AustLit

'Wilhelmina Mann can never seem to get anything right: her work, relationships and family are all on the rocks. But when she suddenly receives a stack of letters from her long-dead mother, everything she's ever known begins to change.

'On the eve of her thirtieth birthday, Wilhelmina Mann is already dealing with more than enough problems, so a birthday misadventure landing her in the lock-up is hardly even a surprise.

'But that mistake leads to Wil receiving a packet of old letters; letters to Wil from her mother that were written just before she died, back when Wil was a small child.

'Suddenly, Wil's life is thrown into a new kind of turmoil as she discovers the mother she lost. And while the letters begin as tales of growing up, they soon become a great love story, almost as great as the bond between mother and daughter. Caught in old, unexpected emotions and unresolved hurts, Wil risks everything to journey back to the tiny English village in which her mother grew up, searching for answers in another set of letters she is meant to find there.

'But secrets are kept for a reason. Will she find the last letters? And will she want to know what they contain?

'Twenty-Six Letters is a captivating novel entwining family, place and identity, the shame of keeping secrets and the liberation of finding them out.' (Publication summary)

'It's a long way back across the 'verse to Earth-central. Especially with a target on your head.

'After the near-disaster on-board the Freya, and the hushed-up events of the Dellinger, the Doctor and Riley plan to jump the next waygate back to the inner systems. They're used to hiding, and to running.

'But even they aren't prepared to be hijacked, and jumped through a new blind waygate to the edge of the known 'verse. And what waits out there was never meant to be found.

'You'll love this smart, quick-read space opera. Take your journey through the Waygate right now.'

Source : publisher's blurb

'Erin Jacobs spent the last four years on racing yachts, working for outrageously wealthy owners in glittering regattas around the world. She hasn't been home in all that time, carrying the unspeakable secret of her father's mysterious disappearance offshore.

'But when her sister Skye begs her to return home to Great Haven Island, Erin finds the former holiday paradise has fallen on hard times. To save the village, Erin agrees to work with old flame Tristan Drummond, now a powerful developer who plans to re-open the resort and establish a prestigious regatta.

'But big plans never do run smooth. Working with Tristan reveals his desire to rekindle their romance, while Erin falls for new doctor Alex Bell, even as their relationship threatens to uncover the truth of her father's death. With home and future at stake, and Tristan's jealously taking a dangerous turn, will Erin be able to save everything she loves? Or will her dreams be washed into the Haven sea?'

Source : publisher's blurb

'In a future of corporatized agriculture, a fault-finder corners an unusual saboteur. A quantum-damaged man considers destroying his enemies – but at what cost? A soldier in a freezing steam-demon world finds a life-changing prize in the snow. A boy befriends an indentured dragon and ushers in the carbon age.'

Source: Publisher's blurb.

'An ambitious apothecary tends a beautiful stranger with an ancient, world-shaking secret. A young man in a world of fairy-tale creatures discovers an invasion. An imprisoned roc struggles with his baser instincts. A doomed mine worker runs to escape something that should never have been dug from the earth. Combining genre-edge curiosity and classic storytelling, Charlie Nash’s third collection celebrates modern fantasy with dark twists, including “The Ghost of Hephaestus”, shortlisted for both the Aurealis Award for Best Fantasy Short Story, and the Ditmar Award for Best Novella or Novelette.'

Source: Publisher's blurb.

'A new breed of ship’s doctor walks into a crisis in a far-flung space station. A predatory ship of legend stalks an Earth-bound transport. A damaged corporate soldier battles hell on an alien planet – and in his head. A salvage crew goes hunting for profits and ends up in a desperate race for their lives – and everyone else’s.Combining technical curiosity and classic storytelling, Charlie Nash’s first collection celebrates the foundations of space opera and military SF through new reflections, including “Dellinger”, shortlisted for the Aurealis Award for Best Science Fiction Short Story.'

Source: Publisher's blurb.

'Three escaped pensioners. One single mother. A road trip to rescue her son. The new emotionally compelling page-turner by Australia's Charlotte Nash

'In their tiny pale green cottage under the trees, Mallory Cook and her five-year-old son, Harry, are a little family unit who weather the storms of life together. Money is tight after Harry's father, Duncan, abandoned them to expand his business in New York. So when Duncan fails to return Harry after a visit, Mallory boards a plane to bring her son home any way she can.

'During the journey, a chance encounter with three retirees on the run from their care home leads Mallory on an unlikely group road trip across the United States. Zadie, Ernie and Jock each have their own reasons for making the journey and along the way the four of them will learn the lengths they will travel to save each other - and themselves.'  (Publication summary)

'Ten years ago, Rachael West chose not to move to Sydney with high-school sweetheart Matthew. Instead she stayed on the family wheat farm, caring for her seriously ill mother and letting go of her dreams. Now, Matthew is marrying someone else. And Rachael is invited to the wedding, a lavish affair in Paris, courtesy of the flamboyant family of Matthew's fiancee - a once-in-a-lifetime celebration at someone else's expense in Europe's most romantic city.

She is utterly unprepared for what the week brings. Friendships will be upended, secrets will be revealed - and on the eve of the wedding, Rachael is faced with an impossible dilemma: should she give up on the promise of love, or destroy another woman's life for a chance at happiness?'

Source: Publisher's blurb.

'Craig Munroe is the kind of man legends are written about. Escape to the high country in this passionate love story of a young doctor and a legendary horseman whose lives become inextricably linked, by the bestselling author of Ryders Ridge, Charlotte Nash

'It's been fifteen years since Dr Peta Woodward, born into a horse-breeding dynasty, fled the family stud in the wake of a deadly tragedy that split her family apart. Carrying wounds that have never truly healed, Peta has focused on helping others. But when an injury during a solo trip through the Australian high country leaves her stranded, the man who comes to her rescue is Craig Munroe, a born and bred high-country horseman, and the kind of man legends are written about.

'Stuck in the tiny town of Yarraman Falls while she recovers, Peta is surrounded by prying eyes and heartbreaking reminders of all she has lost. But while she resolves to leave as soon as she can, fate has other ideas . . .' (Publication summary)

'Aspiring medical student Christina Price has worked hard to rise above an upbringing filled with neglect and the assumption that she would never amount to anything. She promised herself she was never going back - could never go back - to Townsville, where she'd been bullied and betrayed as a young teenager. But when a twist of fate lands her on practical placement in a clinic on the Townsville army base, she must confront past hurts if she wants to succeed and, just maybe, find love.

'Captain Aiden Bell is used to hard work, and to the life of an army officer: base-hopping and deploying overseas. His career has taken an emotional toll that he hasn't dealt with, until meeting Christina stirs memories, desire - and hope. At Crystal Creek, can can facing your past give love a chance?' (Publication summary)

'On a future Earth ravaged by the Event, a soldier with a terrifying secret must travel behind enemy lines.'

Source: Publisher's blurb.

'Doctor Beth Harding has always been the black sheep of her family. Desperate to belong, she has hidden within expectations, both in work and in love. In a rash moment, she leaves both behind in Sydney, taking a secret locum role in the distant Pilbara, and convinced that with her dream to see the world just beginning, the bravery to admit it will follow.

'But Iron Junction is more than just a company town, enjoying the spoils of boom times. It’s a mine undergoing expansion, the town flooded with contractors and the tensions they bring. Beth finds herself on the outside of the community, dealing with a prickly colleague and difficult patients, at the mercy of the unforgiving landscape and the punishing mine roster. It all seems like a misadventure, until she meets fellow loner, Will, a man who excites her dreams and could make the difference between going home and going on.

'For Will Walker, being born into cattle farming was never the life he wanted, and he’s long ago traded a broad-brim for a hard hat and headed down the mines. Iron Junction begins as just another gig in the long road taking him ever further from home. But in the lonely fly-in, fly-out life, even in the spectacular Pilbara, he never counted on meeting Beth, and how she would change his heart. But Will has a secret dogging him from his past and both will find their choices have consequences far beyond themselves. In this story about the meaning of home, family and redemption, can two people be brave enough to risk loving each other despite all that stands in their way?' (Source: Author's website)