Cirrus@Austlit

'I guess it started with the mothers.'

'It was all just a terrible misunderstanding.'

'I'll tell you exactly why it happened.'

'Pirriwee Public's annual school Trivia Night has ended in a shocking riot. A parent is dead. Was it murder, a tragic accident... or something else entirely?

'Big Little Lies is a funny, heartbreaking, challenging story of ex-husbands and second wives, new friendships, old betrayals and and schoolyard politics.

'No. 1 New York Times bestselling author turns her unique gaze on the dangerous little lies we tell ourselves every day and what really goes on behind closed suburban doors.

'Let me be clear. This is not a circus. This is a murder investigation.'

(Publication summary)

'Ellen O'Farrell is an expert when it comes to human frailties. She's a hypnotherapist who helps her clients deal with everything from addictions to life-long phobias. So when she falls in love with a man who is being stalked by his ex-girlfriend she's more intrigued than frightened.

'What makes a supposedly smart, professional woman behave this way? She'd love to meet her! What she doesn't know is that she already has. Saskia has been masquerading as a client, and their lives are set to collide in ways Ellen could never have predicted.

'This wonderfully perceptive new novel from Liane Moriarty is about the lines we'll cross for love. It's about the murky areas between right and wrong, and the complexities of modern relationships.

'As Ellen is about to discover, we're all a little crazy - even her.' (From the publisher's website.)

'Abigail Scottsdale is the beautiful daughter of a miner. Left alone after her father’s death, the elderly and unscrupulous mine owner lures her to his house and then drugs and marries her. Ebenezer dies on their wedding night, and fearing she is to be blamed, Abbey flees the estate. Meanwhile Ebenezer’s estranged son is outraged when he finds out his father’s young bride has inherited everything that belongs to him and sets out to put things right, anyway he can. Even though he believes Abbey is a cunning woman who likely killed his father, he believes courting her is the means to an end but she’s taken up the position of Jack Hawker’s mother’s companion on Bungaree Station. It’s a difficult position, as Sybil Hawker dislikes and distrusts her, and she also has Jack’s jealous girlfriend Clementine to deal with. Jack becomes protective of Abbey and it’s just as well as Heath had a deadly plan to execute.'

Source: Author's blurb.

'Jacqueline Gordon-Smith’s family are fleeing an angry mob in Atlanta when the family car crashes, killing her mother and brother. Eighteen years later, after her wealthy husband has a ship board affair on the way to Australia, she finds herself alone and virtually penniless. She befriends two women set to marry lonely farmers and travels with them to the Flinders Ranges where she becomes a housekeeper for widower Ben Dulton. Determined to be rid of her, Ben’s four sons and an eccentric, aboriginal woman [sic] play numerous dirty tricks on her. But Jackie digs in, equally resolute to survive the endless heat, dust and flies, and prove she has worth. Jackie’s only consolation is the gorgeous Nick Dulton, Ben’s brother, who rescues her when she’s kidnapped by the local aboriginal clan. She discovers she’s pregnant to Nick, but the course to true love is not smooth when she must deal with a love rival, four hostile boys, and a repentant ex husband who’s been conned out of his money by the woman he threw Jackie over for.'

Source: Author's blurb.

'When the tiger is seen again in the Tantanoola area, young reporter, Eliza Dickens begs her boss for a chance to cover the story. Against his best judgment, he agrees, but Eliza's mother is set against the idea. Eliza's aunt has been a virtual recluse in the town of Tantanoola since a terrible accident twenty years earlier and Henrietta does not want Eliza to meet up with her aunt and find out the terrible family secret. With her father's backing, Eliza sets off. Unable to find anywhere to stay, she ends up at the Hanging Rocks Inn, where Matilda lives. The two women form a bond, but when a man hired to hunt the tiger comes to stay, he and Eliza clash over the tiger's future. A rival reporter makes life very hard for Eliza and an aboriginal [sic] artist she befriends. In the end, Eliza must not only save the tiger from the hunter, a man she falls in love with, but also save Noah from the town's prejudice.'

Source: Author's blurb.

'Australia, 1933: Arabella Fitzherbert, a 19-year-old English lady travels with her parents to Australia as they hope the dry climate will help their only daughter recover from her chronic illness. With the Depression in full swing, the wealthy Fitzherbert family will stop at nothing to pamper their sickly daughter. Their journey takes an unexpected turn, however, when Arabella falls from the passenger train and finds herself in the desert - all alone. Injured, she watches helplessly as the train pulls away, leaving her stranded in the middle of nowhere. Nobody notices her missing until what is presumed to be too late. Arabella's fate might have been sealed if not for a group of Aborigines who herd her to Marree, a small town in the outback, cut off from the rest of the world. While her parents believe her dead, Arabella is on her own for the first time in her life.'

Source: Publisher's blurb (English language edition).

'The three Kettle sisters have had a mortifying mishap. Their raucous, champagne-soaked birthday dinner has come to an abrupt end following a violent argument and an emergency dash to the hospital. So who started it this time? Was it angry, hurt Cat, still recovering from the 'Night of the Spaghetti'? Was it Lyn, so serenely successful, at least on the outside? Or was it quirky, dreamy Gemma, the sister who can't keep a secret, except for the most important one of all?' (Publication summary)

'Amelia Divine is spoilt, rich and has recently lost her family in a tragic accident. She’s travelling on a steamer to her guardians on Kangaroo Island when the ship strikes a hidden reef in a storm. She forces her companion Lucy to give up her place is a life raft for her, and finds herself one of only two survivors to be rescued by a lighthouse keeper from rocks. The other survivor is Sarah Jones, a parolee who is to serve out her term of imprisonment working for a widowed farmer with seven children on the island. When Amelia bumps her head and loses her memory, Sarah steals her identity, and thinks that is the last she’ll see of the haughty Miss Divine. But the two women’s lives are destined to be entwined in a tale of love, greed and deception.'

Source: Publisher's blurb.