Cirrus@Austlit

'Judith Lucy has been cracking jokes about her parents for years. But when a birth relative's casual comment implied that she despised them, Judith was shocked. Sure, she had been talking about Ann and Tony Lucy like they were one-dimensional Irish nutbags who'd ruined her life for years, but there was always more to them and her own feelings than that.

'So Judith decided it was time to write the full story of her parents and her childhood. And here it is, a reference book on all things Lucy from:

'A is for Adoption (she is) to C is for Cleaning (they didn't) and for Counselling (you'll find out why she had a lot of it) to D is for Diets (she was put on one at eight) to H is for Heart Attack (her father's) to M is for Make Up (her father's) to N is for Nuts (there was a falling out over testicles) to R is for Review (to do with Nuts) to T is for Tanscendental Meditation (it didn't work) to X is for Xmas (when a lot of this started) and beyond...

'In amongst the gags Judith explores the people her parents were and the impact of finding out - at twenty-five - that she was adopted. We meet Judith's birth mother by learn that ultimately it was her very unusual parents who made her who she is today.' (Publisher's blurb)

'Elspeth is one of a new breed born into a world recovering from widespread destruction. The ruling council will tolerate no opposition. Elspeth must hide her telepathic powers in order to survive. In the mountain orphanage of Obernewtyn, Elspeth meets others with similar powers and together they confront the evil hidden there.' (Source: Trove)

'It was a cloudless summer day in the year 1900. Everyone at Appleyard College for Young Ladies agreed it was just right for a picnic at Hanging Rock. After lunch, a group of three girls climbed into the blaze of the afternoon sun, pressing on through the scrub into the shadows of the secluded volcanic outcropping. Farther, higher, until at last they disappeared. They never returned. ...'

Source: Publisher's blurb (Penguin Random House, 2014).

'Without doubt Judy was the worst of the seven, probably because she was the cleverest.'

'Her father, Captain Woolcot, found his vivacious, cheeky daughter impossible – but seven children were really too much for him and most of the time they ran wild at their rambling riverside home, Misrule.

'Step inside and meet them all – dreamy Meg, and Pip, daring Judy, naughty Bunty, Nell, Baby and the youngest, 'the General'. Come and share in their lives, their laughter and their tears.' (From the publisher's website.)