New art magazine

Australian Artist is a magazine that

demonstrates popular techniques

in a variety of mediums including

oil, pastel, watercolour and charcoal.

It provides advice from leading

Australian artists who reveal

what makes their art successful.

Kerstin Ekman provides literary nourishment - Swedish style

I read Ekman's Blackwater after reading The Dog - a beautifully written story of a puppy lost in the woods and struggling to survive. The seemingly simple tale offers a more complex exploration of trust and friendship and the relationship between man and dog. I enjoyed her writing style so much that I looked for more of her books and ordered Blackwater on Inter-library-loan through Camden Library - and I was glad I did. I haven't enjoyed a book this much in a long time.

Blackwater is a literary thriller set in the far northern forests of Sweden. The story spans 20 years and centres around Annie Raft and her involvement in an unsolved double murder of two tourists one midsummer's eve in 1974. The description of the long-lit midsummer nights creates an eerie atmosphere and Ekman brilliantly sets the scene of Swedish life and draws the reader in with a complex, intricately woven plot and realistic interesting characters. I couldn't put it down and didn't want it to end. For me, it was one of those books that reminds us why we love reading.

Kirsty.

Hungry Woman in Paris Josefina Lopez

Playwright and poet Josefina Lopez is best known for her play Real Women Have Curves and Hungry Woman in Paris is her first novel.

Written from a feminist perspective, Mexican born American Canela escapes her impending wedding, and her cousins death by travelling to Paris where she enrols in Le Coq Rouge to study the fine art of French cuisine. The backdrop aromas of sauces, broths and purees made me hungry and the backdrop of a city where I ate some of the most memorable meals I have eaten was a pleasure. Just a warning, Canela's... er..new friends, sensual awakenings and sexual activity at times made me blush.

Linda

The Sealed Letter

The Sealed Letter is based on an actual divorce case from 1860s London which caused quite a scandal at the time. Centring on a friendship between two women, one of whom is married and having an affair and one who has defied social convention to work in business and for women's causes, the story chronicles the effect on that friendship of public scandal. Well written by Canadian author, Emma Donoghue, it develops the story from each of the character's points of view as we watch them descend into a tabloid drama that leaves none of them unscathed. The legal system, specifically the divorce laws of the time is the other player in the drama - as one of the characters observes, if you made divorce easier for women, lots of them would leave their husbands. Wendy

Leah Giarratano - aussie mystery writer

In her second novel, Giarratano has ticked the boxes for a successful crime thriller. A psychopathic killer escalating in violence; a loner cop coming to terms with brutal events in her past; a return to past haunts for a traumatised army veteran capable of extreme violence in defence of his family; a quirky, intelligent and off beat federal agent who also has a tragic past; and an authentic Australian setting in various Sydney suburbs. I got quite a thrill of recognition when some of the action took place around the Liverpool streets that I know well, in behind the Spotlight store no less, although I don't agree with her characterisation of the public library there! The book builds nicely to a satisfying conclusion and a tentative thawing of the thick wall of ice surrounding our protagonist. Well worth a try if you are looking for a new mystery author.

Wendy