Author Archive | admin

Simon Cleary
‘I want to go with the river’s flow, not against it. I want to follow where the river leads – to listen, to observe, hopefully to learn.’

When novelist and experienced hiker Simon Cleary sets off to follow the course of the river that has so influenced his life, he hopes that by walking its banks – from its source to where it empties into the bay – he will better understand the power and impact of this immense waterway on the environment and communities who rely on it.

Cleary’s ambitious journey, alone and with companions, explores the ways rivers connect landscapes, ecologies, histories, communities and myth. But his journey along the unpredictable and magnificent Brisbane River threatens to be cut short by one of the wettest autumn months on record. Over four eventful weeks and 344 kilometres we are witness to the river in all its beauty and fury.
Everything is Water considers our complex relationship with nature through flood, drought, time and place. It is an inspiring pilgrimage that invites us to connect with nature and also to navigate our own path.

Gulbahar Haitiwaji
For three years Gulbahar Haitiwaji was held in Chinese detention centers and “reeducation” camps, enduring interrogations, torture, hunger, police violence, brainwashing, forced sterilization, freezing cold, rats, and nights under the blinding fluorescent lights of her prison cell. Her only crime? Being a Uyghur.

China’s brutal repression of Uyghurs, a Turkish-speaking Muslim ethnic group, has been denounced as genocide and reported widely in media around the world. In 2019, the New York Times published the “Xinjiang Papers,” leaked documents exposing the forced detention of more than one million Uyghurs in Chinese “reeducation” camps. The Chinese government denies that these camps are concentration camps, seeking to legitimize their existence in the name of the “total fight against Islamic terrorism, infiltration and separatism” and calling them “schools.” But none of this is true. Gulbahar only escaped thanks to the relentless efforts of her daughter, with the help of the French diplomatic corps. Others have not been so fortunate.

Anthony Horowitz
Riverside Close is a picture-perfect community. The six exclusive and attractive houses are tucked far away from the noise and grime of city life, allowing the residents to enjoy beautiful gardens, pleasant birdsong and tranquility from behind the security of a locked gate.

It is the perfect idyll until the Kentworthy family arrives, with their four giant, gas-guzzling cars, a gaggle of shrieking children and plans for a garish swimming pool in the backyard. Obvious outsiders, the Kentworthys do not belong in Riverside Close, and they quickly offend every last one of their neighbours.

When Giles Kentworthy is found dead on his own doorstep, a crossbow bolt sticking out of his chest, Detective Hawthorne is the only investigator that can be called on to solve the case.

Because how do you solve a murder when everyone is a suspect?

Michael Brissenden
What secrets lie in the ashes? After a brutal wildfire tears through the town of Jasper in the Californian sierras, a body is discovered in a shed. It looks like an open-and-shut case of accidental death – until further investigation reveals that the victim was locked in from the outside.

Years after leaving Jasper, Detective Alex Markov has been sent back under the shadow of an LAPD corruption investigation. She is convinced that the man, a family friend, was murdered opportunistically under the cover of the fire. As the smoke clears, Alex reveals a town corrupt to its core – but exposing that corruption could destroy her and the people she loves.

Will she ignore the crookedness and deceit, or face the consequences of pursuing an inconvenient truth?

Mark Wales
Jack Dunne will do anything to save his son. A violent civil war. An unstoppable enemy. One road to freedom.

In the wake of a global conflict, foreign forces occupy part of Australia, quashing all but a few pockets of local resistance. The tense stalemate ends in 2034, when Jack Dunne reignites the war.

Dunne is an Outrider, one of the last elite special operations soldiers in the Resistance. As the enemy prepare to eliminate the freedom fighters once and for all, he is tasked with his final mission.

If Dunne and his eleven-year-old son achieve the impossible, and survive, they’ll secure their future across the border in Free Australia.

But the road to victory will be bloody.

Ali Lowe
Question: How long does it take to tear someone’s life apart?
Answer: Sometimes just one night.

From the outside the parents of the kindergarten class at Darley Heights primary school seem to have it all. Living in the wealthy Sydney suburbs, it’s a community where everyone knows each other – and secrets don’t stay secret for long.

The big date in the calendar is the school’s annual fundraising trivia night, but when the evening gets raucously out of hand, talk turns to partner-swapping. Initially scandalised, it’s not long before a group of parents make a reckless one-night-only pact.

But in the harsh light of day, those involved must face the fallout of their behaviour. As they begin to navigate the shady aftermath of their wild night, the truth threatens to rip their perfect lives apart – and revenge turns fatal.

Maya Linnell
From interviewing local flower growers to receiving blue ribbons for her show baking, Lauren Bickford’s genuine love for her hometown is almost as strong as her ambition to become a radio presenter. But is it enough to outweigh the series of on-air stuff-ups that have plagued her career?

No stranger to this small wine growing region in South Australia’s Limestone Coast, Jack Crossley is the new cop in town. He’s traded his city beat for a slower pace, and as a former local, knows only too well that mischief can lurk around every quiet corner.

For Jack and Lauren, the course of true love is not running smoothly. Can he restore order in the town before the neighbourhood watch vigilantes take justice into their own hands? Or are Jack’s biggest worries much closer to home? Can Lauren’s reporting remain impartial as her attraction to Jack grows? Or will her family’s advice lead her completely astray?

Barbara King
This is the third book of the Coloured Sands Trilogy. The characters from the first two novels, Coloured Sands and Valley of the Eagle are joined in this novel with dramatic impact. 1973: Phillip Parry, son and heir of the great Jooloonga station uses his Cessna like a car. The coming of the secret family creates a furore that will test them all.

This is the story of Susannah Ruth aged 18, her siblings and beautiful mother Colleen, who are thrust into the limelight of wealth and recognition after twenty years in hiding. Suddenly, the vivacious Susannah is in love with Douglas Clarke of the neighboring Wandara Station. Phillip Parry is furious. He cannot forget the past rumours of the once notorious Clarke family. His mind centres on cattle duffing, illegitimate children and other sinister musings that will not fade.

Barbara King

1932. Jonathan Clarke, from an aristocratic English family sails to Australia with his wife and daughter. His only remaining asset is the cattle station, Moorooba Downs in central Queensland. Due to his unsavoury lifestyle, he lost all to his brother Henry – the family mansion and much more.To Jon’s consternation, his son Benjamin remains with his uncle and is presently employed in the shipping office in Singapore.

1937. Ben receives an urgent call from his sister Annie aged 15 to return to the family. Jon is deserting them to marry a Boston socialite and Annie is desperate. Their mother Cordelia has succumbed to a severe mental breakdown. A week later Ben arrives to find the family in disarray. His mother is absolutely incapacitated and although Ben admires Annie’s courage and tenacity, he is uneasy with her wild, uninhibited streak. She is stealing cattle from the neighbours and hiding them in a secret shangri-la-type gorge. This gorge is shrouded in a mystical Dreamtime tale and the aborigines know this place as Valley of the Eagle.

Ben’s life tumbles and cascades through a myriad of passions and fervid events that change his life forever. Mystery, intrigue, hate and revenge, and a love story like no other will sting the heart with brutal force. The beauty of the Australian bush, the wonder and enchantment of the secret gorge add an extra dimension to the joy and love of nature.