Emily Paull

When Trent Dalton writes a book, it really feels like he doesn't hold back. He throws in everything but the kitchen sink. If you were to try to explain his plots to someone, they sound almost farcical, almost a little bit too much, but when you're immersed in the experience of reading them, they just work. Take Dalton's second novel, for example. Set in Darwin during the Second World War, the story follows Molly Hook, who is the gravedigger's daughter. We first meet Molly at seven years old, on the last day she ever sees her mother alive. Her mother explains to her about the curse that ruined her grandfather's life and has doomed all of his family to have their hearts turned to stone. She tells Molly about sky gifts, and then she asks Molly to close her eyes. When Molly opens them again, her mother is gone and a gold mining pan that belonged to her grandfather has appeared, as if it fell from the sky. Five years later, Molly is being 'brought up' by her fair...

  I was provided a reading copy of this book by Hachette Australia in return for an honest review.  The latest instalment of the Nevermoor series is here, and I am here for it.  In Hollowpox: The Hunt for Morrigan Crow , young Wundersmith Morrigan Crow is finally allowed to begin learning about her new abilities in a secret part of the Wundrous Society on level sub-nine. There's a catch though. Because there hasn't been another Wundersmith in Nevermoor for a century (not since Ezra Squall, who gave all Wundersmiths a bad name), there's no one alive who can teach her. But that's okay, this is Nevermoor, a place where the laws of physics are only a technicality and your most prized possession is your umbrella. Through the use of a peculiar form of magic, Morrigan begins to learn her craft from the Wundersmiths of past eras, and learns that the history of her craft is not exactly as she's been led to believe. Meanwhile, a pandemic affecting the humanoid animals of Neve...

Image from Canva I don't think I need to say to anyone that 2020 has been a really strange year. On a global level, I've often felt that I am witnessing something historical, something that will be studied in classrooms and written about in books in the decades to come-- an interesting concept for an amateur historian like myself. This has been made particularly poignant for me personally because of the role that history and research have played in my professional life this year. I'm not only talking about the pandemic; today, many people are glued to newsfeeds, anxiously watching as the US Presidential election results come in. That an election in another country can have such a global impact is really a sign of how much of a global society we have become. Imagine a US Presidential election 100 years ago, when my current WIP is set. News would reach us here in Australia slowly, and at best, we'd probably only be getting daily updates from newspapers. I don't think ...