I say, ‘you and me  

we're a team 

always have been 

always will be 

you’re not going anywhere  

without me, buddy’ 

I feel his tears drip onto my arm 

I whisper, ‘cross my heart 

and hope to die’ 

this time I’ll do something

Jack has a chaotic mind – beautifully expressed in his verse POV that runs and indents across the page, and is peppered with images amidst the words. Jack’s thoughts are hectic but straight-forward, image-driven and in direct contrast to Cassie’s ordered stanzas and sweet analogies. Jack either has ADHD or Asperger syndrome – though this is never addressed, since neither his mother nor father seem the type to investigate Jack’s behaviour, they’re just annoyed by it and dismissive of him. 

‘Runaways’ is a simple verse novel, perfect for young reader’s 10-and-up who will so enjoy the adrenaline-fuelled story of Cassie and Jack’s cross-country adventure. But the real tender heart of Clark’s novel is the sweet sibling relationship, which is a wonderful counterpoint and reason for their daring escape. 

5/5 

Interview with Honey Brown, author of 'Dark Horse'

I have a few authors whose upcoming releases I anticipate like Christmas. I mark release-dates in my calendar, and the approach of their new book is met with unmitigated glee. I look forward to these authors because I’ve come to trust in their books and their writing – they’re my guaranteed great reads, and I just know their new books will only build upon their favorite author status on my shelf. 

Honey Brown is one such author and her new book, 'Dark Horse', has become another favourite. So, of course, I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to ask questions of the author whose books I crack open with Christmas-morning enthusiasm. 

•

Q: How were you first published – agent or slush pile? 

I’d entered Red Queen into the ABC Unpublished Manuscript Competition, and come runner-up. At the awards ceremony I asked an agent for her card. I sent the Red Queen manuscript to her, and she sent it on to Penguin.     

 

Q: Are you a ‘plotter’ or a ‘pantser’ - that is, do you meticulously plot your novel before writing, or do you ‘fly by the seat of your pants’ and let the story evolve naturally?

I’m a pantser. For me, plotting leads to writer’s block. Characters drive my stories, and their personalities evolve as I write. Characters are like people – they don’t like being told how to act. It’s hard for me to shoehorn them into predetermined plot points. If I do that, it’s like they’re all of a sudden cardboard cutouts. A part of the fun of writing is being surprised by the unexpected things a character can do, and how the story can unfold in a way more fascinating than I first imagined. I do start each book with an ending in mind though, and I try my best to steer that way.

 

Q: How long did it take you to write ‘Dark Horse’, from first idea to final manuscript?

Because I’m writing constantly, staring times and ending times are a bit of a blur. It probably took around ten months to complete.

 

Q: Where do story ideas generally start for you? Do you first think of the character, theme, ending? Or is it just a free-fall?

 

It’s always a question relating to human nature that sparks my interest. I think of a tough situation, and then wonder what a good person would do if dropped into it, how they would react, how it might change them, the bad things they might be pushed to do. It’s through writing that I get to explore these questions and try and answer them. 

Q: You write such complex, thrilling books that delve into the darkest depths of the human psyche. Do you enjoy reading books in the same genre that you write in? And what is it about the darkness that draws you to write about it?

I’m not a big reader of novels. When I do read a book, I don’t read in the conventional way – I open a book anywhere, I look for the writer’s style and use of language, I’m interested in technique. I’m rarely swept-up in the story. I think I’m drawn to writing about darker themes because I like rawness and honesty and stripping back modern convention and moral codes to see what’s underneath. 

 

Q: All of your books feature strong, female characters. And, more importantly, they’re strong, ordinary female characters – there are no superpowers involved, and they’re incredibly relatable. Do you think there’s a lack of such characters in Australian fiction at the moment? And are your female heroines inspired by women in your life?

There seems to me to be a lot of strong female characters in storytelling at the moment. I don’t write to push any sort of an agenda or to address any kind of an imbalance though. Weak characters are never very likable, I wouldn’t like to spend a lot of time with them, and don’t think the reader would either, so I make my main characters strong. I make them everyday people so I that when I drop them in an extreme situation, the sudden change and test of spirit are there to explore.  

My female characters (like my male characters) have lots of different people in them, and a little bit of me too. I draw from family members, friends, and even people I’ve only briefly met. Personality traits can cross from sex to sex. If anything, I see parts of myself in my male characters more so than in my female characters.     

 

Q: I feel like a big theme you keep exploring in all your books is the edge of male violence against women. It feels like in all of your books, there comes a moment when you write your female heroines into a corner – and put a chokehold on the reader. I can say, personally, it’s always a moment that I dread/can’t stop reading. It’s when your female characters enter into a situation with men – and as a female reader you dread the worst for them – I’m thinking of Rebecca finding herself in a house full of drunk men in ‘The Good Daughter’, or Denny making herself known and vulnerable to two isolated brothers in ‘Red Queen’. I dread the anticipation and potentially reading a quite brutal scene in which women are at men’s mercy – but personally, I think you say everything that needs to be said in these scenes without writing excessive violence against the female characters. Why is this something you keep coming back to? Have you ever thought that other writers have gone too far in writing violence against women, without more thoughtful examination?

My interest lies more with power play than what it does with violence against women. In my stories the characters use what they’ve been equipped with to coerce others and gain control. I believe that men often use their physicality, because they have that in their arsenal, whereas women often use emotional manipulation, because we’ve evolved that skill to compensate for our smaller frames. All types of controlling behaviors can be cruel and soul destroying. Both sexes can inflict pain and be hurtful. I don’t like going too far in my description of brutality; it feels disrespectful to people who have suffered real-life violence, or been emotionally or physically abused, and disrespectful to use my characters in such a way. I’m not at all comfortable around true evil. Good people doing bad things, is where my fascination lies. 

In writing violence and brutality, authors cross the line all the time, but the creative process is about pushing boundaries and thinking outside the box, so it’s understandable that it happens, and I don’t doubt that a writer, or any type of artist, on reflection, regrets it when they’ve gone too far.      

 

Q: Your books alternately explore isolation and pack mentality – ‘Red Queen’ had a main cast of two brothers and one stranger, ‘The Good Daughter’ was centred on an entire town, ‘After the Darkness’ was sort of about two characters against the world, and in ‘Dark Horse’ we’re back to a quite pared-back character list and a focus on two souls – Sarah and Heath. What influences whether you want to have a tight, small cast of characters or examine society on a larger scale?

It’s whatever best suits the original question I put to myself when starting the book. In Red Queen it went without saying that there’d be very few characters, because the question I posed myself was – what would happen if two brothers and one women were isolated in a cabin in the wilderness? Whereas with After The Darkness the question was – what if couple happily married couple were attacked and abused and then had to return to their children and go about their normal life? The background cast of characters is like the setting – it’s about framing and enhancing the story.   

 

Q: You’ve been (thankfully!) releasing a book every year since your ‘Red Queen’ debut. Do you get ideas/inspiration for your next book while writing your current – or do you have a cooling-off period when you think about ideas for your next manuscript? And, speaking of, what are you working on right now, and when can we expect it to hit shelves?

I don’t cool down between books. Sometimes I wish I did. At any given time I have a couple of stories turning in my mind. I file them to the back of my head and draw out one at a time. When I’m writing, I’m aware of the other stories waiting there, not liking being shelved. Towards the end of each story, I tend to get more excited about the next one, and it takes some effort to stay focused on the one I’m actually writing. 

I’m at the halfway point of book five at the moment. It’ll be released next year. I’m very secretive about my raw drafts. If I talk too much about an unwritten story it leeches the energy from it, and the drive to write it disappears. I use the keyboard as my only outlet, and that way I always push through to the end so that at I can at last talk about my story.  

Q: Favourite author(s) of all time?

These authors I envy because of their amazing minds and their craftsmanship when writing – J.M.Coetzee, Graham Greene, Joyce Carol Oates, Norman Mailer, Philip Roth, Robert Harris, Alice Munro, the list could go on and on… 

Q: Favourite book(s)? 

My favourite books aren’t always the most perfectly written ones; I don’t mind seeing flaws in a novel, it often endears me to it. These are the books I will never lend out, or pack away in any box, or ever be without – Deliverance, Dirt Music, All Quiet on the Western Front, The Great Gatsby, Lord of The Flies, The Quiet American, Disgrace, The Complete Poems of Emily Dickinson.

Q: What advice do you have for budding young writers?

Respect your reader. Write a story that will entertain them. 

'Dark Horse' by Honey Brown

 Received from the Publisher

From the BLURB:

It's Christmas morning on the edge of the rugged Mortimer Ranges. Sarah Barnard saddles Tansy, her black mare. She is heading for the bush, escaping the reality of her broken marriage and her bankrupted trail-riding business.

Sarah seeks solace in the ranges. When a flash flood traps her on Devil Mountain, she heads to higher ground, taking shelter in Hangman's Hut.

She settles in to wait out Christmas.

A man, a lone bushwalker, arrives. Heath is charming, capable, handsome. But his story doesn't ring true. Why is he deep in the wilderness without any gear? Where is his vehicle? What's driving his resistance towards rescue? The closer they become the more her suspicions grow.

But to get off Devil Mountain alive, Sarah must engage in this secretive stranger's dangerous game of intimacy.

Sarah can’t spend Christmas at her mum and dad’s house, she just can’t. Still navigating the wreckage of her marriage, and the discovery that her husband of ten years had been having numerous affairs throughout their relationship, Sarah opts out of any festivities and instead decides to spend the day in the mountains. She saddles her prized black mare, Tansy, packs a picnic and a shotgun and sets out for the ranges that were once her office . . . this is one of the last times Sarah will be able to enjoy a Devil Mountain ride, since she’s also losing her horse trail business along with her house and husband. 

Being out in nature is just what Sarah needed. To get away from the hurt and pitying looks of town residents who know her sad story. Sarah and Tansy enjoy one of their last days in the ranges together . . .  until the heavens open up.

A flash flood decimates the mountain, and Sarah barely escapes with her life and her horse – but the one way off the mountain is flooded. Sarah and Tansy are forced to take shelter at Hangman’s Hut, a property belonging to the long-dead bushranger Sid, which is currently under heritage restoration. 

The rain pours, but Sarah is content – she has shelter, some provisions, a shotgun for safety and she spoke to her father before coming up the mountain. Help will come, when the rain stops. 

But before help can arrive, a stranger does. Sarah hears a noise in the middle of the night, and finds a young man stuck in the mud and unable to help himself – he claims to have a busted knee, a dead phone and his car is stranded somewhere higher up on the mountain. His name is Heath, and he needs Sarah’s help – she’s his only hope.

‘Dark Horse’ is the new suspense-thriller from Australian author, Honey Brown.

Bloody brilliant – those are the only two words that come to mind in trying to summarize this book. 

Bloody.

Brilliant.

Brown sets the dreary, isolated scene – introducing readers to Sarah and Tansy, and pieces of the sad story that finds them alone on Devil Mountain on Christmas day. Sarah is still reeling from the disagreeable disintegration of her marriage, after discovering that her husband of ten years had been cheating on her for all of them. Sarah refuses to spend Christmas nursing a broken heart at her parent’s house and, knowing her property has been sold and horse trail business dissolved, she decides on one last trek to the ranges to say goodbye. 

This Australian story is set somewhere in Tasmania – Devil Mountain being a dense rainforest similar to Gippsland or the Dandenong Ranges. It’s a primal, isolated setting, and for a long time Sarah and Tansy are our only characters – a woman and her horse battling the elements as they become increasingly deadly. It’s a wonderful introduction for Sarah; a clearly broken woman whose confidence has been rocked by her husband’s infidelities and her very foundations shaken by all she has lost in the divorce. And yet, readers are privy to Sarah’s sudden burst of strength and determination –battling against the elements to save herself, and her beloved mare. It immediately introduces us to a fascinating dichotomy in the character; that even if Sarah doesn’t believe in herself, readers know that deep down she still has an unbreakable spirit.  

After Sarah survives the flash flood and takes shelter in Hangman’s Hut, Honey Brown introduces her (now trademark) “what if?” quandary – by throwing a stranded, injured young man into the mix. Sarah, already vulnerable in so many ways, is now stranded atop this mountain with a strange man. Their first meeting hardly assuages her worries;

Rain had slowed. The wind had died down. With the light gone from his forehead and shining from a different angle, the shadows on his face changed and his age was more apparent. He was in his late twenties. He had a youthful gleam in his eyes, liveliness even though he was cold and battered. From all accounts, you’d think he was revelling in the intensity, exactly like a young man would, everything an adventure. The smile he gave her emerged white from within the mud mask. ‘I promise I’m not Ted Bundy.’ 

‘Sorry?’ 

‘The killer.’ 

‘Huh?’ 

‘The murderer who pretended to have a broken leg to lure women.’ 

Sarah frowned. 

‘Bad joke,’ he said.

From here the book takes its twisting turns and spirals into a primal thriller. And this is where Brown always succeeds in her books – she breaks her characters down to their animal natures; she leaves them vulnerable and backed into corners and then sees how they react. 

I loved that ‘Dark Horse’ is a very tight, almost claustrophobic book with minimal cast – the spotlight being firmly on Sarah, Heath and the horse, Tansy (who is most definitely a character in herself!). ‘Dark Horse’ actually reads a bit like a play for its character-driven schematic, in which conversations between Sarah and Heath become intense double-talk and laden in secrets and silences and then switch in increments to something sensual but equally dangerous. Add mother-nature raging just beyond the hut’s doors and this becomes a very intense, masterful suspense story that does a whole lot with very little – two characters in an abandoned hut on the side of a mountain, and yet Brown’s book is a heart-palpitating page-turner. 

What always works for me in Honey Brown’s books is that her characters and scenarios always feel very instinctual. I never read her books feeling like she, as the author, is pushing the story or manipulating the characters – their actions always feel very natural and there are so many times when a character’s response is in keeping with what I believe I would do in such a situation. And that’s the mark of a truly masterful storyteller – when you can’t even see who’s pulling the strings because you’re so engrossed by the play unfolding before you.

I refuse to spoil this book for anyone; because there are moments that are gaspable and all the more fun for Honey Brown’s sideswipes. I will only say that she well and truly got me – perfect sucker punch right to the gut, and I loved every twisting moment of it. 

I became a Honey Brown devotee back with ‘The Good Daughter’ and ‘Red Queen’ – and of course she suckered me into last year’s release, ‘After the Darkness’ – so I really shouldn’t be surprised that ‘Dark Horse’ is another killer thriller from the new (red) queen of Aussie suspense . . .  but I am. This is another book that had my heart racing and palms sweating – Honey Brown even managed to elicit audible gasps from me. And, as always happens when I get to the end of a Honey Brown book, the second I read the last page I wanted another of her novels to consume. I’ll just have to be content to wait, and know that whatever she writes next will no doubt be another wholly satisfying affair.

5/5 

Reflecting on my 2012 Australian Women Writers Challenge

Hello Darling Readers,

It seems fitting that the same year that Julia Gillard roared about misogyny in Parliament  there was a real focus in Australia, regarding the gender divide in publishing. 

Jane Sullivan began the year with this poignant piece about literary sexism, concluding with these frightening statistics: 

Miles Franklin Award since 1957
■40 wins for men
■13 for women
■10 men won more than once
■Two women won more than once: Thea Astley (four times, including a joint win) and Jessica Anderson (twice)
So, 27 men, nine women have won.
In the past 10 years, only two women have won: Alexis Wright (Carpentaria, 2007) and Shirley Hazzard (The Great Fire, 2004)

And just this month author Tara Moss broke down the gender-divide in a blog post. The pie-graph which shows that the New York Review of Books reviewed 627 books my male authors in 2011, and only 143 by female authors kinda says it all. 

But there were also some wonderful literary landmarks for women in publishing this year. For starters, The Stella Prize opened its doors for entrants into the annual literary prize for Australian women’s writing. Anna Funder won the 2012 Miles Franklin Award, a particular triumph after last year’s male-only shortlist. And overseas there was even more triumph, with Hilary Mantel becoming the first female author to win the Man Booker Prize twice.

So what’s all this fuss about more exposure for women writers? And why was there an Australian Women Writers challenge, let alone a prize created for Australian Women Writers? No, it wasn’t a case of ‘if you have a hammer, everything looks like a nail’, as some wrongly assumed. And don’t make the mistake of thinking that the gender divide is exclusive to literature. This is something that the anonymous feminist group, the Guerrilla Girls, have been protesting in the art world for ages. 

Heck, video blogger Anita Sarkeesian even received copious amounts of online abuse for daring to speak out about the inherent sexism in the gaming community. 

And actress Geena Davis has created an Institute on Gender in Media to address the serious lack of female representation in films and TV (and if you really want to blow your mind, watch the documentary ‘Miss Representation’) 

Now, speaking of Geena Davis, I think her Institute’s slogan really gets to the heart of the gender divide, whether it be in literature, film, television or the art world. ‘If she can see it, she can be it.’ That is so, so true. And if she can read it, she can be it – that means reading strong, female heroines who don’t simper and pout before their male counterparts (sorry, Bella Swan) and it means that women who work in the publishing industry see their accomplishments reflected in awards and reviews. 

I kicked off 2012 with a give-away centred around some of my favourite young adult Australian Women Writers, to highlight my participation in the challenge which aimed to get more people reading books by female authors. And now the year is almost over, and I thought to reflect on a few of the AWW books I read this year.

I read 27, and I wish I'd read more. To be fair, I did also make it a point to interview most of these authors too, or write articles around them, but laying them all out makes me realize that I should have read a lot more, and I’m making a promise to myself to at least double that number in 2013. Because there is a gender divide in publishing, and every single person whose world revolves around books should be outraged and do everything they can to address the issue and bridge that divide. 

• ‘The Interrogation of Ashala Wolf’ The Tribe #1 by Ambelin Kwaymullina & Kill Your Darlings blog

• 'The Fine Color of Rust' by P.A. O'Reilly and interview 

• 'Creepy and Maud' by Dianne Touchell and interview 

• 'Quintana of Charyn' Lumatere Chronicles #3 by Melina Marchetta

• 'How a Moth Becomes a Boat' and 'Tarcutta Wake' by Josephine Rowe

• 'Friday Brown' by Vikki Wakefield - interview, Melbourne Writers Festival recap and 'in conversation' recap

• 'I'll Tell You Mine' by Pip Harry and interview 

• 'Shadows' The Rephaim #1 by Paula Weston and interview 

• 'Holier Than Thou' by Laura Buzo and interview 

• 'Red Queen' by Honey Brown

• 'After the Darkness' by Honey Brown

• 'Disharmony' The Telling #1 by Leah Giarratano and interview 

• 'Mary Bennet' by Jennifer Paynter

•  'The Golden Day' by Ursula Dubosarsky

• 'Ruby Moonlight' by Ali Cobby Eckermann

• 'Night Beach' by Kirsty Eagar and interview 

• 'Grace Beside Me' by Sue McPherson and Kill Your Darlings blog 

• 'The Children of the King' by Sonya Hartnett

• 'Losing It' by Julia Lawrinson and Melbourne Writers Festival recap

• 'The Wrong Boy' by Suzy Zail

• 'Queen of the Night' by Leanne Hall

• 'The Reluctant Hallelujah' by Gabrielle Williams and interview 

• 'Sea Hearts' by Margo Lanagan and interview 

• 'Playing Beatie Bow' by Ruth Park

• 'Halfway to Good' by Kirsten Murphy

• 'May Gibbs: More than a Fairy Tale' by Robert Holden and Jane Brummitt

• 'The Girl in Steel-Capped Boots' by Loretta Hill