AustLit

'An unexpected story of life, family, hope and redemption – at the end of the world.

'Arto has a problem. For one, he's a robot. He’s awoken with no memory of who he is, with nothing but a mysterious letter, in a world bereft of those fleshy, talky things that made him. So why is he alone, and where have all the people gone?

'He stumbles upon a lost, cheeky kitten and selects it as his best friend for the adventure of a lifetime, trying to make sense of all this existence stuff. Just as Arto begins to fear he's the only sentient thing left on the whole planet, a cantankerous robot falls from the sky.

'She says she's his sister.

'And that's the problem, because she might be the reason there are no more people.' (Production summary)

'Jackie and Pete King have lived in Dunmore for years, running one of the two local pubs in the sleepy little town. Money has been tight after the bushfires, and it’s about to get tighter if they can’t find a way to pay their suppliers to keep their business going and keep the bank from foreclosing on their property. So when Jackie receives a mysterious phone call offering them $100,000 to let someone bury a body on their land, the answer isn’t as simple as they thought it would be.

'It’s a deal that could change their lives. But when a woman in the next town over goes missing, it’s a deal that could ruin them forever.' (Publication summary)

'It's nearly Christmas, Julia Devine's favourite time of the year. She's just programmed a wonderful lead into the holidays at Sunny Street Cinema, which leaves her plenty of time to worry about going home to Cumbria for Christmas. Her mum and stepdad are fine, but the thought of spending another holiday with her awful stepsister Becca is enough to make a Scrooge out of anyone.

'When Becca calls to let her know about the dreamy pilot she's bring to Christmas lunch, Julia finally snaps and does something very silly. She tells Becca she's dating heartthrob movie star Hugo Turner.

'Of course, Julia isn't dating Hugo Turner - she isn't dating anyone - but Becca will never let her live it down if she discovers Julia's lie. Enter Sam Hunter, ordinary guy on the street with a startling resemblance to a movie star. Without any holiday plans of his own, he's the perfect stand-in for the real Hugo. Sam has his own reasons for agreeing to be Julia's sham movie-star boyfriend. It's just for one weekend, right? But will this Christmas charade flourish into real Christmas magic?' (Publication summary)

'Flynn was only a teenager when her parents were killed in a terrible accident. Too young to lose her parents, too young to take on responsibility for her younger sister Kaiya, too young to protect Kaiya from the harshness of their new lives in the following years. Desperate to help her sister, Flynn reaches out to Willa Tomlinson, a grief counsellor renowned for helping her patients cope with profound loss. Under Willa’s influence and care, Kaiya finally seems to turn a corner, joining the climate action collective that Willa leads. Kaiya’s passion is ignited and she immerses herself in the group, leaving on frequent camping trips in the West Australian bush. But when a raging bushfire sweeps through the bushland near Margaret River, Kaiya fails to return with the rest of the group.

'Noah is no stranger to loss or to violence, but these days, he’s more interested in helping people develop the skills to defend themselves than seeking out fights of his own. When Flynn enters his life, desperate to find out what really happened to her sister, a friendship sparks, and Noah finds himself agreeing to help her. To do so, he’ll need to infiltrate Willa’s cultish collective at the fireground.

'In this new Original from the number one internationally best-selling author of The Ruin and The Murder Rule, Dervla McTiernan, Flynn and Noah must reckon with their pasts and fight to find the answers they seek before Kaiya’s trail burns out.' (Publication summary)

'Three couples, friends since high school, rent a luxurious house in the mountains for an unplugged weekend of drinking and bushwalking. No internet, no phones, no stress. On the first night, the topic of partner-swapping comes up. It's a joke - at first.

Not everyone is keen, but an agreement is made. The lights will be turned out. The three women will go into the three bedrooms. The three men will each pick a room at random. It won't be awkward later, because they won't know who they've slept with - or can pretend they don't.

'But when the lights come back on, one of the men is dead. No one will admit to being his partner. The phones still don't work, and now the car key is missing. They're stranded. And the killer is just getting started ...' (Publication summary)

'Birdsong

'Beep and Mort are enchanted by a bird’s beautiful song. Mollyvale comes together to make the bird a gift so it might sing again.

'The Dream

'When Pop tells Beep and Mort about the amazing, magical dream she had the night before, Beep is sad that robots can’t dream. Mort, Mae, Uncle Joe and Pop join forces to create a real-life dreamland for Beep.

'Beep’s Home

'Beep learns about missing something and introduces the villagers to Planet Beep, shedding light on her life before she landed in Mollyvale.' (Publication summary)

'‘You and I are going to have a chat. If you hang up, this girl dies.’

'Adam Turner works the mid-dawn shift at his local radio station. From 12am to 6am, it’s his job to fill the airtime with old songs, inane chatter, and the occasional talkback caller. It’s a long way from his prime-time slot from over a decade ago, when he was a star in the making. Now there’s no producers, no billboards, no stakes, and, crucially, not many listeners. His frequent callers are drunk college students headed home from a night out, or long-range truck drivers. He is completely alone in the studio from midnight until dawn every night.

'And then one night at 12:45am, he gets a different kind of call, with higher stakes than he could ever have wanted. The caller’s rules are simple – stay on the line, live on air, until dawn, or the woman they are holding captive will die.

'The night wears on and Adam is tormented by his caller, forced to answer increasingly personal questions, exposing his fall from grace for all to hear. He must try to figure out just who is calling him, what they really want, and how he can stop them. All while staying live on air, and keeping the psycho talking.

'But as the conversation gets deeper, is Adam willing to broadcast his darkest secrets to the world in order to keep a stranger safe?' (Publication summary)

'After successfully matchmaking within the Sydney desi community for years, Nas has decided to open a marriage agency to help all Australians find love. With 17 years of marriage to his dream woman Tasnim under his belt, he's keen to help others find the same happiness that he's had. But what he sees as a perfect, happy match isn't necessarily what something others agree on - including Tasnim.

'Before long, the cracks in Nas and Tasnim's marriage are beginning to show, and Salima, their 16-year-old daughter, is caught in the middle. Which parent will she side with, if either one at all? She’s got her own complicated life going on, one that her parents seem too busy to notice. Maybe it's time for her to break some rules and follow her heart at last?' (Publication summary)

'Jane Bancroft has returned to Lovett, Tasmania after 20 years away, minus one ex-husband but plus one outraged teenage daughter. Life in the city – life in general – hasn’t quite panned out as she would have liked. With her mother unwell, now seems as good a time as any to come back to where it all began, and perhaps even start a new life here in the heart of Tasmanian apple country. But the legacy of Jane's wild apple youth has not been forgotten by small-town Lovett and her homecoming is haunted by past tragedy.

'Jane’s not the only child of Lovett returning home. Drew Pascoe, one-time scrawny kid working the pub kitchens, now handsome celebrity chef, is also back in town and looking to re-establish his roots. With the blessing of the locals and in an effort to reinvigorate tourism to Lovett, Drew has restored the old homestead Valleyfield, and plans to televise its opening as Tasmania’s hottest new dining destination. He knows a key ingredient to success is a unique homegrown flavour: Jane's mother Thea, crowned Apple Queen of Lovett and the cantankerous guardian of the legendary recipe for apple snow. But the charm offensive he’s launched on Thea is not the only reason he's keen to spend quite so much time with Jane.

'Between her mother's bitterness, her daughter's escapades and the struggle to rebuild a her life, helping Lovett’s new golden boy with his grand plans are not Jane's priority. But Drew's enchanting persistence is making Jane realise that mending old wounds and a homegrown romance may in fact be the only way to start a fresh new chapter.' (Publication summary)

'“I love food” Nakkiah Lui says, and in the next breath whispers “so give us back our land”. In First Eat, a confrontational, raw and highly personal exploration of food politics, power and body sovereignty, Nakkiah Lui asks how our meals would look different if First Nations people owned the land from which the food came. First Eat is about more than just food, it’s an aural feast for a rich future.' (Publication summary)

'After a disastrous relationship effectively torches her personal and professional life in Sydney, Annabelle is back in Brisbane. She’s about to start her dream job launching and curating a First Nations gallery in the city, and this time, nothing is getting in the way of her important work. Certainly not romance. Matters of the heart have always turned out to be a surefire way to make Annabelle run for the hills – literally.

'Everything is going to plan until a birthday trip to the rodeo with her tiddas brings Annabelle up close and very personal with Dusty Davies, bona fide cowboy. It’s just a country fling, obviously. Annabelle’s not built for the rodeo life, and she’s certainly not spending any more time than necessary in the red dust and cowboy boots. Dusty doesn’t take art and activism seriously like Annabelle does; and he’s born and bred on country, and looks set to stay that way.

'Opposites may attract, but how much change and compromise can you make before you’re running from yourself?' (Publication summary)

'From the best-selling author of Only Daughter comes a twisty cat-and-mouse novella about a young woman who meets up with her ex seeking revenge, only to realize over the course of the evening that she may be the one in danger.

'Scholarship law student Margot’s fling with her classmate Sam almost cost her everything. Now, she’s going out to dinner with him to a luxurious French restaurant with a plan to even the score. But Sam arrives late and is acting increasingly strangely. His hands are shaking, he’s nervous and jumpy; he’s behaving nothing like the privileged charmer she knows. As the night unfolds, Margot realizes Sam has a terrifying plan of his own.' (Publication summary)

'I know all about being afraid of the dark.

'Like my uncle, in my thirties I found my way into my own dark forest, face-to-face with the big bad wolf. He was so close to me the whole time, I could taste the blood on his breath. Meeting him felt like a fairytale. I fact, I met him at a bar called the Wolf's Lair.

'A sensational trial for an historic serial murder. A missing woman with a trail of secrets. A top lawyer famous for defending notorious criminals. A retired homicide cop hunting for the truth.

'Intriguing and distinctive, this taut novella will have you listening with the lights on.' (Publication summary)

'When a simple mix-up leaves their father Joe’s estate to Eden, their long-absent mother, Clare and Aaron decide it’s finally time to track Eden down. But it’s been over thirty years since she left their remote outback mining town, and they’ve never heard from her again.

'Aaron is dealing with a new marriage that’s currently trapped in immigration limbo, and his teenage daughter Cady is clearly going through a personal crisis of her own. After decades away, Clare has flown home from New York for Joe’s funeral, leaving her high-powered job and her not-quite-fiancé behind for what she thinks will be a short trip.

'Neither Aaron or Clare are prepared for a fight for their inheritance against the mother who abandoned them as children. As they dig through years of secrets and lies in their tiny community to uncover the truth about Eden and Joe, will they notice the more immediate danger that threatens their family?' (Publication summary)

'Marlo is a living her best life in sunny Sydney and avoiding thinking about her past at all costs. Avoiding thinking about the quaint village life she left behind in Britain. Avoiding thinking about that fateful Christmas Day.

'When Marlo is unceremoniously ghosted by her part-time lover, she decides she’ll need to avoid the whole Christmas season. That is actually pretty easy in this country, because it’s so hot and so far away from anything that means Christmas to her. But Marlo’s flatmate Alex is determined to lift her out of her grinch slump and convince her that Christmas Down Under may be unfamiliar, but exactly what she needs to start her life on a new course. Alex, with his calm order and terrible Dad jokes. Alex, with his sparkling Christmas cocktails, his chiseled jaw and washboard abs. Alex, who’s going to turn Marlo’s Christmas wish list upside down.' (Publication summary)

'In a cyberpunk future where water is scarce, rice is one of the first casualties. The recipe for printing natural-tasting, healthy, synthetic rice is a closely guarded corporate secret that a young hacker seeks to steal, for very personal reasons.'

Source: Publisher's blurb.

'EDGE Force: A clandestine organisation that leverages the best and brightest humanity has to offer to defend against the threats that can't be fought by normal means.

'JD Rideout is a washed-up writer with the best years of his career behind him. Nursing the wounds of a marriage breakdown, his kids are the only thing keeping him going.

'When JD wakes up on a tropical island in the middle of the Whitsundays on Queensland's Central Coast, chained to the ceiling, he knows something is very wrong. He feels like a character in one of his novels.

'Those who fight for EDGE Force unlock the ability to level up and gain powerful skills to help them fight against threats to our reality.

'JD is given a pistol and an axe, along with a new callsign: Hatchet. Uprooted from his life and forced to fight for the fate of the world, Hatchet may just be planet Earth’s last line of defence.

'As Hatchet, he’s tasked with fighting back against a shadowy cult that has reappeared after 15 years in hibernation.

'But fighting the cult isn’t the only thing that drives Hatchet. These cultists are using the essence of an ancient entity to reshape reality into whatever their twisted imaginations can bring forth. This entity is reaching out to Hatchet too, propelling him towards an epic showdown with the forces of the Fellowship of Cosmic Truth.

'During the course of his mission, Hatchet encounters an unexpected ally–a German Shepherd dog named Kaiser–who might just be smarter than Hatchet. Kaiser has his own reasons for fighting the cult and the two form an unlikely alliance.' (Publication summary) 

'As the third wave of the virus hits, all inhabitants of Melbourne are given until 8pm to get to their homes. Wherever they are when the curfew hits, they must live for four weeks and stay within a 5km radius. When Lou’s son Samuel doesn’t arrive home by nightfall she begins to panic.

'He doesn’t answer his phone. He doesn’t message. His social media channels are inactive. Lou is out of her mind with worry, but she can’t go to the police, because she has secrets of her own.  Secrets that Samuel just can’t find out about.  Lou must find her son herself and bring him home.

'A fast-paced psychological thriller for fans of Tell Me Lies.'  (Publication summary)

'The Driver:

'Ahead he could see only the stretch of unending road, on either side brown-scorched plains of dirt and scrub, above it all a soaring blue sky and blinding sun. Desolation that looked, to him, a hell of a lot like freedom. He wasn’t playing by anyone’s rules anymore.

'The Hitchhiker:

'Have you ever done something bad? The question was like a clawed hand seizing his guts. It had taken everything he’d had not to whimper, to cower away and beg. But as he’d deflected, he’d told himself to stay calm. To be in control. He had to be in control here.

'The Fugitive:

'She’d made a mistake. Wasn’t the first time and wouldn’t be the last. Ever since she’d left, all she’d found was more trouble. More fights. More secrets. More scars. Now here she was, still alive but a long way from anywhere, and with options dwindling fast.

'From the award-winning author of The Hunted comes a fast-paced outback thriller that will keep you on the edge of your seat.'  (Publication summary)