Cirrus@Austlit

'Fiona McIntosh returns to Paris and Morgravia, her popular fantasy world, with The Scrivener's Tale, a thrilling psychological novel. Ex-psychologist Gabe Figaret was done with patients for good, until he meets Angelina, a young mute woman he's been asked to mentor. When she starts speaking about another realm called Morgravia, he doubts her, but soon comes under the spell of her compelling visions. As Gabe delves deeper into Angelina's unsettled psyche, he learns more about his own soul, his past, and whom he can trust in his own troubled life. Splendidly characterized and beautifully crafted, Fiona McIntosh's The Scrivener's Tale is an action-packed fantasy adventure that will leave you spellbound.

'Gabe Figaret, an ex-psychologist turned writer, now works in a bookshop in Paris. He lives a quiet life as he attempts to rehabilitate his psyche from the ravages of his past. While he'd prefer to probe his own mind rather than a stranger's, he cannot refuse when Reynard, a doctor and one of his regular customers, asks Gabe to mentor a patient, a mysterious young woman named Angelina. Angelina is shy. She is mute and delusional. At first, she appears to be terrified of Reynard. But Gabe quickly discovers that Angelina is not quite what she seems. As his relationship with the enigmatic Angelina deepens, Gabe's life in Paris becomes increasingly unstable. He senses a presence watching, lurking, following his every move. When Angelina tells Gabe that he must kill her, and then flee to a fantastical realm she calls Morgravia, he is aghast. But Angelina gives him proof that Morgravia is not a delusion; it is real. Soon, Gabe's world will be turned upside down, and he will learn shocking truths about his past, and the perilous trials in his future.' (Publisher's blurb)

'Eastern France. Winter. 1572.

'When Sidonie’s guardian dies, she flees Paris rather than submit to a forced marriage, seeking sanctuary in the home of her estranged aunt in Dole.

'A town consumed by fear and superstition.

'Apolline left behind a violent and troubled past, hoping for a new life with her husband, where she can sell her herbs and assist women from the privacy of her forest home. But it is dangerous to be different, and as Sidonie and Apolline’s lives become intertwined, they are soon both being hunted.

'The hunt for a werewolf.

'Aspiring witch hunter Pierre is drawn to Dole amid rumours of a werewolf hunting children. Desperate for respect and power, he allies himself with a priest who is fanning the flames of fear and hatred.

'Set in a time when women’s lives were not their own, and to be different was to be suspect, Winter of the Wolf is a sweeping tale of family secrets, betrayal and the abuse of power, the redeeming power of friendship, and finding your true home.' (Publication summary)

'Flynn was only a teenager when her parents were killed in a terrible accident. Too young to lose her parents, too young to take on responsibility for her younger sister Kaiya, too young to protect Kaiya from the harshness of their new lives in the following years. Desperate to help her sister, Flynn reaches out to Willa Tomlinson, a grief counsellor renowned for helping her patients cope with profound loss. Under Willa’s influence and care, Kaiya finally seems to turn a corner, joining the climate action collective that Willa leads. Kaiya’s passion is ignited and she immerses herself in the group, leaving on frequent camping trips in the West Australian bush. But when a raging bushfire sweeps through the bushland near Margaret River, Kaiya fails to return with the rest of the group.

'Noah is no stranger to loss or to violence, but these days, he’s more interested in helping people develop the skills to defend themselves than seeking out fights of his own. When Flynn enters his life, desperate to find out what really happened to her sister, a friendship sparks, and Noah finds himself agreeing to help her. To do so, he’ll need to infiltrate Willa’s cultish collective at the fireground.

'In this new Original from the number one internationally best-selling author of The Ruin and The Murder Rule, Dervla McTiernan, Flynn and Noah must reckon with their pasts and fight to find the answers they seek before Kaiya’s trail burns out.' (Publication summary)

'The virtuoso new novel from the author of the Booker-shortlisted A Fraction of the Whole.

'Nobody was ever thinking about me. Now that I’m dead, I dwell on this kind of thing a lot.'

'Angus Mooney is in a dark place: the afterlife. His days are spent in aching embarrassment; god, religion, the supernatural – he was wrong about everything. He longs for his audacious, fiery wife, Gracie, but can only watch from the other side as she is seduced by his killer, who has stepped seamlessly into Mooney’s shoes.

'Meanwhile, life after death isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. Another pandemic is sweeping the globe; Mooney’s new home is filling up fast, resources are scarce, infrastructure is crumbling, and he has to share an increasingly cramped existence with a group of people still traumatised by their own deaths. And although he should know better, he remains in the grip of the same fear as when he was alive: the opinions of others.

'Narrated with the ironic hindsight afforded by life beyond the mortal plane, Here Goes Nothing is a razor-sharp, hilariously entertaining, insightful and moving meditation on our 21st-century world, and the intricate relationship between love and death.' (Publication summary)