Cirrus@Austlit

'Love is a special and growing thing. It’s a little bit like a tree – a special magical tree – that you can climb up into, nest comfortably in its big branches, and safely watch the world go by. Love can come in different shapes and sizes. Like a tree, love can grow and grow…' (Publication summary)

'A woman must track down a murderer to save her brother from the hangman's noose ... A rollicking and entertaining historical mystery, filled with adventure and romance from the Australian author of Daughter of the Hunter Valley.

'1842, Hunter Valley: Lucy Stewart's life turns chaotic when she finds herself caught up in a murder investigation in order to save her brother-in-law, Joe, from the hangman's noose. Constable Sam Donovan believes the accusations levelled at Joe Stewart are suspicious at best and feels compelled to work with Lucy to find the real killer. Getting to know this fiercely independent woman in the process is a bonus.

'Their pursuit brings them to the attention of the notorious Smokey Gang, and when Lucy is ambushed on a deserted bush track and threatened, they realise they must be getting close to finding out what is really going on in the Valley.

'Life has taught Lucy the hard way not to rely on anyone, but Lucy needs Sam's sleuthing skills. However, she has secrets in her past, the kind that once revealed change everything, and the only way she can find out if she can place her confidence in him, is to trust him. And that's the hard part...

'Bushrangers, corruption and cover-ups, it's a perilous journey to the truth...' (Publication summary)

'A suicide. A shooting. And a reckoning, decades in the making. The must-read new Detective Kate Miles novel from 'a born storyteller' (Michael Robotham).

'Weeks from Christmas in the sweltering heat of summer, Detective Kate Miles' estranged brother, Luke Grayling, returns home to Esserton to farewell a childhood friend - Ant Reed, dead by suicide. Within days of the funeral, another young man, Marcus Rowntree, is found shot dead in the back paddock of his property.

'Almost twenty years ago, Luke, Ant and Marcus were best mates in high school and now two of the three friends are dead. A tragic coincidence? Or is there something more sinister connecting the three men?

'When Luke is identified as a person of interest in Marcus's death, Kate once again finds herself in the middle of a media storm, sidelined from the case and battling accusations of conflict of interest. As press attention deepens, and uncomfortable truths about Luke's personal life and past events come to light, Kate is forced to contend between loyalty to the police force, and the bonds of friendship and blood.'  (Publication summary)

'The Big Hug Collection comprises of ten enlightening tales that offer gentle explanations of emotions and relationships through analogies children can relate to.' (Publication summary)

''I was in the shower. I left Sienna in her bassinet ... When I got out ... She was gone.'

'Detective Sergeant Kate Miles is back from maternity leave and struggling on multiple fronts - the pressures of a second child, financial strain from her husband losing his job, and a corruption scandal that may involve her father.

'When an infant goes missing, Kate finds herself fronting a high-profile and emotionally fraught case. Was baby Sienna removed from her bassinet by an unknown abductor or is the answer much closer to home?

'Amidst a frenzied media demanding answers, and a station chief looking for any reason to remove her from the investigation, Kate is pushed to her limits, pulled between the competing demands of the family at the centre of the case and her own spiralling personal life.'

Source: Publisher's blurb.

'At just three years of age, Estella is taken from her mother, adopted by the wealthy but eccentric Miss Havisham and taught how to break men's hearts. Satis House is dark and oppressive and life with the vengeful Miss Havisham a confusion of contradictory lessons, but the kindness of the household cook and Estella's love of the nearby marshes bring her some joy. Forced to play with Pip, a local boy from a lowly background, Estella captivates his soul and breaks his heart, exactly as Miss Havisham has planned.

'Years later, Estella returns from school in France as a young woman and is thrust into London society. There she meets Pip again, who has acquired an unknown benefactor and come into money. Miss Havisham recruits Pip to help find Estella a husband, much to her distress. She seems forever fated to be the plaything of others, locked into the destructive cycles her adoptive mother set in motion.

'Estella is beautiful, headstrong, enigmatic - but who is she, really? Will she ever be able to break free from the constraints of society's expectations and her own childhood? Will Estella finally find a way to tell her own story?'

Source: Publisher's blurb.

'Adam and Eve are really digging Paradise. They’re happy, super happy in their airtight bubbleland. There’s no judgement here. No shame. It’s the perfect place for some relentless fornication.

'But nothing this good lasts long.

'Satan’s sick of the cherubs getting stuck in the ventilation shafts. He tries to complain but God chucks him out. In hell, a napalm covered wonderland, Satan hatches a master plan. And so the fall begins.

'PARADISE LOST is a satirical adaptation about the narcissism of creation and our fading hope for the future.

'Bloomshed creates cutting edge, political satire, energising classic texts through physical comedy and outrageous dance breaks. PARADISE LOST is a whirlwind ride through creation: it took God seven days, it’ll take us just under an hour.'

Source: Publisher's blurb.

'How well do you really know the people you work with?

'For work wives Debra and Quinn, it's a case of opposites attract. They are each other's lifelines as they navigate office politics and jobs that pay the bills but don't inspire them.

'Outside work, they are also friends, but where Quinn is addicted to dating apps and desperate to find love, Deb has sworn off men. Although Deb is not close to her own mother, her teenage daughter is her life and there's nothing she wouldn't do to protect her. But Ramona has other ideas and is beginning to push boundaries.

'Life becomes even more complicated by the arrival of a new man at the office. One woman is attracted to him, while the other hoped she'd never meet him again.

'But when Deb, Quinn and Ramona are forced to choose between friends, love and family, the ramifications run deeper than they could ever have expected.'  (Publication summary)

'A gem-fossicking discovery echoes through time and leads to a dangerous journey through the red dust outback. A gripping mystery from Australian author Annie Seaton.

'Gemma Hayden has returned to her hometown of Alice Springs for a new job as a primary school teacher. It's been six years since her family broke apart following the disappearance of her twin brother. And the scars still run deep.

'Hard on the heels of her homecoming, Saul Pearce, the man she once loved, is reposted from Parks and Wildlife in Darwin back to Alice. When an old car wreck is uncovered, washed down the river to Ruby Gap, Saul investigates only to find that the wreck belonged to Ethan, Gemma's twin - and there's a coded note for her in the glovebox.

'Joining forces, they trek through the rugged outback, piecing together clues that not only bring them to the attention of a criminal organisation, but lead them to uncover an even older puzzle ... One now lost to the history books.

'With targets on their backs, will they unearth the truth in time?'(Publication summary)

'What if your first love was your one and only chance at happiness? In our lives, some promises are easily forgotten, while others come to haunt us with tragic results. From the bestselling author of The Girl on the Page comes The Lessons, a compelling novel about love and betrayal.

'1962: When teens Daisy and Harry meet, it feels so right they promise to love each other forever, but in 1960s England everything is stacked against them: class, education, expectations. When Daisy is sent by her parents to live with her glamorous, bohemian Aunt Jane, a novelist working on her second book, she is confronted by adult truths and suffers a loss of innocence that flings her far from the one good thing in her life, Harry.

'1983: Jane Curtis, now a famous novelist, is at a prestigious book event in New York, being interviewed about her life and work, including a novel about the painful and disastrous coming of age of a young woman. But she won't answer the interviewer's probing questions. What is she trying to hide?

'This is a novel about the painful lessons life has to teach us, about ourselves, about love, honesty and morality. Echoing novels like Persuasion, A Room with a View and the memoir An Education, The Lessons is a striking and powerful story about the loss of innocence and betrayal and how much we can forgive - if we forgive.' (Publication summary) 

'News is dead. Print is dead. Truth is dead.

'A new technology takes the world by storm. Printed news is a thing of the past. So are journalists, printers, editors... everybody.

'Internationally acclaimed media mogul Hoover Oldsoch believes in progress – he’s a businessman.

'Tizzy Squalor, corporate plumber, lays the pipes.

'Pamphilius Smudge wants love.

'Typotheus Hawke wants revolution.

'Billie Inkpress wants to dance.

'And the Greek God Apollo sets out to make truth great again.'

Source: Melbourne Fringe.

'Why do we to suffer? 

'There is only one answer: MAN. 

'We are being robbed of everything. 

'One of the most brutal stories ever told. Written by one of the most incisive and subversive writers of the twentieth century. 

'Adapted by The Bloomshed, George Orwell’s fierce critique of power is funnelled through a contemporary context that sees political oppression, extremism, misinformation and food production erupt into an all-out assault on our contemporary political landscape. ANIMAL FARM is a high-octane mess of punk-protest, political allegory and epic theatre with a rhythm beaten out on abandoned grain silos. 

'If you want to make an omelette, you’ve got to crack some eggs.'

Source: Theatre Works.