Book Reviews February 2012

First, a new announcement for this reviews page: the winner of our end-of-2011 competition to send us a brief appreciation of a recently read book is Elizabeth Ware from Mordialloc. Congratulations, Elizabeth! We're mailing her the prize, a  copy signed by Conor Grennan of his wonderful memoir, Little Princes: one man's promise to bring home the children of Nepal.

To read an extract from Little Princes, click here.

Elizabeth sent us her opinion of a true crime book by Robin Bowles, Blind Justice. We published her review here in December 2011.

On non-fiction of a completely different kind, we received a note from Serena Polson about a cat story in our current Encounters volume, Paw Tracks in the Moonlight. Serena loved it. 'At the time in which the book's events are set—the 1960s—the author was a lecturer in Educational Studies in Nortumberland, England, and unmarried.  He comes across as a self-contained and introverted kind of person, and his relationship with Toby Jug, the stray cat, is especially close as result. He takes the cat with him on holiday, for example—a charming Laurie Lee-style pilgrimage on horseback across the hills. The seasons, which give the book its structure, are lovingly described, and there is much reference to local wildlife. The little creature slowly but surely gets his little claws into your heart. The author's illustrations are delightful.'