Cirrus@Austlit

'Frankie’s dream is more like a nightmare when her new horse turns out to be Zen – a shaggy, disobedient clown of a pony, who will totally wreck her chances of fitting in at Pony Club in her new town. Zen is everything Frankie doesn’t want – until the magnetic horse whisperer Shannon shows her just what Zen could be if ridden freely. Natural horsemanship opens up a whole new way of riding and a whole new world of connection between Zen and Frankie. But Frankie’s dad is getting more depressed after her parents’ divorce, star rider and star mean girl Violet has it in for Frankie, and her best friend Kai is keeping a secret. Then Shannon announces she’s closing down her riding centre. Frankie’s got an idea that could save it … but can she and Zen rise to the challenge?'

Source: Publisher's blurb.

'Byron Bay, 5 December. On a cool, moonlit night, a group of eccentrics gather for a dinner party hosted by feng shui consultant ‘Black Dragon’. Before the night is through, a relationship will implode, a teenager will overdose, a woman will fall in love with the wrong person, and a robust fish curry will lead to a murder investigation.

'As far as parties go, it’s a disaster. But Byron Bay has more surprises in store for Black Dragon, when her perfectly designed life is turned upside-down by an anonymous lover, a possible pregnancy and an unresolved past.

'Between the steamy rainforests of the hinterland and the turquoise ocean, colonised by cane toads, fortune tellers, acrobats and tourists, death and destiny hover, waiting to pounce...

'Full of subversive wit, After the Party is a sensuous, passionate story about life-changing moments and collisions with fate.' (Publication summary)