Cirrus@Austlit

'When Fleur receives word of a sudden inheritance from an aunt she never knew, it couldn't come at a more opportune moment. Her relationship with her beloved husband is crumbling, and she's caught in the middle of a serious family rift. Consulting her aunt's long-lost diary, Fleur decides to follow her footsteps on a voyage of historical discovery down the coast and through the Gulf Country to find out more about the secrets of her family's past. ' (Publication summary)

'Nurse Elena Fabrizia and handsome doctor Lyle Macallister fall in love at the end of the war. Lyle goes home to break up with his Scottish sweetheart, but she tells him she’s pregnant. So he marries Millie and breaks Elena’s heart. Elena also discovers she’s having Lyle’s baby. Keeping the secret from everyone but her mother, she goes along with her father’s plan to marry an older Italian man. She passes the baby off as his and they all go to live in the Australian outback town of Winton. In a loveless marriage, on an isolated and unprofitable cattle property, life for Elena is unbearable. Meanwhile in Scotland, Lyle’s life is also tragic when he loses his only son with Millie. To escape, he takes up a position as a flying doctor in Australia where Elena’s first born is suffering a mystery illness. Lyle treats the boy, unaware that he’s his own flesh and blood. It’s jealous Millie who discovers the truth about the boy and destroys many lives before Lyle and Elena find each other again.'

Source: Publisher's blurb.

'England, 1941: Lara Penrose is a young teacher who is transferred to Australia as a "punishment." She finds herself in a remote town near the idyllic tributary of the Mary River. At first Lara is delighted, until she learns the river is home to hundreds of crocodiles who frequently besiege the hamlet, keeping the villagers in fear. The young teacher soon takes matters into her own hands by hiring a crocodile hunter. She gets wrapped up in his charm, which starts to put her already delicate relationship with Dr. Jerry at risk.'

Source: Publisher's blurb.

'1920. Having disobeyed the wishes of her aristocratic family, Lulu Pearson, a young and talented Tasmanian sculptress, finds herself alone in London in the wake of the Great War. The future is looking bright until, on the eve of her first exhibition, Lulu learns she has inherited a racing colt called Ocean Child from a mysterious benefactor, and she must return to her homeland to claim him.

'Baffled by the news, Lulu boards a ship to Tasmania to uncover the truth behind the strange bequest, but it seems a welcome return is more than she can hope for. Unbeknownst to Lulu, more than a few fortunes ride on Ocean Child's success – it seems everyone from her estranged mother to the stable hands has a part to play, and an interest in keeping the family secrets buried. ' (Publication summary)

'Bittersweet is an enthralling tale of women - and of love.

'This is the story of two sets of twins, Edda and Grace, Tufts and Kitty, who struggle against all the restraints, prohibitions, laws and prejudices of 1920s Australia. Only the submissive yet steely Grace burns for marriage; the sleekly sophisticated Edda burns to be a doctor, the down-to-earth but courageous Tufts burns never to marry, and the too-beautiful, internally scarred Kitty burns for a love free from male ownership.

'Turbulent times, terrible torments, but the four magnificent Latimer sisters, each so different, love as women do: with tenderness as well as passion, and with hearts roomy enough to hold their men, their children, their careers and their sisters.' (Publisher's blurb)

'Ruby and her new husband James brave a long and treacherous journey to start their new life in Australia. Meanwhile, there are other new arrivals to Australian shores: a Tahitian with a mysterious past, a naive young schoolmistress, and an English aristocrat, all unaware that their destinies are irrevocably intertwined.' (Publication summary)