Jane Watson talks about her novel Hindustan Contessa, its themes, characters and concepts, her big break, her previous work and a hint at her next book. Interview by Magdalena Ball Magdalena Ball Tell me about the prologue. In what way is the cave…
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A Review of Hindustan Contessa by Jane Watson
Part of the tension in the book is created by the fact that we glimpse all of the action through Tillie’s diary – a kind of mini-summation first person narrative. The different threads of the story are revealed separately in…
Interview with Sonia Pressman Fuentes, author of Eat First – You Don’t Know What They’ll Give You
The author of Eat First talks about the writing of her memoir, the difficulties involved, her mentors, the evolution of women’s rights, her work as an attorney at the NLRB, founder of NOW, the impact of Hitler and the Third Reich on…
A Review of Eat First –You Don’t Know What They’ll Give You
The memoir was written as a book of remembrance for the author’s parents and for her daughter. Its readers will react to it in many ways. First it is a family document. It depicts the immigrant experience, specifically a Jewish…
A Review of Iain Pears’ The Dream of Scipio
Pears is a powerful historian and his research is impeccable. The links between the three stories are handled well, and it is very interesting to watch a similar drama simultaneously playing itself out in very different contexts, albeit on the…
Interview with Harbhajan Sandhu
In this fascinating interview, the author of Wayward Brahmin talks about his novel, his characters, the underlying themes, self-publishing, the populist hunger for physics and astronomical knowledge, cosmology and a “theory of everything”, the possibility of finding life on other planets, the…
A Review of Wayward Brahmin by Harbhajan Singh Sandhu
Sandhu is a born storyteller with a well-appointed if not always well controlled vocabulary and a sharp tongue. His book tells the story of the Brahmin professor who leaves his native land for the United States and sexual liberation. …
A Review of The Healthy Kitchen by Dr Andrew Weil and Rosie Daley
The nutritional advice provided is sound, and not all at extreme, and the recipes are simple, healthy and very tasty. The Healthy Kitchen is definitely more of a cookbook than a diet book, but if you are inspired by the many tidbits…
A Review of Maya by Jostein Gaarder
It is a pity that Jostein Gaarder isn’t a better writer. His concepts are so good, and his themes so compelling, that, in this hands of a better fiction writer, he could produce excellent work. As it is, his books…
A review of Dorothy Porter’s Other Worlds
Reviewed by Magdalena Ball Other Worlds by Dorothy Porter Picador, Aug 2001 RRP $A$25.00 ISBN: 0330362860 Writing about good poetry is like trying to describe wine: the heavy full mouth astringency leaving a warm sweetness after swallowing. Poetry is as…