Memoir The Space Between the Stars

Indira Naidoo: Murdoch Books, $33

Grief memoirs can be tricky. The circular patterns of mourning can make for repetitive and sometimes precious reading but Naidoo, the former SBS newsreader stricken by the dreadful suicide of her sister Manika, steps into healing by immersing herself in nature. It replenishes her, up to a point. Naidoo calls her sister Stargirl and she was, a captivating presence on the news floor at The Age, later a media adviser but also a drink and drugs abuser hiding in plain sight in a culture that celebrates alcohol. Grief has no ending but Naidoo’s encounter with a stranger that is laden with omens and coincidences helps her to reconcile with the anguish caused by Stargirl’s manner of leaving.

PENELOPE DEBELLE