Cirrus@Austlit

'An entrancing new rural romance from the bestselling author of A Homestead in the Eucalypts.

'Forced away from the Outback she both loves and loathes, bush pilot Amelia Fraser has lost everything - except her compassion. Running from tragedy, she finds herself in Settlers Bridge, determined to never let anyone get close to her again... because accepting love might mean she is ready to replace her memories. And she'll never let that happen.

'Widower Heath Brennan has learned to channel his grief into anger and self-recrimination. Haunted by the tragic accident that claimed his wife, he is a recluse, grappling with guilt and a heart full of unresolved anguish. His nineteen-year-old daughter, Charlee, battles her own demons. Once the perfect child, she's now a troubled university student. Her rage towards Heath for her mother's death forms an impenetrable barrier between them.'  (Publication summary)

'Tasmania, 1874. Growing up in the impoverished tenements along the Hobart Rivulet, Harriet Brown is used to doing whatever it takes to survive. Including, at just twelve years old, shearing off her hair and pretending to be a boy to secure a job as label-paster at the George Peacock and Sons jam factory.

'Four years later, the deceit becomes too much to bear and Harriet risks everything on the chance at a future with her ambitious friend and workmate Henry Jones. But this decision forces her into a new deception: play the role of expert jam maker, or else be cast out onto the streets.

'As the secrets and lies grow, Harriet is driven to more and more desperate choices. Choices that will end with a dangerous secret which, if discovered, could destroy not only her life but the lives of those she loves and protects.

'Intertwined with the fascinating history of the Tasmanian jam industry and the striking historical figure Henry Jones, The Jam Maker is a tale of danger, deceit and the desperate measures one woman will take to succeed in love and life.' (Publication summary)

'I met my husband on the same day I committed my very last murder. There's a joke in there somewhere, about ending two men's lives.'

'Olivia Hodges used to do horrible things - back when she worked for a Spanish crime syndicate - but she fled that life and moved home to Australia, building a family in the hippie, hipster community of the Dandenong Ranges.

'When a small-time criminal gang brings tragedy to her family, superstitious Olivia believes it's the universe demanding payment for her crimes. She wants revenge, but has to get it without adding to her karmic debt. So she creates situations where these bad men get themselves killed through their anger, ego and greed - all while trying to mislead the cops long enough to finish what she started.'  (Publication summary)

'Amy, Jin and Lucie are leading isolated lives in their partially renovated, inner city home. They are not happy, but they are also terrified of change. When they buy a pet rabbit for Lucie, and then Amy’s mother, Pauline, comes to stay, the family is forced to confront long-buried secrets. Will opening their hearts to the rabbit help them to heal or only invite further tragedy?

'The Burrow tells an unforgettable story about grief and hope. With her characteristic compassion and eye for detail, Melanie Cheng reveals the lives of others—even of a small rabbit.'  (Publication summary)

'A gripping, haunting work about the reverberations of a serial killer's crimes in the lives of everyday people.

'In 1998, an apparently ordinary Australian man is arrested and charged with a series of brutal murders. The news shocks the nation, bringing both horror and resolution to the victims' families, but its impact travels even further - into the past, as the murders rewrite personal histories, and into the future, as true crime podcasts and biopics tell the story of the crimes.

'Highway 13 takes murder as its starting point, but it unfolds to encompass much more: through the investigation of the aftermath of this violence across time and place, from the killer's home town in country Australia to the tropical Far North, and to Texas and Rome, McFarlane presents an unforgettable, entrancing exploration of the way stories are told and spread, and at what cost.

'What damages, big and small, do these crimes incur? How do communities make sense of such atrocities? How does the mourning of families sit alongside the public fascination with terrible crimes? And can we tell true crime stories without putting the killers at the centre of the story?

'From the acclaimed author of The Sun Walks Down and The Night Guest comes a captivating account of loss and fear, and its extended echoes in individual lives.' (Publication summary)

'After a brutal wildfire tears through the town of Jasper in the Californian sierras, a body is discovered in a shed. It looks like an open-and-shut case of accidental death – until further investigation reveals that the victim was locked in from the outside.

'Years after leaving Jasper, Detective Alex Markov has been sent back under the shadow of an LAPD corruption investigation. She is convinced that the man, a family friend, was murdered opportunistically under the cover of the fire. As the smoke clears, Alex reveals a town corrupt to its core – but exposing that corruption could destroy her and the people she loves. Will she ignore the crookedness and deceit, or face the consequences of pursuing an inconvenient truth?' (Publication summary)

'Alice Montgomery goes missing in 2015.

'Seven years later, her best friend Hannah is bouncing from job to job, house to house, forever feeling the need to outrun something, but unsure what. With the niggling need to move nipping at her heels, Hannah decides to return to her hometown for the first time since she left, to help her mum after surgery. The relationship is long-fractured, broken apart by grief after the suicide of Hannah's father when she was eleven.

'When Hannah hears that Marnie Montgomery, Alice's mum, has been diagnosed with terminal cancer, she is seized by terror that she will never get closure for her friend's disappearance. An addict and recluse, rumours have long-since dogged Marnie - rumours that she was responsible for her daughter going missing.

'Marnie insists she had nothing to do with Alice's disappearance and points a finger instead at a teacher, Rachel Olney, who is nursing broken dreams and haunted by a single bad decision she made long ago.' (Publication summary)

'When student doctor Taylor Lawrence's city life is turned upside down, she seeks sanctuary on her grandparents' farm in the South Australian countryside.

'During the lonely nights, she fantasises of a time long-gone; of Anna, who, rising at dawn to milk the cows and fetch water from the well, is caught in a bushfire that threatens to leave her reputation as blackened as the surrounding bushland. And of Anna's rescuer, fellow settler, Luke Hartmann.

'Reality blurs as Taylor repeatedly escapes into Anna's world, and she realises she must discover whether her dreams are pure fantasy—or if they recount a story more familiar than she could ever imagine.

'Either way, it seems she'll end up with a broken mind or a broken heart. The problem is, Taylor is no longer sure which she would prefer.' (Publication summary)

'A pitch-perfect new rural romance from the bestselling author of Kookaburra Cottage.

''The perfect recipe for a feel-good rural read. Fun, heartfelt and wise, Wallaby Lane is an absolute treat.' - Alissa Callen, bestselling author of Snowy Mountains Dawn

'From interviewing local flower growers to receiving blue ribbons for her show baking, Lauren Bickford's genuine love for her hometown is almost as strong as her ambition to become a radio presenter. But is it enough to outweigh the series of on-air stuff-ups that have plagued her career?

'No stranger to this small winegrowing region in South Australia's Limestone Coast, Jack Crossley is the new cop in town. He's traded his city beat for a slower pace, and as a former local, knows only too well that mischief can lurk around every quiet corner.

'For Jack and Lauren, the course of true love is not running smoothly. Can he restore order in the town before the neighbourhood watch vigilantes take justice into their own hands? Or are Jack's biggest worries much closer to home? Can Lauren's reporting remain impartial as her attraction to Jack grows? Or will her family's advice lead her completely astray?

'Featuring Penwarra's 100th Show, a one-eyed goat and a galah named Gary, Wallaby Lane is a complete delight from one of Australia's favourite rural romance writers.' (Publication summary)

'You don’t know what you’ve got till it’s gone

'Birdie McBride seems to have it all: a fulfilling and lucrative job, five healthy daughters and a doting husband, Ned, at home keeping the family machine running smoothly.

'But then Ned dies. He leaves behind a document for Birdie—‘Things I Need You to Know’—full of guidance on everything from household maintenance to the intimate details of each daughter’s emotional landscape. Composed in his dying days, it’s his last act of fatherly devotion. Reading Ned’s manual, Birdie falls for her husband in a way she never did when he was alive. Yet the presence of his best friend, Marcello, complicates things. As well as having been Ned’s doctor, Marcello is Birdie’s ex-lover—though not as ‘ex’ as most people would think. And his feelings for Birdie are as strong as ever.

'When more calamities rock her family, Birdie starts to wonder: how much trust can you put in feelings? And in old friends? Can the legacy of ‘Things I Need You to Know’ save her family from the catastrophic end barrelling towards them?' (Publication summary)

'A young woman grapples with the arrival of a once-in-a-lifetime comet and its tumultuous consequences in a debut novel that blends mystery, astronomy and romance, perfect for fans of Tracey Lien, Emma Cline and Mireille Juchau.

'January 1997: In the small town of Jericho, New South Wales, Sylvia Knight is losing hope that the person who killed her husband will ever face justice. Since the night of the hit-and-run, her world has been shrouded in hazy darkness—until she meets Theo St John, the discoverer of a rare comet soon to be visible above Jericho.

'As the comet begins to brighten, visitors flock like pilgrims into town. Supermarkets run out of canned goods; campgrounds fill to capacity. And more and more people are drawn into the orbit of Joseph Evans, an enigmatic local who believes the comet's arrival is nothing short of a divine message. But Sylvia will soon realise that she isn't the only one haunted by the past. While everyone else is looking to the night sky for answers, her quest to uncover her husband's killer will unearth long-held secrets with far-reaching consequences.

'A novel about the search for meaning in a bewildering world, the loyalty of love and the dangerous lengths people go to in pursuit of the truth, Bright Objects is a luminous, masterfully crafted literary thriller.' (Publication summary)

'Beth doesn't feel like she belongs in her rambunctious, bohemian family. Apart from the special relationship she shares with her grandma, Elise. When Beth wins the lottery (on a ticket she bought to prove she could be spontaneous), she decides to spend it on treating Elise. 

'But instead of anything material, Elise wants Beth to help her track down her first love, Gerry. It's a fun and uncomplicated little adventure, Beth thinks, until she discovers that her grandma's great love is actually a woman, and their romance was thwarted by the conservatism of the day. Grappling with her grandma's past spurs Beth to reconsider herself in the present.

'Birds of a Feather is a funny, poignant and utterly charming debut novel about questioning who you are and what you might become.' (Publication summary)

'Full of simmering tensions, Katherine Allum's award-winning debut novel, The Skeleton House, pulls back the layers on a seemingly perfect family, exposing the complexities of marriage and motherhood when you are fighting to keep your own identity, no matter the cost.

'Meg's life is woven into the fabric of St Stephens. It's a tapestry made of two precious children, a hidden truth and a husband whose ideas of a perfect wife do not match her own. When Meg puts her foot down on a third kid, gets a job and is empowered by the same book group that was meant to keep her in her place, her marriage begins to disintegrate. Set in a tiny Mormon community, this is a novel about resilience and courage - the fierceness of mother-love and the power that comes with never forgetting who you really are.' (Publication summary)

'Ilene, a working class mother, is struggling to survive and desperate to reconnect with her children, Jack and Lonnie, in the aftermath of a near fatal tragedy.

'But her children vanish, setting off a chain reaction within the community.

'Suspended detective Omar helps out with the investigation, uncovering disquieting clues, but he keeps getting pulled away by a dangerous cold case.

'Benji, a recovering addict, finds peace by breeding lorikeets and caring for his mother, only to have his clean life upended by a stranger’s menacing threat.

'Nera, a city lawyer grieving on a country farm, wants to find out who killed one of her animals and is faced with increasingly strange and unsettling answers.

'In this gripping tale of human frailty and the otherworldly, each of the characters must confront the mystery of what really happened to Jack and Lonnie.'  (Publication summary)

'The Kelly family has always been trouble.

'When a fire in a remote caravan community kills nine people, including 17-year-old Sabine Kelly’s mother and sister, Sabine confesses to the murders. Shortly after, she escapes custody and disappears.

'Recently made redundant from marriage, motherhood and her career, journalist Rachel Weidermann has long suspected Sabine made her way back to the river—now, twelve years after the ‘Caravan Murders’, she has the time and the tenacity to corner a fugitive and land the story of the year.

'Rachel’s ambition lights the fuse leading to a brutal chain of events, and the web Sabine weaves will force Rachel to question everything she believes. Vikki Wakefield’s compelling psychological thriller is about class, corruption, love, loyalty, and the vindication of truth and justice. And a brave dog called Blue.' (Publication summary)

'When the very sensible Charity meets the 'sworn-off-women-forever' Lachlan on a wild weekend at a bachelor and spinsters' ball, what could possibly go wrong….or is there a chance it could all go impossibly, incredibly right?

'Charity Farrugia is too sensible to believe she'll find love in a paddock.

'After all, at thirty-four, she's the responsible one with the secure career and the mortgage. The one who raised her two sisters when their mother got sick. The cautious one with strong reservations about Faith and Hope spending a weekend in the country at a Bachelors and Spinsters Ball.

'Lachlan MacKenzie might be divorced, but his cheating ex isn't why he avoids dating—only his brother Hamish knows that secret. But keeping an eye out for Hamish has become part of Lachlan's life, so he reluctantly permits himself to be dragged to the local B&S.

'Charity has no intention of allowing her chaperone duties to be side-tracked. But meeting the intriguing farmer—who seems as reluctant as her to be at the B&S—might be an opportunity to prove to her sisters that she does have a wild side after all.' 

But will she discover that what happens in the country sometimes refuses to stay in the country? (Publication summary) 

'In an odd and serene moment, she wondered how something so bright and actually beautiful, such a vibrant red, a colour synonymous with passion, romance and love, the colour of blood, of life, could also be the colour of so much appalling devastation.

Sent south to the Snowy mountains to work on his Cousin Jack’s farm, George Sutherland finds himself fighting for a beautiful woman, his job and ultimately his life. He is driven to breaking point as he is made to question his own reality, if he is worthy of the job and ultimately, the family name.

'Maggie Jones can’t control falling in love, but the shift in her relationships will cause more devastation than she will ever know.' (Publication summary)

'Nessa keeps the world at arm’s length. It’s easier that way, for everyone. Her orbit is no bigger than her sister, her parents and a solitary work colleague with a penchant for dying wishes.

'But even these people don’t see the real Nessa.

'Saddled with her father’s impossible gift, a rundown homestead in the middle of nowhere, Nessa reluctantly develops a wellness retreat of sorts – a no-frills escape for women. All too quickly, keeping her distance becomes a trickier dance, even for someone so good at it.

'But the toughest test of Nessa’s resolve takes the shape of her feisty niece Lily, whose offer to help promote Navada comes with caveats and who ultimately holds up a mirror to a life that neither of them feels ready to see.

'Deeply moving and sharply funny, Storylines is a novel about how we see ourselves in an age of distortion.' (Publication summary)

'A charming new rural romance from the best-selling author of The River Gum Cottage.

'Samantha, owner of Settlers Bridge cafe Ploughs & Pies, is short on confidence and big on regrets. Married young to fill the void left by an unhappy childhood, she still works in the same small town where she grew up, too filled with self-doubt and insecurity to ever risk spreading her wings. Yet will the end of her abusive marriage force her to start anew? 

'City restauranteur Pierce DeAngelis knows what it is to have his career and family ripped away. However, a chance encounter with the intriguing Samantha ignites his passion, and together they concoct a plan for a destination restaurant. 

'But, with their personalities like oil and water, will old hurts and hidden truths destroy the new business before it's afloat?' (Publication summary)

'A delightful, warm and captivating rural romance from the bestselling author of Paperbark Hill.

'April Lacey is determined to lead her family's Limestone Coast winery into the future, but soon discovers the crumbling historic building and her father's reluctance to join the food tourism revolution are just the beginning of her uphill battle.

'English winemaker Connor Jamison has travelled to South Australia's iconic wine region to learn from the experts and carve a name for himself in the industry. However, it quickly becomes clear that Connor's past continues to nip at his heels.

'United by food, music and an unexpected involvement in the Penwarra Country Show, April and Connor seem like the perfect match, but with old flames, new challenges and careers conspiring to keep them apart, can this pair forge their own path together?' (Publication summary)