AustLit

'Meet Jackson - a very unusual boy in a world that prefers 'normal'...

'Julia Curtis is a busy mother of three, with a husband often away for work, an ever-present mother-in-law, a career, and a house that needs doing up. Her fourteen-year-old daughter, Milla, has fallen in love for the first time, and her youngest, Ruby, is a nine-year-old fashionista who can out-negotiate anyone.

'But Julia's eleven-year-old son, Jackson, is different. Different to his sisters. Different to his classmates. In fact, Jackson is different from everyone. And bringing up a child who is different isn't always easy.

'Then, one Monday morning, Jackson follows his new friend Digby into the school toilets. What happens inside changes everything; not only for Jackson, but for every member of his family. Julia faces the fight of her life to save her unusual boy from a world set up for 'normal'.

'An extraordinary boy. The mother who loves him. The fight of their lives.'

Source: Publisher's blurb.

'What happens when six pampered Westerners on a spiritual retreat in Bali end up fighting for their lives? A gripping novel from the bestselling author of The Mothers' Group.

'A breathtaking new novel from the bestselling author of The Mothers' Group and Wife on the Run.

'Six strangers from across the world meet on the tropical island of Bali to attend a course designed to help them face their fears. Their backgrounds are as diverse as their fears - which range from flying, public speaking and heights, through to intimacy, failure and death.

'Friendships and even romance blossom as the participants are put through a series of challenges which are unusual, confronting and sometimes hilarious. A week of fun in the sun suddenly turns into something far more serious, however, when the unthinkable happens - a tragic disaster that puts the group in deadly danger, testing the individual courage of every member.

'Shocking, powerful and utterly gripping, Fearless takes you to the edge and makes you look down.' (Publication summary)

'A mother's greatest fear... A wife's worst nightmare... What would you do?

'When two technology-related disasters hit within days of each other, Paula knows her comfortable suburban life has been irrevocably blown apart. One involves the public shaming of her teenage daughter, the other is a discovery about her husband that shocks her to her core. With her world unravelling around her, Paula does the only thing that makes any sense to her: she runs away from it all.

'She pulls her children out of school and takes off on a trip across Australia with her elderly father and his caravan. The only rule is No Technology - no phones, no Facebook, no Instagram, no tablets, games or computers. It's time to get back to basics and learn how to be a family again.

'It all sounds so simple - and for a while, it is. But along the way Paula will meet new, exciting complications, and realise that running away is only a temporary solution. The past has to be faced before the future can begin.

'A thrilling, tender and hugely entertaining story of loss, love and discovery from the bestselling author of The Mothers' Group.' (Publication summary)

'When Fiona Collins meets Stuart Higgins at a conference in Melbourne, she isn't looking for a relationship, let alone the upheaval of falling for an eco-aware cotton farmer from South-East Queensland. But then life never goes quite according to plan.

When Stuart sends Fiona a pair of crusty old boots and a declaration of his feelings just sixteen days into their relationship, it's the start of a love story that endures - in spite of distance, the strain of Stuart's farm entering its fourth year of drought, and Fiona's own issues with commitment. Something's got to give and eventually Fiona puts everything on the line - her career, her Sydney life, her future - and moves to Stuart's farm. Nearest township? Jandowae, population 750. Here, Fiona encounters an Australia she's never really known, replete with snakes on the doorstep, frogs in the toilet, and the perils of the bush telegraph.

Gradually she begins to fall in love with rural life, but as Stuart struggles to balance commercial and environmental realities, she realises that farming isn't quite as simple as she'd imagined. Ultimately, Fiona has to learn how to cope with the devastating impact of the drought that grips the countryside, and what it means for Stuart, the farm, and their future together.' Source: www.loveintheageofdrought.com/ (Sighted 04/05/2009).