AustLit

'From the bestselling author of The Nurses' War comes this charming, funny, pointed look at the golden years of radio broadcasting in post-war Australia, celebrating the extraordinary unseen women who wrote the radio plays that held a nation captive. For readers of Lessons in Chemistry.

'Martha Berry is fifty years old, a spinster, and one of an army of polite and invisible women in 1956 Sydney who go to work each day and get things done without fuss, fanfare or reward.

'Working at the country's national broadcaster, she's seen highly praised talent come and go over the years but when she is sent to work as a secretary on a brand-new radio serial, created to follow in the footsteps of Australia's longest running show, Blue Hills, she finds herself at the mercy of an egotistical and erratic young producer without a clue, a conservative broadcaster frightened by the word 'pregnant' and a motley cast of actors with ideas of their own about their roles in the show.

'When Martha is forced to step in to rescue the serial from impending cancellation, she ends up secretly ghost-writing scripts for As The Sun Sets, creating mayhem with management, and coming up with storylines that resonate with the serial's growing and loyal audience of women listeners.

'But she can't keep her secret forever and when she's threatened with exposure, Martha has to decide if she wants to remain in the shadows, or to finally step into the spotlight.' (Publication summary) 

'The astonishingly rich prize of the 1956 Australian Women's Weekly cookery competition offers two women the possibility of a new kind of future, in this compassionate look at the extraordinary lives of ordinary women - our mothers and grandmothers - in a beautifully realised post-war Australia.

'It's 1956, and while Melbourne is in a frenzy gearing up for the Olympics, the women of Australia are cooking up a storm for their chance to win the equivalent of a year's salary in the extraordinary Australian Women's Weekly cookery contest.

'For two women, in particular, the prize could be life-changing. Mother of five Kathleen O'Grady has no time for cooking competitions, but the prize could offer her a different kind of life. As her forays into new recipes boost her confidence, she finds her desire to make her own life decisions - for herself and her children - becoming more important.

'For war widow Ivy Quinn, the competition means more time to spend with her twelve-year old-son, Raymond, the development of an unexpected friendship with colleague Dr Harry Johnson, and the courage to tell the truth about Raymond's father.

'As winter turns to spring both women begin to realise that the competition has given them so much more than cooking skills - it offers a new way of seeing the world and the chance to free themselves from the ghosts of the past. As the competition deadline looms the question becomes whether it is winning the competition that will change their futures, or the changes in themselves.'(Publication summary)

'There is more than one way to fight a war...An extraordinary story of grit, love and loss, based on the true history and real experiences of Australian nurses in World War 1.

'In 1915, as World War 1 rages in Europe and the numbers of dead and injured continue to grow, Australian nurse, Sister Cora Barker, leaves her home in Australia for England, determined to use her skills for King and country. When she arrives at Harefield House - donated to the Australian Army by its expatriate Australian owners - she helps transform it into a hospital that is also a little piece of home for recuperating Australian soldiers.

'As the months pass, her mission to save diggers lives becomes more urgent as the darkest months of the war see injured soldiers from the battlefields of France and Belgium flood into Harefield in the thousands. When the hospital sends out a desperate call for help, a quiet young seamstress from the village, Jessie Chester, steps up as a volunteer. At the hospital she meets Private Bert Mott, a recuperating Australian soldier, but the looming threat of his return to the Front hangs over them. Could her first love be her first heartbreak?

'Cora's and Jessie's futures, their hearts and their lives hang in the balance as the never-ending wave of injured and dying soldiers threatens to overwhelm the hospital and the hopes of a nation rest on a knife edge. The nurses war is a war against despair and death, fought with science and love rather than mustard gas and fear - but can they possibly win it? And what will be the cost?' (Publication summary)

'From the bestselling author of The Land Girls comes a beautifully realised novel that speaks to the true history and real experiences of post-war Australian women.

'Sydney 1945 The war is over, the fight begins.

'The war is over and so are the jobs (and freedoms) of tens of thousands of Australian women. The armaments factories are making washing machines instead of bullets and war correspondent Tilly Galloway has hung up her uniform and been forced to work on the women's pages of her newspaper - the only job available to her - where she struggles to write advice on fashion and make-up.

'As Sydney swells with returning servicemen and the city bustles back to post-war life, Tilly finds her world is anything but normal. As she desperately waits for word of her prisoner-of-war husband, she begins to research stories about the lives of the underpaid and overworked women who live in her own city. Those whose war service has been overlooked; the freedom and independence of their war lives lost to them.

'Meanwhile Tilly's waterside worker father is on strike, and her best friend Mary is struggling to cope with the stranger her own husband has become since being liberated from Changi a broken man. As strikes rip the country apart and the news from abroad causes despair, matters build to a heart-rending crescendo. Tilly realises that for her the war may have ended, but the fight is just beginning...' (Publication summary) 

'Can a town known for “I do,” change her “I don’t?”

'Up and coming American winemaker Tess Harrison is temporarily working at an Australian vineyard where her family now has a financial stake. She’s excited to make her mark away from her dominant family and the outback’s premier organic winery seems like the perfect training ground. One problem: No one told her the small town Wirralong was a premier wedding destination, and every time tomboy Tess turns around she’s confronted with white dresses, trails of petals, gleaming gold rings and starry-eyed kissing couples promising forever. When a new hire upends Tess’ careful plans for her life and her career, she find herself reluctantly re-thinking her dislike for the M word.

'It was never just a man's war...

'Melbourne,1942

'War has engulfed Europe and now the Pacific, and Australia is fighting for its future. For spinster Flora Thomas, however, nothing much has changed. Tending her dull office job and beloved brother and father, as well as knitting socks for the troops, leaves her relatively content. Then one day a stranger gives her brother a white feather and Flora's anger propels her out of her safe life and into the vineyards of the idyllic Mildura countryside, a member of the Australian Women's Land Army.

'There she meets Betty, a 17-year-old former shopgirl keen to do her bit for the war effort and support her beloved, and the unlikely Lilian, a well-to-do Adelaide girl fleeing her overbearing family and theworld's expectations for her. As the Land Girls embrace their new world of close-knit community and backbreaking work, they begin to find pride in their roles. More than that, they start to find a kind of liberation. For Flora, new friendships and the singular joy derived from working the land offer new meaning to her life, and even the possibility of love.

'But as the clouds of war darken the horizon, and their fears for loved ones - brothers, husbands, lovers - fighting at the front grow, the Land Girls' hold on their world and their new-found freedoms is fragile. Even if they make it through unscathed, they will not come through unchanged...'

Source: Publisher's blurb.

'Isabella Martenson never expected to be a runaway bride. She never expected to be a bride, period. She simply has the wrong DNA to do the whole happily married thing. Until one night in Vegas with a handsome winemaker changes everything…

'A year later, Harry Harrison’s bride is still a mystery. Who was she? Where was she? And why did she run? When Harry flies to a Australia for his best friend’s wedding, he runs straight into the woman he’s never been able to forget.

'All she asks is for their marriage to be kept a secret. All he asks is for a divorce. But after a week together, Harry and Isabella are forced to face what they really want.'

Source: Publisher's blurb.

'Can the Bonegilla girls defeat their past? Or will it come to claim them?

'1954: When sixteen–year–old Hungarian Elizabeta arrives in Australia with her family, she is hoping to escape the hopelessness of life as a refugee in post–war Germany.

'Her first stop is the Bonegilla Migrant Camp on the banks of the Murray in rural Victoria, a temporary home for thousands of new arrivals, all looking for work and a better life. There, Elizabeta becomes firm friends with the feisty Greek Vasiliki; quiet Italian Iliana; and the adventurous Frances, the daughter of the camp's director.

'In this vibrant and growing country, the Bonegilla girls rush together towards a life that seems full of promise, even as they cope with the legacy of war, the oppressive nature of family tradition and ever–present sorrow. So when a ghost from the past reaches out for Elizabeta and threatens to pull her back into the shadows, there is nothing that her friends wouldn't do to keep her safe.

'But secrets have a way of making themselves known and lies have a way of changing everything they touch...'

Source: Publisher's blurb.

'Prickly Sofia has hit a crossroads and is hoping a Christmas alone in idyllic Remarkable Bay will help. Police officer George is also alone at Christmas. Drawn together unwillingly, they try and stay out of each other's way. But Remarkable Bay is a small place...' (Synopsis)

This collection of heart-warming Australian stories is full of the joys of the season and guaranteed to brighten your Christmas.' (Publication Summary)
 

'It’s going to be a long, hot summer in Reynolds Ridge…

'Hannie Reynolds has returned to the town she grew up in because no other place feels quite like home. But living in the stunning Adelaide Hills comes with risks–from the threat of bushfires that destroy everything in their path to the heart-stopping return of her high school crush.

'Firefighter Dylan Knight has come home too, and old memories flare when he sees Hannie again. Have they waited too long to rekindle their love?

'When they discover they were driven apart by a lie, they’re more determined than ever to fight for their second chance… until a bushfire threatens to destroy all they might share together and the very foundations of Hannie’s life in the hills.

'Has she lost everything … and has Dylan lost her forever?' (Synopsis)

'Can she learn to trust him and love again?

'Stella wasn't looking for love – and especially not from a younger man..

'When Stella Ryan’s successful life in Sydney crumbled, she returned flat broke – and broken hearted – to the beach-side town she'd once called home. Five years on, she’s opened a boutique and rebuilt her life in the tourist haven of Port Elliot.

'Luca Morelli has been working flat out to establish his own building company in the city and doesn't have time to be driving back and forth to the beach to do a small job in a shop that was almost destroyed in a fire. But he soon changes his mind when he meets the glamorous owner.

'Before long, Stella and Luca find that a working relationship isn't the only thing developing between them. But the closer they get, the ghosts of Stella’s past come to haunt her once more. Can she ever believe a man again? And if she can, is the much younger Luca Morelli the man she can trust with her heart?' (Publication summary)

'In 1934, the three Miss Allens - Ruby, Adeline and Clara - arrive in the seaside town of Remarkable Bay for their annual summer holiday. It’s the last time they’ll spend summers as a family. Adeline is engaged, Ruby is weighing up an offer, and Clara is just eighteen and about to start her life. But by summer’s end, the lives they have known will change irrevocably and a mysterious secret will tear the family apart.

'Eighty-two years later, Ruby’s great-granddaughter Roma Harris moves to the now sleepy Remarkable Bay, retreating from tragedy. Roma’s distant cousin Addy arrives too, fleeing a life with too much drama. It’s only when the women discover an old guest book that they start asking questions about the mysterious third Miss Allen. Who was she? Why has she disappeared from the family’s history?

'If they solve this mystery from their past, could it change the women’s futures?'

Source: Publisher's blurb.

'Cady Adams has had a crush on Dex McCoy since high school, but her ambitions were always bigger than the small Montana town they grew up in. In the years after, Cady headed to California and Dex ended up drifting from one job to another all over the US.

'But when the rug is pulled from under her feet, Cady comes home to establish her business, Cady’s Cakes. What she doesn't know is a family tragedy has pulled Dex home, too, and he's taken a new job as a smokejumper.

'Will they finally give in to what’s been burning between them for so long? Is the timing right to find out the dreamer and the drifter are really perfect for each other?'

Source: Publisher's blurb.

'Two people, who regret their missed chance, just might get another…

'Sexy Australian pro surfer Cooper Malone lives his dreams on beaches all over the world. While surfing is his passion, he can’t quite suppress the longing for a permanent home with the one woman he let slip away.

'World traveler Maggie MacLean first laid eyes on Cooper in a crowded bar on the island resort of Bali six years ago. The sparks and sizzle nearly scorched her bikini, but she never had a chance to explore that intense attraction. Later, when Maggie’s pregnant by a man who wants nothing to do with their child, she puts her passport away and heads home to California to be the best mom she can be.

'But when a possible career ending injury sidelines Cooper from his beloved waves, he moves in with the one friend he’s been able to count on. Maggie and Cooper have ignored the burn of attraction for six years. Maggie’s not willing to risk their friendship or her son’s heartbreak when Cooper inevitably leaves to compete, but what if this time Cooper stays and Maggie allows their second chance at love to flame?' (Publication summary)

'CEO Callum Malone has it all: power, Italian suits, a house on one of Sydney’s stunning beaches and a new life without a woman in it. Just the way he likes it, ever since his nasty divorce.

'Landscaper Ava Gibson is in no position to turn down a job, even if it is for her despised ex-brother-in-law. But when resentment gives way to underlying attraction, Ava is finally forced to confront her truth… she’s falling for him.

'Will Ava be able to keep her growing desire in check? Because the irresistible Cal doesn’t want her to… ' (Publication summary)