AustLit

'In this thrilling sequel to middle-grade fantasy adventure BIG MAGIC, a young magician will do whatever it takes to save magic – but at what cost?

'Eleven-year-old Tulsi comes from a long line of women magicians, and loves doing Big Magic. Every night in her family’s circus show, she turns twigs into trees, flies like a bird, and even disappears into thin air. But one night, in the middle of a show, she loses her powers – with terrifying results.

'Tulsi’s powers soon come back, but she can’t risk losing them again – and her search for what went wrong soon takes her all the way into a parallel universe, where she discovers that magic everywhere is in danger. The natural world is falling out of balance, and a band of rogue magicians are stripping magic from women. They're led by a powerful magician who knows Tulsi very well … and who has a dark plan for her magic, too. 

'Tulsi’s convinced she’s the only one who can stop the rogues, and save magic across the universes. But what if that means giving up her own power?

'A compelling read full of twists and turns from beloved author Sarah Armstrong, MAGIC AWRY is perfect for readers aged 9+.' (Publication summary)

'When a circus trick goes horribly wrong and star magician Merry disappears in front of her daughter, Tulsi, everyone believes Merry’s gone forever. But then 11-year-old Tulsi discovers one tiny, impossible sliver of hope for bringing her mother back: If Tulsi learns enough Big Magic ;before the next full moon, she just might be able to rescue Merry by travelling to a parallel universe – a world where Tulsi has never been born, and which holds the key to saving their circus.

'There are reasons it's all but impossible: It can take a lifetime to learn Big Magic. Tulsi has never done any magic at all. And the only person who can teach her is her estranged grandmother, Sylvie – a strange, unlikeable woman who was banned for fifteen years from doing Big Magic herself.' (Publication summary)

'How far would you go to protect a child in danger?

'When a new family moves in next door, it takes Anna just two days to realise something is very wrong. She can hear their five-year-old daughter Charlie crying, then sees injuries on the little girl which cannot be ignored. Anna reports the family to the police and social services but when no one comes to Charlie's aid, Anna understands that she is alone with her fears for the child's life.

'So when Charlie comes to her door asking for help, the only thing Anna can think to do is take the girl and run.

'Raising delicate but deeply felt questions about our individual responsibility for the children around us, Promise is a novel that obliges the reader to ask: if Charlie were my neighbour, what would I do?' (Publication summary)

'He was dismayed how readily he took to lying. He'd always thought of it as a decisive abandonment of the truth. Instead, he realised, it was simply a matter of one word slipping into the place of another.'

'Dr Quinn Davidson and his wife Marianna have endured years of unsuccessful IVF and several miscarriages, and Quinn can't face another painful attempt to conceive. Marianna is desperate to be a mother and their marriage is feeling the strain. At a small-town practice a few hours from their home, Quinn meets Rachel, the daughter of one of his patients. Drawn to each other, it's not long before they find themselves in a passionate affair and Quinn realises he must choose between the two women. Then Marianna announces a surprise natural conception, news that will change the course of all their lives.

'Set in the lush Australian subtropics, this taut emotional drama poses questions about moral courage and accountability, and asks whether love means always telling the truth.' (Publication summary)

When fourteen-year-old Allie's mother, Mae, mysteriously disappears in the dark waters of the harbor, Allie begrudgingly sets off with Julia, an aunt she barely knows, to stay at the dairy farm where her mother grew up. As the days pass and the heat of the wet season swells, Allie waits for her mother's call, certain that she will reappear. While Julia - determined to undo the damage her family has inflicted upon the land - replants the trees of the forest, Allie lurks around the cabin belonging to her mother's first love, a man who still lives deep within the valley. But when the truth about Mae's childhood and Allie's mythical father, the balloon man, begins to surface, Allie must come to grips with the lies her mother has told her and the secrets buried within the mud-rich landscape. Source: Book Jacket