Cirrus@Austlit

'August Winthrop, an American who fought with the International Brigade in 1937, is talked into returning a 17th century chronicle containing a great mystical secret written by a Spanish Jewish physic fleeing both the Inquisition and the witch trial of Logrono. It means August will have to risk his life and possible arrest to return the book to the Basque family who have been safeguarding it for centuries.

'Meanwhile, unknown to August, three other parties seek both the chronicle and August -- a maverick CIA operative who has killed in the past in his desperate search for the chronicle and will kill again, a mysterious middle-aged woman who is the secret leader of a band of occultists in thrall to Aleister Crowley, and the MI5 who have become convinced August is a Soviet agent out to sabotage a military pact between Spain and the US.

'August himself is swept up in solving the secret of the chronicle - the key to a great mystical treasure - a quest that takes him into the political complexities of Franco′s Spain as well as the ancient spiritual beliefs of the Basques, throws him into a network of ex-International Brigadiers across both France and Germany and finally into a psychological, political and spiritual revelation that will shatter his (and the reader′s) world.' (From the publisher's website.)

'A collection of nine sensual, witty and mystical stories marking Tobsha Learner′s return to the short story format after the international success of both Quiver and Tremble, and exploring the universal experiences of obsession, romantic encounters and secret regrets. A movie star longs for anonymity; a Sydney sculptor wonders whether a lover can be summoned by the act of artistic creation; a California call-centre worker seeks an online release in Second Life; a London weatherman inspires both obsessive lust and devastating storms; and an eighteenth-century biographer discovers a magic, erotic ritual which will change his life forever ...

'In Yearn, the line between reality and imagination is blurred by the power of fantasy and desire.' (From the publisher's website.)

'Now, when I look at the desert, I am reminded of the year I spent in Egypt - the most definitive of my life ...

'Egypt, 1977. Oliver, a geophysicist expert in oil exploration, finds himself unwillingly swept up in a world of political and mystical sabotage after his wife, Isabella, a marine archaeologist, discovers a mysterious ancient artefact, an astrolabe she'd been searching for all her life.

'Oliver embarks on a journey that takes him into the secrets of Isabella's once-wealthy Italian-Alexandrian family, and the powers of the astrolabe itself. Powers he, a fierce sceptic, refuses to accept.

'Now the reluctant custodian of the astrolabe, and pursued by those keen to use it for their own purposes, Oliver flees back to London where punk is raging, and sex, drugs and rock'n'roll are all around. When his brother overdoses, Oliver is reluctantly forced to test the powers of the astrolabe himself; in doing so he seals a Faustian pact.' (from the publisher's website)