Germany's big five anniversaries in 2025
275 YEARS SINCE THE DEATH OF BACH
Decades before Mozart and Beethoven were born, there was another composer who stirred hearts and minds across Europe. That's Johann Sebastian Bach, whose tunes were the sound of the late baroque era. This year, commemorative events are taking place around Germany, including Bach festivals in the state of Thuringia, where he was raised in the town of Eisenach, and in the city of Leipzig, where he composed many of his famous works and passed away on July 28, 1750. Dresden is another focal point for the anniversary celebrations. Bach was a regular visitor to the 'Florence of the Elbe' and the landmark church, the Frauenkirche, at the heart of a city rebuilt after World War II Allied bombing, will be among the concert venues showcasing his compositions, such as the Brandenburg Concertos and Goldberg Variations.
50 YEARS OF THE FAIRY TALE ROUTE
Buoyed by the success of the Romantic Road, tourism bosses conjured the Germany Fairy Tale Route, hoping it would do for the country's centre and north what the former did for the south. Winding 600km between Hanau (near Frankfurt) and Buxtehude (near Hamburg), this route is heavily driven by the lives and works of those fairytale masters, Wilhelm and Jacob Grimm. There are dozens of locations to visit en route, including chocolate-box towns and villages like Marburg and Steinau and the woodlands that characters like Hansel and Gretel would have played in. Other places you may have read about in your childhood include Hamelin, famed for its pied piper, and Bremen, where there's a statue of its animal musicians. Elsewhere, there's Sababurg Castle (the model, it's said, for Sleeping Beauty's home) and Rapunzel's Tower, which soars from the medieval fortress in Trendelburg, a town in the Diemel Valley. Throughout the Fairy Tale Route, you will find museums about the Brothers Grimm, open-air performances of their stories in the warmer months, and walking tours led by guides in period and character costumes.
fact file
+ For more information on the anniversary events and to visit Germany, see
germany.travel/en/
.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
West Australian
5 days ago
- West Australian
South Africa in a new light
For most of our lives South Africa has been in the news for the wrong reasons. The apartheid regime that was ushered in after World War II led to riots and killings that shocked the world, including the Soweto riots of 1976, when students objected to Afrikaans being forced on them as the main language of the country. The protests over racial selection in Springbok tours in numerous countries were prime news around the globe and the imprisonment of African National Congress head Nelson Mandela for 28 years was a constant blot on the government's legitimacy. So it was something of a miracle when Mandela was freed under the de Klerk government and the country moved towards free and open elections which guaranteed the African majority power in government. It has indeed been a miracle that the country has been able to move forward under different governments the past 30 years, without major bloodshed. This is not to overlook the cruel history or the numerous challenges that remain and have arisen afresh. So what is South Africa like to visit, now that Qantas has announced direct flights will resume in December to Johannesburg? South Africa — the great melting pot of African, European and Indian history — is a fascinating blend of everything you can look for in a holiday, if you like a little soft adventure. The cities are a mixture of towering skyscrapers and urban villages, the landscape a breathtaking panorama of mountain ranges and endless fertile farms, or grasslands that keep rolling forever. But first, where to start? Do you want to head off into cities, towns and villages alone? That is quite a big step in the major cities. The crime rate in Johannesburg is daunting. Perhaps the best way is to find a local expert and a driver, and have an organised plan of places to visit, things to see and some company to enjoy it with. That is what we did. An escorted minibus tour for 15 days, from Johannesburg, our airport of entry, to Cape Town. In between, game parks, Eswatini (formerly Swaziland), Lesotho, KwaZulu-Natal, the Eastern and Western Cape. Mountain ranges, deep river valleys, huge farms, bustling small townships, seaside resorts, surf beaches, modernity, classy suburbs and poverty. You can see it in many places on the planet, the mix of wealth and poverty. Go to India, the USA. South Africa has its own blend. The good news is that locals are your guides, and they give you all the time you need to talk about it. Dissect it. See the good and the bad. Like the family in Eswatini, of father, two mothers and 25 children. Dancing and singing traditional songs is their birthright in their village. You are invited in, after passing through passport control at the border. But, let us start at the beginning, with Oliver Tambo, African National Congress president for many years. His statue greets you at Johannesburg's international airport. We get to revered leader Nelson Mandela later. Johannesburg is a city of 13.2 million, according to our guide Walter, who says he speaks 11 languages. But we are here to initially see the game parks, stay at the airport hotel and head off next day to the delightfully named Hippo Hollow Country Estate, en route to an early assignment at the Kruger National Park, a mere two million hectares. There are many other camping grounds. We see the small red dot of the sun just emerging as we enter the massive park, the size of a small country. It is freezing cold, as we huddle under jackets and blankets. Suddenly, off to one side, three male lions are standing to get the first rays of the sun and its warmth. Then they all wake up and wander into view: giraffes, elephants, hyenas, water buffalo, antelopes and elands by the dozen. There is a heightened sense of being alive when you are being studied by the female head of an elephant herd, before she wanders off across the road and the rest follow. Next morning, we are up early for breakfast again and are treated to elephants wandering past the window where we are sitting. Other tourist groups arrive too late, and we feel somehow privileged. Hippos bathe there, but not today. We drive through hundreds of kilometres of huge orchards and farms, boasting rich red soil. Then vast tree plantations stretching to the horizon, for paper, timber and woodchips. And finally sugar cane. Everything agricultural is on a huge scale, supported by the native settlements where the farm workers live, some on the property and some on their own ancestral lands, where they can build freely. Many sons and daughters move to the big cities to build a career or return to finish off their homes. All the schoolchildren are immaculately turned out in school uniforms. We hit the mountainous road to Eswatini (Swaziland), where we are treated to a great view of local Indigenous culture. The village chief and his big family show us their village and way of life and perform a great celebration of singing and dancing. Our stay at Piggs Peak Hotel is beautiful and majestic, in a slightly decaying sense. Views in every direction are amazing in this hotel, owned by the king. He could probably do with switching some of the expenditure from his 16 wives to hotel maintenance, but there are indications the wives are becoming more politically aware these days and enacting their own reforms. Then we enter the kingdom of KwaZulu-Natal, where ancient and modern cultures, Zulu and settler influences, form a thriving and modern society. Certainly, the towns are full of fairly new cars and minibuses, shopping centres and cafes. The next day is Hluhluwe-Imfolozi game park, home of the white rhino conservation program. Not quite so long or cold a day as in Kruger, but full of rhinos, giraffes and elephants. Till we roll into Durban, which is a mirror of the contrasts in South Africa. We stroll along the scenic Golden Mile beachfront, watching surfers, then visit the city centre to see the historic Victorian municipal buildings, boasting statues of leader Jan Smuts and Queen Victoria (of course). It is Friday afternoon and teeming with shoppers, but the locals look upon us as just another bunch of tourists. Just five blocks away are car dealerships for Mercedes and BMW, and South Africa has several car assembly plants, which is more than Australia has. Our hotel is modern and nearer the beach. The food is terrific and cheap. A quality steak meal and fresh fish dish plus beer is $31.50 (can you remember back that far?). It was the weekend of the 90km Comrades Marathon, where thousands of ultra-distance runners ran to Durban from Pietermaritzburg. It switches direction each year. Then we are off inland to explore the majestic Southern Drakensberg Mountains, which seem to stretch all the way down the east side of South Africa. Outside Howick, we visit the site of Nelson Mandela's capture by security forces in 1962. It is a reminder of his sacrifice, the intense news coverage of those years, and an amazing montage sculpture of his face. Our base for a couple of days is the Drakensberg Gardens hotel, which sits on a scenic World Heritage site. It is more like a 1970s holiday camp with facilities for hiking, cycling, tennis and lawn bowls. But make sure you lock your door. The local baboons have a technique of trying every door handle once you go out for the day, and heading straight for the fridge. The next day is an all-day 4WD drive up the Sani Pass to an altitude of 2876m, to Lesotho, the kingdom in the sky, where we are greeted by shepherds, vultures circling for the leftovers of some other predator's meal, and the highest pub in Africa. Passports are required. The only break in the endless June blue skies came over the next two days, as we headed into our fourth province, the Eastern Cape. A massive thunderstorm descended and caused widespread flooding, a reminder of the extremes of continental weather formations. Looking out from our room perched high in Crawfords Beach Lodge, the Indian Ocean was boiling. There are stops along the Garden Route to admire the jagged mountains that line the road. Cameras are running hot in this region formerly known as the Transkei, the birthplace of Nelson Mandela. Till we arrive at the Tsitsikamma Village Inn, a historic hotel established in 1946. The buildings reflect many of the different building styles to be found in the Cape Colony during the 1800s. Outside the towns, the vegetation more closely resembles the Western Australian bush, a little denser but very familiar, with eucalyptus trees swaying in the breeze. The cliffs and coastal scenery of the Storms River Mouth are best viewed from three suspension bridges and 1000 steps, which make a small dent on our waistlines from too many cooked breakfasts. Back inland, we visit the ostrich farming district of Oudtshoorn. This is the global hub for ostrich feathers, which grace the stage of the Folies Bergere in Paris and many other theatres. We come prepared with small tubs of snacks, and the ostriches are delighted, though somewhat lacking in table manners. Ostriches have been a big rural industry in South Africa for well over a century, and are the primary source of income for the town. We head underground into the enormous Cango Caves, with six spectacular halls, the biggest the size of the Perth Concert Hall. Our guide shows off his impressive baritone singing voice in this vast echo chamber. At the Protea Hotel Riempie Estate, we stay in traditional, thatched (rondavel) rooms, with the latest mod cons of course. Then the renowned Route 62 takes us on to Cape Town, with a stop for a 9am sampling of port wines at Calitzdorp, which certainly brought quieter members of the group to life! We hit the outskirts of South Africa's second biggest city, where country roads yield to freeways and bustle. On our all-day tour we took the cable car up Table Mountain, the first place we encountered other tourists, then delved into many corners and bays of this sprawling metropolis, with our local guide an encyclopedia on its history, the rights and wrongs and his place in it. Groot Constantia Wine Estate, established in 1685, was an ideal place to end the tour amid the wine region's rich history. Under the apartheid regime, 'coloured' populations were moved from central city locations to outlying districts like the Cape Flats, basically a huge housing estate. On some of the more scenic bays, populations were moved to make way for upmarket homes. It's a huge bone of contention, even 50-60 years later. It is an unavoidable fact that travel in South Africa comes with a history lesson. Our guide Walter, a Xhosa from the Eastern Cape, bemoans the huge gulf between rich farmers and poor labourers, and the arrival of migrant workers from across the African continent taking jobs and undercutting pay rates, as well as drug dealers from Nigeria. His is a social concern that began with the Soweto riots in 1976. As a teenager he left the country to swell the ranks of the ANC in exile, but can see the progress since Nelson Mandela easily won the election of 1994. But he wants more, so much more. We end our journey at the Cape of Good Hope. The views of the cold Atlantic waters and warmer Indian Ocean are breathtaking, like so much we have seen. The wineries, the beaches, the mountains, the surging rivers, the Dutch and British heritage, the singers, the dancers. All the markets groaning with produce and wood carvings. Then we head to Cape Town airport and fly home, but some holidays stay with you. Discovering South Africa is one of them. Join a group and see the country away from the mass tourist sites. We covered 3500km in two weeks and enjoyed every day. If you have had enough sitting around the pool, go have an adventure. fact file South African Airways operates flights direct from Perth to Johannesburg. Qantas is due to start flights later this year. Singapore Airlines operates flights via Singapore. Emirates and Qatar Airways operate flights via the Middle East, to Cape Town, Durban and Johannesburg. These are obviously much longer but are competitively priced. Cape Town publishes a booklet with tips on how to stay safe while visiting the city centre, Stroll Smart, Stay Sharp. Most advice is common sense for experienced travellers. Don't leave valuables in your vehicle in full view of passers-by. Keep your mobile phone out of sight, not in your hand. (In the tourist areas like Table Mountain, Cape of Good Hope and Simonstown, everyone had their phone out. Lanyards are increasingly popular. But the CBD is a different story.) If you are asked to buy a permit to walk in the Cape Town CBD, you are being scammed. Don't hand over your bankcard or punch your PIN into any handheld keypad, and don't let a stranger accompany you to an ATM.
The Advertiser
09-07-2025
- The Advertiser
Shameful secrets surface during White Lotus-esque minibreak
New releases include Kayte Nunn's destination thriller Pelazzo and Fast Money about the multi-billion-dollar business behind Formula One racing. Caroline Reid & Christian Sylt. Hodder & Stoughton. $34.99. "F1 may seem like it's purely a sport but actually it's a high-octane tax-avoidance vehicle for its owners and it is all entirely legal," the authors write in the preface to this book that explores not just the Netflix-fuelled popularity of grand prix racing, but the multi-billion-dollar business behind it. F1 generates breathtaking amounts of revenue and profit, but it is also hideously expensive for teams to race, let alone win. As its subtitle promises, this book reveals "the backroom deals, corporate espionage and legendary power struggles" from the Bernie Ecclestone era to the drivers who are household names today. Lynne Olson. Scribe. $37.99. The Nazi concentration camp Ravensbruck, hidden in a forest north of Berlin during World War II, has been described as the camp that history forgot. It was designed specifically to house women. Four of those women, Germaine Tillion, Anise Girard, Jacqueline d'Alincourt and Genevieve de Gaulle (niece of General Charles de Gaulle) - all heroes of the French Resistance and all captured by the Gestapo - formed a tight-knit group and miraculously survived. Olson's book explores not just the bond between courageous women united in a battle to survive hell, but also the long-overlooked contribution that women made to the resistance movement. Michael Pembroke. Hardie Grant. $37.99. Trade and war shape nations and empires. Silk Silver Opium examines the fraught history of China's trading relationship with the West - a relationship that moulded not only global commerce, but the distrustful attitude of modern China. For centuries the world's silver drained towards China as mercury runs towards a plughole. Traders clamoured to buy first silk, then the mysterious Chinese ceramic, porcelain, then tea - the drink that took Britain by storm. The balance shifted when the British began smuggling opium into China and silver began to travel in the opposite direction. Then came conflict and humiliation. China has never forgotten. Allan Mason. HarperCollins. $34.99. People of a certain age will remember watching with glee when media titan Kerry Packer appeared before a parliamentary inquiry in 1991 and eviscerated the political stuffed shirts. "Of course I am minimising my tax," he growled. "And if anybody in this country doesn't minimise their tax, they want their heads read ...". Allan Mason worked for Packer, and the mogul gets a number of mentions in this updated fifth edition, a guide to making money and keeping it. Put another way: we are all playing the money game, but only some know the rules, and fewer know the tricks. Kayte Nunn. HarperCollins. $34.99. This White Lotus-esque destination thriller puts you poolside with a prosecco as a murder mystery plays out at the luxurious Palazzo Stellina in the foothills of the Italian Alps. Newly widowed beauty entrepreneur Vivi Savidge is hosting her 40th birthday getaway at this grand old former convent. Vivi's guests include her artist sister, Alice, who's flying from Brisbane with her teen twins in tow, ex-colleague Pete and new husband Nick, who are coming from Boston, and old uni friend Caroline, who's driving from Turin. Everyone is hiding a shameful secret that will simmer under the summer sun until the jealousy and greed turn deadly. Nightshade Michael Connelly. Allen & Unwin. $34.99. In his 40th book, bestselling author Michael Connelly, creator of Harry Bosch, Mickey Haller and Renée Ballard, introduces a new character: Detective Dave Stilwell. Once assigned to a homicide desk on the mainland, Stilwell has been exiled to the quiet post of Catalina Island. Routine calls and minor crimes fill his days until a body is discovered, wrapped in plastic, at the bottom of the harbour. As the investigation unfolds, Stilwell navigates murky jurisdictional waters. The case leads him to question whether Catalina's calm exterior hides something more dangerous and whether his new posting is as peaceful as it first appeared. Mark Brandi. Hachette. $32.99. Fresh out of jail, country boy Tom Blackburn has left behind his old life and name but he's not sure about his future. Sleeping on the streets is the quickest way back to a cell, so he jumps at the offer of a job that includes a place to stay. Can a bit of gardening and gravedigging in the peace and quiet of a cemetery in the dead centre of Melbourne keep him out of trouble? Or will buried secrets come back to haunt him? This lyrical crime thriller is the fifth novel by Mark Brandi, who debuted in 2017 with the acclaimed Wimmera. Rachel Gillig. Orbit. $32.99. The first book in the new series by the author of globally renowned gothic romance saga The Shepherd King follows Sybill Delling, a diviner at Aisling Cathedral, who predicts the futures of those who pay handsomely. But the omens that determine fate are not what they seem. As she nears the end of her 10-year service, Sybill's fellow diviners begin disappearing one by one. With a heretical knight who does not believe, Sybill sets out to discover what's happening. Expect sharp wit and elegant prose as two wounded souls collide in a beautifully refined fantasy set in a hauntingly gothic world. New releases include Kayte Nunn's destination thriller Pelazzo and Fast Money about the multi-billion-dollar business behind Formula One racing. Caroline Reid & Christian Sylt. Hodder & Stoughton. $34.99. "F1 may seem like it's purely a sport but actually it's a high-octane tax-avoidance vehicle for its owners and it is all entirely legal," the authors write in the preface to this book that explores not just the Netflix-fuelled popularity of grand prix racing, but the multi-billion-dollar business behind it. F1 generates breathtaking amounts of revenue and profit, but it is also hideously expensive for teams to race, let alone win. As its subtitle promises, this book reveals "the backroom deals, corporate espionage and legendary power struggles" from the Bernie Ecclestone era to the drivers who are household names today. Lynne Olson. Scribe. $37.99. The Nazi concentration camp Ravensbruck, hidden in a forest north of Berlin during World War II, has been described as the camp that history forgot. It was designed specifically to house women. Four of those women, Germaine Tillion, Anise Girard, Jacqueline d'Alincourt and Genevieve de Gaulle (niece of General Charles de Gaulle) - all heroes of the French Resistance and all captured by the Gestapo - formed a tight-knit group and miraculously survived. Olson's book explores not just the bond between courageous women united in a battle to survive hell, but also the long-overlooked contribution that women made to the resistance movement. Michael Pembroke. Hardie Grant. $37.99. Trade and war shape nations and empires. Silk Silver Opium examines the fraught history of China's trading relationship with the West - a relationship that moulded not only global commerce, but the distrustful attitude of modern China. For centuries the world's silver drained towards China as mercury runs towards a plughole. Traders clamoured to buy first silk, then the mysterious Chinese ceramic, porcelain, then tea - the drink that took Britain by storm. The balance shifted when the British began smuggling opium into China and silver began to travel in the opposite direction. Then came conflict and humiliation. China has never forgotten. Allan Mason. HarperCollins. $34.99. People of a certain age will remember watching with glee when media titan Kerry Packer appeared before a parliamentary inquiry in 1991 and eviscerated the political stuffed shirts. "Of course I am minimising my tax," he growled. "And if anybody in this country doesn't minimise their tax, they want their heads read ...". Allan Mason worked for Packer, and the mogul gets a number of mentions in this updated fifth edition, a guide to making money and keeping it. Put another way: we are all playing the money game, but only some know the rules, and fewer know the tricks. Kayte Nunn. HarperCollins. $34.99. This White Lotus-esque destination thriller puts you poolside with a prosecco as a murder mystery plays out at the luxurious Palazzo Stellina in the foothills of the Italian Alps. Newly widowed beauty entrepreneur Vivi Savidge is hosting her 40th birthday getaway at this grand old former convent. Vivi's guests include her artist sister, Alice, who's flying from Brisbane with her teen twins in tow, ex-colleague Pete and new husband Nick, who are coming from Boston, and old uni friend Caroline, who's driving from Turin. Everyone is hiding a shameful secret that will simmer under the summer sun until the jealousy and greed turn deadly. Nightshade Michael Connelly. Allen & Unwin. $34.99. In his 40th book, bestselling author Michael Connelly, creator of Harry Bosch, Mickey Haller and Renée Ballard, introduces a new character: Detective Dave Stilwell. Once assigned to a homicide desk on the mainland, Stilwell has been exiled to the quiet post of Catalina Island. Routine calls and minor crimes fill his days until a body is discovered, wrapped in plastic, at the bottom of the harbour. As the investigation unfolds, Stilwell navigates murky jurisdictional waters. The case leads him to question whether Catalina's calm exterior hides something more dangerous and whether his new posting is as peaceful as it first appeared. Mark Brandi. Hachette. $32.99. Fresh out of jail, country boy Tom Blackburn has left behind his old life and name but he's not sure about his future. Sleeping on the streets is the quickest way back to a cell, so he jumps at the offer of a job that includes a place to stay. Can a bit of gardening and gravedigging in the peace and quiet of a cemetery in the dead centre of Melbourne keep him out of trouble? Or will buried secrets come back to haunt him? This lyrical crime thriller is the fifth novel by Mark Brandi, who debuted in 2017 with the acclaimed Wimmera. Rachel Gillig. Orbit. $32.99. The first book in the new series by the author of globally renowned gothic romance saga The Shepherd King follows Sybill Delling, a diviner at Aisling Cathedral, who predicts the futures of those who pay handsomely. But the omens that determine fate are not what they seem. As she nears the end of her 10-year service, Sybill's fellow diviners begin disappearing one by one. With a heretical knight who does not believe, Sybill sets out to discover what's happening. Expect sharp wit and elegant prose as two wounded souls collide in a beautifully refined fantasy set in a hauntingly gothic world. New releases include Kayte Nunn's destination thriller Pelazzo and Fast Money about the multi-billion-dollar business behind Formula One racing. Caroline Reid & Christian Sylt. Hodder & Stoughton. $34.99. "F1 may seem like it's purely a sport but actually it's a high-octane tax-avoidance vehicle for its owners and it is all entirely legal," the authors write in the preface to this book that explores not just the Netflix-fuelled popularity of grand prix racing, but the multi-billion-dollar business behind it. F1 generates breathtaking amounts of revenue and profit, but it is also hideously expensive for teams to race, let alone win. As its subtitle promises, this book reveals "the backroom deals, corporate espionage and legendary power struggles" from the Bernie Ecclestone era to the drivers who are household names today. Lynne Olson. Scribe. $37.99. The Nazi concentration camp Ravensbruck, hidden in a forest north of Berlin during World War II, has been described as the camp that history forgot. It was designed specifically to house women. Four of those women, Germaine Tillion, Anise Girard, Jacqueline d'Alincourt and Genevieve de Gaulle (niece of General Charles de Gaulle) - all heroes of the French Resistance and all captured by the Gestapo - formed a tight-knit group and miraculously survived. Olson's book explores not just the bond between courageous women united in a battle to survive hell, but also the long-overlooked contribution that women made to the resistance movement. Michael Pembroke. Hardie Grant. $37.99. Trade and war shape nations and empires. Silk Silver Opium examines the fraught history of China's trading relationship with the West - a relationship that moulded not only global commerce, but the distrustful attitude of modern China. For centuries the world's silver drained towards China as mercury runs towards a plughole. Traders clamoured to buy first silk, then the mysterious Chinese ceramic, porcelain, then tea - the drink that took Britain by storm. The balance shifted when the British began smuggling opium into China and silver began to travel in the opposite direction. Then came conflict and humiliation. China has never forgotten. Allan Mason. HarperCollins. $34.99. People of a certain age will remember watching with glee when media titan Kerry Packer appeared before a parliamentary inquiry in 1991 and eviscerated the political stuffed shirts. "Of course I am minimising my tax," he growled. "And if anybody in this country doesn't minimise their tax, they want their heads read ...". Allan Mason worked for Packer, and the mogul gets a number of mentions in this updated fifth edition, a guide to making money and keeping it. Put another way: we are all playing the money game, but only some know the rules, and fewer know the tricks. Kayte Nunn. HarperCollins. $34.99. This White Lotus-esque destination thriller puts you poolside with a prosecco as a murder mystery plays out at the luxurious Palazzo Stellina in the foothills of the Italian Alps. Newly widowed beauty entrepreneur Vivi Savidge is hosting her 40th birthday getaway at this grand old former convent. Vivi's guests include her artist sister, Alice, who's flying from Brisbane with her teen twins in tow, ex-colleague Pete and new husband Nick, who are coming from Boston, and old uni friend Caroline, who's driving from Turin. Everyone is hiding a shameful secret that will simmer under the summer sun until the jealousy and greed turn deadly. Nightshade Michael Connelly. Allen & Unwin. $34.99. In his 40th book, bestselling author Michael Connelly, creator of Harry Bosch, Mickey Haller and Renée Ballard, introduces a new character: Detective Dave Stilwell. Once assigned to a homicide desk on the mainland, Stilwell has been exiled to the quiet post of Catalina Island. Routine calls and minor crimes fill his days until a body is discovered, wrapped in plastic, at the bottom of the harbour. As the investigation unfolds, Stilwell navigates murky jurisdictional waters. The case leads him to question whether Catalina's calm exterior hides something more dangerous and whether his new posting is as peaceful as it first appeared. Mark Brandi. Hachette. $32.99. Fresh out of jail, country boy Tom Blackburn has left behind his old life and name but he's not sure about his future. Sleeping on the streets is the quickest way back to a cell, so he jumps at the offer of a job that includes a place to stay. Can a bit of gardening and gravedigging in the peace and quiet of a cemetery in the dead centre of Melbourne keep him out of trouble? Or will buried secrets come back to haunt him? This lyrical crime thriller is the fifth novel by Mark Brandi, who debuted in 2017 with the acclaimed Wimmera. Rachel Gillig. Orbit. $32.99. The first book in the new series by the author of globally renowned gothic romance saga The Shepherd King follows Sybill Delling, a diviner at Aisling Cathedral, who predicts the futures of those who pay handsomely. But the omens that determine fate are not what they seem. As she nears the end of her 10-year service, Sybill's fellow diviners begin disappearing one by one. With a heretical knight who does not believe, Sybill sets out to discover what's happening. Expect sharp wit and elegant prose as two wounded souls collide in a beautifully refined fantasy set in a hauntingly gothic world. New releases include Kayte Nunn's destination thriller Pelazzo and Fast Money about the multi-billion-dollar business behind Formula One racing. Caroline Reid & Christian Sylt. Hodder & Stoughton. $34.99. "F1 may seem like it's purely a sport but actually it's a high-octane tax-avoidance vehicle for its owners and it is all entirely legal," the authors write in the preface to this book that explores not just the Netflix-fuelled popularity of grand prix racing, but the multi-billion-dollar business behind it. F1 generates breathtaking amounts of revenue and profit, but it is also hideously expensive for teams to race, let alone win. As its subtitle promises, this book reveals "the backroom deals, corporate espionage and legendary power struggles" from the Bernie Ecclestone era to the drivers who are household names today. Lynne Olson. Scribe. $37.99. The Nazi concentration camp Ravensbruck, hidden in a forest north of Berlin during World War II, has been described as the camp that history forgot. It was designed specifically to house women. Four of those women, Germaine Tillion, Anise Girard, Jacqueline d'Alincourt and Genevieve de Gaulle (niece of General Charles de Gaulle) - all heroes of the French Resistance and all captured by the Gestapo - formed a tight-knit group and miraculously survived. Olson's book explores not just the bond between courageous women united in a battle to survive hell, but also the long-overlooked contribution that women made to the resistance movement. Michael Pembroke. Hardie Grant. $37.99. Trade and war shape nations and empires. Silk Silver Opium examines the fraught history of China's trading relationship with the West - a relationship that moulded not only global commerce, but the distrustful attitude of modern China. For centuries the world's silver drained towards China as mercury runs towards a plughole. Traders clamoured to buy first silk, then the mysterious Chinese ceramic, porcelain, then tea - the drink that took Britain by storm. The balance shifted when the British began smuggling opium into China and silver began to travel in the opposite direction. Then came conflict and humiliation. China has never forgotten. Allan Mason. HarperCollins. $34.99. People of a certain age will remember watching with glee when media titan Kerry Packer appeared before a parliamentary inquiry in 1991 and eviscerated the political stuffed shirts. "Of course I am minimising my tax," he growled. "And if anybody in this country doesn't minimise their tax, they want their heads read ...". Allan Mason worked for Packer, and the mogul gets a number of mentions in this updated fifth edition, a guide to making money and keeping it. Put another way: we are all playing the money game, but only some know the rules, and fewer know the tricks. Kayte Nunn. HarperCollins. $34.99. This White Lotus-esque destination thriller puts you poolside with a prosecco as a murder mystery plays out at the luxurious Palazzo Stellina in the foothills of the Italian Alps. Newly widowed beauty entrepreneur Vivi Savidge is hosting her 40th birthday getaway at this grand old former convent. Vivi's guests include her artist sister, Alice, who's flying from Brisbane with her teen twins in tow, ex-colleague Pete and new husband Nick, who are coming from Boston, and old uni friend Caroline, who's driving from Turin. Everyone is hiding a shameful secret that will simmer under the summer sun until the jealousy and greed turn deadly. Nightshade Michael Connelly. Allen & Unwin. $34.99. In his 40th book, bestselling author Michael Connelly, creator of Harry Bosch, Mickey Haller and Renée Ballard, introduces a new character: Detective Dave Stilwell. Once assigned to a homicide desk on the mainland, Stilwell has been exiled to the quiet post of Catalina Island. Routine calls and minor crimes fill his days until a body is discovered, wrapped in plastic, at the bottom of the harbour. As the investigation unfolds, Stilwell navigates murky jurisdictional waters. The case leads him to question whether Catalina's calm exterior hides something more dangerous and whether his new posting is as peaceful as it first appeared. Mark Brandi. Hachette. $32.99. Fresh out of jail, country boy Tom Blackburn has left behind his old life and name but he's not sure about his future. Sleeping on the streets is the quickest way back to a cell, so he jumps at the offer of a job that includes a place to stay. Can a bit of gardening and gravedigging in the peace and quiet of a cemetery in the dead centre of Melbourne keep him out of trouble? Or will buried secrets come back to haunt him? This lyrical crime thriller is the fifth novel by Mark Brandi, who debuted in 2017 with the acclaimed Wimmera. Rachel Gillig. Orbit. $32.99. The first book in the new series by the author of globally renowned gothic romance saga The Shepherd King follows Sybill Delling, a diviner at Aisling Cathedral, who predicts the futures of those who pay handsomely. But the omens that determine fate are not what they seem. As she nears the end of her 10-year service, Sybill's fellow diviners begin disappearing one by one. With a heretical knight who does not believe, Sybill sets out to discover what's happening. Expect sharp wit and elegant prose as two wounded souls collide in a beautifully refined fantasy set in a hauntingly gothic world.
Sydney Morning Herald
07-07-2025
- Sydney Morning Herald
Ten new books to add to your reading pile
What's good, what's bad, and what's in between in literature? Here we review the latest titles. See all 51 stories. Looking for some psychological suspense? A reimagining of literary history? Perhaps a deep-dive into the work of the late Australian historian John Hirst, or a gripping real-life account of women working for the French resistance during World War II? Our reviewers have these and more covered in this week's reviews. Happy reading! FICTION PICK OF THE WEEK Famous Last Words Gillian McAllister Penguin, $34.99 A nightmare day – one that seems too strange to believe. Camilla is dropping her daughter Polly off on her first day at school, and husband Luke, a mild-mannered writer, isn't there. He isn't responding to messages, which is unlike him. Her annoyance quickly escalates into alarm when the police arrive asking to talk to her about her husband, and shock sets in when she's told the news of an unfolding hostage situation in London. He's being held hostage, she thinks. She's incredulous at viewing video evidence of Luke as the hostage-taker. How on earth did her husband become a violent criminal, without the slightest warning? At a gut level, Camilla refuses to concede that Luke could possibly do what she is seeing him do with her own eyes, but she agrees to assist DCI Niall Thompson conduct hostage negotiations, hoping to defuse the crisis without bloodshed. The game will change, and the inexplicable will become clear in this taut and twisting thriller. Fans of Liane Moriarty (and superior, character-driven psychological suspense generally) should lap this one up. Stephen King's private detective Holly Gibney returns in Never Flinch, with more than enough to keep her occupied. There seem to be two cases, though her friend, Izzy Jaynes, a detective at Buckeye police department, is handling one of them. It starts with a sinister letter sent to police from a would-be serial killer who promises to mete out lethal vigilante justice to 13 guilty persons and one innocent, to avenge a grave wrong committed. The threat isn't idle. Chapters told from the killer's perspective are interwoven as the body count climbs, but when Izzy turns to Holly for assistance, Holly is temporarily indisposed: she's moonlighting as a bodyguard for feminist author Kate McKay, who fears being stalked by a radical religious activist on a speaking tour. Never Flinch is a rather tortured and over-realised novel for King. It really should have been split into two novels, as without radical condensation and extremely brisk exposition, there's simply too much here to merge the two narrative threads successfully without one pulling focus from the other. 'The week I shot a man clean through the head began like any other.' So begins this revenge thriller from Emma Stonex, author of The Lamplighters. It's a killer line, and for Birdie Keller, vengeance has been a long time coming. The ice-cold nature of her rage is amplified by the casual way she goes about her daily domestic routine, as if nothing had changed, as if Jimmy Maguire – the man who murdered Birdie's sister 18 years earlier – had not been released from jail, as if she didn't have a gun and wasn't about to head into London to use it. The Sunshine Man layers multiple perspectives, including Maguire's, and flashes back to the events surrounding the original crime, where lurking in the westering fields of her childhood in Devon and Cornwall, a terrible truth lies in wait. It would have been easy for this one to misfire. Revenge is a basic human impulse, but without complications it isn't always thriller material. Stonex is excellent, though, at playing with the reader's sympathies, allowing elements of the story to be shaped by memory and character, so that provisional judgments jump around until the picture becomes more complete. The Haunting of Mr and Mrs Stevenson Belinda Lyons-Lee Transit Lounge, $34.99 Where did Robert Louis Stevenson get the idea for The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde? Well, his Calvinist upbringing influenced his psychological fable, but there was, too, a charming man of his acquaintance, Eugene Chantrelle, who was later tried and hanged for murdering his wife, Elizabeth. Geelong-based writer Belinda Lyons-Lee goes behind the scenes, reimagining a piece of literary and criminal history from the viewpoint of Stevenson's wife, Fanny, herself a successful author, who fell in love with the younger Robert after divorcing her wayward husband in the US. In Lyons-Lee's telling, theirs was an intellectual, literary and romantic bond, and their encounter with the two-faced Chantrelle is one of many episodes – including a seance with the Shelleys and a haunted wardrobe – that lace literary biography and an eerie, gothic sensibility. Some of the prose isn't polished to the sort of sheen that might make this dark material truly glisten, but it's fascinating literary historical fiction, nonetheless. Awake in the Floating City Susanna Kwan Simon & Schuster, $34.99 Seas have risen and climate change has caused disastrous flooding in a future San Francisco. Just turned 40, Bo – an artist whose desire to create has dried up, even as the rain refuses to abate – is set to leave the city as part of anexodus of residents. She plans to flee the sodden streets and crumbling buildings and head to Canada, but when the day to leave arrives, she discovers a note urging her to stay. Her elderly neighbour, Mia, is 130 years old, and she's been abandoned to her fate. Taking up Mia's offer to be her part-time paid carer, Bo befriends the supercentenarian and eventually, her muse returns: she begins to make art inspired by Mia's long life, finding a way to be creative in the shadow of catastrophic destruction. Awake in the Floating City is literary cli-fi that proceeds from a positively Biblical extreme weather event. The disaster is evoked in spartan but atmospheric detail, and the characters have some depth, but the plot itself is stretched too thin over the length of a novel, and it sometimes feels like the barest frame for philosophical musing on human nature and need. NON-FICTION PICK OF THE WEEK John Hirst: Selected Writings Edited by Chris Feik La Trobe University Press, $36.99 John Hirst (1942-2016), as this collection of essays and commentaries amply attests, was a historian who went his own way. No stranger to controversy, evident, for example, in his views on colonisation and the dispossession of Indigenous Australians. History in its British imperialist incarnation is almost presented as a kind of impersonal force, indifferent to and beyond moralising by 'liberal fantasists' who, seeking some sort of reconciliation with the wrongs of a shameful past, imagine the tragedy could have been avoided and ignore the inevitability of the brutal 'phenomenon' of European expansion. A point that fellow historian and friend Robert Manne addresses in his commentary, stating historians are also humans and will make judgments. Mind you, at the same time, Hirst was morally outraged with the Stolen Generation and the damage done to Aboriginal culture. Whether talking about his politics over the years, multiculturalism, his pro-republic views or the democratic legacy of the convict years, this is a distillation of a contrarian mind that couldn't help but challenge orthodoxy (especially on the left). Overall, it's impossible not to be impressed by the scope of his works. The Scientist Who Wasn't There Joanne Briggs Ithaka, $36.99 When Joanne Briggs was growing up, her scientist father (who'd been a member of a research team at NASA) was the font of all wisdom. Even when he left his marriage and children, she defended him, saying her father knew all there was to know about science. But the charade of his life crumbled in 1986 when The Sunday Times ran an exposé headed 'The Bogus Work of Professor Briggs'. His daughter's investigation into the fabricated life that was the enigma of her father (who died mysteriously in 1986) is a compelling tale of delusion and deception – Briggs, at one point, imagining him as a spy with another whole hidden life. The story, which ranges from Britain, to the US and Deakin University in Victoria, involves, among other things, questionable research findings for pharmaceutical companies and faked qualifications. The fact and fiction of her father's life is mirrored stylistically in a highly imaginative way, Briggs frequently borrowing from fiction. Often very moving, this is amazingly assured for a first book. The Sisterhood of Ravensbruck Lynne Olson Scribe, $37.99 The eponymous sisterhood refers to four French women – Germaine Tillion, Anise Girad, Genevieve de Gaulle (niece of Charles) and Jacqueline d'Alincourt. All were members of the French Resistance during the war, though part of different networks, and all were caught and packed off to Ravensbruck, the all-female concentration camp in Germany. This thoroughly researched, absorbing tale incorporates the lives of many other female resistance fighters, and a key theme running through the book is that the vital role of women in the movement has been either ignored or played down. It's a story of incredible individual bravery that also emphasises the crucial importance and intensity of the lifelong bond between them that was forged in the hell-hole of Ravensbruck. Each of these women is worthy of her own biography. Tillion, an anthropologist, helped POWs and allied servicemen escape until she was betrayed by a Catholic priest working for the Germans who infiltrated her network. She survived the camp, lived to be 100 and, with Girad, is now buried in the Pantheon along with the greats of French history. Among other things, this is an inspiring study of character, courage and grace under pressure. If Hamlet had taken Tibbits' advice and forgiven all concerned so that he could move on, he might have been a happier character. Mind you, there'd be no play. But this is precisely Tibbits' point – that revenge and anger always end badly, and are emotionally, physically and psychologically destructive. A dead weight that anchors you to the pain of the past. The only effective way out is forgiveness. It doesn't mean absolving the other person of guilt, but the act of forgiving is the most effective way of letting go and conceiving of the future with hope. And it doesn't need to be reciprocal, he points out, quoting Oscar Wilde – 'Always forgive your enemies, nothing annoys them so much' – in this self-help guide with step-by-step strategies. Tibbits is a counsellor as well as a sports coach, and often enough the advice comes across like a half-time revving. And there's the inevitable, rousing 'you can do it' rhetoric, but he's got some pretty valid points. In a recent experiment, scientists placed a number of white volleyballs among a flock of geese hatching their eggs. The geese, attracted by the large, white objects, left their eggs and attempted to hatch the volleyballs. The geese were in the thrall of what Niklas Brendborg calls 'superstimuli' – his point being that humans are no less susceptible to it than geese. To prove it, he looks at food, sex and online screen superstimuli. Obesity, for example, is not the result of increasingly sedentary lives, but the rise of ultra-processed foods designed by food companies to make us eat more, thereby changing our biology. Similarly, recent surveys point to declining sex in relationships being caused by the rising consumption of the sexual form of superstimuli – glossy, air-brushed pornography. Brendborg makes his points entertainingly, while also drawing on copious research material. But there are also occasions when it feels like he's taking a long time to point out the obvious. Capitalism has always been greedy, grasping and devious.
