The God of the Woods

In 1961 a young boy goes missing on the family property and fourteen years later has still not been found. Then in 1975 his sister, Barbara, also disappears. As the search for Barbara continues some of the police become interested in reopening the case concerning the disappearance of her brother. There is a feeling held by many of the locals that the wrong man was charged with causing the boy's death. 

In The God of the Woods by Liz Moore the story is revealed over many time frames and through the eyes of a variety of characters. The land where the story takes place is owned by the Van Laar family and consists of the family property and Camp Emerson - a summer campsite for children. Characters who help reveal the plot are Louise (a camp leader), Tracy who is attending the camp, Alice Van Laar (the mother of the missing children), Carl Stoddard who worked on the property, Judyta who is an investigator searching for Barbara, Jacob (an escaped criminal) and Victor Hewitt who managed the property when the boy disappeared.

As a party is being held at the house each time one of the children disappears there are many suspects to investigate and the thread of the story changes frequently before the reader discovers what happened to both of the children. The plot of the novel is a little like meandering through the woods until the ending is revealed. This is the story of a complicated family and friends who are determined to protect the family name and business.

 Dervla McTiernan Book club that isn't a book club book selection for December 2024.

Orbital

Set in the near future, Orbital by Sarah Harvey is an account of one day in the life of four astronauts and two cosmonauts in a spacecraft, orbiting 250 miles above Earth. Each day the spacecraft completes 16 orbits of the earth - orbiting the planet once every 90 minutes. Each chapter covers one orbit. 

The book describes the daily lives of the occupants of the spacecraft - four men and two women; two Russians, one Japanese, one British, one Italian and one American - as they carry out their scientific experiments, exercise to keep fit, send regular reports back to base, eat, sleep and adjust to the different environment of living in space for a prolonged time. There is time to reflect on life and family back on earth and the damage being done to the environment. There is also concern about the quantity of space junk circling the earth. The first manned spacecraft for many years has just left Earth for the Moon which causes another avenue for reflection about the future of space travel.

Orbital to a large extent reads like a poem as it records the different views, thoughts and activities of the spacecraft occupants. It is a short novel, only 136 pages. Orbital by Sarah Harvey won the 2004 Booker prize for fiction.

No Trace

Gabe Ahern has a job working on the Goldmont Station in the Pilbara, the property of an old friend. After the events that occurred in Wild Dogs Gabe realises that he must attempt to vanish without a trace in order to hide from those wanting to kill him. He is relatively successful until a group of members of the public arrive at the station for a holiday. Once one person recognises him his identity becomes public knowledge. Gabe also receives a phone call from the police warning him that one of the men arrested for people smuggling and selling drugs is being released and will probably want to find him.

I know that this is a cliche but once again No Trace by Michael Trant is a fast paced, tension filled thriller that is difficult to put down. It is not long before things begin to go wrong on the station - the station helicopter crashes, the telephone and internet connection are broken and a guest is found dead. Gabe is also aware of other problems occurring on the station and has the feeling that he is being watched. Who is responsible? Is it one of the guests or are there other people hiding on the property who want to kill him?

No Trace is the second book in the Gabe Ahern Aussi Noir series by Michael Trant.

The Hotel Avocado

 The Hotel Avocado by Bob Mortimer is a continuation of the story of the lives of Gary and Emily who we originally met in The Satsuma Complex. Gary continues to work in a law firm in London while Emily has moved to Brighton where she is upgrading the hotel she has inherited from her father. Gary and Emily continue to meet in Brighton each weekend. In order to attract publicity for the hotel, Emily decides to purchase a model of a giant avocado to use as the hotel sign. However, before the avocado can be suspended from the balcony permission needs to be obtained from the local council and the chair of the planning department is known to be corrupt.

Meanwhile Gary has his own issues in London. He is working to help his elderly neighbour, Grace, have visiting rights to see her grand-daughter again. But then as the trial of the police who were arrested in the previous novel is looming, Gary is targeted by two men working for the criminals to persuade him not to attend the trial to give evidence that would convict them. His only solution is to disappear for awhile.

The story is told largely through the voices of Gary, Emily and Grace plus a fourth voice whose identity is only revealed at the end of the novel. The squirrel that Gary communicated with in the first book also makes an appearance.

The author's humour and quirky method of weaving a story is a feature of the book which will appeal to those who enjoy Bob Mortimer's quirky story-telling abilities. The result is a light, amusing enjoyable read.

The Land Before Avocado

When reading the Letters to The Age there are frequent comments as to how much better life was in the past compared with today. This is especially the case when there is discussion about interest rates and home loans. Baby Boomers had a much easier life than young people today! is the belief of many younger people. 

In The Land Before Avocado, Australian author, journalist and radio host, Richard Glover, sets out to investigate what life was really like for Australians living in the late 1960s and 1970s and concludes that generally Australians have much better living conditions and opportunities today compared with the past.

Richard Glover has researched what life was really like at the time by studying official statistics, advertisements and articles in The Australian Women's Weekly and asking his radio listeners to comment on some of his ideas for the book.

The ability to be able to purchase a home of their own, and to furnish it, was not as easy as may people today seem to think. Money was short after the war and, especially with generally one wage, there was not much money left after paying the mortgage. Household items such as refrigerators, washing machines or television sets, were often purchased by the use of lay-by, hire purchase or even rented.

The author discusses what it was like growing up and attending school during this period - especially the discipline metered out to children as punishment. People looking back over time remember how children were generally left to their own devices after school which may have been fun but often carried an element of danger, especially when children played on some of the now considered dangerous play equipment in parks at that time.

Food at the time is discussed - very different nutritionally from what is available today. At one stage Richard and his wife prepare a typical meal that would be provided for guests at a dinner party in the 1970s. The guests were generally not impressed. Clothes and fashion is another topic discussed.

In the 1960s / 1970s Australia was predominately a nation of mainly white European immigrants. Discrimination against Aborigines and people from Asian countries was the norm.

Many  of the laws appear archaic in modern society now. There were laws against homosexuality. Women required a male guarantor to have a bank loan. At the beginning of this time period women working in the public service had to resign when they married. 

Legislation regarding seat belts in cars and child restraints for children were gradually implemented in the 1970s. There were no laws against drink driving and men, on car trips frequently went into the pub for a drink. Any family with them waited in the car or the ladies' lounge. The Australian road toll was extremely high and increasing each year. 

Smoking was allowed everywhere and was generally encouraged. There were even lollies, FAGS, for children to pretend to smoke.

People sunbathed without sunscreen. In many areas it was difficult to get a telephone line installed at home. Dining outdoors in the street was not allowed. What is considered 'real coffee' today was unobtainable.

Richard Glover admits that the music in the 1960s and 1970s was good, however he was not impressed with audio cassettes which were easily damaged and records that did not work when scratched. Television was a relatively new medium but initially there were only three channels and programs were limited. The quality of the picture varied according to antennas available. Censorship was also rife limiting the books that could be freely read.

Today people complain about the growing amount of corruption in modern society. In 2018 when this book was published, the author argued that this was a much greater problem in the 1960s and 1970s. Robbery, murder, and car theft was common along with corporate and political corruption.

However there is one plus, according to Richard Glover. We can now expect to live twelve years longer than in the 1960s and 1970s! Another plus is that avocado is now a recognised ingredient on Australian restaurant menus as well as in family homes.

This book was one of three books selected as a possible title for the Monash Alumni Book Club in May-June 2025 and again in July to October 2026 when it was the book chosen for discussion.

The Surgeon of Royaumont

In 2017 I researched the life of a nurse - Janet Muir Gaff - who served overseas during the First World War. This research was also part of an assignment for the Diploma of Family History, University of Tasmania. I have also read a number of novels about nurses during World War I. Consequently I was pleased when Better Reading sent me a copy of The Surgeon of Royaumont, a work of historical fiction set during the First World War, to read and review.

Clara Heywood trained as a doctor at the Prince Alfred Hospital in Sydney and worked, initially, in the children's ward. With the advent of war, surgeons were needed to work overseas treating wounded troops. However the Australian Army would not accept female doctors in their ranks. Also Clara's father, an army officer who had served in India, was adamant that no daughter of his would serve in Army medical units.

But Clara was determined to assist soldiers wounded during the war so when Clara heard of the Scottish Women's Hospital at Royaumont in France, which was run by women to treat wounded soldiers in France, she travelled to England and then to France to take up a position at the hospital. 

Treating severely wounded soldiers was an entirely new experience for Clara and it took some time for her to even begin to adjust to her new environment. Fortunately it would be three months before she would be expected to amputate limbs but treating other battle injuries could also be a challenge.

Trying to establish a role for herself in the medical profession, Clara constantly faced discrimination because she was not male. Overseas she also discovered, from time to time, discrimination because she was Australian. Clara soon discovered that discrimination also existed in a variety of other forms at the hospital.

Although working at Royaumont provided many challenges for the young doctor it allowed her to expand her medical knowledge and expertise. But it took time for her to accept that if a patient died it was not necessarily her fault. She still hoped to eventually work in Australian or British Army medical corps but until that became possible she would learn all that she could at Royaumont.

Although some of the staff made it clear that they did not want to work with young Australian female doctors, Clara did make good friends with many of the staff. Also, because of her previous experience with horses, she was allowed to check the condition of the working horses in the stables which provided a break from medical procedures involving men wounded in war. 

There was, however, another problem that had to be faced. Her father  now worked in England and ordered her to transfer to England or return to Australia. Her unofficial fiancé, also a doctor, had taken up a position in England and wanted her to join him. Clara had decisions to make about her future.

The Surgeon of Royaumont by Susan Neuhaus is a thought provoking novel about the challenges faced by women who wanted to serve their country overseas helping their countrymen wounded in battle. Australian women had achieved the right to vote in elections, however there was still a long way to go before equality with men would be possible. This book also provides an insight into the dedicated work of doctors, nurses and VADs in treating the injured with limited resources.

Many thanks to Better Reading and HQ Books for a preview copy of this book.

Additional information:

The Scottish Women's Hospital at Royaumont - Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh

Royaumont Abbey - Wikipedia 

Australian Women Doctors in World War I  - Australian Women at War

Remarkable Women - Janet Gaff

Books about Nurses during First World War in this blog.

Wild Dogs

Gabe Ahern earns a living trapping dingoes and other wild dogs in Western Australia. He is grieving the loss of his partner, Valerie, and feels responsible for her death. Gabe is an experienced trapper but in order to make a living he occasionally uses unorthodox methods to increase his haul. He is also not permitted to trap dogs on Aboriginal reserves.

One day while checking traps he is aware of a disturbance nearby and when he investigates he witnesses a man being shot and a second man about to receive the same fate. He intervenes which  is where he meets Amin who has arrived in Australia from Afghanistan aboard a people smuggling boat. His wife and child arrived on another boat and Amin wants to find them. Gabe becomes involved in the attempt to rescue Amins's family. A young Aboriginal man and the local nurse also  inadvertently become involved in the chase.

In this fast paced, tension filled Australian thriller we encounter the crimes perpetrated by people smugglers and those who assist them in Australia. The novel also reveals how people can gradually understand  and accept people of different races and beliefs. Despite the violence this is a story of compassion as a group of individuals with their own challenges strive to assist those whose lives are in danger.  Wild Dogs by Michael Trant is the first book in the Gabe Ahern series.