AustLit

'Tragic family circumstances force siblings Ying and Lai Yue to flee their home in China to seek their fortunes in North Queensland. Life on the gold fields is hard, and they soon abandon the diggings and head to nearby Maytown. Once there, Lai Yue finds a job as a carrier on expeditions, taking him far away from his sister. Ying remains in the township, where she works in a local store and strikes up an unlikely friendship with Meriem, a young white woman with a troubled past. Maytown is a place where violence frequently erupts and, when a serious crime is committed, suspicion falls on all those who are considered outsiders.

'Evoking the rich, unfolding tapestry of Australian life in the late nineteenth century, Stone Sky Gold Mountain is a heartbreaking and timeless story about those exiled from family and place who encounter discrimination yet yearn for acceptance.'   (Publication summary)

'The Continent, 1864: Two bomb attacks, three deaths.

'Clues to an elaborate assassination plot are intercepted in Paris and the authorities believe the assassin’s lair lies in Soho, London. Heloise Chancey, courtesan and professional detective, must go undercover to spy upon the nest of suspects and end their murderous conspiracy.

'Meanwhile, her Chinese maid, Amah Li Leen finds herself trapped in a deadly nightmare of deceit and madness. Will she be able to escape before time runs out? Danger keeps Heloise close company as she hunts evil down to its devilish source.'  (Publication summary)

'Stoke Newington, 1863: Little Margaret Lovejoy is found brutally murdered in the outhouse of her family’s estate.

'A few days later, another victim is found on the doorstep of Eurasian courtesan and professional detective Heloise Chancey at her prestigious address. At the same time, Heloise’s mother, Amah Li Leen, must confront events from her past that threaten her present.

'In a maelstrom of murder and deceit, Heloise is caught up in a crime that reaches into the very heart of her existence.'

Source: Publisher's blurb.

'Ten years ago we interviewed Alice Pung following the success of her award-winning memoir An Unpolished Gem. Four books, an anthology, and a children’s series later, we have a quick chat with Alice about life and writing.'  (Introduction)

'Sparked by the description of a 'Malay trollope' in W. Somerset Maugham's story, The Four Dutchmen, Mirandi Riwoe's novella, The Fish Girl tells of an Indonesian girl whose life is changed irrevocably when she moves from a small fishing village to work in the house of a Dutch merchant. There she finds both hardship and tenderness as her traditional past and colonial present collide.

'Told with an exquisitely restrained voice and coloured with lush description, this moving book will stay with you long after the last page.' (Publication summary)

'London courtesan or professional sleuth? London, 1863: Prositutes in Waterloo are turning up dead, their sexual organs mutilated and removed. When another girl goes missing, fears grow that the killer may have claimed their latest victim. The police are at a loss and so it falls to courtesan and professional detective, Heloise Chancey, to investigate. With the assistance of her trusty Chinese maid, Amah Li Leen, Heloise inches closer to the truth. But when Amah is implicated in the brutal plot, Heloise must reconsider who she can trust, before the killer strikes again.' (Publication summary)

'It lies on the crisp hospital sheet, absolutely grotesque. Dr Arnold tells us it's called a fetus in few. Our son's unformed twin. Most likely joined via the umbilical cord in gestation, now just a jumble of elephantine bone and skin, about the size of an apricot. Three canines — there's no denying they're teeth — protrude in a jagged line across its circumference. When we first saw it after the operation there was a shock of hair pressed to its side, still moist from having Thomas's stomach juices washed away. It looked like the slick of hair and scum drawn from a shower's plughole. I gagged, felt nausea water my mouth. But the hair, the colour of wheat and nearly ten centimetres long, is dry now, almost glossy. It looks like her hair. Like Hannah's. ' (120)