The Second Draft | Books, Culture & Essays

The Sound of Steinbeck County; East of Eden and Who by Water

Rob, the musician behind Who by Water, talks Steinbeck, childhood memories and the California landscape that inspired his song “East of Eden”. A conversation about…

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20/10/2026

Somebody Else’s Escape

Living in holiday destinations like the North Coast 500 has changed how I behave when I visit somebody else’s home. There is a particular kind…

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13/10/2026

I Went Looking for Tobuscus. I Shouldn’t Have.

What happens when the people we left behind on the old internet kept changing without us? There is a blue Tobuscus T-shirt in my attic.…

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04/10/2026

The Other Life of Mary English- Revolution, Remarkable Women and a Taste for Guava

A richly researched journey through Colombia’s revolutionary history, with one compelling heroine and another I wanted to know better. There are books that send you…

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10/10/2026

They Do Things Differently Here Review: A Brilliantly Strange Village, a Frustrating Mystery

Templewood had me asking all the right questions. Its characters’ reactions and abrupt ending left me asking the wrong ones. I wanted to love the…

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09/10/2026

OH, GOD! review: the end of the world can wait, I’m helping this stranger

An impossible creature walks through Adelaide, but the people helping each other in its shadow make this five-star read unforgettable. I told Vaultkeeper I’d read…

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30/09/202618/10/2026

You Can Make the Character Up. You Can’t Make Yourself Disappear

How much of a writer ends up in their characters? I asked author Siân Turner, then realised we were answering slightly different versions of the…

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08/10/202618/10/2026

The Synthetic Hunger Review: Well, This Was Unexpected

Why this indie space opera hooked me, with Sebastian Howarth on food, found family and the PanTerran Saga Every so often, a book arrives in…

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23/09/202618/10/2026

Apparently Writing the Book Isn’t Enough

When did writing a novel also mean becoming a content creator? Writer Cassie Stull and I talk social media, self-promotion, creative vulnerability, and the strange…

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20/09/202618/10/2026

The Second Draft by Emma Sinclair

The Sound of Steinbeck County; East of Eden and Who by Water

Somebody Else’s Escape

The Other Life of Mary English- Revolution, Remarkable Women and a Taste for Guava

They Do Things Differently Here Review: A Brilliantly Strange Village, a Frustrating Mystery

You Can Make the Character Up. You Can’t Make Yourself Disappear

Cultural Essays

The Sound of Steinbeck County; East of Eden and Who by Water

Somebody Else’s Escape

I Went Looking for Tobuscus. I Shouldn’t Have.

Book Reviews

The Other Life of Mary English- Revolution, Remarkable Women and a Taste for Guava

They Do Things Differently Here Review: A Brilliantly Strange Village, a Frustrating Mystery

OH, GOD! review: the end of the world can wait, I’m helping this stranger

Conversations

You Can Make the Character Up. You Can’t Make Yourself Disappear

The Synthetic Hunger Review: Well, This Was Unexpected

Apparently Writing the Book Isn’t Enough

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