Tassie Book Club - October 2025 - The Hobart / Launceston Magazine

Tassie Book Club – October 2025

by Hobart Magazine

The Women Booker Prize Club is a local Hobart book club. Here they share their thoughts on books by Tasmanian authors, or set in Tasmania, or about Tassie topics. Over to the club!

This month we bring you two moving (and frankly, devastating) new novels from accomplished Tasmanian authors, Heather Rose and Susie Greenhill. Rose’s A Great Act of Love takes us into the past of Van Diemen’s Land, while Greenhill’s The Clinking confronts the future, transporting us into a chilling vision of our island home in severe environmental crisis.

A Great Act of Love by Heather Rose (Allen & Unwin, September 2025)
Review by Emily Schade

I am always interested in how a book makes me feel, and Heather Rose’s latest work, A Great Act of Love, devastated me in the most beautiful way possible.

An epic tale of family, reinvention, courage, life, and love, Heather Rose’s work of historical fiction weaves the threads of true events with her own spectacular storytelling. Caroline arrives in Van Diemen’s Land a wealthy widow, a small boy in tow, and an interest in winemaking. How and why she is here is a tale of bravery and determination, inextricably woven into the tapestry of her family and her place in time. From the nobility of revolutionary France, to London apothecaries, to early colonial Australia, Rose takes us on more than one journey through these pages.

The layers of this story subtly point to the author’s research expertise, and the insights shared through the complex characters highlights her personal wisdom.

If you love historical fiction, colonial history, epic family tales, or really great books that make you feel, I heartily recommend A Great Act of Love.

The Clinking by Susie Greenhill (Hachette Australia, February 2025)
Review by Kathryn Montgomery

Award-winning author Susie Greenhill delivers a haunting ecological meditation in The Clinking. Set in the near future of Nipaluna/Hobart, Lutruwita/Tasmania, this climate fiction follows Elena – as her personal life and the natural world crumbles around her. When her husband Tom, a grief-stricken ecologist, vanishes before a catastrophic storm, Elena must navigate single parenthood with their daughter Orla, while they both confront an uncertain future.

Susie Greenhill unpacks Tom’s environmental despair: his overwhelmed response to mass extinction, biodiversity loss, and increasingly violent weather events. While Elena finds hope in the next generation, Tom’s ecological grief consumes him, creating a chasm between the couple that is rendered with remarkable empathy and nuance.

The Clinking succeeds as both intimate family drama and broader environmental allegory. Greenhill’s prose is luminous yet unflinching, capturing the psychological toll of climate anxiety without sacrificing narrative momentum. The novel’s emotional impact is considerable. A warning – readers will likely finish feeling unsettled by its plausible near-future scenario.

Greenhill has crafted a story that lingers long after the final page, a testament to literature’s power to make climate change personal, hopefully alongside a renewed determination to confront environment crisis.

Book Chatter It’s about time we caught up with the times and expanded our remit more consciously to book events in the north of the state!

Did you know The Book Council of Lutruwita/Tasmania hosts regular author talks and monthly book swaps (with afternoon tea, yum) at the Launceston Library? Check out the schedule at bookcouncillt.carrd.co.

The Launceston Library also has a lot of author talks and other book events in its own programming. Look at the Library’s upcoming listings on Eventbrite tinyurl.com/4b6uaj37.

Petrarch’s Bookshop is another go-to for book launches and signings. Be sure to keep an eye on their website and book quickly, because events sell out weeks in advance: petrarchs.com.au/events.

Keen to chat books with us?

Find us on Instagram @taswomenbookerprizeclub

Love this

Extras

Hobart Happenings

by Steph Williams

Bits and Pieces- June 2026

Hobart Happenings

by Steph Williams

Bits and Pieces – May 2026

Bits and Pieces- May 2026

Stay up to date with everything happening at the Hobart Magazine.

Worker shortage is currently universal, there isn’t an industry that’s exempt. For Kelvin Smith, four years ago he decided there was a very obvious solution to the shortage facing the construction industry, and all that was needed was a little time, empathy and a helping hand. Integrate Workforce is a Hobart-based labour company with one requirement: a refugee/ migrant background. He’s also the outdoor piano man in his free time.

Landscape artist and creative Elliott Nimmo is enjoying discovering Hobart’s vibrant art scene and local environment after relocating here from London to pursue his art.

Even though Tasmania is known for its mild summers, it doesn’t take much to get sunburnt. Tasmania experiences extreme ultraviolet (UV) levels, but contrary to popular belief this isn’t due to the hole in the ozone layer, which is actually south of the continent.While higher UV levels often occur at the same time as higher temperatures, the two are not linked. Instead, UV levels are determined by the angle of the sun in the sky: the higher the sun, the higher the UV. In December and January, the position of the sun over Tasmania gives the state a UV index of 11 or more on most days, which is classified as “extreme” on the UV index. Tasmania’s lack of humidity and generally clear skies contribute to the stinging feeling of the sun. UV can reflect off buildings and water, making it possible to get a higher dose of UV from these reflected rays, even in the shade.

Setting up shop during a pandemic was a risky move, but if the crowd at Dāna Eating House (Dāna) on a Friday night is anything to go by, it’s one that’s paid off. With tables of diners chatting and laughing over drinks, the music and conversation buzzes off the monstera-leaf-green walls. Low-hanging rattan lights and worn wooden floorboards give the newly opened South-East Asian fusion venue in Hobart’s CBD a relaxed vibe.

A Holyman flagged ship hasn’t steamed up the River Derwent since 1984 but the company’s name still proudly adorns its former offices at 5 Morrison Street, Hobart.

Widening the Tasman Bridge to allow 3.5 metres on each side is a big win for walkers and cyclists.

Need a laugh? Check out @theinspiredunemployed feed on Instagram.

Rain, hail and shine, the school crossing guards are always there to help with a smile on their face.

It’s hard to believe it’s not standard practice to have a working phone in every aged care room - shared phones make private conversations impossible and increase the risk of spreading COVID-19.

Just when you think your cousins are alright. NZ Opposition Leader Judith Collins took aim at Tassie during her recent (unsuccessful) campaign, calling us Australia’s “poor cousin.” She also seems worried about us nabbing tech businesses, “It’s a lovely part of the world but do you necessarily want to go there with your high- tech business? Possibly not,” she said. We beg to differ!