AustLit

'Taylor Markham is not a popular choice. She is erratic, has no people skills and never turns up to meetings. Not to mention the incident when she ran off in search of her mother and only got halfway there. But she's lived at Jellicoe School most of her life and as leader of the boarders that's her greatest asset. Especially now the cadets, led by the infamous Jonah Griggs, have arrived. The territory wars between the boarders, townies and cadets are about to recommence.

'But Taylor has other things on her mind; a prayer tree, the hermit who whispered in her ear, and a vaguely familiar drawing in the local police station. Taylor wants to understand the mystery of her own past. But Hannah, the woman who found her, has suddenly disappeared, leaving nothing but an unfinished manuscript about five kids whose lives entwined twenty years ago on the Jellicoe Road ...' (Publisher's blurb)

'Lucy is in love with Shadow, a mysterious graffiti artist. Ed thought he was in love with Lucy, until she broke his nose. Dylan loves Daisy, but throwing eggs at her probably wasn't the best way to show it. Jazz and Leo are slowly encircling each other.

'An intense and exhilarating 24 hours in the lives of four teenagers on the verge: of adulthood, of HSC, of finding out just who they are, and who they want to be.' (From the publisher's website.)

A novel written true to the histories, and true to the memories of Enric Torres i Barbo, whose life and philosophies this novel takes for its guide.

Twin boys Enric and Josep, at ten years of age, served as spies and couriers in the Resistance by the Republican Spanish against the invasion of Fascist forces in Spain, then from Italy and Germany during the Civil War.'

Source: Publisher's blurb (Port Campbell Press).

'The 'Baker's Dozen' of the title are the thirteen children of Jape Cotgrove, who comes to Sydney with his family in the 1860s to make a new life. The story of their adventures centres around Charlotte Cotgrove - usually known as Charley - whose ambition is to become a schoolteacher, but the author gives us a lively impression of her brothers and sisters, including lovely, irresponsible Livvy; Jane, the conscientious one; the endearing, mischievous twins; hardworking George; Jimmy, who longs to go to sea; Cathy, who is 'different' and demands Charley's special attention, and 'Cornstalk', the baby.

'The family at first settle in the Rocks area of Sydney, but later move to Boanyoo, in the Southern Tableland. They enjoy the country better than the city, and in Boanyoo, Charley draws nearer to achieving her ambition. A lightly drawn romance, and the excitement of bushrangers' exploits highlight this story of the Cotgroves, who find happiness in a new land.' (Inside dust jacket).

'The opening book deals with life in Nice amongst the fishermen, and the reader is taken to the court of Louis XIV of France, and afterwards to England in the time of Charles II. The characters stand out in a life-like manner, and the grim life on the boats of the pirates in the Mediterranean is depicted in a manner which holds the reader's attention. The descriptive writing is a masterpiece, particularly the portion descriptive of the destruction of the 'red fleet.' The underworld of Paris and the part played by Monsieur le Rat is a vivid bit of writing that haunts the reader.'

Source:

'Review', Illawarra Mercury, 13 July 1934, p.10.