Powerful Destiny

It is 850AD and Norse warrior Rolf lands on the shores of East Anglia determined to take revenge on a Celtic clan. Following a fierce battle, where the Celts are savagely killed, Rolf comes face to face with the daughter of the slain Celtic leader. So stunned by the beauty, along with the courage of Brigid, he is convinced that his Three Fates of Destiny brought them together. Resolved to make this woman his own, he spares the lives of the captured Celtic women and children and takes them back to his homeland across the ocean. Strangely drawn to the Norseman who is so sure they are destined to be together, Brigid must fight against succumbing to the wishes of the man who killed her father. Nevertheless, to save her fellow Celtic captives from slavery or worse, Brigid must keep a bargain with the Norse leader—a bargain that will see her tied to him forever. In present day Cornwall, naturally shy Rolf shares his secluded lighthouse with his wolfhound. An artist, he delights...
Views: 70

Gracious Living

Gracious Living plunges into the excesses of the 1980s. Adrian Dadswell, an entrepreneur, is the owner of a holiday resort that boasts everything from an indoor golf range to a fake rain forest. Adrian has a former wife and a disabled daughter who, together with their friends, live very differently from Adrian and his white-shoe brigade. It is these women—young and old, married and single, lesbians and mothers—who come to dominate the novel. The book explores the value of diversity, while at the same time presenting a harshly witty examination of materialism.
Views: 69

The Last Days of Jeanne d'Arc

Jeanne is a young woman from rural France. She's a knight who wears men's clothing. The English call her Joan of Arc. Jeanne has led France to victory in epic battles. She hears ghostly voices and has unspeakable desires. The English want to burn her. Her king has abandoned her. Her heart has been broken. Her heart cannot be burnt. This is her story, and the story of her beloved.Ali Alizadeh's novel The Last Days of Jeanne d'Arc is a provocative new portrait of the life of one of history's most fascinating figures. Countless books have been written about the young Frenchwoman who claimed to hear the voices of saints, led the armies of France in the war against England in the Middle Ages, and was captured and burnt for heresy by her enemies. Based on a rigorous study of the historical material, The Last Days of Jeanne d'Arc provides the first serious dramatisation of Jeanne's sexuality. Alizadeh uses an innovative storytelling technique that weaves together multiple narrative...
Views: 67

Praise

Praise is an utterly frank and darkly humorous novel about being young in the Australia of the 1990s. A time when the dole was easier to get than a job, when heroin was better known than ecstasy, and when ambition was the dirtiest of words. A time when, for two hopeless souls, sex and dependence were the only lifelines.'McGahan's book is a bracing slap in the face to conventional platitudes and hypocrisies.' - The Australian'Praise is one of those books that takes a hefty bite out of a piece of subject matter, chews it to a pulp and then spits it out.' - Peter Craven'A tour de force... revelation of life in the slow lane of drugs and sex and alcohol.' - The Weekend AustralianWinner of The Australian/Vogel Literary Award and the Commonwealth Writers' Prize for Best First Book in the Pacific Region. Shortlisted for the Victorian Premier's Literary Award, the Adelaide Festival Awards for Literature and the Canada-Australia Literary Award.
Views: 65

Lawman Lover - Lisa Childs

HE'D HAVE TO PLAY DEAD IN ORDER TO REMAIN ALIVE There was a live body on her morgue table. Macy Kleyn hadn't expected to find a perfectly healthy Rowe Cusack lying inside a body bag. The man claimed to be a DEA agent who'd escaped from prison by faking his own death. But despite using a disguise, someone knew the truth. Now they wanted to keep Rowe locked up inside. For good. Taking a civilian on the run went against Rowe's lawman code, but leaving Macy behind could mean putting her in even greater danger. On their own, they were targets, but together they might still have a fighting chance. It's a chance he's willing to take in order to protect the one person he could trust - and the one woman he was falling for.
Views: 64

Can You Hear the Sea?

'An affectionate tribute to someone who quietly but firmly shaped her own place in the world.' Books+Publishing Brenda Niall has turned her biographer's eye to a personal subject—her grandmother, Aggie. She tells the story of a fiercely independent and intelligent woman who braved a new country as a single woman, teaching in a country school, before marrying a Riverina grazier, whose large powerful family was wary of the newcomer with ideas of her own. Aggie dealt with hardships and loneliness after the early and drawn-out death of her husband, and brought up her seven children to be happy—all with a calm determination. But it was the memory box and her longing for the sea that captured the imagination of her granddaughter.Brenda Niall is one of Australia's foremost biographers. She is the author of five award-winning biographies, including her acclaimed accounts of the Boyd family. In 2016 she won the Australian Literature...
Views: 62

The White Earth

A haunting, powerful novel about the power of the land and the passions of people trying to make it their own. One spring day in late 1992, when William was halfway between his eighth birthday and his ninth, he looked out from the back verandah of his home and saw, huge in the sky, the mushroom cloud of a nuclear explosion. He stared at it, wondering. The thunderhead was dirty black, streaked with billows of grey. It rolled and boiled as it climbed into the clear blue day, casting a vast shadow upon the hills beyond. But there was no sound, no rumble of an explosion. William was aware of the smell of burning . . . but it was a good smell, a familiar smell. The smell of grass, of wheat, of the farm itself. His father dead by fire and his mother plagued by demons of her own, William is cast upon the charity of his unknown uncle - an embittered old man encamped in the ruins of a once great station homestead, Kuran House. It's a baffling and sinister new world for the boy, a place of decay and secret histories. His uncle is obsessed by a long life of decline and by a dark quest for revival, his mother is desperate for a wealth and security she has never known, and all their hopes it seems come to rest upon William's young shoulders. But as the past and present of Kuran Station unravel and merge together, the price of that inheritance may prove to be the downfall of them all. The White Earth is a haunting, disturbing and cautionary tale. 'The novel is beautifully structured, filled with parallels and reverberations which come back to haunt and illuminate the reader as the story unfolds.' - Katharine England, Adelaide
Views: 61

Black-Winged Tuesday

Unlucky in life, twice as unlucky in the after-life? When Tuesday dies and becomes a guardian angel, he's sure his luck has turned. Little does he know he'll have to face were-beavers, old sweethearts, archangels, and even Lucifer himself. Nevertheless, Tuesday's death may turn out to be the best thing that ever happened to him. ### About the Author Alicia lives in Northern California where she is a writer and an attorney, but she remains a Southerner at heart. She enjoys mystery and dark fantasy novels and tries to give her own works a little bit of both.
Views: 61

Dangerous Memories

THE MORE SHE REMEMBERS[unknown-8230] After witnessing her mother's murder as a child, Jolene Atkins had forced the memories from her mind. Now the killer had resurfaced, but this time Jo had Levi Cooper to protect her. Even if he was disobeying direct orders from the U.S. Marshal service to do so[unknown-8230]. THE MORE ONE U.S. MARSHAL HAS TO PROTECT HER Levi had vowed years ago to always keep the innocent beauty safe. So when Jo insisted on finally getting some answers, Levi had no choice but to help her. But watching as the pain of the past threatened to crush a spirited Jo, Levi ignored every professional instinct and pulled her into his arms. After one night together, Levi was more determined than ever to close this case. Because that one night would never be enough[unknown-8230].
Views: 57

The First Vampire

Some journeys take more than one lifetime. Ever since Delilah turned him into a vampire, Samson has been plotting revenge against his former lover. When he finally catches up with her in modern-day New York, it seems he has all the time in the world to see that the last chapter of their sordid saga is finally written. Much like old enemies, however, old passions die hard, and Samson is forced to make a surprisingly hard choice - does he want her dead more than he wants her back? Intelligent, disquieting, and deeply erotic, THE FIRST VAMPIRE cleverly weaves the past into the present in a captivating tapestry of suspense, intrigue, romance and betrayal.
Views: 57

Last Drinks

It's closing time in the Queensland underworld. Last Drinks is brilliant, suspenseful and masterfully written. Shortlisted for The Age Book of the Year, the Queensland Premier's Literary Award and winner of the Ned Kelly Award for Best First Crime Novel. It's a decade since the infamous Inquiry into corruption tore the state of Queensland apart. But for George Verney, disgraced journalist and bit-player in the great scandals of his day, the Inquiry has never quite finished. After ten years of self-imposed exile, drawn by the terrible death of a man who was his friend, he reluctantly returns to Brisbane, the city of his downfall. In a town he no longer recognises and through an underworld that has forgotten him, George must seek out the other hidden survivors of his times, to confront the truth about their common past. 'Last Drinks, fast moving, funny and shocking, is a lament for all that can go wrong not only in the life of one man, but in the life of an entire state. This is crime fiction that transcends the genre . . . It's a truly compelling and stylish novel, seamlessly written.' - Debra Adelaide, Sydney Morning Herald
Views: 57

Hostage Midwife

SHE'D BEEN TRAINED TO DELIVER BABIES, NOT RESOLVE A HOSTAGE SITUATION[unknown-8230] In a twist of fate, midwife Kelly Evans is the only person to hear the last words of a dying man. Although the words make no sense, someone thinks she knows more than she should. And millionaire playboy Nick Spencer may just be her fiercest protector. If his uncle was murdered, Nick fears the Spencer fortune is at risk. And worse, that Kelly, an innocent bystander, may be in danger. When a hostage situation traps Kelly within the killer's grasp, Nick knows he holds the key to her release. He'll do anything to save her life - even if it costs him his own.
Views: 57

Bush Studies

Bush Studies is famous for its stark realism—for not romanticising bush life, instead showing all its bleakness and harshness.Economic of style, influenced by the great nineteenth-century Russian novelists, Barbara Baynton's short-story collection presents the Australian bush as dangerous and isolating for the women who inhabit it. The terror Baynton evokes,' Helen Garner writes in her introduction to the book, 'is elemental, sexual, unabashedly female.'The stories:A DreamerSqueaker’s MateScrammy ’AndBilly SkywonkieBush ChurchThe Chosen VesselBarbara Baynton was born in Scone, New South Wales. In the 1890s Baynton began writing short stories, poetry and articles for the Bulletin. Her first tale, 'The Tramp', was published in 1896. After failing to find an Australian publisher for her collection of short stories, she visited London and in 1902 Duckworth published Bush...
Views: 56

The War of the Four Isles

The ancient mapmaker had inscribed a warning within the great empty shadow on his chart, words that echoed down to Dow from half a thousand years before. Here be whales in great number. And here be monsters of the deep that riseth to feast upon them.'Nearly three years have passed since Dow Amber escaped the ruin of the Twelfth Kingdom. In that time, war has raged across the Four Isles, but Dow himself has been hidden away by his Twin Islands hosts, relegated to a backwater of the war in the company of the beguiling Cassandra. But when word reaches Dow that Ignella of the Cave has been imprisoned on the infamous Ship Kings dungeon-isle of Banishment, he can be patient no longer. He sets forth on an epic voyage that will take him halfway around the world — defying storm and monster, betrayal and despair — to the heart of the greatest battle of the age, and to the discovery at last of his true purpose upon the high seas.The War of the Four...
Views: 55

The Prosperous Thief

A rich and epic novel of two families spanning the turbulence of the twentieth century over three continents. Alice Lewin, the sole survivor of her family from World War II in Germany, makes a journey across the world to find the thief and his unimaginable theft. Shortlisted for the 2003 Miles Franklin Literary Award.There are thieves who prosper. But are there thefts which can never be forgiven?The Prosperous Thief covers the turbulent sweep of the twentieth century. Rich in ideas and emotions, it is an epic story of the entwined lives of two vastly different families spanning three continents.Alice Lewin survived the war as a young child. After decades of burying her past she decides to visit the Kindertransport archive, where she learns of the existence of a possible relative, Henry Lewin. She travels to Australia to hear his story, but it's a story that she's in no way prepared to hear.The truth has profound ramifications and both Alice's son, Raphe, and Henry's daughter, Laura, struggle to deal with their connected lives. But just as the thefts of the Second World War define their past, so deception threatens their future.From the horrors of war to the fiery landscape of one of the world's most active volcanoes, this compelling novel generates its own unsettling shadows. a twisting, turning, tantalisingly open-ended moral and romantic thriller' Advertiser, Katharine England With the sensuous pace of a poet, she unravels an epic tale of two families, spanning the world of pre-war Berlin to late-20th century Melbourne, and counting the cost of the horror from both sides of the moral fence. It is a rare novel; endowed with intelligence and beauty.' Canberra Times, Ian McFarlane this is a novel that seeks to provoke questions rather than provide answers; a novel about theft and appropriation in myriad disguises as much as it is an attempt to understand the Holocaust's dark shadow.' The Courier-Mail, Bron Sibree
Views: 53