degrees. Hitman Anders is a criminal who has spent more of his life inside a prison than out. Add to that a priest who is an atheist and you have the components required for a humorous and entertaining read. When the receptionist and priest see an opportunity to profit from Hitman Anders’ skill in the field of violent retribution, they underestimate the potential success of their plan. But when Hitman Anders inadvertently finds religion and refuses to deliver on his promises, the three of them find themselves on the run from the Swedish underworld. As with other Jonasson novels, there is the ghost of a more serious subject here and this time it is religion and morality. A wonderfully absurd story of fame and idolatry in the modern world. The camp is all that Subhi has ever known, having been born to a mother who fled her violent homeland and who now spends all of her time in a distant and troubled sleep. Subhi often dreams of his father arriving at the camp, his imagination breeding stories of the outside he has never seen. One night Jimmie, a local girl, sneaks into the camp with a scrapbook that her mother left her before she was tragically killed. Unable to read the book herself, Jimmie asks Subhi to help and a friendship begins between the two young children. Zana Fraillon has been clever enough to capture the tale in a form that will educate and transfix both adults and older children and blow away some of the mythology and misunderstanding of refugee migration that so often breeds fear and hate. In the same style as The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas, this book breaks down cultural boundaries through the innocence and intelligence of a child’s viewpoint.
The Bone Sparrow by Zana Fraillon
Published by Hachette Australia ISBN 9780734417138 $19.99 Zana Fraillon’s brave and moving account of a young boy’s incarceration in an Australian refugee camp is going to be one of the most significant and heartfelt novels of the year.
Kay Brothers – The First 125 Years by Alice Kay
Published by Wakefield Press ISBN 9781743053911 $79.95
views over what is now McLaren Vale and with the sparkling blue water and ochre cliffs of Aldinga Bay on the horizon, the brothers became part of a winemaking community that is today renowned and respected worldwide. With backgrounds in accountancy and real estate respectively, it was their pioneering spirit, unbroken endurance and faith in themselves and their family that turned the farming land and scrub into a successful vineyard that would go on to prosper through two world wars and beyond. Their legacy would continue through four generations, evolving in line with demand and technology to become the successful business that today exports world class wines globally, whilst still maintaining the obligatory cellar door to welcome visitors and locals alike. With hundreds of photographs, a comprehensive history of the people and events that helped to shape Kay Brothers, and an informative array of facts, figures and features, this is a must have book for budding and experienced viticulturists, oenologists and wine historians. And if you ever visit this unique winemaking region, this will make the perfect take home gift (second, of course, to a bottle of Kay Brothers wine).
When Bert and Fred Kay purchased the Amery property in 1890, with its sweeping 29