Cirrus@Austlit

'Miracles are notoriously unreliable. But sometimes, just when they're needed, they turn up - although not always in the form that we expect...

''A novel luminous with love and hope that will change the way you see the world.' Kathryn Heyman

'Awkward, hapless Marick is still struggling with the loss of his wife, his child and his faith when he is reluctantly thrust into the position of chaplain at a large public hospital. Shortly after arriving, he meets Hugo, a hospital scientist and a man almost as lost as Marick himself, who is working in a forgotten lab, deep in the subterranean realms of the hospital. Hugo is convinced that the bacteria he uses for protein production have - unbelievably - begun to produce gold. Is it alchemy, evolution, a hoax or even ... possibly ... a miracle?

'In the meantime, Christmas is approaching, the number of homeless outside the hospital is increasing, the Director of Operational Services is pressing Marick about his weekly KPIs, you can't buy chocolate in the hospital shop anymore, and Marick keeps waking with nightmares at 4 am every night. If ever a miracle was needed, it's now.

'A tender, sweet, sad, gritty, slyly funny and unexpectedly uplifting novel about family, friendship, faith, love - and alchemy - Tiny Uncertain Miracles is a hopeful and luminous gift to all readers.'  (Publication summary)

'Dr Raymond Filigree, running away from a disastrous medical career, mistakes an unknown name on a map for the perfect refuge. He travels to the isolated town of Wittenoom and takes charge of its small hospital, a place where no previous doctor has managed to stay longer than an eye blink. Instead of settling into a quiet, solitary life, he discovers an asbestos mining corporation with no regard for the safety of its workers and no care for the truth.

'Thirty years later, Dr Lou Fitzgerald stumbles across the abandoned Wittenoom Hospital. She, too, is a fugitive from a medical career toppled by a single error. Here she discovers faded letters and barely used medical equipment, and, slowly the story of the hospital's tragic past comes to her.

'Dustfall is the tale of the crashing consequences of medical error, the suffering caused by asbestos mining and the power of storytelling.' (Publication summary)