Yvonne Fein

Peace among the branches of the holy olive tree
 (article in The Age, December 9 2002)

April Fool
 
Debut novel by talented local writer Yvonne Fein.

Ms Fein lives in Caulfield, is an award winning playwright 
('On Edge' in 1992), and author of both short fiction
and non-fiction.

She has edited the Melbourne Chronicle and Generation Magazine, as well as two collections of memoirs
by Holocaust survivors, one of which won the Banjo
award for Biography.

She has taught in schools and has been
a writer-in-residence.
   
Her novel, April Fool, is the first of the April Taub investigation novels,
and introduces the reader to a seriously funny, wisecracking feisty young woman.

April Taub is a Melbourne thirty-something rebel with a cause.
A freelance journalist, she also has more than a passing interest
in chasing Nazi war criminals.

A moment of indiscretion sees her stumbling onto a nationwide conspiracy
with potentially fatal consequences to herself and her organisation.

Full of witty, snappy dialogue, April Fool, is a great read.
 
Review
The Sunday Age March 18

"Fein is an adventurous stylist, switching between pithy
action-driven narration, April's scorching slant on the world,
and memory-laden reflections on the world, and memory-laden reflections on rage and vengeance."

"Settings are painted with evocative touches, the dialogue
is spare and telling, and the pace is finely judged."

Excerpts from the book launch speech by Justice Alan Goldberg QC:
"I read "April Fool" very quickly, or rather I devoured it.  I was picked
up and swept along by the frenetic pace of the narrative."

"Yvonne draws upon many streams and many themes in building up an
action-packed contemporary, locally based, thriller which holds your
interest so that you can't wait to turn the page to see what's going to
happen next.  What these streams and themes disclose is an abiding passion
and commitment of Yvonne to Jewishness, female consciousness, Australianness
and her keen eye for what has been an active issue in contemporary debate
for the last 15 years - has Australia been a haven or safe house for alleged
Nazi war criminals?"

"What I found particularly enjoyable about the book was its setting in
Sydney and Melbourne and then Kangaroo Island and finally the outback and
central and desert Australia.  An Australian setting for sure but a setting
nevertheless for an international universal morality play."
 
 
 

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