AustLit

'Nora Fawn is a fifty something year old single mother. She kind of still looks like her younger self, but a really, really tired version. Divorced, living alone … or alone as you can be when your mother visits often for a Double Wine (whine, wine) because her nursing home doesn’t let its residents drink on the premises.

'But Nora’s life is about to get complicated.

'After four years of silence, Nora’s younger daughter, Hope, calls and says ‘I’m coming home, I’m getting married, the wedding is in three weeks and, as the mother of the bride… it’s your job to help me make it all happen.’

'And then, in characteristic form, she hung up…

'My Daughter’s Wedding is an unforgettable tale about the hilarious complexity of mother daughter love.' (Publication summary)

'In She’s Having a Laugh, 25 of the funniest women in Australia write about life, love and laughter. Their stories are irreverent, intimate and – most of all – often hilarious. They reflect on why they became comedians, celebrate the funny women in their own lives, explore what’s different about the female funny bone, and take a look at the power of laughter for us all.' (Source: Publisher's website)

'It's not easy saving the world from your crazy alien neighbours, but that's what Zeke and Eppie have to do today.

'So far they've been turned into an egghead, catapulted through the air in an enormous bra, plopped into a ginormous ice-cream and then dragged through space in a stocking.

'Yes, the alien neighbours have stolen the world's only ice-cream tree, so Zeke and Eppie have to chase them through the galaxy. They'll be swallowed by a groper, ride on a snot magic carpet and find aliens in their tummies.

'But they have to save the ice-cream tree and return home safely or the world will be sad forever !!!!!!!' (Publisher's blurb)

All Zeke and Eppie have to do is play with their new neighbours Tig and Pop - and take care of them at school and stay out of trouble for just one day - and then their mum will buy them a puppy!

'When a clairvoyant tells Gretel Killeen that she has only days to live, she is forced to look back on all the most important things in her life. High on her list is the man with whom she has shared her longest relationship, Jimmy. Theirs is a warts and all friendship - perhaps far more honest than any marriage, and Gretel takes us into the heart of their unconventional love with hilarity, wisdom and warmth.

Readers who read Gretel's first volume of autobiography, The Night My Bum Dropped, will recall Jimmy fondly - and those who didn't should prepare to meet an unbelievable and unforgettable man. But this Jimmy is to be believed, as this is a much more honest account of the private life behind the very public woman.' (Penguin Books Australia website)

'I wish my mum and dad had been less famous, 'cause then maybe their divorce wouldn't have made the world's headlines.

'I wish I was still at my friend Rupert's party, even if my bikini bottoms did fly off when I stacked my jet ski.

'I wish Mum had never taken me to the mountains to interview child soldiers.

'I wish these people had never taken me away from the mountains.

'And I wish I hadn't fallen in love.' (From the publisher's website.)

'Some days you lose your job, some days your kids move out and some days your husband resembles a cocktail frankfurt. Some days you prang the car, you're stalked, or you're robbed, some days your hair looks like you've been electrocuted and some days all these things happen at once. And on top of that your bum drops.

'In this gleefully exaggerated memoir Gretel Killeen looks at the big questions that we're confronted with in times of calamity: what the hell is life all about and what on earth are we supposed to do with it?

'Yes, it's the female midlife crisis for the generation who were meant to be superwomen, able to run a global empire, raise a family, help a crippled dog give birth and do the ironing while having multiple orgasms!

'With warmth, wisdom and wicked wit, Gretel seeks advice from old friends ("life sucks and then you die"), new friends ("life is a life-changing experience") and family ("maybe you should rent out your big bum as a kind of mobile advertising space") taking us on a hilarious yet poignant ride as she stands on top of the hill that she's not only climbed but has also built, looks at the view and wonders, "Is this all there is?"' (From the publisher's website)