Short takes: Fiction

By MARGIE THOMSON

Deborah Challinor: White Feathers

This sequel to the best-selling Tamar continues the story of the Murdoch clan, with Tamar now 52 (although looking, of course, much younger), comfortably ensconced in her marriage to Andrew, a man whose tolerance and liberality would not be out of place in a men's group of the 1980s. It is 1914 and world events can't be ignored, even from their prosperous Hawkes Bay estate, and one by one Tamar's sons and daughter head off to the trenches and hospitals of World War I, bringing tragedy but also new beginnings, however unlikely. Conventional historical romance from the "tell not show" side of the spectrum, with characters so paper-thin they scarcely cast a shadow. The more than 5000 who bought Tamar may disagree, however.

(HarperCollins, $22.99)

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Janette Jenkins: Another Elvis Love Child

Beautifully written novel told by the 11-year-old son of an Elvis impersonator - a dominating, selfish man who dreams of stardom and takes out his anger and frustration on his wife. It is by turns heart-rending and enraging as Jenkins offers possibly the best depiction I have read of that particular kind of soul-destroying, emotionally bullying, physical violence. But it's also innocent and touching, and the child's voice and perspective is perfectly captured. Set in working-class England in the 1970s, it is soundtracked by Elvis, Dean, Bobby and other greats and is a wonderful evocation of life's highs and lows.

(Vintage, $26.95)

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Leslie Marshall: A Girl Could Stand Up

There are some lovely and highly imaginative moments in this story about a 6-year-old girl, Elray, whose parents die in the Tunnel of Love at an amusement park, leaving her to be brought up by two unusual uncles: her macho Uncle Harwood, and her cross-dressing "Aunt" Ajax. As she grows older, Elray forms an unusual friendship with a boy she meets in a crypt, Raoul. The two play at dying, and together work to become Invincible. However, all in all it feels, well, American: wacky becomes self-conscious corn, real pain and complex emotion become hokey, domestic and safe, and there are happy endings all round.

(Doubleday, $34.95)

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Sarah Long: And What Do You Do?

WARNING: This book may deeply irritate fulltime mothers. Cautionary, formulaic chick-lit, of the boardroom-star-becomes-housewife-and-fulltime-shopper-but-feels-strangely-unfulfilled variety. Laura, an English woman married to a French man, has quit work to live the high life in Paris. But her kids are horrible, her husband is a handsome, thoughtless cad and her days are spent thinking about designer labels and planning romantic gourmet dinners. However, he is too busy shagging his researcher to get home on time so Laura, with great maturity, embarks on an affair of her own. Dreadful, empty stuff that won't do much to help those juggling kids and work, other than make for easy reading after the kids are in bed and the husband is not yet home. It is entertaining enough and nicely bitchy in parts (about china-painting, bulimic au pairs and Parisian social snobbery).

(Century, $34.95)

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Mary-Rose MacColl: Killing Superman

Scott Goodwin has never believed that his Vietnam war-hero father (the Superman of the story) is really dead, and the enigma chases him down the years until the time this story opens, when Scott is in early 30s, a librarian in the Queensland State Archives and newly in love with Emily, a wannabe investigative journalist. Together they set out to solve what appears to be a mystery, and the journey takes them into the murky heart of the army itself. This is a page-turner, a mystery made more potent by our realisation that there are as-yet undiscovered links between Scott's past and his present relationship with Emily.

(Allen & Unwin, $25.95)