Cirrus@Austlit

'Ever since Esther Solar’s grandfather was cursed by Death, everyone in her family has been doomed to suffer one great fear in their lifetime. Esther’s father is agoraphobic and hasn’t left the basement in six years, her twin brother can’t be in the dark without a light on, and her mother is terrified of bad luck.

'The Solars are consumed by their fears and, according to the legend of the curse, destined to die from them.

'Esther doesn’t know what her great fear is yet (nor does she want to), a feat achieved by avoiding pretty much everything. Elevators, small spaces and crowds are all off-limits. So are haircuts, spiders, dolls, mirrors and three dozen other phobias she keeps a record of in her semi-definitive list of worst nightmares.

'Then Esther is pickpocketed by Jonah Smallwood, an old elementary school classmate. Along with her phone, money and a fruit roll-up she’d been saving, Jonah also steals her list of fears. Despite the theft, Esther and Jonah become friends, and he sets a challenge for them: in an effort to break the curse that has crippled her family, they will meet every Sunday of senior year to work their way through the list, facing one terrifying fear at a time, including one that Esther hadn’t counted on: love.'

Source: Publisher's blurb.

'My name is David James Forrester. I'm a solicitor. Tonight, at 6.10, I killed my wife. This is my statement.'

'In Melbourne's inner west, David sits in his car, dictaphone in hand. He's sick to his stomach but determined to record his version of events. His wife Elle hovers over her own lifeless body as it lies in the laundry of the house they shared. David thinks back on their relationship – intimate, passionate, intense – and what led to this terrible night.

'From her eerie vantage point, Elle traces the sweep of their shared past too. Before David, she'd enjoyed a contented life – as a successful filmmaker, a much-loved aunt and friend. But in the course of two years, she was captivated and then undone by him. Not once in those turbulent times did she imagine that her alluring, complex husband was capable of this.

'Dark, atmospheric and gripping, What Came Before is a stunning literary thriller about the risks you take when you fall in love.' (Publication summary)

'Glamorous magazine editor Helen Woodley has been hired as the new head honcho of magazine Australian Life, and she needs a new feature idea to send the magazine rocketing back up the popularity stakes - fast. But she had no idea how successful her new campaign would be. Who knew that if the country's lovelorn single farmers were profiled each week, readers would queue up to date them? Soon rural romances are all the rage - but among the haystacks and the pitchforks, a lot of people (and Helen herself) are about to find out that the course of true love ain't ever smooth.'

Source: Publisher's blurb.