We are delighted that Jenny Ackland joins us today to share her five most influential books.
Jenny has worked in too many offices but only one themed restaurant; sold textbooks in a university bookshop; taught special education and English as a Foreign Language in Australia and overseas; and worked as a proofreader on magazines and freelance editor on technical publications. She's been blogging since 2005, and her short fiction has been listed in prestigious literary prizes and awards.
She has travelled widely, and has spent several years living in Turkey and Japan, but now lives in Melbourne with her husband and their three teenaged children. Her debut novel The Secret Son is about an Australian historian determined to find the truth, a stolen inheritance, a wishing tree, a long-lost grandmother, and an unlikely sweetheart. It is a novel about love, honour and belonging, and what it means to be a good person.
You can buy the book here.
A mother bird lays an egg but prefers to holiday in Palm Beach than sit hatching. She enlists trusting elephant Horton to sit on her nest until she returns. ‘Soon,’ she promises. He does, through the months, through threats both climatic and human. An early lesson in ethics and backbone, this book introduced me to concepts that I remain staunch about today, and the idea that social justice and issues-based books can be the most compelling for me. Buy the book here.
Here are our picks for the best reads this month.
On August 1, 2017Caroline Overington is an Australian journalist and author. She has recently been appointed associate editor for The Australian Women’s Weekly. Sisters of Mercy is her fourth novel and our Book of the...
On November 6, 2012Is Hausfrau the literary Fifty Shades of Grey? With central themes of therapy and adultery, it has already generated a great deal of chat.
On March 30, 2015A Double Shot of Happiness is the inspirational story of how a boy diagnosed with severe autism went on to become one of Australia's best-known international artists and the creator...
On June 4, 2015Jason Hewitt joined Sophia Whitfield for a chat about his latest book and recent success. You can buy both Jason's books here.
On October 15, 2015