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2 6 y separately published work icon The Sisters Antipodes Jane Alison , Crows Nest : Allen and Unwin , 2009 Z1575700 2009 single work autobiography When Jane Alison was a child, her family met another that seemed like its mirror: a father in the Foreign Service, a beautiful mother, and two little girls, the younger two - one of them Jane - sharing a birthday. With so much in common, the two families became almost instantly inseparable. Within months, affairs had ignited between the adults, and before long the pairs had exchanged partners - divorced, remarried, and moved on. As if in a cataclysm of nature, two families were ripped asunder, and two new ones were formed. Two pairs of girls were left in shock, a 'silent, numb shock, like a crack inside stone, not enough to split it but inside, quietly fissuring'. And Jane and her stepsister were thrown into a state of wordless combat for the love of their fathers. (Source: Trove)
5 5 y separately published work icon Handbags and Gladrags Maggie Alderson , Camberwell : Viking , 2004 Z1157221 2004 single work novel Fashion stylist Emily Pointer travels the world for work and gets 30 percent at Prada. As far as she's concerned, life is perfect. A delicious tale of a woman who was kidding herself that another Birkin bag was all that she needed to achieve fulfilment. (Source: Trove)
5 4 y separately published work icon Pants on Fire Maggie Alderson , Ringwood : Penguin , 2000 Z343057 2000 single work novel humour romance When London editor Georgia Abbott comes to Sydney to work on Glow, a glossy woman's magazine, she has high hopes for a bright new start. Leaving behind a broken heart (her own) and a philandering ex-fiancé, she's looking forward to immersing herself in the Tim Tam-eating sisterhood of woman's mags. Not to mention being whisked off into the dusty Australian sunset by a suntanned, Akubra-hatted fantasy man. At first, things seem promising, as Georgia is swept up in a whirl of A-list parties, dancing, dinners and debauchery. But while Australian water may go down the plughole the other way, Australian men are starting to look all too familiar. And then there's the chaotic bunch of women Georgia works with on Glow, to whom every relationship disaster is a potential article, not least of all Georgia's, whose quest for love is fast becoming headline material. What to do? (Source: Trove)
4 3 y separately published work icon Mad About the Boy Maggie Alderson , Camberwell : Penguin , 2002 Z990809 2002 single work novel Of all the nightmare options that passed through Antonia Heaveringham's head when her husband Hugo uttered the words, 'I've got something to tell you ... ' a coming out speech never figured. Suddenly alone in their adopted home of Sydney, with no friends save for her six-year-old son Tom and a pair of jewelled Jimmy Choo mules, Antonia soon finds that an attractive single woman is not nearly so welcome on the champagne social scene as the wife of a glamorous English aristocrat. It is only the arrival of Hugo's outrageous lavender-haired Uncle Percy that lifts her out of her depression and propels her into the gym to combat the effects of some serious comfort eating. There she meets the mysterious James, who leads her into a shadowy world of criminals, corruption and high-stakes property deals. But what starts out as a lark leads her into a situation where keeping a secret becomes a matter of life, death and love. (Source: Trove)
4 44 y separately published work icon The Idea of Perfection Kate Grenville , South Melbourne : Picador , 1999 Z141413 1999 single work novel (taught in 5 units)

Set in the eccentric backwater of Karakarook, New South Wales, this is the story of Douglas Cheeseman, a shy and clumsy engineer who meets Harley Savage, a woman who is known for being rather large and abrupt. Harley Savage is a plain, rawboned woman, a part-time museum curator and quilting expert with three failed marriages and a heart condition. Douglas Cheeseman is a shy, gawky engineer with jug-handle ears, one marriage gone sour, and a crippling lack of physical courage. Seeming to be incompetent was something Douglas did to protect himself, just as having a "dangerous streak" served the same purpose for Harley. Douglas is there to pull down a quaint old bridge and Harley aims to foster heritage. They are clearly on a collision course - but when they meet they are unaware that something unexpected is going to happen. (Source: Trove)

 
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