Cirrus@Austlit

'In a rented room outside Plymouth in 1685, a daughter is born as her half-brother is dying. Her mother makes a decision: Mary will become Mark, and Ma will continue to collect his inheritance money.

'Mary's dual existence will take her to a grand house where she'll serve a French mistress; to the navy where she'll learn who to trust, and how to navigate by the stars; to the army and the battlegrounds of Flanders, following her one true friend; and finding love among the bloodshed and mud. But none of this will stop her yearning for the sea…

'Drawn back to the water, Mary must reinvent herself yet again, for a woman aboard a ship is a dangerous thing. This time Mary will become something more dangerous than a woman.

'She will become a pirate…

'Breathing life into the Golden Age of Piracy, Saltblood is a wild adventure, a treasure trove, weaving an intoxicating tale of gender and survival, passion and loss, journeys and transformation, through the story of Mary Read, one of history's most remarkable figures.'

Source: Publisher's blurb.

''It's not exactly how I imagined the week starting. An accessory to murder. On the run in the victim's vehicle . . .'

'Charlie and Nao are strangers from different sides of the tracks. They should never have met, but one devastating incident binds them together forever.

'A man is dead and now they are unwilling accomplices in his murder there's only one thing to do: hit the road in the victim's twin cab ute, with a bag of stolen gold stashed under the passenger seat.

'Suddenly outlaws, Nao and Charlie must make their way across Australia's remote outback using only their wits to survive. They'll do whatever it takes to evade capture and escape with their lives . .

'.Thelma & Louise for a new generation, No Country for Girls is a gritty, twisty road-trip thriller that follows two young women on the run across the harsh, unforgiving landscape of Australia.'  (Publication summary)

'The quest for a WW2 Japanese submarine in a bottomless Papuan cavern could be the opportunity Rob Nash needs to rebuild his once glittering career in cave diving exploration. Since losing his wife in a controversial diving accident he’s been dumped by sponsors, shunned by friends, and has developed a secret terror of confined spaces. Nash soon learns the price of redemption will consume every molecule of his self-belief. Not only must he battle his demons in the darkness below but vanquish fanatical terrorists hell-bent on unleashing a monstrous weapon lost in the depths for over seventy years.'

Source: Publisher's blurb.

'Winner of the best unpublished manuscript category of the Wilbur Smith Adventure Writing Prize: a fast-paced adventure story set in the Australian outback. 1853, Victoria. Five bushrangers raid a homestead. When they ride away, nineteen-year-old Toby O'Rourke's parents lay dead at his feet. Forced into adulthood, he and his brother Paddy will seek to restore the family fortunes and outwit not only the rich businessman who conspired to rob them of their birth right, but the vicious men who murdered their family.'

Source: Publisher's blurb.