Cirrus@Austlit

'Nick Carrington, New York television scriptwriter, is back in Australia to see his parents. An old friend, millionaire Ben Mitchell, begs him to read the manuscript of a biography of his grandfather, whose author has just had a heart attack, and is on life support. The job will require a weekend, and Nick has only two weeks back home. Equally nettled and intrigued, Nick finally agrees, and discovers he is being taken by helicopter to a grand old mansion on the Hawkesbury River, west of Sydney. He meets the female staff, Kate the housekeeper and Laura the research assistant. The house is wonderful, yet oddly disturbing. There is no ghost, but an air of apprehension hovers over the group. The biography covers the life and work of Sir Arthur Innings, a most successful immigrant. He seems to have done almost everything right, and the biography makes that plain, as Nick reads on. It's almost too good to be true, yet Laura says they could not find any great sins, or even any villains. Yet before the weekend is over Nick finds himself in a plot that is even more complicated and tense than anything he has ever written for television.'   (Publication summary)

'In this third novel in the Hogarth Trilogy, the war in Vietnam moves closer to Australia, conscripts are sent to Vietnam, and the community begins to divide. Helen Hogarth, increasingly passionate about the wrongness of Australia's involvement, becomes a protester, which complicates the life of her husband, who is not only an increasingly important playerwithin the University but also the designer of a change in structure to a munitions factory, sure to be the target of protests and strike action.Within the university too there is growing division, and Hogarth becomes involved in the journey of a disgruntled academic staff member, who begins to paint slogans on University property.It begins to be clear that the staff member'sprotest is directed at the Vice-Chancellor. Is itbecause he was refused promotion in the last round, or is it because he is one of the leaders in the anti-Vietnam action demonstration.Helen Hogarth wins a court battle as a solicitor,joins the ALP and is suddenly the endorsed candidate for an unwinnable seat. Hogarth's worries intensify, but he discovers what has been the source of the staff member's unhappiness, and in doing so learns what the Vice-Chancellor did during the war, which illuminates the last days of that conflict.Helen Hogarth's quest for a seat, though this contest is only a first shot, makes Hogarth realise that wis wife has great talents, and he becomes aware that her career is more important than his own. She does not win, but they agree it is a new start.' (Publication summary)

'It is 1963, and everything seems fine for the beginning of the academic year in Sydney’s new university. But the sudden death of Professor Bill Gilbey sets in train a political intrigue with disturbing implications

'For the suddenly elevated Head of Sociology, Richard Hogarth, Gilbey’s now vacant chair has to be filled, but individuals in and outside the campus have other ideas. The medicos see an opportunity to move the chair to Medicine, and Hogarth finds that what seemed straightforward is actually quite complicated. And in time the security service becomes involved as suspicions of communist infiltration arise.

'And behind the public posturings the private problems of the participants emerge to influence and confuse the sequence of events. This novel of campus intrigue was originally published in 1977 by Angus and Robertson, and was compared favourably to the work of C. P Snow in England. You can read some more about the background to the novel here.' (Publication summary)

'A group of accountants and finance people at a resort find they are marooned overnight by a flash flood. With only dim light available and led by the most senior person there, a woman, they talk, not about money or the stock market, but about the most important romantic encounter they had, and its effect upon them. Hesitant at first, some begin to see how important the evening is. Some of the stories are sad, some joyful; some loves are lost, some are in the distant past, some are happily still there. The long evening is cathartic, with old ghosts brought up and banished forever. In the morning, when they are rescued, all they will say is ‘We talked a bit’. But that talk has changed their lives.' (Publication summary)