Cirrus@Austlit

The moving story of an Indigenous woman who beat disadvantage and violence to become one of Australia's most influential political voices.

'Jacinta Nampijinpa Price was nine months pregnant and due to give birth the night she attended her high school formal. With her baby tucked in her arms, she completed year 12 from her hospital bed. Early in their relationship, she took her future husband, Colin, to the Alice Springs morgue to identify the body of a family member who'd been killed.

'Nothing about the life of this passionate and steely Warlpiri woman could ever be described as ordinary.

'In this remarkable memoir, Jacinta Nampijinpa Price candidly recalls her journey from the remote outback communities of Yuendumu and Alice Springs in the Northern Territory - a young girl with big dreams and the red dust of her ancestors under her fingernails - to the corridors of Canberra and beyond.

'Honest, raw and at times heartbreaking, Matters of the Heart is a deeply personal reflection of how a young Indigenous woman, growing up surrounded by violence and tragedy, beat the odds to become one of the most powerful political voices of our time.

''I've been to hell and back, and I've survived.''  (Publication summary)

'A brilliantly warm-hearted NEW series from Brooke Blurton and Melanie Saward, full of high school longing, friendship, footy matches, and dreams to change the world!

'It's funny how your life changes.

'I used to be worried about playing footy and whether my first kiss would be with a boy or a girl. I used to worry about having enough time after school and putting my little cousins to bed to go for a run with my best friend Loz and whether she'd ever look at me the way she looks at my brother Poss.

'But a new girl came to school and there's something about her ... I suddenly got the courage to stand up to our history teacher about teaching our true history with books written by blackfullas. And somehow she did too!

'At first we were on top of the world - and we might even have a chance to change it just a little bit. But now I'm banned from footy and I wonder ... is it all going to be worth it?' (Publication summary)

'Brand-new illustrated junior fiction from the bestselling creator of the Very Cranky Bear series!

'Meet Bling Jollygood: half-penguin, half-canary, full-time undercover reporter.

'Bling discovers that an egg-shaped comet is hurtling towards Earth! So, she puts together a makeshift crew to blow it up and save the planet. Everyone they meet along the way is extremely helpful. Perhaps too helpful ...

'A witty and slapstick junior-fiction adventure from bestselling creator Nick Bland.'  (Publication summary)

'A celebration of how mums will always be there for you with gorgeous rhyming text by Sarah Ayoub and vibrant, joyful art by Kate Moon!

'The best gift I've had is to be your mum,
and no matter what happens or what may come:
in all you feel and all you do,
I will always be there for you.

'A joyous and energetic picture book about all the fun and loving ways mums are there for you, by Sarah Ayoub, author of The Love That Grew, and Kate Moon, illustrator of Our Home, Our Heartbeat.'  (Publication summary)

'"There's always someone whispering about something."

'On a small island off the coast of Scotland, an isolated community is grieving. Eighteen-year-old Alan Ferguson was found at the foot of the lighthouse - an apparent suicide.

'DIs Georgina Lennox and Richard Stewart are sent to investigate. A raging storm keeps them trapped on the island for five days. And the locals don't take kindly to mainlanders.

'As George and Ritchie question the island's inhabitants, they discover a village filled with superstition and shrouded in secrets.

'But someone wants those secrets to stay buried. At any cost.'  (Publication summary)

'Step into a top-secret world where frogs don't just eat flies, they eat danger! This is FROG SQUAD!

'Frog Squad dives into the treacherous waters of the Bermuda Triangle to find Captain Froggy Longbottom's shipwreck. It's filled with stolen treasure, including the world's largest pearl! But The Organisation of Amphibious Devious Scoundrels (TOADS) is hunting for the treasure, too. Will the brave rescue frogs reach it first, or will they be swallowed by quicksand?' (Publication summary)

'Lady mechanic seeks love in the country.

'Kylie Summer loves her hometown in the Snowies, and life would be wonderful if only her workshop would turn a profit (she's broke) and Hanrahan would recover from its shortage of eligible blokes (unlikely).

'But then an arrogant city lawyer turns up. Is he in Hanrahan to stay? Not at all. He's charming and he's good-looking but he's a bad decision waiting to happen. If only he didn't make her feel so ... wonderful.

'Damon Johns hasn't lost a court case in months, so he's mad as fire when his colleagues ban him from work. Sure, he's had a run-in with a traffic cop ... and a judge ... but banning him? What his colleagues don't know is that Damon's past is about to catch up with him and his career may not be the only thing set to implode.

'A chance request to organise the sale of a country property is good news: he'll need a distraction if he can't work, and soon he'll be back in the city where he belongs. The bad news? The place comes with a special-needs labrador and a girl-next-door mechanic who both conspire to give his lonely heart crazy ideas about sticking around ...'  (Publication summary)

'This is a magical love story. Where, despite what I have just told you, the most extraordinary thing to happen is a woman learns to forgive herself.

'When Caitlin inherits a significant sum of money on her fortieth birthday, she decides to break the habits of a lifetime and throw caution to the winds. She's about to tell her husband Paul that they're leaving London on a once-in-a-lifetime journey to Eat Pray Love their way around the world, only ... she doesn't tell Paul that, because before the candles are lit, he tells her that he's very much in love with someone else. After a drunken night trying to console herself, Caitlin books tickets to Australia - anything to get as far away as possible.

'What does the world feel like when it's ending for you, and no-one else? What does life feel like when you are running away from it? This is a story that begins in a way you expect, and ends very far from there. It is a story of creaking English hallways and vast Australian skies. Of hands that feel like warm sandpaper. Cicadas that sing so loudly they drown out the grief. Of white wine and an old piano and children who want their parents back from the dead. It is a magical tale of travel and mystery. And a very human tale of sex and loss and seawater and the primal joy of coming home. This is The Cicada House.

''A glorious novel: captivating, vibrant and original' Jess Dettmann, Without Further Ado

''The perfect read for anyone who loves getting lost in a story ... warm, smart, funny, and genuinely poignant ... delicious from beginning to end' Martha Beck, The Way of Integrity'  (Publication summary)

Mary Poppins comes back on the end of a kite string, stays with the Banks family for a while, and then disappears on a merry-go-round horse.

Source: Publisher's blurb

'Paige White kayaked across the lake each morning at dawn. Someone was watching her. Many someones watched her online. But was anyone with her the day she was found?

'Paige White's beautiful life is documented closely for her thousands of followers: lakeside picnics with her daughter, sunny afternoons in the family van, and romantic dinners with her husband. So when she posts an ominous image, and her body is shortly after discovered in the lake, everyone immediately wonders - suicide or foul play?

'Paige finds herself suspended in a strange, idyllic place that resembles her most 'liked' Instagram post, forced to watch as life continues without her.

'When Paige's death makes national news, Jane Masters, a journalist who was close to Paige in childhood, reluctantly travels home. Struggling with the morality of covering her friend's death, Jane will confront the town she left behind and the dark undercurrents that she's always known run underneath.'  (Publication summary)

'A humorous picture book about elephants and how surprisingly sustainable their poo can be!

'There's a hullabaloo about elephant poo --
what can you do with that beasty brew?
A hundred kilos daily from you-know-where.
That's the same body weight as a panda bear!

'The messy and totally true tale of elephants and the many uses for what comes from their busy behinds.'  (Publication summary)

'Step into a top-secret world where frogs don't just eat flies, they eat danger! This is FROG SQUAD!

'Alert! When a distress signal comes in from Croakomo Island, there's only one team brave enough to leap to the rescue! Frog Squad must face an angry swarm of stink bugs to find out who's been stealing poisonous jungle plants. Could it be Professor Cain and The Organisation of Amphibious Devious Scoundrels (TOADS)?'  (Publication summary)

'Grieving widow or wronged wife ... which would you choose? The witty and heartwarming new novel from the bestselling author of The Scent of You

'Sophie blinked and looked down again, relieved that everyone would think she was overcome with devastation at the prospect of reading her husband's eulogy, not that she was in shock, having just looked right into the eyes of his mistress.

'Food stylist Sophie Crommelin has a beautiful life. Now that their two boys are grown up, she and her husband Matt - an acclaimed artist - are leaving London for a new start on England's fashionably boho south coast. But the day after the house is sold, a series of shocks leave Sophie reeling - and suddenly she's heading off to Hastings on her own.

'Beau Crommelin has always been very much his father's son. Charming, beautiful and creative, he gets on with everyone and is building a name as a jewellery designer. But after Matt's sudden death, Beau finds himself on the wrong end of a scandal and everything he thought he knew about himself is called into question.

'As Sophie and Beau try to find their feet, new friends and opportunities appear. But the biggest revelation is still to come ...

'A deliciously warm, witty and moving story of love, family, second chances and starting over.' (Publication summary)