Cirrus@Austlit

'A deeply personal collection filled with reflections on love, death, creativity and healing, from the award-winning author of Bruny and The Museum of Modern Love.

'With rare subtlety and humanity, this novel relocates the difficult path to wonder in us all.' The Christina Stead Prize judges on The Museum of Modern Love

'And then it occurred to me that nothing bad ever happens here.

'Every human life is perfect in its own way. We cannot understand that, because it seems like there is so much suffering. But maybe every life is perfect for we need to know and learn and see and understand. Even when we don't understand, even when the suffering seems unfathomable, does some part of us understand? Could that really be true, I wondered?

'Nothing bad ever happens here...

'My body was shaking violently now. I held onto the rock beneath me as if I was clinging to life itself. Maybe I was. I clung to this life, my life, with all its imperfections and mistakes, with all its joy. I didn't want to go anywhere.

'After a shocking family tragedy transforms Heather Rose's Tasmanian childhood, she becomes 'a seeker of life and all its mysteries'. Heather has spent a lifetime testing boundaries and exploring the connections between love and death, the natural world and the body. Her questing spirit and her strong affinity with nature have inspired and driven her throughout her life-and deeply sustained her in times of darkness. Her words will bring wonder, light and comfort to all who read this astonishing book.

'Nothing Bad Ever Happens Here is a luminous, compelling and utterly surprising memoir by the bestselling author of Stella Prize-winner The Museum of Modern Love and Bruny.'  (Publication summary)

'I have travelled widely, but I have lived almost all my life in my heartland, our heartland, this heart-shaped island at the end of the world. If I die here one day when I am very old, with the sun coming in the window, with autumn light motes in the air and my rowboat at the front door, then I will consider myself lucky.' (Introduction)

'How far would your government go?

'A right-wing US president has withdrawn America from the Middle East and the UN. Daesh has a thoroughfare to the sea and China is Australia's newest ally. When a bomb goes off in remote Tasmania, Astrid Coleman agrees to return home to help her brother before an upcoming election. But this is no simple task. Her brother and sister are on either side of politics, the community is full of conspiracy theories, and her father is quoting Shakespeare. Only on Bruny does the world seem sane.

'Until Astrid discovers how far the government is willing to go.

'Bruny is a searing, subversive, brilliant novel about family, love, loyalty and the new world order.'

Source: Publisher's blurb.

'An extract from the Stella Prize–winning novel.'

''If this was a dream, then he wanted to know when it would end. Maybe it would end if he went to see Lydia. But it was the one thing he was not allowed to do.'...

Arky Swann is a film composer in New York separated from his wife, who has made him promise to keep a terrible secret. One day he finds his way to The Atrium at MOMA and sees Marina Abramovic in her performance The Artist is Present. The performance continues for seventy-five days and, as it unfolds, so does Arky as he considers marriage, art and the nature of commitment and love over a long-term union. The Museum of Modern Love is the story of one of the world's greatest art events and a man in search of connection.' (Publication summary)

'Dealing with a terrible loss at home and faced with unknown danger in the world of story, Tuesday McGillycuddy has to muster all her resources to survive her most challenging adventure yet.

'Winter has fallen in the world of story, and at Brown Street, Tuesday's typewriter lies silent. Far away in the Peppermint Forest, Vivienne Small fears that she will never again feel the touch of the sun.

'But when the mysterious Loddon appears in Vivienne's treehouse, he brings with him terrible danger. Without warning, Tuesday is swept up into the world of story as she has never seen it before. In this forbidding and unfamiliar place - and without her beloved dog Baxterr at her side - Tuesday becomes Loddon's captive. But who exactly is this strange boy? And will she find a way to defeat him?

'Blueberry Pancakes Forever will capture the hearts of everyone who is entranced by the power of story.' (Publication summary)

''I cannot hold the worlds apart much longer. Have you found our answer? G.'

'Vivienne Small's world is under threat. A Winged Dog has fallen from the sky bearing an ominous note and vercaka have invaded the City of Clocks.

'Meanwhile in the real world, famous writers are turning up far from home, injured and confused, and Tuesday McGillycuddy and Serendipity Smith - the most famous writer of all - could be next!

'Suddenly whisked away to the world of story, Tuesday must learn the identity of the mysterious G, and find out why he is losing control of the worlds. But how can Tuesday, Vivienne and Baxterr solve the mystery and end the mayhem without losing themselves?

'An utterly charming, action-packed sequel to the marvellous and magical Finding Serendipity.' (Publication summary)