THE GROOVE BOOK REPORT

The Captivating First Novel in a New Historical Fiction Series from the Popular Bestselling Author of 'From The Ashes', for Fans of Jackie French, Tea Cooper and Kirsty Manning  Bestselling historical fiction author Deborah Challinor has created a truly unique vehicle to explore the fascinating and rarely mentioned world of Victorian funeral customs and professional culture. She does this by dropping her protagonist slap bang in the middle of 19th Century Sydney to become that city's first female undertaker. 'Men have been undertakers for hundreds of years. Not women, men. You don't belong.' It's 1865. Recently orphaned seventeen-year-old Tatiana Caldwell makes a life changing decision to quit her failed life in London and move to Sydney where through a combination of fate and desperate decisions ends up in the employment Titus Crowe, proprietor of Crowe Funeral Services.  Crowe is a straight up dodgy sleaze bag, cloaked in a dark frock coat of Victorian dec...

The Icelandic Psychological Association has prepared a test.  They've call it a 'sensitivity assessment' — a way of measuring a person’s empathy and identifying the potential for anti-social behaviour. With in two months , Iceland will vote on whether to make this controversial test compulsory for every citizen.  The nation is bitterly divided.  There are those that believe the test makes society safer.  But others see it as a violation all that it is to be human. The 'Empathy Test' measures an individual’s capacity for compassion.  It also prports to identify anti-social behaviour.  Two thirds of the country, including public servants and politicians, have undergone the test.  They are ‘marked’ in an official register, which is a record open to the public.  Still one third remain ‘unmarked’.  But to them more more and more private and public spaces are closing their doors, not allowing them in under a veil of suspicion.    As ...

Tipped as a "unforgettable" novel by Pōneke writer Emily Perkins, her novel 'Lioness' has taken out the country's top literary prize at this year's Ockham New Zealand Book Awards. Perkins takes home the $65,000 Jann Medlicott Acorn Prize for Fiction.  Her novel 'Lioness' explores themes of wealth, class and female mid-life reckoning. The judges describe the novel as an  "incisive exploration of wealth, power, class, female rage, and the search for authenticity".  But they also note that although these are heavy topics the novel is very funny and layered.  They refer to her "acute observations and razor-sharp wit decimate the tropes of mid-life in moments of pure prose brilliance, leaving the reader gasping for more. Disturbing, deep, smart, and funny as hell, Lioness is unforgettable." She says that, for her, humour is a really good way to a great way to convey many things that are complex and potentially troubling or provocative. T...

Australian crime writing legend Garry Disher introduces his latest protagonist and yet another anti-hero with a dodgy past.  Grace has become a skilful thief, having been taught young and growing up in assorted foster homes, with minimal supervision, and living by using her wits and smarts.   She's now self made but always on the run,  watching her back. When someone from her dark past appears Grace while she is scoping up a job she get scared and hoofs it to the sleepy hollow of Battendorf, high in the Adelaide Hills and intends to low.  Working in Erin Mandel’s antique store turns out to be a bonus.  The owner takes a shine to Grace and gives her her granny flat to stay in.  Finally she can settle for a while. Right! Unfortunately for Grace, Erin also has a dark past that she's running from.   And it's about to catch up with her! Disher’s novels are consistently impressive.  He's the master of capturing the zeitgeist. The new book...