Cirrus@Austlit

'Judith, a daring and beautiful woman, hardened by her life as a slave and angered by the treatment of her people, the inhabitants of Nazareth, becomes a feared and powerful figure beginning with the brutal assassination and decapitation of an enemy general. Hoping to retire as a free woman and into obscurity, Judith is sent on one last mission to assassinate the Messiah, Joshua, a Christ-like figure, who she discovers is her childhood sweetheart. This is a work of stunning originality that echoes the work and style of Michael Chabon (The Adventures of Kavalier and Clay and The Yiddish Policemen's Union). Combining historical events, biblical conspiracy theories and a story of survival and triumph, A God for the Killing brings history and myth to life, captivates with its inventiveness long after the last page is turned.' (Publication summary)

'Patrick White, a small-time crim, is struggling to make sense of his life in the suburbs. meeting Sonja, the daughter of a Russian migrant, helps him realise that there is hope to make more of his life and create his own luck.

Abdullah Najib and his mates spend time cruising the streets looking for girls; he feels invincible and powerful in the suburbs and will push his luck with anything that comes his way.

The lives of these characters intersect in the sprawling suburbs of western Sydney, a place where luck begins to trickle out and where lives will change irrevovably.' - back cover blurb

Jamie is plunged into the horrific alternative universe that is the centuries-old Pilo Family Circus, a borderline world between hell and earth from which humankind's greatest tragedies have been perpetrated. Yet in this place peopled by the gruesome, grotesque and monstrous, where violence and savagery are the norm, Jamie finds that his worst enemy is himself - for when he applies the white paint, he is transformed into JJ, the most vicious clown of all. And JJ wants Jamie dead... (back cover)