Ann Skea reviews:

Portraits In Fiction
A.S. Byatt

Gould's Book of Fish: A Novel in Twelve Fish
Richard Flanagan

The Feel of Steel
Helen Garner

The Pickup
Nadine Gordimer

By the Sea
Abdulrazak Gurnah

Wrestling with the Angel: A Life of Janet Frame
Michael King

Out of the Ashes
Michael Morpurgo

Mary Shelley
Miranda Seymour

Dirt Music
Tim Winton