Cirrus@Austlit

'A novel of high adventure, exploration, shipwreck and survival, based on the life of Matthew Flinders' cousin, fifteen-year-old midshipman John Franklin, by the award-winning author of Soldier Boy.

''Our discoveries have been great, but the risks and misfortunes many.'

'John Franklin always wanted to be a sailor. As a volunteer in the Royal Navy at age fourteen, he found himself in the Battle of Copenhagan, but nothing could prepare him for the adventure of a lifetime, when he set off in 1801 with his cousin Matthew Flinders on HMS Investigator as it sought to chart the first circumnavigation of Australia.

'Taking on responsibility for the chronometers, under the jealous eye of Flinders' younger brother, the young midshipman found all the action, adventure and excitement he'd hoped for in his new life at sea. It inspired him to become one of the great navigators and explorers of the 19th century.

'However, he wasn't quite so prepared for the other challenges that life onboard had in store - the rivalries with fellow shipmates, the shortages of food, and the harsh realities of what they encountered in the colonies. Danger, disease and death seemed to follow in their wake, and even the Investigator was at serious risk of survival, and had to flee to Koepang in present-day Indonesia for repair.

'The history books tell us that the first circumnavigation of Australia was completed on this voyage - but award-winning author Anthony Hill tells us how it was achieved. The Investigators is an unforgettable story of high adventure, exploration, shipwreck and survival as a young sailor comes of age.' (Publication summary)

''It's a good story, Samuel. You're a piece of living history.'

'Oxford 1863: Young Samuel Speed sets a barley stack alight in the hope it will earn him a bed in prison for the night. He wants nothing more than a morsel of food in his belly and a warm place to sleep off the streets. What he receives is a sentence of seven years' servitude, to be served half a world away in the penal colony of Fremantle, Western Australia.

'When Samuel boards the transport ship Belgravia, he is stripped of his clothing and even his name, and given regulations of when to rise, eat, clean and sleep. On arrival at Fremantle Prison, hard labour is added to the mix and he wonders if life can get any worse. The only solace he finds is a love of reading, which allows the likes of Tom Sawyer and Oliver Twist to become his lifelong friends.

'Samuel is granted a ticket of leave in 1867 and full freedom in 1871, but what sort of life can a man forge for himself in the colony, with no skills, no money and no family? Will it be the beginning of the life he has always dreamed of, or do some sentences truly never end?

'A colourful recreation of the life and times of the last known convict to be sent to Australia, The Last Convict is a moving study of old age and loneliness, as one social outcast finds meaning in his impoverished life through the power of literature. Meticulously researched and brilliantly woven into an engaging fictional account, it is an unforgettable story by an award-winning writer and historian.' (Publication summary)

'An untold tale of Australians at war: the first ABC war correspondents and how radio broadcast from the battlefields to those at home waiting for news. With the outbreak of the Second World War, a new breed of reporters joined the ranks of war correspondents - and through the reach and power of radio Australians back home heard their voices and their stories shaped from the sounds of battle, out of the white noise of the ether.Australian forces defended our long shoreline against the threat of invasion and more than 500,000 Australians went into battle overseas. They fought on the dusty soil of the Middle East and North Africa, in the snow-topped hills of Greece, on the beaches of the Pacific and in the sweltering jungles of Malaya and New Guinea. And the first ABC war correspondents were on the frontlines with them.The story of these correspondents is a story of Australians at war and a tale of personal struggle, humour, tragedy and achievement. From Chester Wilmot's gripping accounts of the Siege of Tobruk to Dudley Leggett trekking with the diggers through the mud of the Kokoda Trail, Haydon Lennard helping to free Australian nurses from a Japanese prison camp and John Elliott's shocking death in the final campaign in Borneo, ABC correspondents shared the highs, lows and the dangers of the frontline with the troops. And the photographs of the correspondents in the field and the ephemera that has survived: the torn pages, blotted, crossed out and hastily typed scripts that are reproduced in the book bring these experiences to life.Tony Hill's own experience as a foreign correspondent led him in search of the first ABC war correspondents and to a compelling and largely untold story. He is passionate about telling this story of the war; about a remarkable group of men and how they reported from the warfront; how they changed the reporting of war and how the war changed their lives.' (Publication summary)

'A fictional recreation of one of the greatest voyages of discovery ever made, by award-winning author Anthony Hill.

'The enthralling story of Captain Cook's voyage to Australia, as seen through the eager eyes of a cabin boy.

'When young Isaac Manley sailed on the Endeavour from England in 1768, no one on board knew if a mysterious southern continent existed in the vast Pacific Ocean. It would be a voyage full of uncertainties and terrors.

'During the course of the three-year journey, Isaac’s eyes are opened to all the brutal realities of life at sea – floggings, storms, press-gangs, the deaths of fellow crewmen, and violent clashes on distant shores.

'Yet Isaac also experiences the tropical beauty of Tahiti, where he becomes enchanted with a beautiful Tahitian girl. He sees the wonders of New Zealand, and he is there when the men of Endeavour first glimpse the east coast of Australia, anchor in Botany Bay, and run aground on the Great Barrier Reef.

'Acclaimed and award-winning historical novelist Anthony Hill brings to life this landmark voyage with warmth, insight and vivid detail in this exciting and enlightening tale of adventure and discovery. ' (Publication summary)

A young girl works through various attempts to stop her cat from feasting on the rainbow birds in the garden.

Harriet was a real tortoise from the Galapagos Islands... who lived for most of her long, long life in Queensland.

When Harriet died in 2006, at the great age of about 175-years-old, she had become one of the world's most famous tortoises.

It was said she was one of the tortoises collected by the great naturalist Charles Darwin and the ship HMS Beagle, when it visited the Galapagos Islands in 1835.

But was she? In the story of Harriet Anthony Hill tried to find out... (Source: Author's website)

'The Shadow Dog is Anthony Hill's heart-felt tribute to his dog Sebastian ... a quite well-bred German short-haired pointer who suffered one terrible defect.

'He was black. And black is not permitted. So the breeders dumped Sebastian as a six-week-old puppy in a drain outside the Canberra pound...

'Sensitively illustrated with ink and wash drawings by Andrew McLean, another dog lover, The Shadow Dog is in part an elegy, as Anthony takes his dog on their last walk together ... through the gate and into the paddock where Sebastian used to chase tennis balls ... among the pine woods and up the track through the bush to the top of Dog Hill ... and down again.

'But it is also a song of joy known by everyone who has owned and loved a dog ... as Anthony remembers the pup coming home and being mothered by the old dog Sandy ... going to obedience school ... learning his manners ... chasing sticks and swimming in the lake ... becoming the family's devoted companion through nine years.'

Source: Author's website.

On a remote Scottish island music has been banned for a hundred years. All that is about to change because of the courage of one boy and a mysterious old fiddle player. Forbidden is the haunting story of bravery friendship and the healing power of music.