AustLit

The first part relates the story of the founding of the New Italy colony in Northern New South Wales in the 1880s, from its disastrous beginning in New Ireland (now part of Papua New Guinea.) The second part of the story has a contemporary setting.

'Big John Spada is a self-made millionaire. From his headquarters in New York, he directs enterprises around the world with military precision. Privately, Spada also funds Proteus, a clandestine movement that works to free political prisoners and combat tyrants wherever they may be.

'Then news arrives from Argentina that the Buenos Aires secret police have arrested Spada's daughter Teresa, a doctor, after she performed emergency surgery on a man with gunshot wounds. They then take her husband Rodolfo whose outspoken editorials have angered the country's fascist government.

'A scheme is hatched by Proteus to rescue them, but soon the enemies of Proteus begin to target Spada himself.'

Source: Publisher's blurb (Allen & Unwin, 2017).

'With the death of her mother, middle-aged Theodora Goodman contemplates the desert of her life. Freed from the trammels of convention, she leaves Australia for a European tour and becomes involved with the residents of a small French hotel. But creating other people's lives, even in love and pity, can lead to madness. Her ability to reconcile joy and sorrow is an unbearable torture to her. On the journey home, Theodora finds there is little to choose between the reality of illusion and the illusion of reality. She looks for peace, even if it is beyond the borders of insanity.' (From the publisher's website.)

'It’s the Great Depression. Six-year-old PS is an orphan. He lives in Sydney with his Aunt Lila. But all that is about to change. Now his Aunt Vanessa has decided to take proper care of him.

'Careful, He Might Hear You is one of the most extraordinary portraits of childhood in Australian fiction.' (Publication summary : Text Classics)