Can political adversaries ever find common ground to fight for a cause? They can and they do in Ross Fitzgerald and Ian McFadyen’s latest satirical novel.

Ian McFadyen and Ross Fitzgerald teamed up to write the novel Chalk and Cheese.IDoes it take an odd couple to write about an odd couple? If that gives you Felix Ungar and Oscar Madison flashbacks (the diametrically opposed characters of film and TV fame), you get the general idea.

But the odd couple in Ross Fitzgerald and Ian McFadyen’s latest collaboration, Chalk and Cheese, is Ben …

“Chalk and Cheese: A Fabrication” is a novel by Ross Fitzgerald and Ian McFadyen, receivingpositive reviews for its engaging plot and social commentary.

The story, featuring two rival radio personalities in a nursing home, is praised for its humor, warmth, and exploration of themes like aging, elder care, and generational differences. Reviewers highlight the novel’s cinematic quality, memorable characters, and its ability to blend comedy with serious social issues.Here’s a more detailed look at the reviews:Plot and Characters:The novel’s central conflict revolves around Bill and Ben, former radio rivals forced to …

Former foes become two angry old peas in a pod(cast)

Authors Ian McFadyen, left, and Ross Fitzgerald.Book review / Chalk and Cheese: A Fabrication, by Ross Fitzgerald & Ian McFadyen (Hybrid, $24.99).

Reviewed by MICHAEL BRIODY.

Ross Fitzgerald and Ian McFadyen’s powerful new novel, Chalk and Cheese: A Fabrication features two octogenarian former rival radio stars, Bill and Ben, who detest each other – until they find themselves in the same nursing home.

The plot centres around these two men in the twilight of their lives who refuse, as Dylan Thomas wrote, to “go …

Michael Briody‘Two Peas in a Podcast.’Chalk and Cheese: A Fabricationby Ross Fitzgerald & Ian McFadyenHybrid, 2 025, 262 pages,$24.99

Ross Fitzgerald and Ian McFadyen’s powerful new novel, Chalk and Cheese: A Fabrication (Hybrid, Melbourne, $24.99), features two octogenarian former rival radio stars, Bill and Ben, who detest each other—until they find themselves in the same nursing home.The plot centres around these two men in the twilight of their lives who refuse, as Dylan Thomas wrote, to “go gentle into that good night”. The novel sets the scene for the flood of …

Misfit: The Unravelling of Samantha XAmanda GoffEcho 2025, 272 pages, $34.99ROSS FITZGERALDAmanda Goff’s Misfit is an emotionally raw, utterly honest, and at times very funny book. Although this is her third memoir, it is the first written and published under her own name. It opens with Goff physically and metaphorically laid bare, describing her visceral pain: “If I peel my whole body, will I discover who I am?”

While devouring Misfit, I kept thinking of another remarkable woman, Marilyn Monroe, who starred in my favourite movie, The Misfits. Released in 1961 …

Jack Iverson was, my father often told me, the finest bowler to whom he ever kept

By Ross Fitzgerald

Oct 19, 2024

Playing against England, in the home Ashes series of 1950–51, Iverson led the Australian bowling averages with 21 wickets at 15.24 runs per wicket. Bamboozling the Poms, in one Test he got 6 for 27. A little known fact is that Jack Iverson’s highest score in all five Tests was 1 not out.

A famous old club: A History of the Brighton Cricket Club by David King

ISBN 9780646977829

RRP: $85.00 (hb)

Reviewed by Ross …

My father Bill (“Long Tom”) Fitzgerald and one of Australia’s greatest spin bowlers – the enigmatic Jack Iverson.Jack Iverson was, my father often told me, the finest bowler to whom he ever kept.

Playing against England, in the home Ashes series of 1950–51, Iverson led the Australian bowling averages with 21 wickets at 15.24 runs per wicket. Bamboozling the Poms, in one Test he got 6 for 27. A little known fact is that Jack Iverson’s. highest score in all five Tests was 1 not out.

A Famous Old Club: A History …

AUSTRALIAN WOMEN HEROES OF THE PACIFIC WAR

SISTERS IN CAPTIVITY:
SISTER BETTY JEFFREY OAM AND THE COURAGEOUS STORY OF AUSTRALIAN ARMY NURSES IN SUMATRA, 1942-1945
 

by Colin Burgess

Simon & Schuster Australia, 2023

ISBN 9781761109089

RRP $34.99
 

Reviewed by ROSS FITZGERALD

This fine book, Sisters in Captivity, is dedicated to “the heroic nurses who lived this story but never made it home”.
 

Most educated Australians know of Sister Vivian Bullwinkel. But until the release of this lengthy and scrupulously researched study, my guess is that, as with me, not all that many readers of The Sydney Institute Review of …

                             AUSTRALIAN BOOKS
                            Rip-roaring Satire in Iota
Pandemonium by Ross Fitzgerald and Ian McFadyen
Hybrid  $32.99, 297 pages 
Reviewed by Rocco Loiacono
   This novel is the ninth book of the satirical series concerning Grafton Everest, a rambunctious, overweight, fictional academic who, as the book’s opening paragraph states, has been appointed, ‘once again through no ability, effort or desire of his own, to the position of Secretary-General of the …

Friends, Here’s my review of Maz Compton’s Last Drinks.

Maz Compton, Last Drinks: How to Drink Less and Be Your Best, John Wiley & Sons, 2023, pp 240, ISBN 9781394184231, $32.95 
 
ROSS FITZGERALD
 
Many Australians now realise that our booze-obsessed culture is extremely destructive. The murder, mayhem, individual, societal and family destruction that alcohol abuse leaves in its wake is, if you’ll pardon the pun, sobering.
 
When he died in April this year, my friend of 61 years, Barry Humphries, was 53 years sober. As with men and women from all walks of life, whether they …

Reviewed by Ross Fitzgerald
This biography of Melbourne-born World War II secret agent Bruce Dowding is a fascinating portrait of a remarkable young Australian whose story was previously unknown to me. Secret Agent, Unsung Hero is co-authored by Dowding’s nephew, lawyer and former Western Australian ALP Premier Peter Dowding, and wide-ranging author Dr Ken Spillman. As it happens, Ken was a student of mine. Later, we were contributing co-editors of The Greatest Game, a ground-breaking collection of writing about Australian Rules football, first published in 1988.
It is lucidly written and replete with useful black-and-white illustrations, but …