AustLit

'It is not wise to anger the gods ... or to fall in love with one.

'Psykhe has always been different. Fair as Venus, the goddess of love, and with the hard-won ability to save the lives of those of mortal blood, she is both shunned and revered.

'When she unwittingly provokes Venus, she and her sisters lose everything. Psykhe must find a way to make amends and support her family.

'Befriended by an old woman, Nokturna, Psykhe finds herself irresistibly drawn to her young friend, Ambrose. But neither is what they seem.

'For Psykhe has fallen in love with a man whose face she is forbidden to see. After disobeying this injunction, she must risk everything to try to save him, even if it means travelling down to the shadowy Underworld to face Proserpina, queen of the dead.

'The way to the realm of the dead is easy. A thrust of a sword, a sudden fall, a careless bite of toadstool, and the soul is sucked away. It is the return journey that is difficult ....

'The story of Psyche and Eros has been told for more than two-and-a-half thousand years. Kate Forsyth infuses it with new vigour as a life-affirming celebration of female strength, sexual desire, and empowerment.' (Publication summary)

'Long, long ago, storytellers all around the world told tales of wonder both to enchant and entertain us, and also to teach us that – if we are good and kind and courageous enough – we can change the world for the better.

'For this is what fairy tales do. They give us hope.

'As we travel through the dark and dangerous world of the fairy tale, as we fight dragons and outwit ogres and save our sisters and brothers, we learn that we are capable of anything. And then we return to our own world with all that we have learned along the way, stronger and braver than before.

'The stories in this book come from all the corners of the world. Some were told in deep time before history was recorded, and some were written not so long ago. All of them have been unjustly forgotten.

'In this collection of long-lost fairy tales, author Kate Forsyth and illustrator Lorena Carrington work together to bring tales of wisdom, compassion, and courage to life for the modern-day reader.

'This enchantingly beautiful book will transform the way you think about fairy tales. (Publication summary)

'From award-winning author Kate Forsyth and illustrator Lorena Carrington comes a fifth magical collection of little-known fairy tales. In these seven tales, strange and marvellous transformations take place, some due to spells and ill-wishing, some arising from the deepest longings of the human heart. A princess makes a promise to a frog and helps to break a curse upon him. A neglected girl goes to the ball in all her rags and, with the help of a gooseherd and his enchanting music, wins the prince's heart. Disguised as a boy, a girl sets out to save a captive princess with the help of a talking horse.'  (Publication summary)

'Two brilliant artists get together and plan a dramatic book in words and images about the twists and turns in the life cycle of a woman.

'From birth onwards, no topic is skirted around. Kate Forsyth is an award-winning and bestselling author, poet & storyteller. Wendy Sharpe is a visual artist with accolades and global experiences aplenty. This collaboration takes them both to new places in their creative lives.

'The drama that Kate and Wendy create on the pages of this lush book—in a collage style— will speak particularly to women with an intimacy that carries poignant and loving memories and knowledge, too, of the best things in life.' (Publication summary)

'May 1941. German paratroopers launch a blitzkrieg from the air against Crete. They are met with fierce defiance, the Greeks fighting back with daggers, pitchforks and kitchen knives. During the bloody eleven-day battle, Alenka a young Greek woman saves the lives of two Australian soldiers.

'Jack and Teddy are childhood friends who joined up together to see the world. Both men fall in love with Alenka. They are forced to retreat with the tattered remains of the Allied forces over the towering White Mountains. Both are among the 7000 Allied soldiers left behind in the desperate evacuation from Crete's storm-lashed southern coast. Alenka hides Jack and Teddy at great risk to herself. Her brother Axel is a Nazi sympathiser and collaborator and spies on her movements

'As Crete suffers under the Nazi jackboot, Alenka is drawn into an intense triangle of conflicting emotions with Jack and Teddy. Their friendship suffers under the strain of months of hiding and their rivalry for her love. Together, they join the resistance and fight to free the island, but all three will find themselves tested to their limits. Alenka must choose whom to trust and whom to love and, in the end, whom to save.'  (Publication summary)

'Finn travels the world in a magical quest to find the golden bird, in the company of a wise old fox.

'Rory releases a captured mermaid from his fishing net, and her father gives him a ring that will bring him his heart's desire.

'Bahram saves the life of a cat, a dog and a snake so, when he loses all he loves, the three beasts join together to help him.

'Jack and his mam are poor and homeless, but with the gift of a stick, a feather and a mechanical singing bird, Jack fights giants and outwits a dragon to win the hand of the squire's daughter.

'Prince Ivan sets out to find his long-lost sisters with nothing but his harp and his own wits, while Gervaise joins forces with a serving-maid to rescue his best friend from the wicked enchantment of an unnaturally beautiful princess.

'And Perseus sets out, with the help of the gods, to defeat the gorgon whose glance has the power to turn all living things to stone.'

Source: Publisher's blurb.

'For almost 140 years, the author of Australia’s first book for children was a mystery. Known only by the description ‘a Lady Long Resident in New South Wales’, she was the subject of much speculation. It was not until 1980, after a decade of sleuthing, that legendary bibliographer Marcie Muir gave her a name: Charlotte Waring Atkinson. And not only a name, but an extensive creative family history, connecting her to two of the nation’s celebrated contemporary children’s writers, Kate Forsyth and Belinda Murrell.

'To Forsyth and Murrell, Atkinson (also known as Barton) is great-great-great-great grandmother and the subject of the stories they grew up on—part of a thread of creative women that runs through the history of their family. Hers is one of the great lost stories of Australian history: a tale of love, grief, violence and triumph in the face of overwhelming odds.

'After spending half her life educating the children of the well-to-do in England, in 1826, at 30 years of age, Charlotte Waring accepted a job on the other side of the world. She was to teach the children of Maria Macarthur, daughter of former New South Wales governor Philip Gidley King. But on the voyage, love diverted her to a different future: marriage to the eligible James Atkinson meant she spent just seven short months with her charges. What followed were years of hardship in the New South Wales bush, including the death of Atkinson and her subsequent marriage to an abusive drunk, a brutal attack by bushrangers, penury and the threat of having her children taken away.

'In Searching for Charlotte, Forsyth and Murrell tell Charlotte’s story along with that of their own journey to discover her. In an intriguing account, the sisters join the reader in reacting to Charlotte’s actions: wondering what could have motivated certain choices; admiring the strength of spirit that pushed Charlotte through turmoil in the Australian colonies; and reviling attitudes that were common to the mid-1800s but are abhorrent in the twentieth century.

'The extraordinary, long-buried life story of Australia’s earliest published children’s author, Searching for Charlotte combines elements of biography, recreation of history and rediscovery of family history. It is a sometimes confronting but ultimately heartwarming journey into the story of a family with writing in its blood.' (Publisher's abstract)

'An enchanting collection of little known fairy tales about young women who prevail because of their kindness and compassion.

1. Snow-White & Rose Red save an enchanted bear from an ungrateful goblin
2. Marushka is sent to find strawberries in the snow by her cruel step-sister but wins the help of the Twelve Months
3. Ailsa climbs Mischanter Mountain to rescue her sister, armed with nothing more than her sewing kit and her parents' blessing
4. Reinhilda outwits a witch and saves her sweetheart
5. A kind henwife helps Morag find a home for her family with the help of a magic pot
6. Agnes and a young Romany woman together overcome the curse of an enchanted cup
7. Brigid honours a promise she made, even though it takes her to the underworld and back

'With an introduction by Isobelle Carmody, Snow White, Rose Red & Other Tales of Kind Young Women contains tales from Germany, Slovenia, Ireland and the Scottish Travellers. It will transform the way you think about fairy tales.'

Source: Publisher's blurb.

'Viviane de Faitaud has grown up alone at the Chateau de Belisama-sur-le-Lac in Brittany, for her father, the Marquis de Ravoisier, lives at the court of Louis XVI in Versailles. After a hailstorm destroys the chateau’s orchards, gardens and fields an ambitious young Welshman, David Stronach, accepts the commission to plan the chateau’s new gardens in the hope of making his name as a landscape designer.
David and Viviane fall in love, but it is an impossible romance. Her father has betrothed her to a rich duke who she is forced to marry and David is hunted from the property. Viviane goes to court and becomes a maid-in-waiting to Marie-Antoinette and a member of the extended royal family. Angry and embittered, David sails away from England with Lord Macartney, the British ambassador, who hopes to open up trade with Imperial China.

'In Canton, the British embassy at last receives news from home, including their first reports of the French Revolution. David hears the story of ‘The Blue Rose’, a Chinese fable of impossible love, and discovers the blood-red rose growing in the wintry garden. He realises that he is still in love with Viviane and must find her.

'Viviane escapes the guillotine and returns to the ruin of Chateau de Belisima to rebuild her life. David carrying a cluster of rosehips finds her there, and together they decide to grow the fabled red rose of China in France.'

Source: Publisher's blurb.

'Once
A long time ago
My grandmother’s grandmother
Travelled far, far across the seas
Over the rim of the world to where the stars were new

'Kate Forsyth tells tales of her ancestors’ lives in Australia in this beautifully illustrated picture book that celebrates the power of story. From the first perilous journey to a new land, to the great wars and civil rights movements, readers live through key moments in Australia’s fascinating history.'

Source: Publisher's blurb.

'All of the seven tales in this collection have one thing in common. They are stories of young women who face darkness and danger, but who prevail against the odds because of the brightness of their spirit and the strength of their resolve.

'The Moon is saved from the bog by the courage of those who love her bright light ...

'Fenella stays silent for seven years and weaves cloth from nettles to save her brothers ...

'Nastia must learn to survive alone in the land of the midnight sun ...

'Jiayang, daughter of the Emperor of China, devises an impossible quest for her unwanted suitors ...

'Jennet holds fast to her beloved, despite the cruel enchantments the Faery Queen casts upon him ...

'Sofiya outwits the Tsar and so wins his love and respect ...

'Molly Whuppie outwits a giant and saves her sisters ...

'These stories of bright young women will remind readers of their own inner radiance, which gives them power to illuminate the whole world.

'The Buried Moon & Other Tales of Bright Young Women will transform the way you think about fairy tales. '  (Publication summary)

'This article explores Australian author Kate Forsyth’s obsession with ‘Rapunzel’, from the time she first read the fairy tale as a child in hospital through to her doctoral research into the history of the ‘Maiden in the Tower’ and her creative responses to the story as expressed in her novel Bitter greens and her poem ‘In the tower’.'  (Publication abstract)

'For many young women, the only fairy-tales they know are the ones that have been retold by Walt Disney Studios. Once upon a time, these stories of magical transformation were meant for young women as they grew away from childhood and towards adulthood. They were told by their mothers and grandmothers and the wise women of the clan as they spun and wove and stirred their pots and made their potions. The heroines of these old tales set out on a difficult road of trials to discover their true destiny. And, contrary to popular opinion, marrying a prince was not the only goal.

These ancient tales of wonder and adventure are about learning to be strong, brave, kind and true-hearted, and trusting in yourself to change the world for the better. These are not your usual passive princesses waiting forlornly for their prince to come...

The brave young women from tale of yore in Vasilisa the Wise and Other Tales of Brave Young Women will transform the way you think about fairy tales.'

Source: Back cover.