Cirrus@Austlit

'Though eight years old, his body is so small, his face so pinched, you would take him for five or six.

'Antonino is an abandoned child struggling for survival in the dark alleys of Naples. He is one of thousands whose waking hours are spent in petty crime and whose bed is a street grating above a bakers oven.

'Yet there is hope, in the shape of a young priest, Mario Borrelli. In a journey of self-transformation and love, Father Borrelli befriends the street children and sets up a support network for them: The House of the Urchins.

'Morris West spent time in the slums of impoverished postwar Naples. His chilling account of the local street urchins in his international bestseller Children of the Sun drew the world's attention to their plight, and offers a timeless insight into child poverty. West's portrayal of Father Borelli has inspired many others to follow in Borelli's footsteps.'

Source: Publisher's blurb (Allen & Unwin, 2017).

'An Italian general is found dead in his apartment Next to his body is a small card inscribed with a salamander in a bed of flames. Is it suicide or murder?

Dante Matucci, a captain in the Italian secret service, begins an investigation that leads him into a maze of political violence and intrigue. He meets the general's former mistress, Lili Anders, and embarks on a dangerous affair with the beautiful one-time spy. Soon he is drawn into the net of the great Salamander himself, millionaire industrialist Bruno Manzini, who is pitting his wits against the elaborate machinery threatening Italy's government.

'In a game of high stakes, how much is Matucci prepared to pay to survive?'

Source: Publisher's blurb (Allen & Unwin, 2017)

'The profound story of a cardinal who steps out from the Iron Curtain to become Pope amid the machinations of Cold War politics—the first title in the Vatican Trilogy.'

Source: Publisher's blurb (Allen & Unwin, 2017).

'After the war is over, a radioactive cloud begins to sweep southwards on the winds, gradually poisoning everything in its path. An American submarine captain is among the survivors left sheltering in Australia, preparing with the locals for the inevitable. Despite his memories of his wife, he becomes close to a young woman struggling to accept the harsh realities of their situation. Then a faint Morse code signal is picked up, transmitting from the United States and the submarine must set sail through the bleak ocean to search for signs of life.'

Source: Publisher's blurb (2009 Vintage ed.).

'Mick McCreary is an oilman out of a job. His only possessions are a plane ticket to Singapore, a month's pay in Indonesian rupiahs and the luck of the Irish.

'When the mysterious Mr Rubensohn approaches him with the offer of a breathtaking salary for a drilling operation on a remote island—no questions asked—he thinks that luck is running with him once more.

'But then he meets the beautiful Lisette, and within twenty-four hours he is involved in murder, intrigue and an international fraud of frightening proportions.'

Source: Publisher's blurb (Allen & Unwin, 2017).

'Richard Ashley is a journalist who cares about the truth, and he's about to break the greatest story of his career.

'Italy's ruling clique is rotten to the core. A scandal centred around Vittorio, Duke of Orgagna, points to a web of corruption and deceit emanating from his estate in the south.

'But Ashley finds that the truth is not all it seems when he falls in love with Orgagna's wife. Everything is more complicated, more passionate, than before—and tainted by death. Suddenly Ashley's greatest story threatens to be his last.'

Source: Publisher's blurb (Allen & Unwin, 2017).

'Winter 1945. The Second World War is over, but it is a time of armistice, not peace. Austria is grieving its defeat and the loss of a generation of men; it is a land without leaders. To men like Major Mark Hanlon, Occupation Commander of the alpine town of Bad Quellenberg, falls the task of destroying the legacy of the Nazis once and for all.

'When his driver is murdered by an Austrian soldier, Hanlon is determined to bring the man to justice. But investigating the crime proves difficult in a community where nearly everyone has something to hide.'

Source: Publisher's blurb (Allen & Unwin, 2017).

'American ambassador Maxwell Gordon Amberley has a reputation as a tough negotiator. Yet when he is sent to Vietnam, the dilemma he faces throws him into self-doubt. He is made arbiter of his nation's fate on the one hand, and of the life and death of the ruling house of Vietnam on the other.

'Out of every international crisis comes at least one great book. From the explosive, bitter and savage battlefront of Vietnam, Morris West's masterly novel The Ambassador brings to life the early days of the Vietnam War and its backroom political dealings, foreshadowing the repercussions that continue today.'

Source: Publisher's blurb (Allen & Unwin, 2017).

'A moving exploration of the meaning of faith, and a vivid portrayal of life in impoverished post-war Calabria.'

Source: Publisher's blurb (Allen & Unwin, 2017).

'Lance Dillon is owner of a new cattle station on the southern fringe of Australia's Arnhem Land. When an Aboriginal hunting party targets Dillon's prize bull for a ritual killing, and then spears Dillon in the shoulder, it's clear they want him of their traditional land.

'Under the merciless rays of the burning sun, the wounded Dillon flees into the bush, with expert tracker Mundaru in hot pursuit.

'Dillon's city-born wife Mary and handsome local policeman Neil Adams set out to search for her husband. The gruelling journey throws them together, and it is not long before each is secretly hoping that Dillon is never found alive.'

Source: Publisher's blurb (Allen & Unwin, 2017).

'Alan Duncan returns to his family home in Australia after the war and several years of study in England. But his homecoming is marred by the mysterious suicide of his parents' quiet and reliable parlour-maid. A search through her belongings in search of clues leads to heartbreaking revelations about the woman's identity, the death of Alan's brother Bill, and, above all, the disappearance of his brother's fiancee, Janet.'

Source: Publisher's blurb (2009 Vintage ed.).

'Theodore Honey is a shy, inconspicous aircraft engineer whose eccentric interests in quantum mechanics and spiritualism are frowned upon in aviation circles. But when a passenger plane crashes in unexplained circumstances, Honey must convince his superiors that his unorthodox theories are correct before more lives are lost.'

Source: Publisher's blurb (2011 Vintage ed.).