AustLit

''Thought-provoking, highly original and beautifully nuanced. Jessie Stephens' journalistic skill shines as she weaves together true stories with a narrative as compelling as any novel.' Jane Harper

'Heartbreak does not seem to be a brand of grief we respect. And so we are left in the middle of the ocean, floating in a dinghy with no anchor, while the world waits for us to be okay again.'

'Claire has returned from London to the dust and familiarity of her childhood home, only to realise something is wrong with her partner Maggie.

'Patrick is a lonely uni student, until he meets Caitlin - but does she feel as connected as he does?

'Ana is happily married with three children. Then, one night, she falls in love with someone else.

'Based on three true stories, Heartsick is a compelling narrative nonfiction account of the many lows and occasional surprising highs of heartbreak. Bruising, beautiful, achingly specific but wholeheartedly universal, it reminds us that emotional pain can make us as it breaks us, and that storytelling has the ultimate healing power.'

Source : publisher's blurb

'To possess the Mandate of Heaven, the female monk Zhu will do anything

'"I refuse to be nothing"

'In a famine-stricken village on a dusty yellow plain, two children are given two fates. A boy, greatness. A girl, nothingness

'In 1345, China lies under harsh Mongol rule. For the starving peasants of the Central Plains, greatness is something found only in stories. When the Zhu family's eighth-born son, Zhu Chongba, is given a fate of greatness, everyone is mystified as to how it will come to pass. The fate of nothingness received by the family's clever and capable second daughter, on the other hand, is only as expected.

'When a bandit attack orphans the two children, though, it is Zhu Chongba who succumbs to despair and dies. Desperate to escape her own fated death, the girl uses her brother's identity to enter a monastery as a young male novice. There, propelled by her burning desire to survive, Zhu learns she is capable of doing whatever it takes, no matter how callous, to stay hidden from her fate.

'After her sanctuary is destroyed for supporting the rebellion against Mongol rule, Zhu takes the chance to claim another future altogether: her brother's abandoned greatness.' (Publication summary)

'Jo had learned the hard way that life was not mystical, or magical; it was hard and grey and cold most of the time. Much better to see it for what it is than to be perennially disappointed.

'With a hefty new mortgage, a frustrating career as a newspaper columnist and a flailing relationship with a married co-worker, Jo Liddell is resigned to living a less-than-perfect life.

'That is, until she crosses paths with Joe Bannister - a celebrated foreign correspondent returning home to care for his dying father. Against all her natural instincts, Jo finds herself falling for Joe, and with his help begins to realise that she might deserve to be happy after all.

'But when she decides to take the plunge and give love a chance, the results are catastrophic. And so Jo must fight hard for everything she never believed in - success, self-acceptance, and above all, real love.' (Publisher's blurb)

'Bueralan Le - exiled baron, fighter, saboteur - washes up on strange shores with a stranger mission. Bueralan and his crew have a grand plan: to save a town in this gods-touched land from anarchy, as it heads towards violence and bloodshed. The job will demand all of their cunning, experience and skill with the sword.

'But they've been hired to right a great wrong and they won't rest until it's done.

'Set before the events of The Godless, this novella by Ben Peek sees Bueralan and his group of mercenaries make new allies and meet old adversaries.'

Source : publisher's blurb

'Over a period of fifteen years Clive James learned French by almost no other method than reading À la recherche du temps perdu. Then he spent half a century trying to get up to speed with Proust's great novel in two different languages. Gate of Lilacs is the unique product of James's love and engagement with Proust's eternal masterpiece.

'With À la recherche du temps perdu, Proust, in James's words, 'followed his creative instinct all the way until his breath gave out', and now James has done the same. In Gate of Lilacs, James, a brilliant critical essayist and poet, has blended the two forms into one.

'I had always thought the critical essay and the poem were closely related forms . . . If I wanted to talk about Proust's poetry beyond the basic level of talking about his language - if I wanted to talk about the poetry of his thought - then the best way to do it might be to write a poem.There is nothing like a poem for transmitting a mental flavour. Instead of trying to describe it, you can evoke it.

'In the end, if À la recherche du temps perdu is a book devoted almost entirely to its author's gratitude for life, for love, and for art, this much smaller book is devoted to its author's gratitude for Proust.' (Publication summary)

'When paramedics Jane and Alex encounter a man refusing to get out of his crashed car with bystanders saying he deliberately drove into a pole, it looks like a cry for help. His claim that someone is out to get him adds to their thinking that he is delusional.

'Later that day he is found dead under a train in what might be a suicide, but Jane is no longer so sure: she remembers the terror in his eyes.

'Detective Ella Marconi shares Jane's doubts, which are only compounded when the case becomes increasingly tangled. The victim's boss tries to commit suicide when being questioned, a witness flees their attempt to interview her and a woman is beaten unconscious in front of Jane's house.

'Ella is at a loss to know how all these clues add up and then a shocking turn of events puts even more people in danger...' (Publisher's blurb)

'Intrepid investigative journalist Scout Davis has given herself a holiday, but when Hermione Longfellow floats towards her in the supermarket, wanting to engage her services, she stops to listen.

'Most people in Byron Bay are aware of the eccentric Anemone sisters. Always dressed in black, they rarely leave their home nestled in the hills - but Scout is sure that the drinking of chicken blood is just idle gossip. When Hermione asks Scout to track down sister Nemony's AWOL husband, believed to have died at sea thirty years ago, but recently popped up again on the Great Barrier Reef, Scout, checking there is no eye of newt in Hermione's shopping trolley, jumps at the chance.

'Another source of intrigue falls close to home when Scout's sister Harper despairs over her husband's odd behaviour. And if that weren't enough, Scout's journalist boyfriend is finally coming home from Afghanistan. Trouble is, Scout thinks she may be falling in love with irresistible local cop Rafe - who coincidentally is also Toby's best friend... Delightfully witty and addictively fast-paced, this is the second hilarious outing for unforgettable sleuth Scout Davis. Perfect for fans of Janet Evanovich and Alexander McCall Smith, this is storytelling at its laugh-out-loud best." (Publisher's blurb)

'Adelaide Banks is in her final year at the space agent boarding school, SEAS. Does Third Year Space Agent-in-Training Star Girl have what is tales to save space – one planet at a time?

'Planet Petalbeet is being attacked by pests and the beetbugs and losing their food source. When Space Agent Star Girl is sent to investigate with two other agents she discovers the beetbugs aren't the only ones with the pest problem. Can the agents work together to save the planet and its alien beetbugs? ' (Publication summary)

'Adelaide Banks is in her final year at the space agent boarding school, SEAS. Does Third Year Space Agent-in-Training Star Girl have what is tales to save space – one planet at a time?

'And evil force has arrived on Planet Oceanella and the seadons' wings are disappearing. When Space Agent Star Girl is sent to investigate with her two best buddies they find that it's not only the seadons that must face this evil. Can the agents put a stop to the GDC mission and rescue the alien seadons before it's too late? ' (Publication summary)

'Planet Catlabrator is awash with water and the catralabs are drowning. When Space Agent Star Girl is sent to investigate with SA Asteroid she learns that some mission buddies are more trouble than they're worth. Can she work with Asteroid to save the planet and its alien catralabs?'

Source : publisher's blurb

'Adelaide Banks is in her final year at the space agent boarding school, SEAS. Does Third Year Space Agent-in-Training Star Girl have what is tales to save space – one planet at a time?

'It is graduation week at SEAS and when Space Agents Neuron Star, Comet XS and Shooting Star are called to rescue the shelluscas on Planet Molluscara they know that it is not only the aliens who need rescuing. Can the agents find the source of the deadly fire and smoke in time to rescue the alien shelluscas and one of their own.'

Source : publisher's blurb