Cirrus@Austlit

'A heart-warming journey with parents of a certain age and a son who thinks he knows best

''Warm, witty, honest. With a healthy serving of humour, Todd Alexander has written a marvellous, touching and insightful book. You'll laugh, cry and hope your own kids love you this much. I'll be more patient with my parents after reading this' Better Reading

'Of course, we love our parents. Even if they do so many things that drive us bonkers.

'Like how a mother - for argument's sake, let's say mine - taps her fingernails on the car window whenever she sees a place of interest (seven taps for a regular haunt, up to twenty for somewhere fascinating). Or the way a father - let's call him Dad - practises deafness but can miraculously hear a suggestion of no ham at Christmas over the roar of cricket commentary. It might be the way your mum works herself into a tizz over a call from Azerbaijan one week and Nigeria the next. Or how your dad has an answer to everything (despite his information being forty years out of date) and 'a guy' for all fixes (if only he could find his Rolodex).

'When do we stop being our parents' child and become their parent? After all, they did pretty well on their own for decades - why do they need our intervention now? And that tendency for them to drive us up the wall ... could it be because we are entering middle age and starting to recognise some of those traits in ourselves?

'Over the Hill and Up the Wall is an affectionate, funny look at the frictions of taking a more active role in our elders' lives. It's a nod to every child who has waited three hours for a parent to fasten their seatbelt, and every parent whose child assumes they can't count to twenty. And, if your parents are just hitting middle age, it may well be a warning of things to come!' (Publication summary)

'Once I was the poster boy for corporate success, but now I’m crashing through the bush in a storm in search of a missing pig. How the hell did we end up here?

Todd and Jeff have had enough of the city. Sick of the daily grind and workaday corporate shenanigans, they throw caution to the wind and buy 100 acres in the renowned Hunter Valley wine region, intent on living a golden bucolic life and building a fabulous B&B, where they can offer the joys of country life to heart-weary souls.

'Todd will cook, Jeff will renovate. They have a vineyard, they can make wine. They have space, they can grow their own food. They have everything they need to make their dreams come true.

'How hard can it be?'

Source: Publisher's blurb.

'Tom is a thirteen year old boy growing up in the Western Suburbs of Sydney in 1987. But Tom isn't like the other boys and he tries to escape the bullying he receives by immersing himself in the fantasy world of film.

'When Tom learns that he shares the same name as the great actress Katharine Hepburn's brother (who hanged himself in 1921), he decides to invent for himself a new identity. When his taunters realise he is destined for greatness himself, surely they will change their opinion of him.

'The forty year old Tom looks back on his childhood and tries to make sense of his inability to connect with those around him - but can he change from the person he thinks he was?' (Publication summary)