And a clean sweep of...

...nothing, in the Saturday newspapers' Best of the Year booklists. So you can quit your skiting, Lanagan.

No mention by anyone best-of-ing for the Australian Book Review, either. However, there's a full-page review in the December–January edition, by Kate McFadyen, who gives an excellent plot summary (except for the sentence, where Ramstrong is running down the twitten: 'A careless stumble causes him to fall and hit his head.' I've just re-read the scene and I can't tell how she arrived at that conclusion.) and then says lots of lovely things, finishing off:

Lanagan revels in the magic and mystery that the genre allows, and is fearless in her descriptions of the violence and cruelty of which humans and animals are capable. She is interested in examining the morality of her characters' actions and motivations, but does so with a cool eye, not encouraging easy conclusions. many ideas are woven through Tender Morsels, but they are characteristically presented in a flash, almost peripherally, as the plot draws you on. These ideas about femininity and masculinity, sexuality and passivity, parenthood and childhood, are big and potentially cumbersome, but in Lanagan's hands they are flinty, sparking connections that remain with you long after you finish reading.