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497 reviews
Revolution by Emmanuel Macron
Emmanuel Macron has stood up for liberal values. He put forward a vision for the important role that France plays in Europe and around the world. And he is committed to a better future for the French people. He appeals to people's hopes and not their fears.
President Barack Obama
Macron has been an object of fascination ever since he unexpectedly came to power. In this political autobiography, he recounts his origins and explains his centrist philosophy.
New York Times
A book that should be read by anybody who wants to understand what has been going on in French politics in the past few years.
Andrew Hussey, The Observer
Now that he is president, now that he has shown that he can translate the ephemera of ideas into cold, hard power, it is worth returning to his words to find out what kind of leader he plans to? be … Revolution provides some insight into a man who, whatever you think of him, is deeply unusual.
The Sunday Telegraph
‘In his book Revolution … President Macron has set out a clear vision for the revitalisation of the EU.
Brendan Simms, New Statesman
Provides a glimpse into the heart and mind of a leadership candidate whose love for France is revealed through his visions of a nation where freedoms are more closely tied to responsibilities, and where a new system of laws and regulations replaces those he believes belong to the 19th century.
Winnipeg Free Press
President Barack Obama
Macron has been an object of fascination ever since he unexpectedly came to power. In this political autobiography, he recounts his origins and explains his centrist philosophy.
New York Times
A book that should be read by anybody who wants to understand what has been going on in French politics in the past few years.
Andrew Hussey, The Observer
Now that he is president, now that he has shown that he can translate the ephemera of ideas into cold, hard power, it is worth returning to his words to find out what kind of leader he plans to? be … Revolution provides some insight into a man who, whatever you think of him, is deeply unusual.
The Sunday Telegraph
‘In his book Revolution … President Macron has set out a clear vision for the revitalisation of the EU.
Brendan Simms, New Statesman
Provides a glimpse into the heart and mind of a leadership candidate whose love for France is revealed through his visions of a nation where freedoms are more closely tied to responsibilities, and where a new system of laws and regulations replaces those he believes belong to the 19th century.
Winnipeg Free Press
1947: when now begins by Elisabeth Åsbrink
Gripping, overwhelming, and completed with such stylistic and factual consistency that you almost lose your breath. It does not happen often, but occasionally: good journalistic craftsmanship rises and becomes great literature.
Sydsvenska Dagbladet
Elisabeth Åsbrink has written a book about history that distinguishes itself from many other history books by its poetic beauty … 1947 is as much an adept history book as it is a beautiful and well-written piece of fiction. Read it!
Sydsvenska Dagbladet
If you don't get your hands on this book you will miss out not only on a historically meaningful year, but also on a strong reading experience.
Jönköpings-Posten
You get a piece of a life in your hands. There is something here that you seldom find in young Swedish prose … It is beautifully told. Dark, but beautiful.
Dagens Nyheter
This is history as a series of eclectic snapshots of events and episodes and people, from the Nuremberg Trials to the partition of India, during a year in which the world tried to redefine its hopes and come to terms with its failures: and it makes for fascinating, disquieting, lively, and often surprising reading.
Caroline Moorehead, Author of Village of Secrets
Extraordinarily inventive and gripping, a uniquely personal account of a single, momentous year.
Philippe Sands, Author of East West Street
Elisabeth Åsbrink’s lucid and vivid narrative exposes the reader to the anxious dilemmas of refugees, the calculations of lawyers in tribunals, the ennui at cocktail parties, the cynical strategies in negotiating halls, the devastating impacts on people’s lives, and reveals how our modern era was shaped … An outstanding work, history as it should be told.
Salil Tripathi, Chair of the Pen International Writers in Prison Committee, and Author of The Colonel Who Would Not Repent
An intriguing account of a number of significant events which occurred in a year when the world was beginning to come to terms with the fallout from the Second World War … Åsbrink deftly brings together the tangle, the mess, the aspirations, and the disappointments which characterized the period and which for her resonate personally through her family history.
Rosemary Ashton, Author of One Hot Summer: Dickens, Darwin, Disraeli, and The Great Stink of 1858
A skillful and illuminating way of presenting, to wonderful effect, the cultural, political, and personal history of a year that changed the world.
Kirkus
Åsbrink’s elegant prose (translated by Fiona Graham) offers a lyrical history of a year that seems both recent and ancient.
The Spectator
Like an image created from a thousand juxtaposed pixels, Åsbrink builds a cumulative picture of 1947 … Less a work of history, her book is more like an ingeniously constructed novel.
The Jewish Chronicle
Åsbrink works with great subtlety, allowing us to make our own judgments and trace any parallels or echoes with the present. Fiona Graham deserves credit for her remarkable translation.
The national
Utterly fascinating.
Rick O’Shea
[A]n extraordinary achievement.
The New York Times
Sydsvenska Dagbladet
Elisabeth Åsbrink has written a book about history that distinguishes itself from many other history books by its poetic beauty … 1947 is as much an adept history book as it is a beautiful and well-written piece of fiction. Read it!
Sydsvenska Dagbladet
If you don't get your hands on this book you will miss out not only on a historically meaningful year, but also on a strong reading experience.
Jönköpings-Posten
You get a piece of a life in your hands. There is something here that you seldom find in young Swedish prose … It is beautifully told. Dark, but beautiful.
Dagens Nyheter
This is history as a series of eclectic snapshots of events and episodes and people, from the Nuremberg Trials to the partition of India, during a year in which the world tried to redefine its hopes and come to terms with its failures: and it makes for fascinating, disquieting, lively, and often surprising reading.
Caroline Moorehead, Author of Village of Secrets
Extraordinarily inventive and gripping, a uniquely personal account of a single, momentous year.
Philippe Sands, Author of East West Street
Elisabeth Åsbrink’s lucid and vivid narrative exposes the reader to the anxious dilemmas of refugees, the calculations of lawyers in tribunals, the ennui at cocktail parties, the cynical strategies in negotiating halls, the devastating impacts on people’s lives, and reveals how our modern era was shaped … An outstanding work, history as it should be told.
Salil Tripathi, Chair of the Pen International Writers in Prison Committee, and Author of The Colonel Who Would Not Repent
An intriguing account of a number of significant events which occurred in a year when the world was beginning to come to terms with the fallout from the Second World War … Åsbrink deftly brings together the tangle, the mess, the aspirations, and the disappointments which characterized the period and which for her resonate personally through her family history.
Rosemary Ashton, Author of One Hot Summer: Dickens, Darwin, Disraeli, and The Great Stink of 1858
A skillful and illuminating way of presenting, to wonderful effect, the cultural, political, and personal history of a year that changed the world.
Kirkus
Åsbrink’s elegant prose (translated by Fiona Graham) offers a lyrical history of a year that seems both recent and ancient.
The Spectator
Like an image created from a thousand juxtaposed pixels, Åsbrink builds a cumulative picture of 1947 … Less a work of history, her book is more like an ingeniously constructed novel.
The Jewish Chronicle
Åsbrink works with great subtlety, allowing us to make our own judgments and trace any parallels or echoes with the present. Fiona Graham deserves credit for her remarkable translation.
The national
Utterly fascinating.
Rick O’Shea
[A]n extraordinary achievement.
The New York Times
A Vineyard in Andalusia by María Dueñas
It beams readers with pinpoint accuracy to the heart and soul of 1860s Mexico, Cuba, and Spain on a magic carpet ride that they will be sorry to have end.
Leila Meacham, New York Times bestselling author of Roses
Dueñas is a gifted writer … A Vineyard in Andalusia is destined to become a classic.
Armando Lucas Correa, international bestselling author of The German Girl
María Dueñas is a true storyteller.
Kate Morton, author of The House at Riverton
Leila Meacham, New York Times bestselling author of Roses
Dueñas is a gifted writer … A Vineyard in Andalusia is destined to become a classic.
Armando Lucas Correa, international bestselling author of The German Girl
María Dueñas is a true storyteller.
Kate Morton, author of The House at Riverton
Richard Nixon: the life by John A. Farrell
Farrell’s blockbuster portrait of Nixon is revelatory — filled with fresh reporting shedding new light on the roots of our own dark political moment. He shows that dirty tricks, October Surprises, and anti-elitist resentment were among the gifts Nixon bequeathed to our own presidential politics.
Jane Mayer, Author of Dark Money: The Hidden History of The Billionaires Behind the Rise of the Radical Right.
John A. Farrell has once again delivered a rich, precisely written portrait of the past to help us understand the present. He traces the origins and turning points of one of the most complex, complicated and fascinating presidents of the modern age with flair and narrative skill. Each page is a joy to read, on the way to a very satisfying whole.
John Dickerson, Moderator of CBS’s Face the Nation and Author of Whistletop: My Favorite Stories from Presidential Campagin History.
John A. Farrell's Richard Nixon: the life is an expertly written and strikingly comprehensive portrait of America's most complicated president. Farrell has a genius for the telling anecdote and apropos quote. His command of the sources is staggering. Richard Nixon is a true landmark achievement.
Douglas Brinkley, Professor of History at Rice University and Author of Cronkite
Written with skills he acquired as an investigative reporter, John Farrell’s tour de force takes us through the rise and fall of Richard Nixon with penetrating and thought-provoking analysis.
Irwin Gellman, Author of The Contender: Richard Nixon, The Congress Years, 1946-1952 and The President and the Apprentice: Eisenhower and Nixon, 1952-1961.
Full of fresh, endlessly revealing insights into Nixon’s political career, less on the matter of his character, refreshingly, than on the events that accompanied and resulted from it.
Kirkus Reviews, Starred Review
[A] wonderful biography of America’s most controversial 20th-century president … a sharply observed but refreshingly uncensorious assessment.
New Statesman
A probing biography … Readers track the lonely and hard-won ascent of a sickly, love-starved child, who dreams like a Romantic but manoeuvres like Machiavelli … An unflinching portrait.
Booklist, Starred Review
Brilliant, ruthless, a president who combined some enlightened policies with inner darkness, Richard Nixon stands alone in the history of American politics. John A. Farrell’s gripping account vividly captures Nixon from his earliest days — catapulting to Congress with a cold-blooded debate stunt — to the mounting crises he faced in the White House, culminating in his spectacular fall.
T.J. Stiles, Pulitzer Prize-winning Author of Custer’s Trials and The First Tycoon
Richard Nixon’s political career has all the nooks and crannies of an English muffin: the red-baiting of the early campaigns; Checkers; the Great Debates of 1960; the comeback in ’68; the inheritance and horror of Vietnam; the historic opening to China; the shame of Watergate. In Richard Nixon, John A. Farrell is tough and unyielding, yet gives his subject a fair hearing through each gripping episode. ‘I’m not a quitter,’ Nixon once protested, and this grand, indispensable book proves him right, right to the end.
Chris Matthews, Author of Kennedy & Nixon: The Rivalry that Shaped Post-War America
Jack Farrell gives us two profoundly resonant Richard Nixons — the last progressive Republican, and the author of our national divisions. He also gives us, in one engrossing volume, the defining biography of our darkest president.
Larry Tye, Author of Bobby Kennedy: The Making of a Liberal Icon
With clarity and verve, John A. Farrell’s deft pen illuminates the life of America’s 37th president. Unsparing yet fair-minded in its analysis and based on deep research in a wealth of archival and published sources, Richard Nixon is a fast-moving and penetrating portrait of this controversial and complicated man.
Frederik Logevall, Pulitzer Prize-winning Author of Embers of War
A stack of good books about Nixon could reach the ceiling, but Farrell has written the best one-volume, cradle-to-grave biography that we could expect about such a famously elusive subject. By employing recently released government documents and oral histories, he adds layers of understanding to a complex man and his dastardly decisions … Richard Nixon illuminates a man of sharp mind and soaring ambition. Farrell sympathises with a boy who thought he was hard to love and compensated with an iron will. He understands Nixon’s frustrations with the lack of respect for his accomplishments. But in the end, this portrait is more damning. His Nixon is doomed by his own insecurities, destroyed by his own treachery, damned by his own words … [Nixon] stained his reputation and that of the presidency. As Farrell’s outstanding biography reminds us, the consequences have endured.
Aram Goudsouzian, Washington Post
An extremely valuable introduction to the life and times of one of our most consequential presidents. Farrell gives us a Nixon rich in both character flaws and great accomplishments, the latter fueled by his transformational vision. It’s a worthy look at a fascinating president.
Ray Locker, USA Today
Though there have been many previous books about Nixon, Mr. Farrell’s comprehensive, one-volume biography is welcome … In lively, vigorous prose, he takes readers through Nixon’s career, offering incisive judgments and revealing details along the way.
Robert K Landers, Wall Street Journal
[Nixon is] an electrifying subject, a muttering Lear, of perennial interest to anyone with even an average curiosity about politics or psychology. The real test of a good Nixon biography, given how many there are, is far simpler: Is it elegantly written? And, even more important, can it tolerate paradoxes and complexity, the spikier stuff that distinguishes real-life sinners from comic-book villains? The answer, in the case of Richard Nixon, is yes, on both counts.
Jennifer Senior, The New York Times
Superb … the most formidable attempt yet made to put Richard Nixon in perspective.
Steve Donaghue, Christian Science Monitor
Farrell has written a definitive biography. There was a lot more to Nixon than lies and bombast, and this nuanced book shows that.
Harold Evans, The Week
Beautifully written and deeply insightful … A bracing portrait of a man untethered from principle and ideology, driven throughout his life to win at any cost and thereby palliate his deep-seated insecurities … Nixon was not an easy man to understand. And even now, his failures and accomplishments are not easy to classify. In Farrell’s capable hands, however, we see Nixon in his entirety — and we can’t help but wonder what he means for our politics today.
William Howell, San Francisco Chronicle
John Farrell’s book now clearly stands as the best one-volume life of one of the century’s most complex and compelling figures. It is a story that goes from bright promise into dark places, time and again punctures the lie that there are no second acts in American lives, but still exits into tragedy. It is one of the saddest biographies you will ever read.
The Herald
Prodigiously sourced and insightful … [an] important and revealing biography.
Jonathan Mirsky, The Spectator
John A Farrell convincingly argues with great style and attention to detail.
JP O’Malley, Sunday Independent
[A] highly readable tome.
Peter Coaldrake, Vice-Chancellor and President, Queensland University of Technology
A magisterial portrait of the man who embodied post-war American political cynicism — and was destroyed by it.
Irish Examiner
[Farrell] humanizes him with genuine empathy, but clearly demonstrates that Nixon’s ultimate demise was the result of the deceit and corruption that he recklessly cultivated over decades.
Irish Examiner
An excellent book, thoughtful in approach, original in research, crisp in prose and definitive in conclusions.
Weekend Australian
Jane Mayer, Author of Dark Money: The Hidden History of The Billionaires Behind the Rise of the Radical Right.
John A. Farrell has once again delivered a rich, precisely written portrait of the past to help us understand the present. He traces the origins and turning points of one of the most complex, complicated and fascinating presidents of the modern age with flair and narrative skill. Each page is a joy to read, on the way to a very satisfying whole.
John Dickerson, Moderator of CBS’s Face the Nation and Author of Whistletop: My Favorite Stories from Presidential Campagin History.
John A. Farrell's Richard Nixon: the life is an expertly written and strikingly comprehensive portrait of America's most complicated president. Farrell has a genius for the telling anecdote and apropos quote. His command of the sources is staggering. Richard Nixon is a true landmark achievement.
Douglas Brinkley, Professor of History at Rice University and Author of Cronkite
Written with skills he acquired as an investigative reporter, John Farrell’s tour de force takes us through the rise and fall of Richard Nixon with penetrating and thought-provoking analysis.
Irwin Gellman, Author of The Contender: Richard Nixon, The Congress Years, 1946-1952 and The President and the Apprentice: Eisenhower and Nixon, 1952-1961.
Full of fresh, endlessly revealing insights into Nixon’s political career, less on the matter of his character, refreshingly, than on the events that accompanied and resulted from it.
Kirkus Reviews, Starred Review
[A] wonderful biography of America’s most controversial 20th-century president … a sharply observed but refreshingly uncensorious assessment.
New Statesman
A probing biography … Readers track the lonely and hard-won ascent of a sickly, love-starved child, who dreams like a Romantic but manoeuvres like Machiavelli … An unflinching portrait.
Booklist, Starred Review
Brilliant, ruthless, a president who combined some enlightened policies with inner darkness, Richard Nixon stands alone in the history of American politics. John A. Farrell’s gripping account vividly captures Nixon from his earliest days — catapulting to Congress with a cold-blooded debate stunt — to the mounting crises he faced in the White House, culminating in his spectacular fall.
T.J. Stiles, Pulitzer Prize-winning Author of Custer’s Trials and The First Tycoon
Richard Nixon’s political career has all the nooks and crannies of an English muffin: the red-baiting of the early campaigns; Checkers; the Great Debates of 1960; the comeback in ’68; the inheritance and horror of Vietnam; the historic opening to China; the shame of Watergate. In Richard Nixon, John A. Farrell is tough and unyielding, yet gives his subject a fair hearing through each gripping episode. ‘I’m not a quitter,’ Nixon once protested, and this grand, indispensable book proves him right, right to the end.
Chris Matthews, Author of Kennedy & Nixon: The Rivalry that Shaped Post-War America
Jack Farrell gives us two profoundly resonant Richard Nixons — the last progressive Republican, and the author of our national divisions. He also gives us, in one engrossing volume, the defining biography of our darkest president.
Larry Tye, Author of Bobby Kennedy: The Making of a Liberal Icon
With clarity and verve, John A. Farrell’s deft pen illuminates the life of America’s 37th president. Unsparing yet fair-minded in its analysis and based on deep research in a wealth of archival and published sources, Richard Nixon is a fast-moving and penetrating portrait of this controversial and complicated man.
Frederik Logevall, Pulitzer Prize-winning Author of Embers of War
A stack of good books about Nixon could reach the ceiling, but Farrell has written the best one-volume, cradle-to-grave biography that we could expect about such a famously elusive subject. By employing recently released government documents and oral histories, he adds layers of understanding to a complex man and his dastardly decisions … Richard Nixon illuminates a man of sharp mind and soaring ambition. Farrell sympathises with a boy who thought he was hard to love and compensated with an iron will. He understands Nixon’s frustrations with the lack of respect for his accomplishments. But in the end, this portrait is more damning. His Nixon is doomed by his own insecurities, destroyed by his own treachery, damned by his own words … [Nixon] stained his reputation and that of the presidency. As Farrell’s outstanding biography reminds us, the consequences have endured.
Aram Goudsouzian, Washington Post
An extremely valuable introduction to the life and times of one of our most consequential presidents. Farrell gives us a Nixon rich in both character flaws and great accomplishments, the latter fueled by his transformational vision. It’s a worthy look at a fascinating president.
Ray Locker, USA Today
Though there have been many previous books about Nixon, Mr. Farrell’s comprehensive, one-volume biography is welcome … In lively, vigorous prose, he takes readers through Nixon’s career, offering incisive judgments and revealing details along the way.
Robert K Landers, Wall Street Journal
[Nixon is] an electrifying subject, a muttering Lear, of perennial interest to anyone with even an average curiosity about politics or psychology. The real test of a good Nixon biography, given how many there are, is far simpler: Is it elegantly written? And, even more important, can it tolerate paradoxes and complexity, the spikier stuff that distinguishes real-life sinners from comic-book villains? The answer, in the case of Richard Nixon, is yes, on both counts.
Jennifer Senior, The New York Times
Superb … the most formidable attempt yet made to put Richard Nixon in perspective.
Steve Donaghue, Christian Science Monitor
Farrell has written a definitive biography. There was a lot more to Nixon than lies and bombast, and this nuanced book shows that.
Harold Evans, The Week
Beautifully written and deeply insightful … A bracing portrait of a man untethered from principle and ideology, driven throughout his life to win at any cost and thereby palliate his deep-seated insecurities … Nixon was not an easy man to understand. And even now, his failures and accomplishments are not easy to classify. In Farrell’s capable hands, however, we see Nixon in his entirety — and we can’t help but wonder what he means for our politics today.
William Howell, San Francisco Chronicle
John Farrell’s book now clearly stands as the best one-volume life of one of the century’s most complex and compelling figures. It is a story that goes from bright promise into dark places, time and again punctures the lie that there are no second acts in American lives, but still exits into tragedy. It is one of the saddest biographies you will ever read.
The Herald
Prodigiously sourced and insightful … [an] important and revealing biography.
Jonathan Mirsky, The Spectator
John A Farrell convincingly argues with great style and attention to detail.
JP O’Malley, Sunday Independent
[A] highly readable tome.
Peter Coaldrake, Vice-Chancellor and President, Queensland University of Technology
A magisterial portrait of the man who embodied post-war American political cynicism — and was destroyed by it.
Irish Examiner
[Farrell] humanizes him with genuine empathy, but clearly demonstrates that Nixon’s ultimate demise was the result of the deceit and corruption that he recklessly cultivated over decades.
Irish Examiner
An excellent book, thoughtful in approach, original in research, crisp in prose and definitive in conclusions.
Weekend Australian
Your Brain Knows More Than You Think: the new frontiers of neuroplasticity by Niels Birbaumer
A fascinating read and a groundbreaking work on the human condition. Birbaumer shares his insatiable curiosity and gives us a tour of the human brain, the many cases he’s worked on, and the therapies he’s pioneered — some of which are truly radical!
David Roland, Author of How I Rescued My Brain
David Roland, Author of How I Rescued My Brain
Mama Tandoori by Ernest van der Kwast
Mama Tandoori is a poignant, witty, and heart-rending book. There’s never a dull moment.
Kristien Hemmerechts
I’m so pleased my mother was just a cashier at the local supermarket. Good book – a really good book.
Kluun
A great comic writer.
NRC Handelsblad
Extremely funny, loving, and moving.
Tros Nieuwsshow
Ernest van der Kwast is a great talent.
Het Financielle Dagblad
A hilarious portrait of a Dutch-Indian family.
Elsevier
Ernest’s writing style is deceptively simple. Beneath his romanticised account are deep wells of sorrow. It’s quite an achievement that he can make us laugh out loud at such meanness!
Hugo Borst
It must be dead-tiring to grow up in such a family and a real pleasure to be in a position – years later and a father by now – to write it all down. That’s to say if, like this writer, you’re talented enough to turn all the humour into tragedy and make all the tragedy immensely funny.
sweekly.nl
A hilarious and moving novel about a mother who’s armed with a rolling pin and who lives by the crisis-proof motto “free is good”.
HP/DE TIJD
Ernest van der Kwast has written an unusual book about unusual people. And most remarkable of all: he does it unusually well.
De Telegraaf
Hilarious descriptions [...] But Van der Kwast offers plenty of nuance, too. He doesn’t stop at the clownish figure. Beneath that skin of humour he has inserted ribs and lungs, muscles and a heart. [...] Comic becomes tragicomic. Even the detours contain the same exhilarating mix of exuberant humour and tragedy imbued with plenty of compassion.
Humo
A great humourist, with a perfect sense of timing [...] A very funny book.
De Standaard
Very witty and well-balanced.
De Volkskrant
The inventive writing style, dry sense of humour, and poignant observations of the writer’s many wondrous family members make this book a real pleasure to read […] a fine mix of satire and compassion […] A proper page-turner.
GPD-Bladen
Let’s hope there will be more books like this.
Tzum
The funniest and most moving book I have read this year. Whoever was wondering where the Dutch Salman Rushdie, or even the Dutch Aravind Adiga, was hiding, is given the answer with Mama Tandoori.
Herman Koch, Author of The Dinner
A series of amusing set pieces, tinged with the kind of poignancy that comes from finding the humour in incidents that must have hurt deeply at the time.
Sunday Herald
An unusual and well-written book.
Nudge
[A] explosively funny, irresistible, and profoundly tragic human comedy … the novel fluidly and daringly counterbalances talent and pain, splendid form and essential meaning in a new, fragrant and spicy blend poignantly evocative of Dutch India or the Indian Netherlands.
Mika Provata-Carlone, Bookanista
Mama Tandoori is a poignant, witty, and heart-rending book. There’s never a dull moment.
Kristien Hemmerechts
Kristien Hemmerechts
I’m so pleased my mother was just a cashier at the local supermarket. Good book – a really good book.
Kluun
A great comic writer.
NRC Handelsblad
Extremely funny, loving, and moving.
Tros Nieuwsshow
Ernest van der Kwast is a great talent.
Het Financielle Dagblad
A hilarious portrait of a Dutch-Indian family.
Elsevier
Ernest’s writing style is deceptively simple. Beneath his romanticised account are deep wells of sorrow. It’s quite an achievement that he can make us laugh out loud at such meanness!
Hugo Borst
It must be dead-tiring to grow up in such a family and a real pleasure to be in a position – years later and a father by now – to write it all down. That’s to say if, like this writer, you’re talented enough to turn all the humour into tragedy and make all the tragedy immensely funny.
sweekly.nl
A hilarious and moving novel about a mother who’s armed with a rolling pin and who lives by the crisis-proof motto “free is good”.
HP/DE TIJD
Ernest van der Kwast has written an unusual book about unusual people. And most remarkable of all: he does it unusually well.
De Telegraaf
Hilarious descriptions [...] But Van der Kwast offers plenty of nuance, too. He doesn’t stop at the clownish figure. Beneath that skin of humour he has inserted ribs and lungs, muscles and a heart. [...] Comic becomes tragicomic. Even the detours contain the same exhilarating mix of exuberant humour and tragedy imbued with plenty of compassion.
Humo
A great humourist, with a perfect sense of timing [...] A very funny book.
De Standaard
Very witty and well-balanced.
De Volkskrant
The inventive writing style, dry sense of humour, and poignant observations of the writer’s many wondrous family members make this book a real pleasure to read […] a fine mix of satire and compassion […] A proper page-turner.
GPD-Bladen
Let’s hope there will be more books like this.
Tzum
The funniest and most moving book I have read this year. Whoever was wondering where the Dutch Salman Rushdie, or even the Dutch Aravind Adiga, was hiding, is given the answer with Mama Tandoori.
Herman Koch, Author of The Dinner
A series of amusing set pieces, tinged with the kind of poignancy that comes from finding the humour in incidents that must have hurt deeply at the time.
Sunday Herald
An unusual and well-written book.
Nudge
[A] explosively funny, irresistible, and profoundly tragic human comedy … the novel fluidly and daringly counterbalances talent and pain, splendid form and essential meaning in a new, fragrant and spicy blend poignantly evocative of Dutch India or the Indian Netherlands.
Mika Provata-Carlone, Bookanista
Mama Tandoori is a poignant, witty, and heart-rending book. There’s never a dull moment.
Kristien Hemmerechts
Too Easy by J.M. Green
Stella Hardy rips through her world with wit, guts, brains and vulnerability, blazing fresh trails through the twisted urban landscapes of modern Australia. J.M. Green’s prose is blistering — funny, real and nuanced in just the right proportions. This is my kind of crime writing
Peter Doyle, award-winning Author of the Billy Glasheen crime novels
Stella Hardy is wonderful — all over the place, like a broken compass, and yet she always manages to head in the right direction. Funny, complex, and very human, in Stella, J.M. Green has created a character readers simply love.
William McInnes
Green’s heroine is sharp and sassy and as hard-boiled as a 10-minute egg … There is more than enough intrigue to keep the pages turning and enough classy dialogue to raise a wry smile. Bleak but chic.
Herald Sun
Peter Doyle, award-winning Author of the Billy Glasheen crime novels
Stella Hardy is wonderful — all over the place, like a broken compass, and yet she always manages to head in the right direction. Funny, complex, and very human, in Stella, J.M. Green has created a character readers simply love.
William McInnes
Green’s heroine is sharp and sassy and as hard-boiled as a 10-minute egg … There is more than enough intrigue to keep the pages turning and enough classy dialogue to raise a wry smile. Bleak but chic.
Herald Sun
The Road to Ruin: How Tony Abbott and Peta Credlin Destroyed Their Own Government by Niki Savva
This is what you have to remember about Savva’s controversial book, The Road to Ruin: she was onto this story early and she ran with it in her weekly column … her account of the coup is both suspenseful and full of fascinating, granular detail.
Brett Evans, Sydney Morning Herald
[W]ell researched and well written, with a sharp eye — albeit with an occasional, serrated edge. Savva has written a book in which it is easy to be immersed. The narrative unfolds in a convincing flow, sourced directly from the words of many of the players: the bruised and battered; the disillusioned and disaffected; and ultimately in the triumphant voices of the Coalition plotters … [A] compelling book that has established an indelible and influential benchmark for explaining the turbulent rise and tumultuous fall of the Abbott government.
Stephen Loosley, Weekend Australian
It is a terrific book, but that's not the point here. The point is that Savva does not rely on anonymous sources for her examination of the relationship between Abbott and Peta Credlin. Her sources are named. They speak for themselves. We know who they are and where they worked and we know the terms and circumstances of their relationships with Abbott or Credlin.
Michael Gawenda, The Age
Savva's inside knowledge and contacts within the Liberal Party (especially the party's moderate centre) means the planning leading up to the spill is a fascinating real-life political thriller … a cracking political read.
Christopher Sanders, Adelaide Review
The book is a revelation if you thought it was just politicians running the country. After about 140 pages the focus shifts from Credlin — who comes across as a micromanaging narcissist — to Abbott and his many debacles (awarding a knighthood to Prince Philip being the most idiotic).
Weekend Post
Brett Evans, Sydney Morning Herald
[W]ell researched and well written, with a sharp eye — albeit with an occasional, serrated edge. Savva has written a book in which it is easy to be immersed. The narrative unfolds in a convincing flow, sourced directly from the words of many of the players: the bruised and battered; the disillusioned and disaffected; and ultimately in the triumphant voices of the Coalition plotters … [A] compelling book that has established an indelible and influential benchmark for explaining the turbulent rise and tumultuous fall of the Abbott government.
Stephen Loosley, Weekend Australian
It is a terrific book, but that's not the point here. The point is that Savva does not rely on anonymous sources for her examination of the relationship between Abbott and Peta Credlin. Her sources are named. They speak for themselves. We know who they are and where they worked and we know the terms and circumstances of their relationships with Abbott or Credlin.
Michael Gawenda, The Age
Savva's inside knowledge and contacts within the Liberal Party (especially the party's moderate centre) means the planning leading up to the spill is a fascinating real-life political thriller … a cracking political read.
Christopher Sanders, Adelaide Review
The book is a revelation if you thought it was just politicians running the country. After about 140 pages the focus shifts from Credlin — who comes across as a micromanaging narcissist — to Abbott and his many debacles (awarding a knighthood to Prince Philip being the most idiotic).
Weekend Post
Watching Out: reflections on justice and injustice by Julian Burnside
Barrister and human-rights advocate Julian Burnside achieves the near impossible in this study – he makes the law sound interesting.
Steven Carroll, The Saturday Age
As we look up from the political abyss in these appalling times, Burnside is a glowing light on a distant hill. His writing is lucid, poignant, powerful. He distinguishes between law and justice, urging us to be both compassionate and analytical, collecting evidence, making rational conclusions, acting on them courageously, and telling truth to power. Watching Out challenges us all.
Barry Jones
If you’ve ever wondered why lawyers are compelled to defend the indefensible, or the difference between a solicitor, barrister and QC, this is the book for you. It is a fascinating account of the justice system brought to life by many rich case studies.
The Echo
Steven Carroll, The Saturday Age
As we look up from the political abyss in these appalling times, Burnside is a glowing light on a distant hill. His writing is lucid, poignant, powerful. He distinguishes between law and justice, urging us to be both compassionate and analytical, collecting evidence, making rational conclusions, acting on them courageously, and telling truth to power. Watching Out challenges us all.
Barry Jones
If you’ve ever wondered why lawyers are compelled to defend the indefensible, or the difference between a solicitor, barrister and QC, this is the book for you. It is a fascinating account of the justice system brought to life by many rich case studies.
The Echo
The Show: Another Side of Santamaria's Movement by Mark Aarons
Communists, spies, and priests — dramatic new stories and insights from the front line of the Cold War in Australia.
Lindsay Tanner, Author of Sideshow and Politics with Purpose
Fascinating … an intriguing complement, and counterpoint, to the most important works published about Santamaria’s role in Australian political history … Aarons's book deserves to be widely read.
Ross Fitzgerald, Weekend Australian
During the Cold War two tightly organised groups of ruthless idealists — one with their eyes on Moscow, the other with their eyes on Rome — fought each other in greatest secrecy for control of the Australian trade union movement and, ultimately, for control of the country. This scrupulously honest and scholarly history tells the inside story of one of the most significant struggles of Australia’s post-war history, on the basis of the intimate knowledge and understanding of two former political insiders on either side of the barricade who became closest friends after the dust of battle had settled.
Robert Manne, Author of The Petrov Affair
The Show is a major addition to the growing literature on Santamaria's anti-communist organisation and the labour movement in Australia.
Bruce Duncan, Author of Crusade or Conspiracy?
Not only a fascinating study of one of the most significant political struggles in our history, but also a window onto the times between the 1940s and 1990s.
Steven Carroll, The Saturday Age, Pick of the Week
Lindsay Tanner, Author of Sideshow and Politics with Purpose
Fascinating … an intriguing complement, and counterpoint, to the most important works published about Santamaria’s role in Australian political history … Aarons's book deserves to be widely read.
Ross Fitzgerald, Weekend Australian
During the Cold War two tightly organised groups of ruthless idealists — one with their eyes on Moscow, the other with their eyes on Rome — fought each other in greatest secrecy for control of the Australian trade union movement and, ultimately, for control of the country. This scrupulously honest and scholarly history tells the inside story of one of the most significant struggles of Australia’s post-war history, on the basis of the intimate knowledge and understanding of two former political insiders on either side of the barricade who became closest friends after the dust of battle had settled.
Robert Manne, Author of The Petrov Affair
The Show is a major addition to the growing literature on Santamaria's anti-communist organisation and the labour movement in Australia.
Bruce Duncan, Author of Crusade or Conspiracy?
Not only a fascinating study of one of the most significant political struggles in our history, but also a window onto the times between the 1940s and 1990s.
Steven Carroll, The Saturday Age, Pick of the Week