Title: Long and Short Australian Stories
Author: Margaret Lynette Sharp
Published: Createspace April 2012
Status: Read on February 22, 2013 — I own a copy {Courtesy the author}
My Thoughts:
This is the second volume of stories I have read at the request of self published Australian author, Margaret Lynne Sharp. The first, A Taste of Life and Love in Australia contains 28 engaging stories that provide a pleasant afternoon’s reading, and this collection is not dissimilar.
There are 20 vignettes of varying length in Long and Short stories of Australia, though most are less than half a dozen pages long. Primarily they feature relationships – sometimes beginning, occasionally ending. Each story is carefully sculpted to communicate the immediacy of emotion and action as succinctly as possible. Sharp’s storytellers are a mix of ages and genders, though primarily young and female, told in both the first and third person. It’s an interesting variety of perspectives and Sharp inhabits them well.
The writing is well crafted though occasionally a little too stiff and formal, using, for example, ‘mien’ instead of expression, several times. And even though they are used correctly, there is an odd over use of colon’s that I found distracting when they appeared repeatedly through out the text.
Suitable for romantics of a range of ages, Long and Short Australian Stories is a congenial, mellow short story collection and an easy read for a quiet evening.
Margaret Lynette Sharp’s short story volumes are available to purchase
Click here to read Margaret’s guest post, published earlier today
Learn more about Margaret Lynette Sharp at
Am looking forward to reading A taste of Life and Love soon as I won a copy from Margaret but have yet to read it.
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Thanks, Shelleyrae, for reading and reviewing both titles. 🙂
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Mellow is the perfect word for Margaret’s engaging style. Thanks, Shelleyrae 🙂
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New to me. I am making a note of the author to check it out on my next visit to Australia.
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It sounds like an enjoyable group of stories thanks Shelleyrae.
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Well it really sound like an enjoyable group
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Thanks, Godwin! It’s subsequently made the grade for listing on quality Indie book site.
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My apologies, Godwin! I was confusing ‘Long and Short Australian Stories’ with ‘A Taste of Life and Love in Australia’. It’s the latter title that has been listed on the aforementioned site. 🙂
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