Cirrus@Austlit

'Steph Bowe is back. Night Swimming is a love story with a twist, and a whole lot of heart.

'Imagine being the only two seventeen-year-olds in a small town. That’s life for Kirby Arrow—named after the most dissenting judge in Australia’s history—and her best friend Clancy Lee, would-be musical star.

'Clancy wants nothing more than to leave town and head for the big smoke, but Kirby is worried: her family has a history of leaving. She hasn’t heard from her father since he left when she was a baby. Shouldn’t she stay to help her mother with the goat’s-milk soap-making business, look after her grandfather who suffers from dementia, be an apprentice carpenter to old Mr Pool? And how could she leave her pet goat, Stanley, her dog Maude, and her cat Marianne?

'But two things happen that change everything for Kirby. She finds an article in the newspaper about her father, and Iris arrives in town. Iris is beautiful, wears crazy clothes, plays the mandolin, and seems perfect, really, thinks Kirby. Clancy has his heart set on winning over Iris. Trouble is Kirby is also falling in love with Iris…' (Publication summary)

'What's the craziest thing your mum has asked you to do?

'Nina doesn't have a conventional family. Her family robs banks—even she and her twelve-year-old brother Tom are in on the act now. Sophia, Nina's mother, keeps chasing the thrill: 'Anyway, their money's insured!' she says.

'After yet another move and another new school, Nina is fed up and wants things to change. This time she's made a friend she's determined to keep: Spencer loves weird words and will talk to her about almost anything. His mother has just left home with a man who looks like a body-builder vampire, and his father and sister have stopped talking.

'Spencer and Nina both need each other as their families fall apart, but Nina is on the run and doesn't know if she will ever see Spencer again. Steph Bowe, author of Girl Saves Boy, once again explores the hearts and minds of teenagers in a novel full of drama, laughter and characters with strange and wonderful ways.' (Publisher's blurb)

'"The first time we met, Jewel Valentine saved my life."

'Isn't it enough having your very own terminal disease, without your mother dying? Or your father dating your Art teacher? No wonder Sacha Thomas ends up in the lake that Saturday evening...

'But the real question is: how does he end up in love with Jewel Valentine?

'With the help of quirky teenage prodigies Little Al and True Grisham, Sacha and Jewel have a crazy adventure, with a little lobster emancipation along the way.

'But Sacha's running out of time, and Jewel has secrets of her own.' (From the publisher's website.)