AustLit

'From the backwaters of Tasmania to the sophisticated streets of Sydney, sisters Bellarene and Serandipity have come a long way. As international flight attendants the world is their oyster, until Sera falls in love and settles for family life in Sydney, where she becomes an expert at keeping up appearances. Her friends, her work, her Paddington home, and even her children are beautiful and well styled, but she's stretched to the limit as she goes to extreme lengths to maintain the illusion of a flawless life. No wonder she relies on her friends from Stitch 'n' Bitch; a weekly knitting group which seems to produce lots of gossip, but few handicrafts. There's Sera's best friend, the ditzy, tanorexic Mallory, who is deserted by her Cashed-up-Bogan husband after he gets the hots for his peroxided receptionist. Then there's flight attendant Chantrea, who balances full-time work, single parenthood and plenty of guilt about her child-care choices. Single dad Sam is the only bloke in Stitch 'n' Bitch, and then only because the girls want to play cupid. Sam is more interested in trying to be mum and dad to his two daughters rather than negotiating dating in the Noughties. Sera's neighbour, the uptight Jacqueline, is the cookie-cutter version of 1950s housewife perfection - happy to judge any of the other mums who can't whip up a meringue or souffle at the drop of a hat. But she has a little secret - a certain light-fingered tendency - that threatens to undermine her perfect world. All Sera wants is to be perfect. Her sister Bella just wants to be free - from the responsibility of mothering her little sister, from the sadness of her broken marriage and the memories of the past. Will the sisters get what they want?' (Publisher's blurb : http://australiasbiggestbookgroup.com/catalog/About_the_Book_Versace_Sisters-2-1.html )

"From the author of Waiting for the Barbarians, another startling and disturbing portrait of today's South Africa, a land and a people beset by violence and siege. Coetzee here tells the story of a handicapped young man who has worked as a municipal gardener in Cape Town. His mother is dying, and she wishes to return to her birthplace out in the veldt. Without the required transit passes, mother and son set out on a journey that will end in death for her and in a new but temporary life on an abandoned farm for him. His respite in isolation and peace does not last long, however; grotesque reality soon returns to trouble this quiet new world. Against the solitude of this private drama, Coetzee paints an eloquent and pained picture of his homeland and of the bureaucrats, doctors, army deserters, and camp guards who reveal the stress and qualms of their existence and who uneasily sense that there is no conclusion to their troubles and no future for their lives." (Source: Libraries Australia)

After years teaching Romantic poetry at the Technical University of Cape Town, David Lurie, middle-aged and twice divorced, has an impulsive affair with a student. The affair sours; he is denounced and summoned before a committee of inquiry. Willing to admit his guilt, but refusing to yield to pressure to repent publicly, he resigns and retreats to his daughter Lucy's isolated smallholding. For a time, his daughter's influence and the natural rhythms of the farm promise to harmonise his discordant life. But the balance of power in the country is shifting. He and Lucy become victims of a savage and disturbing attack which brings into relief all the faultlines in their relationship.' (Publisher's blurb)

The Thorn Birds is the unforgettable story of the Clearys, spanning three generations; a sweeping family saga of dreams, titanic struggles, dark passions, and forbidden love in the Australian Outback. (Source: Trove)

'Stan Parker, with only a horse and a dog for company journeys to a remote patch of land he has inherited in the Australian hills. Once the land is cleared and a rudimentary house built, he brings his wife Amy to the wilderness. Together they face lives of joy and sorrow as they struggle against the environment.' (Publication summary)