AustLit

'Sarah and Marco Moretti are the perfect couple. Together they have travelled the globe building high-profile careers as archaeologists. Now, at a dig in Florence, they are on the brink of the discovery of a lifetime.

'However their marriage is not what it seems.

'On the very evening that Sarah uncovers the San Gennaro necklace - a long-lost antiquity that will bring them worldwide fame - she witnesses Marco kissing another woman. Blinded by tears, she drives home alone in the dead of night . . .

'When Sarah wakes up in hospital, she has no memory of the car accident that brought her there - or the 48 hours preceding it.

'Gone is the knowledge of her husband's infidelity. But gone too is all recollection of finding the precious necklace.

'And the loss of those two crucial memories will have devastating repercussions.

'"Memory can be the difference between love and hate, survival and death, forgiveness and revenge" ' (Publication summary)

'In Colombia you have to pick a side. Or one will be picked for you . . . 

'All Pedro Gutiérrez cares about is fishing, playing pool and his girlfriend Camila’s promise to sleep with him on his sixteenth birthday. But his life is ripped apart when Guerrilla soldiers callously execute his father in front of him, and he and his mother are banished from their farm. 

'Swearing vengeance against the five men responsible, Pedro, with his best friend Palillo, joins an illegal Paramilitary group, where he is trained to fight, kill and crush any sign of weakness. 

'But as he descends into a world of unspeakable violence, Pedro must decide how far he is willing to go. Can he stop himself before he becomes just as ruthless as those he is hunting? Or will his dark obsession cost him all he loves? 

'Colombiano is an epic tale of rural villages held to ransom, of jungle drug labs, cocaine supermarkets, witch doctors and buried millions, of innocent teenage love, barbaric torture and meticulously planned revenge. 

'Superbly told and by turns gripping, poignant and darkly comic, Colombiano is the remarkable story of a boy whose moral descent becomes a metaphor for the corruption of an entire nation. Both blockbuster thriller and electrifying coming-of-age story, Rusty Young’s powerful novel is also a meditation on the redeeming power of love.' (Publication summary)

'Nina Larkin should be happy. She’s transformed her rundown outback property, The Springs, into a successful artists’ retreat; she’s won a distinguished art prize, and she’s living with her soulmate, trail-blazing grazier Heath Blackett.

'But the chance discovery of a portrait of her father, renowned artist Jim Larkin, makes her question everything. How could it have been drawn just weeks ago when Jim has been dead for years . . . Or so she thought.

'Could her father still be alive? Can she track down the man in the picture? And is this connected to the missing gold buried by her ancestor over a century ago?

'Her search for answers will draw Nina into a maze of family secrets – just as the man who stepped out of a portrait arrives at her door . . .

'Alice Campion is the pseudonym for four members of a Sydney book club. Their first novel, The Painted Sky, also features Nina, Heath and the captivating landscape of outback Wangalla.' (Publication summary)

'You can be as curious and as confident as you want - with no limits . . .'

'Journalist Jenna Martin has led a very unadventurous life - until now.

'Sent to the Arabian desert to review an exclusive new holiday resort, she stumbles into the path of a beautiful, exotic stranger, Kalan Al Talyani.

'Over one unforgettable night, the reclusive billionaire will tempt her, test her, seduce her, and offer her an electrifying taste of a life outside her comfort zone.

'When Jenna returns to America she tells herself it was just a magical one-night stand, an experience that’s already starting to feel more dream than reality.

'But then Kalan follows her home to Boston - and Jenna is forced to make a choice. Should she stay within the confines of her current life? Or take a risk on a life that’s different from anything she’s ever imagined . . .?

''Seriously, Jenna, tell me what you want . . .' ' (Publication summary)

'Caoimhe today is as beautiful, as unblemished, as she was at the hour of her birth, before she was stamped and branded. She is bigger than any label. When I look at her I am as in love with her as always... there are times when I see her and I still catch my breath; the feeling is so intense it is painful. That pain, I know now, belongs to love, to grief, to loss, to the disappointment of mortality, and it will never go away. But I don't want it to. Sadness is not the worst thing I can feel.'

When journalist Kathy Evans wrote what was to become an award-winning series of articles about the birth of her third child, Caoimhe (pronounced Keeva), she was inundated with responses - not just from other parents of disabled children but also from parents-to-be, relatives, teachers, doctors and many others who urged her to keep writing because they wanted to know more. The result is a beautiful and intensely moving account of life with Caoimhe that goes beyond memoir to explore wider concerns of prejudice and the ethics of the cutting-edge science of genetics. Kathy and her partner had spent months agonising over whether to have a third child, then, at thirty-five, Kathy decided it would be now or never. When Caoimhe was born there was nothing to suggest anything was wrong. The following day a midwife baldly told Kathy her baby had Down syndrome. Tuesday's Child tells of Kathy's journey through shock, anger and grief to, ultimately, a kind of acceptance. From the bombshell of diagnosis - the defining moment that was to reshape her life - she charts her initial obsession with 'Why?', the impact on the family, the often hurtful, ignorant responses of strangers (and friends), and, most importantly of all, the battle to reclaim Caoimhe as an individual, not just a 'Downs child'. As Kathy wrote in her original article: 'I don't know where she fits in society, but a family is a world in microcosm. And I do know that right here, right now, she fits perfectly within my arms.'

A compelling mix of heartfelt personal story and insightful journalism, Tuesday's Child highlights society's attitudes to difference and the ongoing ethical debate about genetics, as well as examining the minefield that is prenatal testing.

(Source: Penguin)

'A triumphant saga that sweeps from embattled Ireland to the struggling new world of Australia! (Based on the TV Series!)

'Mary Mulvane—an Irish beauty, as proud and passionate as the rebellious land of her birth. When Ireland rose up against British tyranny, Mary Mulvane was swept up in the bold fight. Cruelly wrenched from home and family, she was seized and sentenced to the harsh penal colony in Australia. A beautiful young girl, an outcast haunted by a tragic past and an uncertain future, Mary would need a woman's strength to endure bitter hardship, and courage to face humiliation and heartbreak. In a raw world of savage lust and violence, she would struggle to survive, to pursue her search for lasting love, her dream of a new life established in freedom and dignity, safe for the unborn generations yet to come.'

Source: Publisher's blurb.