AustLit

'Summer at Mount Hope is Pride and Prejudice in the Victorian wheat belt of the 1890s. A black comedy about a young woman’s attempt to resist the worlds of men and money, Phoeba Crupp is a young woman who lives with her parents and sister on a small farm near Geelong. Her father is an eccentric ex-accountant who moved his family from the city in order to establish a vineyard, a decision her mother bitterly — and frequently — resents. While her sister makes a play for the local squatter’s son, Phoeba is content with the companionship of her best friend Henrietta, until circumstances push her towards the world of men and money. Summer at Mount Hope has a lot of the black comedy of Ham’s first novel, The Dressmaker, but also contains a more serious strand about the efforts of a spirited woman striving to be free, in a society where this was almost impossible.' (Publication summary)

'He Died With a Felafel in His Hand was first published in 1994 and introduced literary grunge to young Australians. After a slow start it became a cult and then a bestseller, selling over 100,000 copies and being turned into a film starring Noah Taylor. The book went on to achieve international success, and the original edition is still selling well.

'To celebrate the tenth edition of this phenomenon, John Birmingham suggested a comic edition, drawn by a young artist he met at a Brisbane reading. Ryan Vella is another young Queensland genius. His version of the book, which retains every one of its lines, will entertain old readers and bring it alive for new ones.' (Publication summary)

'War Letters of General Monash is a personal account of WWI by Australia's greatest general, who was also probably the best general on the allied side on the Western Front. John Monash was only a reserve soldier (ie part-time) before the war, but as a civil engineer, he grasped earlier than most professional soldiers the necessity for meticulous planning and communication of one's plans in modern warfare.' (Duffy and Snellgrove edition)