AustLit

'To possess the Mandate of Heaven, the female monk Zhu will do anything

'"I refuse to be nothing"

'In a famine-stricken village on a dusty yellow plain, two children are given two fates. A boy, greatness. A girl, nothingness

'In 1345, China lies under harsh Mongol rule. For the starving peasants of the Central Plains, greatness is something found only in stories. When the Zhu family's eighth-born son, Zhu Chongba, is given a fate of greatness, everyone is mystified as to how it will come to pass. The fate of nothingness received by the family's clever and capable second daughter, on the other hand, is only as expected.

'When a bandit attack orphans the two children, though, it is Zhu Chongba who succumbs to despair and dies. Desperate to escape her own fated death, the girl uses her brother's identity to enter a monastery as a young male novice. There, propelled by her burning desire to survive, Zhu learns she is capable of doing whatever it takes, no matter how callous, to stay hidden from her fate.

'After her sanctuary is destroyed for supporting the rebellion against Mongol rule, Zhu takes the chance to claim another future altogether: her brother's abandoned greatness.' (Publication summary)

'The night before the Underwater Fancy Dress Parade, Alfie got that feeling...

Sometimes it's hard to be brave. Sometimes you get that feeling. Alfie isn't sure he can go to the parade, but his mum knows there's at least one special place for Alfie - a beautiful shimmery, underwater world that tells Alfie it's okay to feel shy. Because sometimes you're just not ready...until, one day, you are.' (Publication summary)

'When a plane crashes into the Antarctic ice, exposing a massive cave beneath, a rescue and research team is dispatched.

Twenty-four hours later, all contact is lost.

Captain Alex Hunter and his highly trained squad of commandos are fast tracked to the hot zone to find out what went wrong - and to follow up the detection of a vast underground reservoir. Accompanying the team is an assortment of researchers, including petrobiologist Aimee Weir. If the unidentified substance proves to be an energy source, every country in the world will want to know about it - some would even kill for it.

Once inserted into the cave system, they don't find any survivors - not even a trace of their bodies. Primeval hieroglyphs hint at an ancient civilisation, and an ancient danger. Spectres of the dead haunt the tunnels. Within hours, one of the party will die.

"Soldiers, we are not alone. Prepare to go hot."

To bring his team out alive, Alex will need every one of his mysterious abilities beneath the dark ice.' (From the publisher's website.)

'Makedde 'Mak' Vanderwall has her PhD and has started a new life in Australia with her detective boyfriend, Andy Flynn. To scrape together extra cash to start her first forensic psychology practice, Mak begins working part-time for an infamous Sydney PI. With a knack for investigation and bending the law, she might just have stumbled across her true calling and the career choice that could finally bust up her relationship once and for all.

'Then Mak is hired by a mysterious client to investigate the murder of A-list PA Meaghan Wallace. The police believe it's an open and shut case: a junkie street-kid is guilty. But the case turns out to be a lot more complicated as Mak uncovers a dangerous web of cover-ups, killers for hire, the powerful and debauched rich, and Australia's sleazy underbelly. If the boy didn't kill Meaghan, then who set him up? And how far will they go to keep their guilt a secret?' (Publisher's blurb)

'Dillon Caxton, wealthy and handsome protege of the infamous Cynster clan, is disillusioned with love. He has a more pressing matter on his mind - thwarting a daring criminal scheme that threatens to wreak havoc on the thoroughbred racing world.

'And his only lead is the ravishing Lady Priscilla Dalloway. Priscilla, too, has no time for romance. She has arrived in Newmarket with one aim: to rescue her horse-mad twin brother from the swindle in which he's become embroiled. And the man holding the key is Dillon - who allows her to believe he is immune to her charms.

'Aided by the Cynsters, Dillon and Priscilla embark on a journey riddled with danger - and growing passion - as they seek to expose the swindle's deadly perpetrators. And to answer the age-old question: What price love?' (Publisher's blurb)

'Pretty and promiscuous Bohemian woman is bumped off, and not quite so pretty and promiscuous girl friend sets out to discover by which of a string of former lovers. The plot is riddled with coincidences, but this stylish writer has a keen eye for the London scene, and an ear for the spoken word, with a dry, sharp tongue of her own'.

Source:

'It's a Crime', The Spectator, 4 July 1958, p.45.