Cirrus@Austlit

'Abandoned in a big city at the onset of winter, a hungry four-year-old boy follows a stray dog to her lair. There in the rich smelly darkness, in the rub of hair, claws and teeth, he joins four puppies suckling at their mother's teats. And so begins Romochka's life as a dog.

Weak and hairless, with his useless nose and blunt little teeth, Romochka is ashamed of what a poor dog he makes. But learning how to be something else...that's a skill a human can master. Fortunately - because one day Romochka will have to learn how to be a boy.' (Publisher's Blurb)

'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]

'Sheltered in a French convent school, Helena has little knowledge of men. But that changes one snowy Christmas Eve when she unexpectedly meets a mesmerizing Englishman who leaves her with a powerful kiss.

'Grown into a stunning beauty, Helena cannot forget that forbidden kiss. Now, though, she must put aside her dreams and marry, an obligation that takes her to London.

'There she is determined to meet Society's most eligible bachelor, Sebastian, Duke of St. Ives, a man sworn never to wed. But when they are introduced, Helena is shocked...for Sebastian is none other than her wild Englishman.'

Source: Publisher's blurb.

'The year is 1847. Three sisters named Charlotte, Emily and Anne are all writers. In this fiction, though, the family name is not Bronte, but Wolf, and they live far from the Yorkshire moors, in the penal colony of Coldwater - everything changes when Finn O'Connel is appointed valet at the family cottage.'

Source: Publisher's blurb.

'Two women, bound by a shocking event, drawn to a vast and beautiful country they cannot forget.

'Kate Carrington has cut all ties with Africa, the land of her birth. Her past is buried alongside her missionary parents, the last reminders locked safely away in the attic. But when a mysterious woman moves in next door, Kate's carefully constructed world is torn apart.

'Annah Mason has led an extraordinary life – one that has taken her from a hospital in Langali to the company of rainmakers deep in the Tanzanian bush. Her connection with the Waganga people has brought her the great love of her life, and freedom beyond her dreams. Yet she carries with her a painful secret. Now, the time has come for her to tell her story – to finally set Kate free.'

Source: Publisher's blurb.