Cirrus@Austlit

'Collection of short stories by the author of To Ride a Cock Horse', winner of the 1989 South East Asian and South Pacific First Book Award in the British Commonwealth Writers Prize. The stories are linked together by the river Fineflour and its place in the lives of the characters through successive generations.' (Publication summary)

Australia's history retold through the eyes of Joan, a woman who has never rated a mention in the school books. Joan leads many lives: she is a wife and mother of no great distinction, but in the life of her imagination she is present at all the big moments of Australia's past. (Source: Trove)

'In this potent tale of love and loneliness, Elizabeth Jolley has woven two parallel stories into a dazzlingly original novel. Arabella Thorne is a brilliant, witty and accomplished woman. The exotic tale of this flamboyant eccentric and her European travels – with jealous secretary and shy schoolgirl protégée – is the inheritance that transforms the uneventful suburban life of Miss Peabody.' (Publication summary)

'In this classic story of small-town life, two schoolteachers are drawn to each other by their concern for a lonely young girl. For as long as Vinny Lalor could remember, she had been on the fringe of things – in her family and at school. But as the final term of the year progresses, rumour and malice mount against Vinny and her two teachers, sweeping them towards scandal and, for one of them, disaster.' (Source : UQP 2015 reissue.)

'From the subtropical lushness of Queensland’s Tamborine Rainforest to the claustrophobic bedroom of a Boston physicist, Janette Turner Hospital’s characters breathe an atmosphere of passion and suspense. Charade Ryan, an enigmatic story-spinning Scheherazade, searches for a way to unravel the long-held secrets of her family origins. As the narrative flits between the present and the past, and truth becomes increasingly subjective, Charade weaves a rich and textural tale out of the myths of her past. This vibrant, superbly crafted novel explores the elusive boundaries between existence and imagination, memory and truth.'

Source: Publisher's blurb (UQP, 2015 ed.)

'Nothing is as it seems in this twisted fairytale of moral ambiguity and corrupted innocence. Just as the tropical beauty of The Frangipani Gardens conceals its inherent menace, watercolour painter Doll lives a prim, respectable existence belying her wildest fantasies. But when her young niece and nephew come to stay, Doll’s true self threatens to be exposed.' (Publication summary)