This passage is from The Children's Bach by Helen Garner They sat in the high seats at the back of the bus, and Poppy sank into her book. Up at the front sat a European woman in her forties, dressed in a satin suit and high-heeled shoes as if for an outing. Elizabeth could not work out her relat...

The famous Railway Series by the Rev. W. Awdry is set in the fictional island of Sodor, situated between northern England and the Isle of Man. Today, reading about Sodor on Wikipedia, I was surprised to learn the amount of worldbuilding that went into it, including a flag, coat of arms, and even ...

I recall that a few years back a friend was explaining how novels can fall into various categories depending on what the focus of the story is. For example, one category he mentioned was where the focus of the story was the Quest. There’s a goal to be achieved, an enemy to be defeated, and the s...

Many years ago I read a rather interesting book that tracked the life of two physical objects (a whip and a crown perhaps) over several centuries. The book was given to me as a child by my father, who read it as a child. Napoleon's invasion of Russia plays a role in the book with two characters s...

In The Markenmore Mystery (1922) by J. S. Fletcher, a man was talking to a detective in a bar: “Don’t forget, Mr. Blick—though a gentleman of your ability and experience needs no reminding of it, I’m sure—don’t forget that it’s always the unexpected that happens! The unexpected, sir!—Ah, there’s...