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From one of Australia's foremost journalists, Luke Slattery, comes a bravura literary achievement, a rich and intense novel of an imagined history of desire, ambition and dashed dreams, and a portrait of one passionate, unforgettable woman - Elizabeth Macquarie. Elizabeth Macquar...ie, widow of the disgraced former Governor of New South Wales, Lachlan Macquarie, is in mourning - not only for her husband, but the loss of their shared dream to transform the penal colony into a bright new world. Over the course of one long sleepless night on the windswept isle of Mull, she remembers her life in that wild and strange country; a revolution of ideas as dramatic as any in history; and her dangerous alliance with the brilliant, mercurial Francis Greenway, the colony's maverick architect. Read more
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Loren Wynne-Estes appears to have it all: she's the girl from the wrong side of the tracks who's landed a handsome husband, a stunning home, a fleet of shiny cars and two beautiful daughters ... Then one day a fellow parent taps Loren on the shoulder outside the grand school gate..., hands her a note ... and suddenly everything's at stake. Loren's Facebook-perfect marriage is spectacularly exposed - revealing an underbelly of lies and betrayal. What is uncovered will scandalise a small town, destroy lives and leave a family divided. But who is to be believed and who is to blame? Will the right person be brought to justice or is there one who got away? Read more
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Corporal Jian Choumaliis on the mission of a lifetime - security officer on one of Earth's huge generation ships, fleeing Earth's failing ecosystem to colonise a distant planet. The ship encounters a technologically and culturally advanced alien empire, led by a royal family of d...ragons. The empire's dragon emissary offers her aid to the people of Earth, bringing greater health, longer life and faster-than-light travel to nearby stars. But what price will the people of Earth have to pay for the generous alien assistance? In this first book in a brand new series, Kylie Chan brings together pacey, compelling storytelling and an all-too-possible imagined future in a tale packed with action, adventure, drama and suspense. Read more
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1926: Violet Armstrong is one of the few remaining members of staff working at the grand Evergreen Spa Hotel as it closes down over winter. Only a handful of guests are left, including the heir to a rich grazing family, his sister and her suave suitor. When a snowstorm moves in, ...the hotel is cut off and they are all trapped. No one could have predicted what would unfold. 2014: After years of putting her sick brother's needs before her own, Lauren Beck leaves her home and takes a job at a Blue Mountains cafe, the first stage of the Evergreen Spa Hotel's renovations. There she meets Tomas, the Danish architect who is overseeing the project, and an attraction begins to grow. In a wing of the old hotel, Lauren finds a series of passionate love letters dated back to 1926, alluding to an affair - and a shocking secret. If she can unravel this long-ago mystery, will it make Lauren brave enough to take a risk and change everything in her own life? Inspired by elements of her grandmother's life, a rich and satisfying tale of intrigue, heartbreak and love from the author of the bestselling Lighthouse Bay and Wildflower Hill. Read more
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From one of Australia's foremost journalists, Luke Slattery, comes a bravura literary achievement, a rich and intense novel of an imagined history of desire, ambition and dashed dreams, and a portrait of one passionate, unforgettable woman - Elizabeth Macquarie. Elizabeth Macquar...ie, widow of the disgraced former Governor of New South Wales, Lachlan Macquarie, is in mourning - not only for her husband, but the loss of their shared dream to transform the penal colony into a bright new world. Over the course of one long sleepless night on the windswept isle of Mull, she remembers her life in that wild and strange country; a revolution of ideas as dramatic as any in history; and her dangerous alliance with the brilliant, mercurial Francis Greenway, the colony's maverick architect. Read more
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Face her demons? Or run? After being double-crossed by a devious colleague, career woman Ellie Conlan quits her job on principle. With no idea what to do next, she retreats to Storm Harbour, an idyllic Victorian beach town. Ellie's grandfather runs The Storm Harbour Chronicle, th...e trusted local newspaper. As Ellie is drawn into a story about a development that could split the coastal community - and involves her with the influential O'Neill family - an event she has long suppressed threatens to overwhelm her. Dark clouds gather as rumours fly and tensions mount. And when a violent storm breaks and rages, Ellie will finally have to confront her past. Read more
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At the turn of the last century, in the first years of the new nation, Clytie Hart, bareback rider, travels with her mother and her circus family through the back roads of rural Victoria. Wildebrand's Circus has seen better days and when they are persuaded to perform at Hufnung, ...a small, forgotten town in the Gold Triangle, Clytie's life is changed forever. Little does she know that her chance meeting on the side of the road with Rom, a handsome stranger, will be the catalyst that stops her roving ways and sees her settling into life on the edge of a small country town. Love for her mother and Rom cements Clytie's place in town, but soon she is left to fend for herself as tragedy and war strike. And without the help and the love of friends found in the most unlikely of places, Clytie will never solve the tragic mystery that threatens to blight her life forever. Read more
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Dr Anya Crichton, a pathologist and forensic physician, finds work is sparse for the only female freelancer in the field. Between paying child support, a mortgage and struggling to get her business off the ground, Anya can't yet afford to fight her ex-husband for custody of their... three-year-old son, Ben. While investigating the drug overdose of a young Lebanese girl, Anya notices startling coincidences in a number of unrelated suicides she's been asked to examine by friend and colleague, Detective Sergeant Kate Farrer. All the victims disappeared for a period of time, before committing suicide in bizarre circumstances. As Anya delves deeper, the pathological findings point to the frightening possibility that the deaths are not only linked, but part of a sinister plot. One in which Anya is unwillingly immersed... Read more
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When forensic pathologist Dr Anya Crichton finds a dead child in a toy box and a room covered in blood the answer is like nothing she has come across before. The post mortem reveals that the girl died from a deadly bacterial infection brought on by food poisoning. But does that m...ean there isn't a murderer? Anya was only meant to be in Tasmania for a conference and to visit her mother, but when more people fall sick, including her father's cousin, Anya becomes intimately involved in the case. At the same time, her mother - with whom Anya has always had a difficult relationship ever since her little sister Miriam went missing thirty years ago - is acting strangely, talking about conspiracies and exhibiting classic signs of dementia. As Anya deals with her increasingly paranoid, intractable mother, she is also racing to discover the source of the fatal bacterial infection before more people die. But Anya's investigations into the close-knit Tasmanian agricultural community where the contaminated food originated soon put her in grave danger as someone tries to kill her. As the deaths pile up, Anya's search leads her to an old murder case, and soon it becomes clear that her own family is closer to danger than ever before. But will Anya be able to discover the truth behind the poisoning and unmask the killer in time to save them, and herself? Read more
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An old castle ... For more than 150 years, a grand house known as Alden Castle has stood proudly in the rolling hills of California's wine country, home to a family weighed down by secrets and debt. A fresh body ... When the castle is sold, billionaire developers move in, only to... discover one skeleton after another - including a fresh corpse - rotting in the old family cemetery. An unsolved mystery ... As three generations of the well-respected Alden-Stowe family come under scrutiny, police unearth a twisted web of rivalries, alliances, deceit, and treachery. A gold-digger wife, a demented patriarch, a daughter in the grip of first love ... Who has lied? Who will survive? And who, amidst all the horror and betrayal, is the lucky one? Read more
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