Cirrus@Austlit

'When A.J. Mackinnon quits his job in Australia, he knows only that he longs to travel to the Well at the World's End, a mysterious pool on a remote Scottish island whose waters, legend has it, hold the secret to eternal youth.

'Determined not to fly ("It would feel like cheating"), he sets out with a rucksack, some fireworks and a map of the world and trusts chance to take care of the rest. By land and by sea, by train, truck, horse and yacht, he makes his way across the globe - and through a series of hilarious adventures. He survives a bus crash in Australia, marries a princess in Laos, is attacked by Komodo dragons and does time in a Chinese jail. The next lift - or the next near-miss - is always just a happy accident away.

'This is the astonishing true story of a remarkable voyage, an old-fashioned quest by a modern-day adventurer.' (From the publisher's website.)

' Iqbal Chaudhary is fortyish, but the mid-life crisis he faces is more complex than many. His Australian marriage has collapsed, his past surfaces to bother his conscience and he feels a compulsive need to go back to the country he left immediately after the war with Pakistan, eighteen years earlier. But his reception from family and friends is deeply mixed. Iqbal is forced to confront why he left Bangladesh and how he feels about his family as well as his native country whose poverty, squalor and overcrowding make him react involuntarily with the squeamishness of a Westerner.'

Source: Publisher's blurb.

'Landscape of Farewell ... is the story of Max Otto, an elderly German academic. After the death of his much-loved wife and his recognition that he will never write the great study of history that was to be his life's crowning work, Max believes his life is all but over. Everything changes, though, when his valedictory lecture is challenged by Professor Vita McLelland, a feisty young Australian Aboriginal academic visiting Germany. Their meeting and growing friendship sets Max on a journey that would have seemed unthinkable just a few short weeks earlier.

'When, at Vita's invitation, Max travels to Australia, he forms a deep friendship with her uncle, Aboriginal elder Dougald Gnapun. It is a friendship that not only gives new meaning and purpose to Max, but which teaches him the profound importance of truth-telling in reconciliation with his own and his country's past.' (Publisher's blurb)

'On a vast sheep station in the outback, Raymond Gillen goes swimming in the lake one night and is never seen again. After the failure of local police to solve the mystery, bony arrives disguised as a horse-breaker, and uncovers a story of sexual tension and murder. The lake is evaporating in the intense drought - only when it dies will the mystery be solved. Apart from its strengths as a crime novel, this is probably the best book ever written about drought in Australia.' (Publication summary) 

'Digger is keeping a diary about the things that matter to him: piffing yonnies at the meatworks, fishing with his cousins, and brawling with the school bully. But it's 1967, and bigger things keep getting in the way. Digger is finding out who he is, what he believes, and what's worth fighting for.' (Source: Goodreads website)

'Paul Morgan's dazzling novel draws on the dramatic true story of Pelagius, as told by his former secretary, Celestius, now an old man living in exile. As Celestius recounts their adventures together, and the vivid sights and sounds of a civilisation under siege, he uncovers at last the secret of Pelagius' 'book', concealed in the most mysterious language of all.'

(Source: http://www.penguin.com.au/catalog/f_catalog.cfm?SBN=0670029076 Sighted 14/6/05)

'Humour and poignancy are intricately entwined in this novel about Vamana, a dwarf, abandoned by his parents and adopted by Maji, a woman who sees beyond the child's deformity to the humanity within. As Vamana grows older, he realises that he is always going to be an outcast, despite his magical gift for storytelling. Drawn to the dark, seedy and dangerous underworld of Delhi, Vamana makes himself a home alongside the pimps, pickpockets, prostitutes and hjiras (eunechs) who populate its depths.With his unique storytelling skills he achieves a level of fame amongst this motley cast of characters, causing him to refuse all offers of redemption and acceptance from the 'normal' world. Vamana enjoys his notoriety and, despite craving acceptance, he refuses to give up his infamous reputation and once again become an object of ridicule. It is not the dereliction of his life that brings his downfall, but love perceiving a threat to the object of his desires, Vamana reacts with violence, and must pay the consequences.'

Source: Publisher's blurb.

'With university behind her, Emily Stanton finds herself on the threshold of life. Introduced to a Scottish engineer, the exoticism of his life in Paris beckons, and she leaves her family home in 1920s Melbourne to become his wife. But far from providing answers, her conventional marriage awakens in her an ardent desire to find a reason for living beyond that of simply wife and mother. This desire leads her to flirt with risk, passion and unorthodox friendships, and carries her to Tunisia on a journey of self-questioning and intellectual reawakening. Conditions of Faith is both a provocative romance and an elegant meditation on a timeless dilemma. Impetuous yet entirely sympathetic, Emily Stanton, like Henry James' Isabel Archer, is in search of a reason for living in a society where motherhood is deemed reason enough. This mesmerising and thought-provoking story of dreams, obsessions and destiny will hold you in thrall.' (Publication summary)

'The drumming of the guns continued, with bursts of great intensity. It was as though a gale streamed overhead, piling up great waves of sound, and hurrying them onwards to crash in surf on the enemy entrenchments. The windless air about them, by its very stillness, made that unearthly music more terrible to hear.

'First published anonymously in 1929 because its language was considered far too frank for public circulation, The Middle Parts of Fortune was hailed by T. S. Eliot and Ezra Pound, by Lawrence of Arabia and Ernest Hemingway, as an extraordinary novel. Its author was in fact Frederic Manning, an Australian writer who fought in the Battle of the Somme in 1916, and who told his story of men at war from the perspective of an ordinary soldier.' (Publication summary : Text Classics)

'Seven Poor Men of Sydney is a brilliant portrayal of a group of men and women living in Sydney in the 1920s amid conditions of poverty and social turmoil.

Set against the vividly drawn backgrounds of Fisherman's (Watson's) Bay and the innercity slums, the various characters seek to resolve their individual spiritual dilemmas; through politics, religion and philosophy.

Their struggles, their pain and their frustrations are portrayed with consummate skill in this memorable evocation of a city and an era.' (Publication summary)

'Cal and Ricky both stare at the one-eyed seagull. "You wanted food", Ricky whispers. "There it is." "A seagull? You'd eat a seagull?" "I'd eat anything," says Ricky. "Anything."

'When Ricky and Cal wag school they bite off more than they can chew...' (Publisher's blurb)

'Beverley Farmer's reputation as a deeply sensitive and lyrical writer was established with her short stories. Her two collections Milk and Home Time are included here with five uncollected stories and others which were part of A Body of Water. The stories in this richly rewarding collection unfold in the order in which they were written.' (Publication summary)

'Miss Hester Harper, middle-aged and eccentric, brings Katherine into her emotionally impoverished life. Together they sew, cook gourmet dishes for two, run the farm, make music and throw dirty dishes down the well. One night, driving along the deserted track that leads to the farm, they run into a mysterious creature. They heave the body from the roo bar and dump it into the farm's deep well. But the voice of the injured intruder will not be stilled and, most disturbing of all, the closer Katherine is drawn to the edge of the well, the farther away she gets from Hester.' (From the publisher's website.)