Cirrus@Austlit

'An unforgettable and sweeping family saga from Markus Zusak, the storyteller who gave us the extraordinary bestseller The Book Thief.

'Bridge of Clay is about a boy who is caught in the current - of destroying everything he has, to become all he needs to be. He's a boy in search of greatness, as a cure for memory and tragedy. He builds a bridge to save his family, but also to save himself. It's an attempt to transcend humanness, to make a single, glorious moment:

'A miracle and nothing less.'

Source: Publisher's blurb.

'Tilly has the day from hell when she's sacked from her barristers' chambers in the morning, then finds her husband in bed with her former best friend in the afternoon. She escapes to her mother, Roxy - a sassy solicitor whose outrageous take on men, work and family life is the despair of her more conventional daughter. Roxy comes up with a radical plan for their future - they'll set up a new-style, all female law firm which will champion women. Before long they are rescuing women who have been cheated, put upon, attacked, ripped off or ruined by the men in their lives. When a gun-toting Grandma bursts upon the scene having shot off the testicles of the men who raped her grand daughter, Tilly finds herself at legal logger heads with Jack Cassidy, the smooth-talking, politically incorrect, legal love god who broke her heart at law school. Jack is fluent in three languages - English, sarcasm and flirtation, and his specialist area is emotional break and enter. But if the man is so loathsome, then why is she committing Acute Lust in the 3rd degree? As Tilly struggles to keep her client out of jail and her own cravings under lock and key, will the rapists walk free?

'When Tilly's 13-year old daughter goes missing, she faces the biggest moral dilemma of her life. Should she betray her beliefs and take the law into her own hands?' (Publication summary)

'For amiable City trader Jimmy Corby money was the new Rock n' Roll. His whole life was a party, adrenalin charged and cocaine fuelled. If he hadn't met Monica he would probably have ended up either dead or in rehab.'

'But Jimmy was as lucky in love as he was at betting on dodgy derivatives, so instead of burning out, his star just burned brighter than ever. Rich, pampered and successful, Jimmy, Monica and their friends lived the dream, bringing up their children with an army of domestic helps.'

'But then it all came crashing down. And when the global financial crisis hit, Jimmy discovers that anyone can handle success. It's how you handle failure that really matters.' (Source: Goodreads website)

'When Lucy's husband of eighteen years runs out on her, she'll do anything to win him back. Including climbing out of her bedroom window at one in the morning wearing her daughter's mini skirt.

'Jasper has left Lucy for her best friend, the chic and thin interior decorator Renee. To make matters worse, her teenage daughter Tally, blames her Mum. "Dad left because you've let yourself go, you're overweight and you nagged him. No wonder he buggered off."

'While Tally is busy trying to find a loophole in her birth certificate so she can put herself up for adoption, Lucy tries to accept that a child is for life and not just for Christmas. Although a signed-up member of Underachievers Anonymous, in Lucy's quest to win back her husband she learns to be a surf life saver, loses weight and gets a job. She also falls in lust, finding herself torn between an older and a much younger man.But it's not until Lucy makes the Freudian discovery that her toy boy is also dating her daughter - and that he's been paid to do so by her conniving ex as ammunition for a custody battle, that she finally learns to stand on her own two stilettos.' (Publisher's blurb)

'Imagine a world where everyone knows everything about everybody. Where 'sharing' is valued above all, and privacy is considered a dangerous perversion.Trafford wouldn't call himself a rebel, but he's daring to be different, to stand out from the crowd. In his own small ways, he wants to push against the system. But in this world, uniformity is everything. And even tiny defiances won't go unnoticed.Ben Elton's dark, savagely comic novel imagines a post-apocalyptic society where religious intolerance combines with a sex-obsessed, utterly egocentric culture. In this world, nakedness is modesty, independent thought subversive, and ignorance is wisdom. A chilling vision of what's to come? Or something rather closer to home?' (Source: Publisher's website)

'It is 1939. Nazi Germany. The country is holding its breath. Death has never been busier, and will become busier still. Liesel Meminger and her younger brother are being taken by their mother to live with a foster family outside Munich. Liesel's father was taken away on the breath of a single, unfamiliar word - Kommunist - and Liesel sees the fear of a similar fate in her mother's eyes. On the journey, Death visits the young boy, and notices Liesel. It will be the first of many near encounters. By her brother's graveside, Liesel's life is changed when she picks up a single object, partially hidden in the snow. It is The Gravedigger's Handbook, left there by accident, and it is her first act of book thievery. So begins a love affair with books and words, as Liesel, with the help of her accordion-playing foster father, learns to read. Soon she is stealing books from Nazi book-burnings, the mayor's wife's library, wherever there are books to be found. But these are dangerous times. When Liesel's foster family hides a Jewish fist-fighter in their basement, Liesel's world is both opened up, and closed down.'

[Source: Libraries Australia. Sighted 30/10/08]

'Chart Throb is the ultimate pop quest. Ninety five thousand hopefuls. Three judges. Just one winner. And that's Colin Simms, the genius behind the show. Colin always wins because Colin writes the rules. But this year, as he sits smugly in judgement upon the mingers, clingers and blingers whom he has pre-selected in his carefully scripted 'search' for a star, he has no idea that the rules are changing. The 'real' is about to be put back into 'reality' television and Colin and his fellow judges (the nation's favourite mum and the other bloke) are about to become ex-factors themselves. Ben Elton, author of "Popcorn and Dead Famous" returns to blistering comic satire with a savagely hilarious deconstruction of the world of modern television talent shows. "Chart Throb" is about one winner and a whole bunch of losers.' (Source: TROVE)

'Flanders, June 1917: a British officer and celebrated poet, is shot dead, killed not by German fire, but while recuperating from shell shock well behind the lines. A young English soldier is arrested and, although he protests his innocence, charged with his murder.'

'Douglas Kingsley is a conscientious objector, previously a detective with the London police, now imprisoned for his beliefs. He is released and sent to France in order to secure a conviction. Forced to conduct his investigations amidst the hell of The Third Battle of Ypres, Kingsley soon discovers that both the evidence and the witnesses he needs are quite literally disappearing into the mud that surrounds him.' (Source: Goodreads website)

'When Richard, a divorced but desirable vet from Tasmania, proposes to Sarah, an English Rose, she decides to accept and start a whole new life with him down under. The only problem is, though, that days before the wedding Sarah falls in love with Richard's best man, Tom, who's living with a much older woman. Meanwhile, Bronte, Richard's first wife, a Features Editor on a woman's magazine in Sydney is trying to cope with the news that her ex is marrying again. And Harry, Richard's younger brother, who has never got over his obsession with Blondie, is spending all his time chasing after the wrong women.

'Tom, Dick and Debbie Harry is a witty and, at times, hilarious contemporary novel about weddings, relationships, finding the right partner, shenanigans amongst friends and Australian eccentricity.'

Source: Publisher's blurb.

'The place, the impetuousness of youth, the heat of a desolate town. Choices made unthinkingly. Young lives that would never be the same again, and the secrets that come to light years after.

'Ursula's childhood is marked by a summer holiday in Candelo, a sleepy south coast town. It's the seventies and her mother takes foster boy, Mitchell, away with them. Charismatic, charming and troubled, Mitchell finds his way into their lives, his brief time with them altering who they are - forever.

'Years later, when she hears of Mitchell's death, Ursula is forced to confront heartbreaking truths about herself and her family - and to realise the strength and sadness of family ties stretched to their limit.'

Source: Publisher's blurb (2012 reprint).