Short takes: Fiction

Reviewed by MARGIE THOMSON

Tracy Chevalier: The Lady And The Unicorn

Good news for the many readers who kept Chevalier's Girl With A Pearl Earring in the best-seller charts for many weeks last year: another trademark historical novel, written with the same sharp intelligence and great sense of fun. Set in Paris and Brussels 1490-92, this is speculative fiction about the origins of the Lady and the Unicorn tapestries that still hang in the Musee National du Moyen-Age in Paris. Chevalier imagines an up-and-coming noble family trying to make an impression on the class they aspire to; a wife who would be a nun; a young and nubile daughter; an ambitious, handsome yet predatory painter; a family of artisan weavers who are drawn into and then endangered by this bubbling cauldron of art, sex, religion and power.

(HarperCollins, $34.99)

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Clare Boylan: Emma Brown

On her death in 1855, Charlotte Bronte left behind an intriguing fragment of writing, two chapters of a novel which Boylan reproduces here and then continues - a daring and risky venture, but one which she manages almost seamlessly. The story begins when a young girl, supposedly an heiress, is deposited at a boarding school by an aristocratic gentleman. The girl receives favoured treatment, despite her distant nature, but it's not long before it's discovered that the gentleman has disappeared into thin air, leaving all bills unpaid. The plot therefore revolves around the discovery of this girl's true identity, a favourite Bronte theme. We'll never know how Bronte herself would have resolved this story - it's almost certain she wouldn't have dwelt to the same extent as Boylan does on the social woes of London at that time, for instance - but nevertheless this is faithful in its tone, captivating and compelling.

(Little Brown, $36.95)

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Michael Collins: Lost Souls

Despite its rather misleading cover, this book wasn't shortlisted for the Booker Prize, although the author was shortlisted in 2000 for The Keepers of Truth. This latest "literary thriller", whatever that means, has a good-enough plot - on Hallowe'en night, a 3-year-old girl dressed as an angel is found dead in a pile of autumn leaves by the side of the road. It looks like a hit and run, and it seems the baddie could have been a local sporting star - just the kind of news a small, Midwest town doesn't need or want. A cover-up ensues, but our hero, a down-in-the-dumps cop just emerging from a messy divorce, pursues the case to the highest echelons of the community. The story-telling is merely straightforward and lacks magic and complexity.

(Weidenfeld and Nicholson, $35)

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Francis King: The Nick Of Time

Long-listed for the Man Booker Prize, this is octogenarian King's 28th novel, an astonishing achievement although possibly unfair to mention it, as it may lead to certain expectations. King, however, is always surprising and, while there are some asides concerning the ageing process, this novel has other concerns. The central character is Mehmet, an Albanian illegal immigrant to London. Completely untrustworthy yet charming, he has a powerful effect on three people in particular: his landlady Meg; Marilyn, a busy doctor who stitches a mysterious cut above Mehmet's eye and later has what one reviewer has described as "demon-lover" sex with him; and Adrian, a wealthy gay financier Mehmet meets in a gay bar. A story of chance encounters and manipulation, told with assurance and sublety.

(Arcadia, $39.95)

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Various: Bosum Buddies: Women's Stories about Friendship, Love and Life

This is a diverse, highly readable collection of stories from both local and British writers, such as Diane Brown, Barbara Else, Lindsey Dawson, Marilyn Duckworth, Fiona Farrell, Patricia Grace, Eirlys Hunter, Stephanie Johnson, Shonagh Koea, Sarah-Kate Lynch, Emma Neale, Jenny Pattrick, Sue Reidy, Judith White and Donna Wright; and Kate Atkinson, Claire Calman, Rachel Cusk, Stella Duffy, Helen Dunmore, Joanne Harris, Rachel Seiffert and Joanna Trollope. Great to dip into. For each copy sold, $3 goes to the Breast Cancer Research Trust.

(Black Swan $26.95)