Cirrus@Austlit

'Paris 1946: A young woman, Eve Archer, has come to Paris to find the father she never knew. She is soon caught up in a desperate race to prove her father’s innocence against the accusation that he sold a French national treasure to Hitler during the war, and murdered the original owner to obtain it. Her efforts uncover the complicated friendship between two art dealers and the woman they both loved, a Russian artist named Kristina Belova.

'‘The Masterpiece is a triumph of storytelling. Its descriptions are painterly and its characters fascinating. With Paris, art, spirited women and so many tantalising secrets hiding in its pages, The Masterpiece is certain to be one of the big books of the year.’ Natasha Lester, New York Times bestselling author of The Three Lives of Alix St Pierre'  (Publication summary)

'How do you begin your life again when you’ve lost everything you’ve worked for and your dreams have been shattered?

'That was the question beloved Australian author Belinda Alexandra faced one freezing winter night when she ran from her home in terror. She had only her wallet, her phone and her latest manuscript on a USB stick. She was wearing her slippers.

'To recover from the devastating emotional and psychological aftermath, Belinda turned to the real life women who had inspired her bestselling historical fiction: her own mother, Tatiana Morosoff, a White Russian who had fled a home on more than one occasion due to wars and revolutions; Virginia Hall, an American who lost her leg in an accident but went on to become one of the most revered Allied agents in World War II France; Carmen Amaya, who was born into abject poverty in Barcelona but used her inner spirit to rise to become the greatest Flamenco dancer of all time; Edna Walling, an Australian landscape designer and independent thinker, who lost her own dream home and artwork in a freak fire but created garden designs that celebrated the unique Australian landscape.

'They were women who had faced seemingly insurmountable challenges, and yet found ways to forge ahead and create new lives on their own terms. In a compelling and exquisite blend of memoir and history, Belinda shows readers that, no matter what challenge they might be facing, there is always the possibility of building a bold life full of meaning again from the ashes.' (Publication summary)

'A world in chaos. Two very different women. And the mystery of the man who may connect them. The stunning new novel from beloved Australian storyteller Belinda Alexandra.

'Paris 1946: Sabine Brouillette is a war crimes investigator with the French secret service. She lost her family, including her young son, when her Resistance circuit was betrayed near the end of the war. New evidence comes to light that the traitor was a British double agent who went by the codename 'the Black Fox'. Now her quest for revenge has a single focus: find the Black Fox and kill him.

'Sydney 1946: Landscape designer Diana White has been waiting six years for her husband, Casper, to return from the war in Europe. Her son, Freddy, was only a baby when his British-born father joined the RAF. But Casper is a changed man when he returns from the convalescent hospital in England where he has spent the past year under mysterious circumstances. No longer the easygoing personality Diana fell in love with, he is now darker and more secretive.

'Soon Sabine and Diana find themselves on a collision course - one seeking vengeance, the other willing to go to any lengths to protect her family.' (Publication summary)

'In a small town, everyone is watching ... Secrets, scandal and betrayal in 1950s small town Australia: the stunning new novel from bestseller Belinda Alexandra.

'She had thought Shipwreck Bay was simply a remote town where people were bored senseless with their little lives. Now she saw its virtuous facade hid something darker, more sinister.

'Rebecca Wood takes the role as postmistress in a sleepy seaside town, desperate for anonymity after a scandal in Sydney. But she is confronted almost at once by a disturbing discovery - her predecessor committed suicide.

'To add to her worries, her hopes for a quiet life are soon threatened by the attentions of the dashing local doctor, the unsettling presence of a violent whaling captain and a corrupt shire secretary, as well as the watchful eyes of the town's gossips. Yet in spite of herself she is drawn to the enigmatic resident of the house on the clifftop, rumoured to have been a Nazi spy.

'Against the backdrop of the turbulent sea, Rebecca is soon caught up in the dangerous mysteries that lie behind Shipwreck Bay's respectable net curtains.' (Publication summary)

'Paris, 1899. Emma Lacasse has been estranged from her older sister for nearly twenty years, since Caroline married a wealthy American and left France. So when Emma receives a request from Caroline to meet her, she is intrigued. Caroline invites Emma to visit her in New York, on one condition: Emma must tutor her shy, young niece, Isadora, and help her prepare for her society debut.

'Caroline lives a life of unimaginable excess and opulence as one of New York's Gilded Age millionaires and Emma is soon immersed in a world of luxury beyond her wildest dreams - a far cry from her bohemian lifestyle as a harpist and writer with her lover, Claude, in Montmartre.

'Emma hopes for an emotional reunion with her only family, but instead she finds herself in the vice-like grip of her charismatic and manipulative sister, who revels in the machinations of the ultra rich. As Emma begins to question her sister's true motives, a disaster strikes, and New York society is stripped bare - beneath the glittering exterior lies a seething nest of deceit, betrayal, moral corruption ... and perhaps even murder.'

Source: Publisher's blurb.

'For God's Sake, Amanda! That man ruined our lives!'

That's what Nan would say if I asked her. That's what Nan always said when I asked her.

'Amanda Darby has been living with her grandmother since she was two years old. If not for one horrific twist of fate she might have grown up in New Orleans instead of Sydney. She might have been Amandine Lalande instead of Amanda Darby. She might have known her parents.

Nothing can change what happened to 'that man' and her mother, but when tragedy strikes again - devastating and unexpected - a link to her parents' life on the other side of the world is exposed. The American family Amanda thought dead to her have been seeking her for years. Travelling to New Orleans, Amanda finds a vibrant city of contrasts. There's jazz, burlesque, ghost stories and shocking burial rites. But nothing is as astonishing as mysterious Grandma Ruby and the tale of forbidden love she reveals to Amanda during candlelit nights in the grand old Lalande mansion. Could this demure woman of impeccable Creole heritage have loved and lost and carried a burning secret from the troubled 1950s till now?

Before Amanda can make sense of Ruby's double life, long-feared Hurricane Katrina hits. The city is battered and neighbourhoods cut off, and Amanda risks losing not only the family she has just found, but friends who have stolen her heart. Amid the chaos and disaster of the storm of the century, she must save Ruby and find out truths that have lain potent but hidden for generations.

'Southern Ruby is a sweeping story of love, passion, family and honour. Alternating in time between the 1950s and the eve of Hurricane Katrina, it is also a tribute to a city heady with music, drama, history and superstition, which has borne the tumults of race and class and the fury of nature, but has never given up hope.' (Publication summary)

'A love bigger than a war. A beautiful woman lost. A mystery unsolved ... until now.

'2000: The wreckage of a downed WWII fighter plane is discovered in the forests near Russia's Ukrainian border. The aircraft belonged to Natalya Azarova, ace pilot and pin-up girl for Soviet propaganda, but the question of her fate remains unanswered.

'Was she a German spy who faked her own death, as the Kremlin claims? Her lover, Valentin Orlov, now a highly decorated general, refuses to believe it. Lily, a young Australian woman, has moved to Moscow to escape from tragedy. She becomes fascinated by the story of Natalya, and when she meets an elderly woman who claims to know the truth behind the rumours, Lily is drawn deeper into the mystery.

'From the pomp and purges of Stalin's Russia through the horrors of war and beyond - secrets and lies, enduring love and terrible betrayal, sacrifice and redemption all combine in this sweeping saga from Belinda Alexandra.'

Source: Publisher's blurb.

'A mysterious stranger known as "The Wolf" leaves an infant with the sisters of Santo Spirito. A tiny silver key hidden in her wrappings is the one clue to the child's identity...

'Rosa's only family is the nuns who have raised her. When she turns fifteen, she must leave them and become governess to the daughter of an aristocrat and his strange, frightening wife. Their house is elegant but cursed, and Rosa - blessed with gifts beyond her considerable musical talents - is torn between her desire to know the truth and her fear of its repercussions.

'And all the while, the hand of Fascism curls around beautiful Italy, and none of her citizens is safe. Rosa faces unimaginable hardship: her only weapons her intelligence, intuition and determination ... and her extraordinary capacity for love.' (From the publisher's website.)

Silver Wattle is 'about two exceptional sisters, set in the Australian film world of the 1920s.

'In fear for their lives after the sudden death of their mother, Adela and Klara must flee Prague to find refuge with their uncle in Australia. There, Adela becomes a film director at a time when the local industry is starting to feel the competition from Hollywood.

'But while success is imminent, the issues of family and an impossible love are never far away. And ultimately dreams of the silver screen must compete with the bonds of a lifetime...' (Publisher's blurb)

'An epic new novel as memorable as the scent of lavender, from one of Australia's most compelling storytellers.

''Nothing is wasted, Simone. the love we give never dies.'

'At fourteen, Simone Fleurier is wrenched from her home on a Provencal lavender farm and sent to work in Marseille. Her life there is hard and impoverished, but Simone discovers the music hall and a dream: to one day be a famous dancer and singer. But when war threatens, Simone makes a decision that will lead to great danger - yet ultimately prove that love, just like wild lavender, can grow in the least likely of places ...

'Belinda Alexandra has created a tale of passion and courage that moves from the backstreets of Marseille to the grand music theatres of Paris, from the countryside of Provence to decadent pre-war Berlin and jazz-age New York. Wild Lavender is a feast for the senses that will live on in the imagination long after the book is closed.' (Publication summary)