John Purcell
@bookeboy.bsky.social
Head of Books Australia - The Nile Group. Also a bestselling author - The Girl on the Page, The Lessons & The Secret Lives of Emma trilogy. New thriller coming in 2026.
My blog (yes some people still have blogs): https://www.johnpurcellauthor.com/blog
My blog (yes some people still have blogs): https://www.johnpurcellauthor.com/blog
Pinned
John Purcell
@bookeboy.bsky.social
· Dec 3
New Short Story - Rainier
I apologise, I have written another short story, Rainier . I don't know what has come over me. No short stories for decades and now two in the space of a month? And this one is quite odd. I feel...
www.johnpurcellauthor.com
I have posted two short stories on my blog, The Collaborators and Rainier. Short reads perfect for public transport, for waiting for pasta to boil, pretending to watch kids sport etc
The Collaborators:
www.johnpurcellauthor.com/blog/new-sho...
Rainier:
www.johnpurcellauthor.com/blog/new-sho...
The Collaborators:
www.johnpurcellauthor.com/blog/new-sho...
Rainier:
www.johnpurcellauthor.com/blog/new-sho...
It's hard to know what's good good in these times of mob rule. Even trusted allies must lie for a living. Perhaps there needs to be an innocuous word we slot into reviews to indicate when something is actually worth our time & attention.
So much praise for worthless things could be safely ignored.
So much praise for worthless things could be safely ignored.
January 20, 2026 at 8:01 PM
It's hard to know what's good good in these times of mob rule. Even trusted allies must lie for a living. Perhaps there needs to be an innocuous word we slot into reviews to indicate when something is actually worth our time & attention.
So much praise for worthless things could be safely ignored.
So much praise for worthless things could be safely ignored.
I got me an early copy of Glyph by Ali Smith. Not to be confused with Gliff by Ali Smith. And I am very happy.
January 15, 2026 at 3:25 AM
I got me an early copy of Glyph by Ali Smith. Not to be confused with Gliff by Ali Smith. And I am very happy.
Everybody knows that the dice are loaded
Everybody rolls with their fingers crossed
Everybody knows the war is over
Everybody knows the good guys lost
Everybody knows the fight was fixed
The poor stay poor, the rich get rich
That's how it goes
Everybody knows
Leonard Cohen
Everybody rolls with their fingers crossed
Everybody knows the war is over
Everybody knows the good guys lost
Everybody knows the fight was fixed
The poor stay poor, the rich get rich
That's how it goes
Everybody knows
Leonard Cohen
January 7, 2026 at 9:14 PM
Everybody knows that the dice are loaded
Everybody rolls with their fingers crossed
Everybody knows the war is over
Everybody knows the good guys lost
Everybody knows the fight was fixed
The poor stay poor, the rich get rich
That's how it goes
Everybody knows
Leonard Cohen
Everybody rolls with their fingers crossed
Everybody knows the war is over
Everybody knows the good guys lost
Everybody knows the fight was fixed
The poor stay poor, the rich get rich
That's how it goes
Everybody knows
Leonard Cohen
I am really enjoying Lost Lambs by Madeline Cash. Inventive, irreverent, funny and true.
Sorry, not out until Feb. Add it to your shopping list.
See pic for book description.
Sorry, not out until Feb. Add it to your shopping list.
See pic for book description.
December 29, 2025 at 3:37 AM
I am really enjoying Lost Lambs by Madeline Cash. Inventive, irreverent, funny and true.
Sorry, not out until Feb. Add it to your shopping list.
See pic for book description.
Sorry, not out until Feb. Add it to your shopping list.
See pic for book description.
Reposted by John Purcell
From the archive for Barbara Comyns, #BornOnThisDay in 1907, thoughts on WHO WAS CHANGED AND WHO WAS DEAD, in which the inhabitants of an English village fall victim to a series of disturbing occurrences.
Surreal, distinctive & utterly compelling. #BookSky
jacquiwine.wordpress.com/2021/05/11/w...
Surreal, distinctive & utterly compelling. #BookSky
jacquiwine.wordpress.com/2021/05/11/w...
Who Was Changed and Who Was Dead by Barbara Comyns
There is something distinctly English about the world that Barbara Comyns portrays in this novel, a surreal eccentricity that could only be found within the England of old. Set in 1911, three years…
jacquiwine.wordpress.com
December 27, 2025 at 9:23 AM
From the archive for Barbara Comyns, #BornOnThisDay in 1907, thoughts on WHO WAS CHANGED AND WHO WAS DEAD, in which the inhabitants of an English village fall victim to a series of disturbing occurrences.
Surreal, distinctive & utterly compelling. #BookSky
jacquiwine.wordpress.com/2021/05/11/w...
Surreal, distinctive & utterly compelling. #BookSky
jacquiwine.wordpress.com/2021/05/11/w...
Reposted by John Purcell
A few days late with this one, but the novel is so well suited to the season...
From the archive for Willa Cather, born on 7th Dec 1873, some thoughts on MY ÁNTONIA.
This classic novel, set in 19thC America, seems to embody the pioneers' spirit. 💙📚
jacquiwine.wordpress.com/2016/06/28/m...
From the archive for Willa Cather, born on 7th Dec 1873, some thoughts on MY ÁNTONIA.
This classic novel, set in 19thC America, seems to embody the pioneers' spirit. 💙📚
jacquiwine.wordpress.com/2016/06/28/m...
My Ántonia by Willa Cather
First published in 1918, My Ántonia is a story of the American Midwest, of the pioneers and European immigrants who settled in the prairies in the late 19th century. The novel is narrated by Jim Bu…
jacquiwine.wordpress.com
December 9, 2025 at 5:38 PM
A few days late with this one, but the novel is so well suited to the season...
From the archive for Willa Cather, born on 7th Dec 1873, some thoughts on MY ÁNTONIA.
This classic novel, set in 19thC America, seems to embody the pioneers' spirit. 💙📚
jacquiwine.wordpress.com/2016/06/28/m...
From the archive for Willa Cather, born on 7th Dec 1873, some thoughts on MY ÁNTONIA.
This classic novel, set in 19thC America, seems to embody the pioneers' spirit. 💙📚
jacquiwine.wordpress.com/2016/06/28/m...
Reposted by John Purcell
Book 20/30 By Her Hand. Marion Taffe. An extraordinary feat of storytelling, built on meticulous research. Tenth century England, alive and pulsing in your own hands. A tapestry, a grab-bag, a lens on history, where women have always fought to have their stories heard.
December 7, 2025 at 3:08 AM
Book 20/30 By Her Hand. Marion Taffe. An extraordinary feat of storytelling, built on meticulous research. Tenth century England, alive and pulsing in your own hands. A tapestry, a grab-bag, a lens on history, where women have always fought to have their stories heard.
Reposted by John Purcell
Book 10/30 Field Notes from Death's Door. Katie Treble. One of the most compelling medical memoirs I have read (and I have read a few). A rare wonder, surging with humility & humanity. The unfettered, uplifting, harrowing truth of the MSF experience in the Central African Republic. I stand in awe.
November 27, 2025 at 6:52 AM
Book 10/30 Field Notes from Death's Door. Katie Treble. One of the most compelling medical memoirs I have read (and I have read a few). A rare wonder, surging with humility & humanity. The unfettered, uplifting, harrowing truth of the MSF experience in the Central African Republic. I stand in awe.
Reposted by John Purcell
Book 2/30. Arborescence, by @rhettsdavis. Entrancing, otherworldly & sharp as an axe, it's a transporting story of people deciding, or not deciding, to turn into trees as a sideways answer to the Anthropocene. Startling dialogue, intense characters. PLUS a little hat-tip to Lumen? Loved it.
November 19, 2025 at 10:02 AM
Book 2/30. Arborescence, by @rhettsdavis. Entrancing, otherworldly & sharp as an axe, it's a transporting story of people deciding, or not deciding, to turn into trees as a sideways answer to the Anthropocene. Startling dialogue, intense characters. PLUS a little hat-tip to Lumen? Loved it.
Reposted by John Purcell
Book 1/30
Dear Lord, I loved this book. The buzz & hum of the Sydney restaurant scene. Characters alive with the sadness & wonder of reality. Cracking dialogue. Light & shade co-existing within the sentence. The complexity of women's relationships with their bodies. The Big Merino. Supreme.
Dear Lord, I loved this book. The buzz & hum of the Sydney restaurant scene. Characters alive with the sadness & wonder of reality. Cracking dialogue. Light & shade co-existing within the sentence. The complexity of women's relationships with their bodies. The Big Merino. Supreme.
November 18, 2025 at 12:01 PM
Book 1/30
Dear Lord, I loved this book. The buzz & hum of the Sydney restaurant scene. Characters alive with the sadness & wonder of reality. Cracking dialogue. Light & shade co-existing within the sentence. The complexity of women's relationships with their bodies. The Big Merino. Supreme.
Dear Lord, I loved this book. The buzz & hum of the Sydney restaurant scene. Characters alive with the sadness & wonder of reality. Cracking dialogue. Light & shade co-existing within the sentence. The complexity of women's relationships with their bodies. The Big Merino. Supreme.
Reposted by John Purcell
Deal news! So delighted to share that Mali Cornish’s second novel, the crazy-good psychological thriller The Missing Mother, will be appearing from Cate Patterson at @atlanticbooks.bsky.social / @allenandunwin.bsky.social in May next year!
November 18, 2025 at 12:13 AM
Deal news! So delighted to share that Mali Cornish’s second novel, the crazy-good psychological thriller The Missing Mother, will be appearing from Cate Patterson at @atlanticbooks.bsky.social / @allenandunwin.bsky.social in May next year!
I have been pimping out The Nile's Classic Literature page. Such fun. Nowhere near finished. Work in progress. More stock every day. Have a look: www.thenile.com.au/books/classi...
November 17, 2025 at 10:26 PM
I have been pimping out The Nile's Classic Literature page. Such fun. Nowhere near finished. Work in progress. More stock every day. Have a look: www.thenile.com.au/books/classi...
Seascraper is such a perfect little novel. Keeps within its world. Happy to be a small story beautifully told. Captures the strange pull of dreary places so well. The power of being expert in one thing, no matter how small. The sharp tang of the new. And the tug of big, unlikely dreams on all of us.
November 13, 2025 at 6:59 AM
Seascraper is such a perfect little novel. Keeps within its world. Happy to be a small story beautifully told. Captures the strange pull of dreary places so well. The power of being expert in one thing, no matter how small. The sharp tang of the new. And the tug of big, unlikely dreams on all of us.
If a novel has been in the bestsellers list for two hundred plus years, it's safe to say, the author got something very, very right. So, when turning it into a film, there is only one safe approach, keep it as close to the original as possible. There endeth the lesson.
November 7, 2025 at 9:46 PM
If a novel has been in the bestsellers list for two hundred plus years, it's safe to say, the author got something very, very right. So, when turning it into a film, there is only one safe approach, keep it as close to the original as possible. There endeth the lesson.
Tom Gauld on the desk of a late, great author – cartoon www.theguardian.com/books/pictur...
Tom Gauld on the desk of a late, great author – cartoon
Lacks polish, has legs …
www.theguardian.com
November 3, 2025 at 8:41 PM
Tom Gauld on the desk of a late, great author – cartoon www.theguardian.com/books/pictur...
42 Writers, Editors, and Booksellers on the Best Books They've Read in the Last 25 Years
lithub.com/58-books-you...
lithub.com/58-books-you...
58 Books You Need to Read (Recommended by People Who Know)
In honor of Literary Hub’s tenth birthday, we asked over 200 authors, editors, booksellers, publishing professionals, and other literary luminaries to weigh in on a few questions about the pa…
lithub.com
October 15, 2025 at 10:46 AM
42 Writers, Editors, and Booksellers on the Best Books They've Read in the Last 25 Years
lithub.com/58-books-you...
lithub.com/58-books-you...
Thank fuck for books. No other media can explore ideas as thoroughly, thoughtfully or as intelligently.
Yes, I am watching a documentary on TV.
Yes, I am watching a documentary on TV.
October 15, 2025 at 9:05 AM
Thank fuck for books. No other media can explore ideas as thoroughly, thoughtfully or as intelligently.
Yes, I am watching a documentary on TV.
Yes, I am watching a documentary on TV.
Reposted by John Purcell
On the Reading train is a trip down memory lane. Last century sat opposite F.R.Leavis .He disappeared into the toilet, leaving his briefcase on the seat. What was a young English Lit student to do ? What if Leavis had joined God’s other Great Critics in the sky?
October 11, 2025 at 7:02 AM
On the Reading train is a trip down memory lane. Last century sat opposite F.R.Leavis .He disappeared into the toilet, leaving his briefcase on the seat. What was a young English Lit student to do ? What if Leavis had joined God’s other Great Critics in the sky?
Reposted by John Purcell
Marina Hyde nails the AI bosses' brazen theft of work that legally belongs to its creators. The tech bros say their industry will collapse without stealing our stuff - it's that valuable. But also so unimportant & worthless they won't pay for it or ask consent.
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
It’s Sam Altman: the man who stole the rights from copyright. If he’s the future, can we go backwards? | Marina Hyde
His AI video generator Sora 2 has been reviled for pinching the work of others. One giant leap for Sam: for everyone else, not so much, says Guardian columnist Marina Hyde
www.theguardian.com
October 10, 2025 at 10:40 PM
Marina Hyde nails the AI bosses' brazen theft of work that legally belongs to its creators. The tech bros say their industry will collapse without stealing our stuff - it's that valuable. But also so unimportant & worthless they won't pay for it or ask consent.
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
A bookshop announcing the cancellation of an author event just said the quiet part out loud:
'Unfortunately due to lack of numbers we have had to cancel this event. We apologise for any inconvenience.'
Pretty much every author's worst nightmare (and daily reality).
The truth must not out.
'Unfortunately due to lack of numbers we have had to cancel this event. We apologise for any inconvenience.'
Pretty much every author's worst nightmare (and daily reality).
The truth must not out.
October 10, 2025 at 10:41 PM
A bookshop announcing the cancellation of an author event just said the quiet part out loud:
'Unfortunately due to lack of numbers we have had to cancel this event. We apologise for any inconvenience.'
Pretty much every author's worst nightmare (and daily reality).
The truth must not out.
'Unfortunately due to lack of numbers we have had to cancel this event. We apologise for any inconvenience.'
Pretty much every author's worst nightmare (and daily reality).
The truth must not out.
Reposted by John Purcell
“He had no doubt that she had earmarked him for future use, in which case she had made a grave mistake. He was not so stupid as to take her on trust or to tolerate any demands she might make of him. No doubt she thought to seduce him into this.” #BookSky 💙📚
jacquiwine.wordpress.com/2025/10/07/a...
jacquiwine.wordpress.com/2025/10/07/a...
A Private View by Anita Brookner
I’ve been making my way through Anita Brookner’s exquisitely written novels slowly but steadily over the past eight years. As a long-term reading project, I’m finding it fascinating to see how Broo…
jacquiwine.wordpress.com
October 7, 2025 at 7:08 AM
“He had no doubt that she had earmarked him for future use, in which case she had made a grave mistake. He was not so stupid as to take her on trust or to tolerate any demands she might make of him. No doubt she thought to seduce him into this.” #BookSky 💙📚
jacquiwine.wordpress.com/2025/10/07/a...
jacquiwine.wordpress.com/2025/10/07/a...
'A stunning tour de force, Man in the Holocene constructs a powerful vision of our place in the world by combining the banality of an aging man's lonely inner life and the objective facts he finds in the books of his isolated home.'
Delightful Saturday reading.
Or my life.
Delightful Saturday reading.
Or my life.
October 3, 2025 at 10:45 PM
'A stunning tour de force, Man in the Holocene constructs a powerful vision of our place in the world by combining the banality of an aging man's lonely inner life and the objective facts he finds in the books of his isolated home.'
Delightful Saturday reading.
Or my life.
Delightful Saturday reading.
Or my life.