THE GROOVE BOOK REPORT

Australia's most prominent Catholic has now been convicted of a series of abuse incidents himself that span multiple decades. Louise Milligan was the only Australian journalist to be privy to the most intimate stories of complainants.  In her book she pieces together a series of disturbing pictures of the Cardinal's knowledge and his actions, many of which are being told here for the first time.  When she first wrote this book, it was in the light of allegations.  These have now become convictions.  Her instincts were right.   Milligan updates her accounts and offers insights on a uncovering this conspiracy and the uncomfortable truths about a culture of sexual entitlement, abuse of trust and how ambition can silence evil. On  12 November 2012  the then Prime Minister, Julia Gillard, announced that she would recommend to the Governor-General that a Royal Commission be appointed to inquire into institutional responses to child abuse....

We have top international authors visiting Wellington with us in May: Take time to come along and listen live to conversations and performances that will inspire and buoy you, the perfect antidote for Autumn ...  Luke Wright (UK): Monday 13 May, 7.30pm Funny, erudite and inventive poet Luke Wright performs a best-of set.  Information and tickets on our website  here . Presented in association with Auckland Writers Festival “One of the funniest and most brilliant poets of his generation” –  The Independent “Cool poems.” – Patti Smith John Boyne (Ireland): Tuesday 14 May, 7.30pm Internationally acclaimed Irish novelist ( Boy in the Striped Pyjamas, Ladder to the Sky ) is speaking with our own acclaimed writer Pip Adam. Information and tickets on our website  here .  Presented in association with Dunedin Writers Festival with the support of Culture Ireland "...one of the most assured writers of his generation.” -  The Guardian Graeme...

Lost to the world for more than four decades, A Season on Earth is the essential link between two acknowledged masterpieces by the reclusive, techno-phobic 80 year old outback author Gerald Murnane: the lyrical account of boyhood in his debut novel, Tamarisk Row, and the revolutionary prose of The Plains (1982). A Season on Earth is Murnane’s second novel and intended to bring together all of its four sections—the first two of which were published as A Lifetime on Clouds in 1976 and the last two of which have never been in print. A hilarious tale of a lustful teenager in 1950s Melbourne, A Lifetime on Clouds has been considered an outlier in Murnane’s fiction. That is because, as Murnane writes in his foreword, it is ‘only half a book and Adrian Sherd only half a character’. So here, at last, is sixteen-year-old Adrian’s journey in completed in full, from fantasies about orgies with American film stars and idealised visions of suburban marital bliss to his struggles as a Ca...

Dead Letters: Censorship and Subversion in New Zealand 1914-1920  (Otago University Press, 2019) Personal experiences of WW1 Using stories, letters and film, Dead Letters, Great War Stories brings to vivid life the personal experiences of the First World War. Domestic censorship in New Zealand 1914 to 1920 Hear from archivist and historian Jared Davidson, who has just published  Dead Letters: Censorship and Subversion in New Zealand 1914-1920  (Otago University Press), revealing the impact of domestic censorship on the lives of radicals, writers, and everyday people during wartime and beyond. 'Haiku' film documentaries about the Great War Then enjoy a selection of films from Anna Cottrell’s TV series Great War Stories, which reveal moving personal stories in letters and diaries, including some that escaped the censors. Great War Stories consist of five TV series of short personal stories told through letters and diaries, many held in the ATL, some from wh...

Any high society wedding can expect a gate-crasher or two.  However, this unknown guest at the Rapfogel-Burdette nuptials has managed to get herself drugged, strangled. She’s a complete stranger.  No one knows who she is.  The groom’s party says she must be from the bride’s side; the bride’s people say the opposite.  No one has a clue! All they can do is complain about the fact that she had the gall to be murdered at “Baby” Rapfogel’s 'don't miss Saints and Sinners' wedding. It may be a trashy sentiment but the bride's big day is R.U.I.N.E.D! This is the start of Edgar winner Kellerman’s 'workmanlike' 34th whodunit featuring L.A. psychologist Alex Delaware (after 2018’s Night Moves ). During the subsequent police investigation, none of the wedding attendees admits to knowing the victim, who was drugged with an injection of fentanyl in her neck before being garroted.  Alex and his LAPD friend, Lt. Milo Sturgis, follow the usual, predictable lines of inquiry...