Cirrus@Austlit

'"It came one morning with the milk, and it seemed - at first - almost as innocent..."

'When Roberta "Bertie" Lightfoot is struck down with polio, her world collapses. But Mama doesn't tolerate self-pity, and Bertie is nobody if not her mother's daughter - until she sets her heart on becoming an artist. Through drawing, the gifted and perceptive Bertie gives form and voice to the reality of the people and the world around her. While her father is happy enough to indulge Bertie's driving passion, her mother will not let art get in the way of the future she wishes for her only daughter.

'In 1955 the family moves to post-colonial Port Moresby, a sometimes violent frontier town, where Bertie, determined to be the master of her own life canvas, rebels against her mother's strict control. In this tropical landscape, Bertie thrives amid the lush pallette of colours and abundance, secretly learning the techniques of drawing and painting under the tutelage of her mother's arch rival.

'But Roberta is not the only one deceiving her family. As secrets come to light, the domestic varnish starts to crack, and jealousy and passion threaten to forever mar the relationship between mother and daughter.

'Tender and witty, The Beloved is a moving debut novel which paints a vivid portrait of both the beauty and the burden of unconditional love.' (From the publisher's website.)

'RPM is a coming-of-age novel set in the early 1980s in a Queensland country town. For a group of young people on the cusp of adulthood, music is their bond and their escape. Narrated by Neil, who is working in the local court house, the novel follows his tentative early forays with girls, his attempts at musical greatness with his band and his dreams of leaving the "peanut town" behind. Along with a lively cast of characters such as JD the DJ, Stephen the Mod, Peaches, Jools One and Jools Two, Neil is drawn to returning London-based musician Ray Peter Manning and his record store, RPM. This is a fictional portrait about small-town life, its challenges and youth on the edge of adulthood.'

Source: Queensland Premier's Literary Awards website, http://www.premiers.qld.gov.au/
Sighted: 01/09/2010