AustLit

'Alice’s heart has been captured by something special.

'But one day she inadvertently betrays that special thing.

'And desperate to forget, to begin again, to be the person she thinks she should be, she leaves her island home.

'Clinging to a mysterious wooden box, Alice starts a new life in Melbourne…

'A captivating and poetic novel about friendship and creativity, about losing what you treasure, and then finding it again in the most unexpected way.'

Source: Publisher's blurb.

'A novel about love and the things you can and can't change, from the winner of the Victorian Premier's Literary Award for young adult fiction, Sue Saliba.

'Nella closed her hand in the pocket of her dress, and she felt the feather against her fingers. 'I want to tell you something,' she said, and it did not matter that there was no reply. 'I want to tell you that he's coming home. . . and it's going to be like it was before he went away, before everything broke apart.'

'Nella waits for the swallows by the creek each spring. It's a secret vigil she's followed ever since her father left.

'This year she's going to take him with her . . . but can we ever return to the way things were?' (Publication summary)

'When Esma moves into 22 Starling Street, a share house, to begin her university life, she knows she's come to the right place. A place to forget the disappointments of her past. A place to become someone new. A place to belong. After all, her housemate Kara - with her perfect room and her perfect life - will show her the way.

As their friendship deepens, Esma believes she would do anything for Kara. But when Kara turns against their other housemate, Simon, Esma is set on a path on which she must decide where her true loyalties lie.' (From publisher's website)