AustLit

A woman loses her cook and maid on the eve of a dinner party which includes 'an Englishman of title'. A helpful neighbour agrees to cook and wait on the table - and her temporary loss of caste wins her a husband. Predictable redeemed by its humour. (PB).

An American Indian girl - deserted by her white fiancee - takes a terrible revenge on his new wife. Brief. (PB).

Two Melbourne men - an accountant and a state school assistant - on holiday in the hot Victorian town of Aramouse (Ararat) visit the local mental asylum and hear the sad tale of an inmate's lost wife. He was a happily married store supervisor in Taralong until he offended the new bank manager, who eventually embezzled bank funds and absconded with the farmer's wife - apparently using some form of mesmerism. Interesting portrayal of social life in a small town - and a lunatic asylum. (PB).

A young squatter, Eric Leigh, rescues siblings Aubrey and Valorie Carlisle from a boating accident near the St Kilda jetty. Thus he meets his future wife and hears the secret of her father's conviction and transportation to Australia for a murder he did not commit. Pleasant well-told suburban romance with a dash of convict experience from an earlier age. (PB).

The narrator, a British midshipman, deserts his ship in Melbourne and resolves to make his way to the Bendigo diggings. On the way he shoots one bushranger and wounds another but is mistaken for one himself and tried in Melbourne. He escapes hanging only through the confession of the wounded bushranger on his death-bed. (PB).

Having inherited £10 000 a governess returns to England from Europe to find her brother grieving for the loss of his fiancee committed to a mental asylum. She visits the girl anonymously, discovers her to be sane and arranges for her escape ... Melodramatic in subject but not in tone. (PB).

A French maid gives evidence against her master when her mistress is found poisoned; but finds her mistress' note - confessing the suicide as revenge for his unfaithfulness - too late to prevent his execution. Awkward but with a certain rough power. (PB).

An English digger discovers gold on the Branch Creek diggings near Sandhurst but loses his memory for 10 years until his twin brother and a Melbourne detective trace him to a station. The sight of his fiancee's grave prompts his memory to return ... (PB)

A widower details his deceased wife's ability to reuse everything around their house and farm. (PB).

Caleb Thorne meets his match through a wax doll left on a bus by accident - which he mistakes for a baby. (PB).

Romance of a cynical bachelor and a world-weary heiress who misunderstand each other at first ... but true love triumphs. Odd mixture of cliche and individuality. (PB).

Letter to a brother-in-law recounting a husband's revolt after twenty years appeasing a overbearing wife. Set in Victoria - in a country town and Melbourne. A black silk dress, a hat wreathed with daisies and a holiday at her poor sister-in-law's are her downfall. (PB)