AustLit

'On her sixteenth birthday, Layla Scott uncovered an unimaginably cruel secret, and over the years tried too many times to stop the hurt. Now her sister is in the last place Layla wants to be, remembering someone Layla wants to forget, and dangerously close to the painful truth.

'Loss, grief and guilt have kept Chelsea clinging to her childhood home, alienating her husband and kids. She’s now alone in the house nobody wants to live in but her and surrounded by memories of a beloved father the sea swept away three decades earlier. Chelsea hopes to confront her past trauma by returning to Sandbar Campground, but her fears only intensify when her estranged sister shows up.

'Can Layla, along with local surfing fanatic, Thaddeus Poulle, help Chelsea see she’s holding too tight to all the wrong things and . . .' (Publication summary)

'Pour a cuppa and come home to the country with these ten short stories from Australia's small-town storyteller and bestselling author of House for all Seasons* and the Calingarry Crossing Collection.

'Like all Jenn's full-length novels, these compact reads with a backdrop of country life have characters to surprise and delight country lovers. Country Crush contains ten complete stories; the perfect size for that coffee break or commute.' (Publication summary)

'A story about the choices we make, the connections that matter, the secrets we keep, and the power of a wish.

'Dandelion House, 1974

'Two teenage girls--strangers--make a pact to keep a secret.

'Calingarry Crossing, 2014

'For forty years, Beth and her mum have been everything to each other, but Beth is blind-sided when her mother dies, and her last wish is to have her ashes spread in a small-town cemetery.

'On the outskirts of Calingarry Crossing, when Beth comes across a place called Dandelion House Retreat, her first thought is how appealing the name sounds. With her stage career waning, and struggling to see a future without her mum, her marriage, and her child, she hopes it's a place where she can begin to heal.

'After meeting Tom, a local cattleman, Beth is intrigued by his stories of the cursed, century-old river house and its reclusive owner, Gypsy. The more Beth learns, however, the more she questions her mother's wishes.

'When meeting Beth leads Tom to uncover his family's disturbing connection to the old house, he must decide if the truth will help a grieving daughter or hurt her more.

'Should Dandelion House keep its last, long-held secret?'

Source: Publisher's blurb.

'A man loses five years of his life. Two women are desperate for him to remember. Running away for the second time in her life, twenty-seven-year old Ava believes the cook's job at a country B&B is perfect, until she meets the owner's son, John Tate. The young fifth-generation grazier is a beguiling blend of both man, boy and a terrible flirt. With their connection immediate and intense, they begin a clandestine affair right under the noses of John's formidable parents. Thirty years later, Ava returns to Candlebark Creek with her daughter, Nina, who is determined to meet her mother's lost love for herself. While struggling to find her own place in the world, Nina discovers an urban myth about a love-struck man, a forgotten engagement ring, and a dinner reservation back in the eighties. Now she must decide if revealing the truth will hurt more than it heals...'

Source: Publisher's blurb.

'Everything has a reflection...

'And there’s another side to every story.

'When offering to drive her brother to Byron Bay to escape the bitter Blue Mountain’s winter, Sidney neglects to mention her planned detour to the small seaside town of Watercolour Cove.

'Thirty-five years earlier, Watercolour Cove is a very different place. Two brothers are working the steep, snake-infested slopes of a Coffs Coast banana plantation. Seventeen-year-old David does his share, but the budding artist spends too much time daydreaming about becoming the next Pro Hart and skiving off with the teasing and tantalisingly pretty Tilly from the neighbouring property. His older brother, Matthew, has no time for such infatuations. His future is on the land and he plans to take over the Greenhill plantation from his father.

'Life is simple on top of the mountain for David, Matthew and Tilly until the winter of 1979 when tragedy strikes, starting a chain reaction that will ruin lives for years to come. Those who can, escape the Greenhill plantation. One stays—trapped on the mountain and haunted by memories and lost dreams. That is until the arrival of a curious young woman, named Sidney, whose love of family shows everyone the truth can heal, what’s wrong can be righted, the lost can be found, and...

'...there’s another side to every story.' (Publication summary)

'Sometime this season ...

'The secret keeper must tell.

'The betrayed must trust.

'The hurt must heal.

'When it seems that everything Paige trusts is beginning to betray her, she leaves her husband at home and sets off on a road trip with her six-year-old daughter, Matilda, and Nana Alice in tow.

'But stranded amid rising floodwaters on a detour to the tiny town of Coolabah Tree Gully, Paige discovers the greatest betrayal of all happened there twenty years earlier.

'Someone knows that truth can wash away the darkest shadows, but . . . are some secrets best kept for the sake of others?'

Source: Publisher's blurb.

'Maggie Lindeman is back in Calingarry Crossing with her teenage son to sell the family pub. Trouble is, the bright girl people once called Magpie is so busy she has no idea a perfect storm is heading her way.

'Maggie’s past includes a schoolgirl crush on Dan Ireland, once the town bad boy. Dan has ample reason for not going home for the town’s upcoming school reunion, but one very good reason why he should – Maggie Lindeman.

'Maggie’s present is a restless seventeen-year-old son, a father with dementia, a fame-obsessed musician husband, a dwindling bank account and a country pub that just won’t sell. An unexpected arrival is a houseguest for the summer – Fiona Bailey-Blair blows into town hoping to find her father – and it seems the school reunion is a good place to start looking. ' (Publisher's blurb)