AustLit

'1979

'After being bullied at school, Jane Kelly dreads spending the summer holidays alone, friendless. So, when Acacia Miller moves in next door, Jane imagines carefree days of trading secrets and pinky promises with a new best friend. But as their friendship grows, Acacia remains stubbornly guarded about her home life, and Jane becomes caught up in a sinister situation she doesn't understand. When Acacia's secret becomes one too many for Jane to carry, she must choose whether to challenge the status quo and risk losing her only friend. Or stay silent, knowing the danger it hides.

'1999

'An abused woman flees to a refuge and bumps into someone from her childhood. Haunted by her past but grappling with a desire to reconnect and rebuild her life, she realises there are wounds that time alone cannot heal. Can she find the courage to confront the darkest secrets of all: her own?' (Publication summary)

'A blissful carefree summer beckons for Samantha Carmichael. But her world is turned on its head when she learns she's adopted - and that she has a twin sister, Charlie, who is critically ill.

'While Charlie recovers in hospital, Sam offers to look after Brumby's Run, her sister's home high in the Victorian Alps. Within days city girl Sam finds herself breaking brumbies and running cattle with the help of handsome neighbour Drew Chandler, her sister's erstwhile boyfriend.

'A daunting challenge soon becomes a wholehearted tree change as Sam begins to fall in love with Brumby's Run - and with Drew. But what will happen when Charlie comes back to claim what is rightfully hers?

'Set among the hauntingly beautiful ghost gums and wild horses of the high country, Brumby's Run is a heartfelt, romantic novel about families and secrets, love and envy and, most especially, the bonds of sisterhood.' (Publisher's blurb)

'Is there life after death? 

'Angelica is thirty-four when her beloved husband, Bill, is killed in a motorbike accident. She knows Bill is dead. Yet she yearns to be reunited with him.

'In desperation, she begs him for a sign. What happens next makes her leave the city and move to a quaint mudbrick cottage in a remote river valley where even the impossible feels sane.

'As Angelica delves further into mysterious realms she finds that not all is as it seems, and that grief – and life – have a way of carrying you forward, whether you like it or not.'

Source: Publisher's blurb.

'A life-shattering tragedy threatens to tear apart chef Amy Bennet's marriage. Desperate to save it, she moves with her husband Matt to Blackwood, a country town where no one knows who they are.

'Forced to deal with her crumbling marriage and the crippling grief that follows her wherever she goes, Amy turns to what she knows best: cooking. She opens a cafe showcasing regional seasonal produce, and forms the Around the World Supper Club, serving mouth-watering feasts to new friends. As her passion for food returns, she finds a place for herself in Blackwood. But when a Pandora's Box of shame and blame is unlocked, Matt gives Amy an ultimatum that takes their marriage to the edge.

'Rich with unexpected characters and extraordinary insight, Wherever You Go is a powerful and ultimately uplifting tale of heartbreaking loss, recovery, and redemption.'

Source: Publisher's blurb.

'Can one man’s revenge become his redemption?

'Young Luke Tyler has everything going for him: brains, looks and a larrikin charm that turns heads. The future appears bright, until he defends his sister from the powerful Sir Henry Abbot. His reward is fifteen years hard labour on a prison farm in Tasmania’s remote highlands.

'Luke escapes, finding sanctuary with a local philanthropist, Daniel Campbell, and starts a forbidden relationship with Daniel's daughter, Belle. But when Luke is betrayed, he must flee or be hanged.

'With all seeming lost, Luke sails to South Africa to start afresh. Yet he remains haunted by the past, and by Belle, the woman he can’t forget. When he returns to seek revenge and reclaim his life, his actions will have shattering consequences – for the innocent as well as the guilty.

'Set against a backdrop of wild Tasmania, Australian gold and African diamonds, Fortune’s Son is an epic story of betrayal, love and one man’s struggle to triumph over adversity and find his way home.'

Source: Publisher's blurb.

'From the author of Currawong Creek and Turtle Reef comes a beautiful story of family, friendship and the healing power of love.

'When Sydney botanist Kim Sullivan and her husband inherit Journey's End, a rundown farm high on the Great Eastern Escarpment, they dream of one day restoring it to its natural state. Ten years later, however, Kim is tragically widowed. Selling up is the only practical option, so she and her children head to the mountains to organise the sale. The last thing Kim expects is for Journey's End to cast its wild spell on them all.

'The family decide to stay, and Kim forges on with plans to rewild the property, propagating plants and acquiring a menagerie of native animals. But wayward wildlife, hostile farmers and her own lingering grief make the task seem hopeless. That is, until she meets the mysterious Taj, a man who has a way with animals. Kim begins to feel that she might find love again. But Taj has his own tragic past – one that could drive a wedge between them that can not be overcome . . . ' (Publication summary)

'Erica Jewell can't worry about hunky hired gun, Jack Jones, and his commitment-phobic ways. She's flat out managing Dega Oil's sponsorship of the Australian Open tennis, and doing a pretty good job of it. That is until a devastating oil rig explosion sends Dega's reputation and share price plummeting.

'Public outrage over the incident upsets Emilio Méndez – the tournament's biggest drawcard – and he wants to cut ties with Dega. When Erica is sent to calm him, Emilio becomes convinced he can't win without her. He demands she stay close and the media misinterprets their relationship, much to Jack's irritation. Meanwhile, danger lurks, threatening Emilio and Erica, and she must race against time to discover: who's trying to kill them and why?

'From the elite inner sanctum of the Australian Open to the packed halls of Chadstone Shopping Centre, can Australia's favourite accidental heroine save Emilio, her job and her so-called relationship with Jack Jones?' (Publication summary)

'Erica Jewell has a bossy cat, an annoying mother and a secret job. And with that job comes a mysterious lover who's taken off on some unspecified dangerous mission. Erica reckons that's pretty typical of Jack Jones – he'd rather risk his life than his heart.

'Then Erica discovers with a shock that Jack is M.I.A. in tropical Saint Sebastian. When no one seems willing to help find Jack, or even acknowledge his existence, Erica knows she's his only chance. But negotiating her way around sweltering Sebastian – with its lawlessness, impenetrable jungle and unruly inhabitants – proves much more difficult than expected. . .

'Fast-paced, funny and totally engaging, Monkey Business blends action and romance in an irresistible summer read.' (Publisher's blurb)

'Playing God is a dangerous game …

'When forest protests engulf a tiny Tasmanian timber town, one family’s century of secrets threatens to destroy a marriage – and bring down a government.

'Matt Abbott, head ranger at beautiful Binburra National Park, is a man with something to hide. He confides his secret to nobody, not even his wife Penny. The deception gnaws away at their marriage.

'Matt’s father, timber and mining magnate Fraser Abbott, stands for everything Matt hates. Son disappoints father, father disappoints son – this is their well-worn template. But Fraser seems suddenly determined to repair the rift between them at any cost, and Matt will discover that secrets run in the family. When Sarah, a visiting Californian geneticist, tries to steal Matt’s heart, the scene is set for a deadly betrayal.

'The Memory Tree is a haunting story of family relationships, the unbreakable ties we all have to the past and the redemptive power of love.'

Source: Publisher's blurb.

'Heartfelt and passionate rural romance from the bestselling author of Brumby's Run.

'When Brisbane lawyer Clare Mitchell finds herself the unlikely guardian of a small troubled boy, her ordered life is turned upside down. In desperation, she takes Jack to stay at Currawong Creek, her grandfather's horse stud in the foothills of the beautiful Bunya Mountains.

'Being at Currawong feels like coming home. Her grandad adores having them there. Jack falls in love with the animals, his misery banished. Clare relaxes for the first time in years, and finds herself falling hard for the kind, handsome local vet.

'But trouble is coming, in the form of the Pyramid Mining Company, trouble that threatens to destroy not only Clare's newfound happiness, but also the livelihoods of her new neighbours, and the peace and beauty of the land she loves.' (Publisher's blurb)

'Funny, romantic, and action-packed, Rough Diamond introduces Australia's own Stephanie Plum - the unforgettable Erica Jewell.

'The shock ending to Erica Jewell's marriage left a huge hole in her bank balance and a bigger one in her heart. And now her life goals make a very short list: no surprises, no debt and, definitely, no men. That is, until she finds one bleeding to death in her Melbourne garden one stormy Friday night.

'Jack Jones is a man whose emotional wounds are more life-threatening than the bullet in his shoulder. Under orders, he recruits Erica to his secret team of vigilantes, and Erica suspects her safe, predictable world is about to be turned upside down.

'And she's absolutely right.' (Publisher's blurb)

'Unlucky-in-love zoologist Zoe King has given up on men. Moving from Sydney to take up an exciting new role in marine science in the small sugar town of Kiawa is a welcome fresh start. Zoe is immediately charmed by the region's beauty – by its rivers and rainforests, and by its vast cane fields, sweeping from the foothills down to the rocky coral coast. And also by its people – its farmers and fishermen, unhurried and down to earth, proud of their traditions.

'Her work at the Reef Centre provides all the passion she needs and Zoe finds a friend in Bridget, the centre's director. The last thing she wants is to fall for her boss's fiancé, cane king Quinn Cooper, so she refuses to acknowledge the attraction between them – even to herself. But things aren't quite adding up at the Reef Centre and when animals on the reef begin to sicken and die, Zoe's personal and professional worlds collide. She faces a terrible choice. Will protecting the reef mean betraying the man she loves?' (Source: Publisher's blurb.)

'Tasmania 1929: Ten-year-old twins, Tom and Harry Abbott, are orphaned by a tragedy that shocks Hobart society. They find sanctuary with their reclusive grandmother, growing up in the remote and rugged Binburra ranges - a place where kind-hearted Tom discovers a love of the wild, Harry nurses a growing resentment towards his brother and where the mountain holds secrets that will transform both their lives.

'The chaos of World War 2 divides the brothers, and their passion for two very different women fuels a deadly rivalry. Can Tom and Harry survive to heal their rift? And what will happen when Binburra finally reveals its astonishing secrets?'  (Publication summary)