So just when did Australia’s biggest bank robbery occur?

Where did it happen?

How did it happen?

Who was involved?

And what was the outcome and ramifications of the robbery?

Can you answer any of these questions? I know I sure couldn’t. But you’ll find answers to all of these and many more in Carol Baxter’s book “Breaking the Bank“.

I have recently finished reading this book, and like her other titles, it is a true page turner. As with her other titles, this is none-fiction true story is written in the style of a novel. She makes you ‘feel’ the happenings through her words, and she educates you on an amazing part of Australia’s history while doing so.

I’m not going to answer the questions above … so this probably isn’t considered a “book review” as such, so I’m not sure if it qualifies for the “Australian Womens Writers Challenge“, however it is a book written by a female Australian author … so it still may.

Instead of answering the questions above, I’m going to suggest you either buy or borrow a copy of the book, and read it for yourself.

And while I know it is incredibly clichè to say that you won’t be disappointed, but I do truly believe that. Enjoy!!

Book Details
Title: Breaking the Bank: An Extraordinary Colonial Robbery
Author: Carol Baxter
ISBN: 9781741754490
Year: 2008
Available from: Carol’s website, and Allen & Unwin’s website

On rare occasions I have done the odd book review, and as I’ve just finished reading Carol Baxter’s “Black Widow: The True Story of Australia’s First Female Serial Killer” (… and wow what a read!), here’s one more for you.

Written in Carol’s usual style of “true crime” written as if it was a novel, it is rivetting and most certainly a page turner.

The story follows Louisa Collins, mother of seven. Was she really a husband killer? Inquests, trials, hung juries, it’s all here in this book, and it is all TRUE history! If you live crime or thriller novels, and history this is a must for you.

Readers are taken into Sydney as it was 1888, and Carol sets the scene beautifully, with little tidbits adding in detail.

With details from newspapers, autopsies, trials and so on … the words written are the words the people actually said! You can’t get better than that for a true crime thriller.

(click for larger image)

(click for larger image)

To read more about this title, or to order it,  head on over to Carol’s website

www.carolbaxter.com

I’m not a prolific reader, of books anyway (blogs and magazines, yes! which doesn’t leave so much time for books). But earlier this year I decided that I wanted to take part in the Australian Women Writers Challenge for 2015, which means reading books written by Australian women authors (fiction or non-fiction) and reviewing it. Sadly it is now September and this is my first one – still, one is better than none. For more about the Challenge, click here.

Do you love reading? And love a blog challenge? If you said yes to both, you’ll certainly love this!

Late last year I discovered the “Australian Women Writers” Challenge. This is where readers read books written by Australian women and write reviews about them, through their blog or other means.

I don’t often do book reviews, but I wanted to share something about this one with you.

Having just finished reading Carol Baxter’s book “The Peculiar Case of the Electric Constable: A True Tale of Passion, Poison and Pursuit” it leaves me without a doubt that reality most certainly can be far stranger than fiction.

A Sydneysider, Carol Baxter is an internationally acclaimed author who has made her mark in the literary world with her unique genre – one I’m not even sure of the title of – but it is  true history written like a novel. Based on what I’ve read I would she’s mastered it. Carol doesn’t write a novel adding in some historical references as some do, but rather the entire story she tells is based on history.