Cirrus@Austlit

'In 1914, when the war draws the young men of Britain away to fight, it is the women who must keep the nation running. Two of those women are Peggy and Maude, twin sisters who work in the bindery at Oxford University Press in Jericho. Peggy is intelligent, ambitious and dreams of going to Oxford University, but for most of her life she has been told her job is to bind the books, not read them. Maude, meanwhile, wants nothing more than what she has. She is extraordinary but vulnerable. Peggy needs to watch over her.

'When refugees arrive from the devastated cities of Belgium, it sends ripples through the community and through the sisters' lives. Peggy begins to see the possibility of another future where she can use her intellect and not just her hands, but as war and illness reshape her world, it is love, and the responsibility that comes with it, that threaten to hold her back.

'In this beautiful companion to the international bestseller The Dictionary of Lost Words, Pip Williams explores another little-known slice of history seen through women's eyes. Evocative, subversive and rich with unforgettable characters, The Bookbinder of Jericho is a story about knowledge who gets to make it, who gets to access it, and what is lost when it is withheld.'  (Publication summary)

'Esme is born into a world of words. Motherless and irrepressibly curious, she spends her childhood in the ‘Scriptorium’, a garden shed in Oxford where her father and a team of dedicated lexicographers are collecting words for the very first Oxford English Dictionary. Esme’s place is beneath the sorting table, unseen and unheard. One day a slip of paper containing the word ‘bondmaid’ flutters to the floor. Esme rescues the slip and stashes it in an old wooden case that belongs to her friend, Lizzie, a young servant in the big house. Esme begins to collect other words from the Scriptorium that are misplaced, discarded or have been neglected by the dictionary men. They help her make sense of the world.

'Over time, Esme realises that some words are considered more important than others, and that words and meanings relating to women’s experiences often go unrecorded. While she dedicates her life to the Oxford English Dictionary, secretly, she begins to collect words for another dictionary: The Dictionary of Lost Words.' (Publication summary) 

'Cambridge, 1963.

'Charlotte is struggling. With motherhood, with the changes marriage and parenthood bring, with losing the time and the energy to paint. Her husband, Henry, wants things to be as they were and can’t face the thought of another English winter.

'A brochure slipped through the letterbox slot brings him the answer: ‘Australia brings out the best in you’.

'Despite wanting to stay in the place that she knows, Charlotte is too worn out to fight. Before she has a chance to realise what it will mean, she is travelling to the other side of the world. Arriving in Perth, the southern sun shines a harsh light on both Henry and Charlotte and slowly reveals that their new life is not the answer either was hoping for. Charlotte is left wondering if there is anywhere she belongs and how far she’ll go to find her way home …'

Source: Publisher's blurb.

'A heart-warming debut about finding out what love and life is all about.

'At seven years old, Millie Bird realises that everything is dying around her. She wasn't to know that after she had recorded twenty-seven assorted creatures in her Book of Dead Things her dad would be a Dead Thing, too.

'Agatha Pantha is eighty-two and has not left her house since her husband died. She sits behind her front window, hidden by the curtains and ivy, and shouts at passers-by, roaring her anger at complete strangers. Until the day Agatha spies a young girl across the street.

'Karl the Touch Typist is eighty-seven when his son kisses him on the cheek before leaving him at the nursing home. As he watches his son leave, Karl has a moment of clarity. He escapes the home and takes off in search of something different.

'Three lost people needing to be found. But they don't know it yet. Millie, Agatha and Karl are about to break the rules and discover what living is all about.' (Publication summary)

'Tassaa Bareesh, a matriarch in the Hutt crime cartel, is holding an auction that's drawing attention from across the galaxy. Representatives of both the Republic and the Sith Empire are present, along with a Jedi Padawan sent to investigate, a disenfranchised trooper drummed out of the Republic's elite Blackstar Squad, and a mysterious Mandalorian with a private agenda. But the Republic's envoy is not what he seems, the Empire's delegate is a ruthless Sith apprentice, the Jedi Padawan is determined to do the right thing and terrified that he can't, the trooper hopes to redeem her reputation, and the Mandalorian is somehow managing to keep one step ahead of everyone. None of these guests--invited or uninvited--have any intention of participating in the auction. Instead they plan to steal the prize, which is locked inside an impregnable vault: two burned chunks of an exploded star cruiser, one of which may hold the key to the wealth of an entire world. But the truth about the treasure is dangerous and deadly. And in the end, Sith and Jedi, Republic and Empire, must do something they've never done before, something that all the agents of good and evil could never make them do: join together to stop a powerful threat that could destroy the galaxy.'

Source: NLA catalogue description (http://trove.nla.gov.au/work/37677099?q=fatal+alliance&c=book). Sighted: 1/9/2011

'The sorcerer has awoken and blights the land ... while the innocent mage hovers between life and death.

Rafel′s expedition over the mountains to Lost Dorana has disappeared. Now Deenie is having disturbing dreams of her brother and determines to seek the truth. In the company of her best friend she finds a way beyond Lur, only to find that the evil sorcerer, Morg, still holds those lands in a tenuous but strengthening grip.' (From the publisher's website.)

'Years ago, at the cost of many lives, 
Asher defeated the dark sorcerer, Morg, 
and brought peace to Lur ...

But now, happily raising a family, Asher realises that peace and safety are an illusion. Something has woken in Lur′s earth, creating weather that threatens to tear their world apart. Asher thinks he can save Lur by wielding the dangerous magic that he loathes ... and which may take his life.

Rafel, Asher′s son, is a mage of great power, but he has to break free of his father to truly discover his talents. All previous expeditions over the forbidden mountains have met with disaster and death, but Rafel is determined to try. As father and son struggle to understand each other, elsewhere a great evil is brewing ...' (Publisher's blurb)

'Edited by Holly Black (Team Unicorn) and Justine Larbalestier (Team Zombie). Zombies Vs Unicorns is a unique short story feud that pits horned beasts against the shuffling undead.

'It's a question as old as time itself: which reigns supreme, the zombie or the unicorn?

'"For too long, the zombie has dominated the public consciousness, but the reign of the unicorn is at hand!" Holly Black - Team Unicorn

'"I think that posterity will look upon this as the moment when zombies took their rightful place at the top of the food chain." Justine Larbalestier - Team Zombie

'Contributors to this unique collection include bestselling teen and YA authors, Garth Nix, Meg Cabot, Scott Westerfeld, Cassandra Clare, Libba Bray, Maureen Johnson and Margo Lanagan. Zombie Vs Unicorns challenges you to pick a team, and stick to it. But be warned, these are stellar story-tellers, and they can be very convincing...' (From the publisher's website.)

'On the Outer Rim, the planet Lanteeb has no strategic value, no political power, and one enormous problem: It has been invaded by an emboldened Separatist Alliance. To find out why, Jedi Knights Anakin Skywalker and Obi-Wan Kenobi have snuck onto Lanteeb--and now look oblivion in the eye. ...

Hiding their lightsabers beneath their dusty disguises, Anakin and Obi-Wan draw on their Jedi skills to stay one step ahead of Lok Durd's droid army on Lanteeb. The Jedi know that a captive scientist has given Durd the keys to a terrifying bioweapon. Durd knows that the Jedi are on his planet. With Yoda calling on the powers of the Jedi Council, with a new Separatist technology jamming the Guardians' communications, and with a traitor at the heart of the Republic's government, the wheels of war are turning. But the Separatists have blockaded Lanteeb. The finishing touches are being put on a weapon to destroy whole worlds. And it will be up to the two Jedi Knights and their most trusted comrades to liberate Lanteeb or forever suffer the consequences.'

Source: Back cover

'The overthrow of the Republic is complete. The Separatist forces have been smashed, the Jedi Council nearly decimated, and the rest of the Order all but destroyed. Now absolute power rests in the iron fist of Darth Sidious - the cunning Sith lord better known as the former Senator, now Emperor, Palpatine. But more remains to be done. Pockets of resistance in the galaxy must still be defeated and missing Jedi accounted for ... and dealt with. These crucial tasks fall to the Emperor's ruthless enforcer, Darth Vader. In turn, the Dark Lord has groomed a lethal apprentice entrusted with a top-secret mission: to comb the galaxy and dispatch the last of his masters' enemies, thereby punctuating the dark side's victory with the Jedi's doom.

Since childhood, Vader's nameless agent has known only the cold, mercenary creed of the Sith. His past is a void; his present, the carrying out of his deadly orders. But his future beckons like a glistening black jewel with the ultimate promise: to stand beside the only father he has ever known, with the galaxy at their feet. It is a destiny he can realize only by rising to the greatest challenge of his discipleship: destroying Emperor Palpatine.

The apprentice's journeys will take him across the far reaches of the galaxy, from the Wookiee homeworld of Kashyyyk to the junkyard planet of Raxus Prime. On these missions, the young Sith acolyte will forge an unlikely alliance with a ruined Jedi Master seeking redemption and wrestle with forbidden feelings for his beautiful comrade, Juno Eclipse. And he will be tested as never before - by shattering revelations that strike at the very heart of all he believes and stir within him long-forgotten hopes of reclaiming his name ... and changing his destiny.

Set between Star Wars: Episode III, Revenge of the Sith and Star Wars: Episode IV, A New Hope.'

(Source: Book jacket)

'Rife with hostile cultures and outright enemies, the Unknown Regions holds many perils for Luke Skywalker and the Jedi, searching for Zonama Sekot, the living planet that may hold the key to dealing once and for all with the Yuuzhan Vong.

'Meanwhile, on the edge of the galaxy and in the heart of a trusted ally, old enemies are stirring. The Yuuzhan Vong have inflamed long-forgotten vendettas that are even now building up to crisis point. And as Han and Leia journey on their quest to knit the unraveling galaxy back together, betrayal and deception await them. . . . '.

Source: bookseller's website.

'From the ashes of the New Republic—torn to shreds by the savage Yuuzhan Vong forces—the newly formed Galactic Alliance has risen, determined to bring peace to the entire galaxy. But first the Yuuzhan Vong must be contained once and for all. And so Luke Skywalker seeks a world long lost to legend: Zonama Sekot, a sentient planet believed to have repelled an invasion by the Yuuzhan Vong decades ago. Deciphering the enigmatic secrets of Zonama Sekot just might turn the tides of a relentless war.

'Aboard the Jade Shadow, Luke, his wife Mara, Jacen Solo, and other Jedi head off into the Unknown Regions, where rumors and clues suggest Zonama Sekot might be found. Yet the mission has barely begun when the searchers stumble into a horrific battle. The Imperial Remnant, in retreat from the mighty Yuuzhan Vong, is about to be destroyed. It would seem those aboard the Jade Shadow have little choice but to leave the Empire to its fate. But these are no ordinary space travelers, they are Jedi. . . .'.

Source: bookseller's website.

For centuries magicians have compiled grimoires to call up demons. In Victorian London, an ambitious warlock called Peter Owling designs a book to summon the Lord of Demons himself - Satan - and thereby achieve eternal life. But not even his beautiful young acolyte, Christian, grasps the full extent of his master's plans ...

In twentieth century Melbourne, a group meets in secret at Humberstone College, dedicated to reassembling Owling's book. But there are others meeting at Humberstone, too; three postgraduate students drawn to the College's mysterious past, its gloomy underground labrynth, and what they come to suspect are its current secrets. A beautiful young man appears to one of them in a mirror. He seems to carry a warning ... but can his dreadful story be true? (Publisher's blurb, back cover).

Six shipwrecked heroin smugglers find themselves trapped on an oil rig with a genetically modified, shape-shifting great white shark.

'What would happen if, through a genetic experiment gone awry, fungi - mushrooms, toadstools, molds and yeasts - were to go out of control and grow with unprecedented vigor and speed and tenacity, and in places formerly inimicable to them? Knight has pulled out the stops to produce an imaginative and fast-paced sci-fi horror tale set in the British Isles. The protagonist is Barry Wilson, a semi-successful author of spy novels and a former mycologist. Barry's wife Jane, from whom he is separated, is the scientist whose experiment has lead to the disaster, and the British government has called upon Barry to help find Jane and her lab notes. Crossing London in an armored tank, Barry and two other volunteers observe all sorts of grotesqueries: people and animals covered with multicolored fungi, some still alive, some now quite insane; farms and buildings and forests draped in spongy shrouds; mushrooms tall as skyscrapers. Barry survives a series of hair-raising adventures and eventually locates his wife, who has gone mad and has become the high priestness of a cult of fungi-loving female separatists. But he gets the research notes. A first-rate and vivid thriller.'

Source: http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk (Sighted: 02/06/2010)

'An Australia of the near future, in which the torch of civilization is carried on in the hydro-electric powered Heights of the Snowy Mountains, while industrial breakdown has thrust the rest of the world into smog-polluted barbarism.

'But on the Heights, frontier-guard Roy challenges his people's paranoid fear of the "Outside".' (Publication summary(

'The "Wanted" advertisement read: "Young lady, prepared to go to the outback..."

'Orphaned Penny Watson jumped at this chance to achieve independence, though all she knew was that the five children on the Masters ranch were badly in need of a woman's care...

Now, driving with Cal on the long road from the city to the outback, her mind turned for the first time to her new employer. Cal was saying: "Masters wants the best for the children and he'll not interfere. He's not a man that talks... In fact, I guess he's the most silent man I ever knew..."'

Source: Publisher's blurb.