Just So Stories

Random Reviews and Ramblings from Redcliffe

  • A Great Piratical Rumbustification

    Ok yes, we do know that pirates have been romanticised over the years and we also know that there are pirates in the modern world, including the ones in office politically but there is absolutely no denying that fictional pirates still hold a real fascination for readers both young and old. As it happens, three…

  • Don’t Let Them Leave – Mike Lucas

    Penguin Australia May 2026 Eeek! I read this halfway through on a sunny Sunday afternoon – thank goodness, because this is absolute superb, spooky, supernatural Gothic horror at its best. Drawing on Cornish folktales and superstitions and set around the 1930s, readers who love a truly suspenseful, twisty-turning creepy narrative will eat this up with…

  • The Sunbird: Young reader’s edition – Sara Haddad. Illustrations by Baraa Awoor.

    UQP February 2026 February 2026 ISBN: 9780702271076 RRP: $14.99 Sara Haddad has adapted her well-received and highly topical adult novella to this edition for younger readers. While most would try to shield children from the horrors of wars and genocides, there is no doubt that there would be some who know of the struggle for…

  • A Light on the Rocks – Helen Edwards

    I’ve quickly come to realise that Helen’s historical novels are impeccably researched and completely engrossing, so much so that it is not just your young readers who will enjoy them, but also adults. As I have mentioned previously I, for one, didn’t know much about Adelaide’s or South Australia’s history, certainly not as a child,…

  • Murder on North Terrace:a Petticoat Police Mystery #2 – Lainie Anderson

    Hachette Australia Sep 30, 2025 | 9780733652097 | RRP $32.99 Around this time last year, I reviewed the first Petticoat Police mystery after thoroughly relishing it, so I was extra keen to get my hands on this one. And it is no disappointment. Equally engaging as the first, cleverly weaving in fact to the fictional aspects, with a little…

  • Our History: A House Divided – Clare Hallifax

    Walker Books Australia August 2025 ISBN13:9781760658991 Australia RRP:$16.99 New Zealand RRP:$18.99 What a terrific book to pair with your upper primary studies on our goverment systems, not to mention your Civics and Citizenship units for secondary students. In the mid-70s I hadn’t yet experienced living in Canberra, and was yet to discover its unique character,…

  • Family Secrets: The Girl and the Ghost #2 – Jacqueline Harvey.

    Penguin Australia October 2025 Officially, my blog break doesn’t finish until the weekend but how can I resist posting this one immediately, after gobbling it up over two nights! I was very excited to be back in France with Jet, Louis and Gabriel in another adventure. There is an exciting opening event as the Mona…

  • R.I.P. Nanny Tobbins – Lucie Stevens

    Harper Collins Australia June 2025 ISBN: 9781460766521 ISBN 10: 1460766520 $16.99 It’s one thing having a strict but kind and fair Nanny who is alive – and quite another when that Nanny is dead. Nine-year-old Albertine is a sweet child, who is without a mother but with a very loving and protective father. He is, in fact,…

  • The Girl and the Ghost – Jacqueline Harvey

    Penguin Australia April 2025 OMG!!! JH fans, both young and old, are about to lose their minds!!! This fabulous new book, which I gobbled up in two sittings, heralds the start of another new series from the best-selling author, who really knows how to reach her audience. In this instance, the audience has just expanded…

  • Goldfields Girl: the Clara Saunders Story – Elaine Forrestal

    Fremantle Press February 2025 ISBN: 9781760994969 RRP: $17.99 When Goldfields Girl was first published in 2020, I acquired it for our collection and then never got around to reading it. Now it’s been reissued with this [IMO] far more engaging cover [I think it just illustrates Clara’s jaunty and resilient personality more] and I’m very happy…