Recreation

New Titles Fiction April 2014 (arrived in March)

Adventure

The counterfeit agent, Alex Berenson.
8th in the John Wells series has the CIA receiving a warning that a radioactive package is en route from Dubai to America.
The bootlegger, Clive Cussler and Justin Scott.
It is 1920, and both Prohibition and bootlegging are in full swing. When Isaac Bell's boss and lifelong friend Joseph Van Dorn is shot and nearly killed leading the high-speed chase of a rum-running vessel, Bell swears to him that he will hunt down the lawbreakers.
Game of death, David Hosp.
Boston techie whizkid and colleague develop a programme that allows people to experience their darkest fantasies and then find a client is after something more sinister.
The spy, James Phelan.
A sinister group code-named Zodiac has launched devastating global attacks. Twelve targets across the world, twelve code-named missions.
The farm, Tom Rob Smith.
Gripping tale from the author of "Child 44." Story of a father who tells his son that the mother has had a breakdown. What transpires is that he's trying to silence her from revealing a conspiracy he's involved in.
Shovel ready, Adam Sternbergh.
Described as a mix of Jack Reacher, Dexter and Philip Marlowe, a hardboiled thriller about a hit man in a future New York.

American Fiction

Prayers for the stolen, Jennifer Clement.
A strong and impressive tale of what happens to beautiful girls in Mexico, stolen and never returned, until one girl comes back.
The headmaster's wife, Thomas Christopher Greene.
Found wandering naked and mentally traumatized in Central Park, the headmaster of an elite boarding school imparts a story that is shaped by complicated memories, the evolution of a loving relationship, and a tragedy he cannot comprehend.
Safe with me, Amy Hatvany.
The story of two mothers and one daughter and what happens after a terrible accident.
The Museum of Extraordinary Things, Alice Hoffman.
Set in 1900s New York where a young woman appears as a mermaid and meets a photographer who is a Russian
The black snow, Paul Lynch.
1945 and a farm owner looks on as his friend - and all 43 of his cattle - are destroyed in a fire.
Thirty girls, Susan Minot.
Set in war torn Africa through the eyes of an American journalist and a Ugandan teenager forced to witness and commit atrocities.
The good luck of right now, Matthew Quick.
When his mother dies, 38-year-old Bartholomew Neil, who doesn't know how to be on his own, discovers a letter in his mother's underwear drawer that causes him to write a series of highly intimate letters to actor Richard Gere, while embarking on a quest to find out where he belongs. From the author of "The silver linings playbook," recently and successfully filmed.
City of Jasmine, Deanna Raybourn.
Famed aviatrix Evangeline Starke never expected to see her husband, adventurer Gabriel Starke, ever again. They had been a golden couple, enjoying a whirlwind courtship amid the backdrop of a glittering social set in prewar London until his sudden death with the sinking of the Lusitania. Five years later, she discovers nothing is what it seems.
Wonderkid : a novel, Wesley Stace.
With his band promised fame as rock stars with the caveat that their audience will mostly be young children, Blake Lear the band's lead singer, songwriter, and mad genius takes America by storm and succumbs to temptation as witnessed by his impulsively adopted son, Sweet.
The free, Willy Vlautin.
An injured Iraq War veteran in a group home meets workers there who interact with him in this strong and positive novel by singer/songwriter/author.
A man of his own, Susan Wilson.
Returning home from World War II with injuries that shatter his professional baseball dreams, Rick Stanton's reunited with his beloved dog Pax, who had been volunteered for the Army's K-9 Corps and who's forged an equally strong bond with a soldier who joins Rick's family.

Australian fiction

The lost child, Suzanne McCourt.
Touching first novel set in a 1950s Aussie fishing village told from the perspective of a child whose parents' marriage is falling apart.
Grace's table, Sally Piper.
Likeable and entertaining novel about food, friendship and marriage with Grace turning 70 and organising for 12 at her table.

British Fiction

Children of paradise, Fred D'Aguiar.
Charismatic but deeply flawed cult leader is the focus of a retelling of the horrific Jamestown massacre.
Gingerbread, Robert Dinsdale.
Orphaned boy and grandfather in Belarus walk to the woods to scatter mother's ashes. As they walk the grandfather's stories become more real and more dark. Reviews have been very enthusiastic about this unusual and riveting tale.
We used to be kings, Stewart Foster.
Six years ago Tom's brother died. The next day he came back. It's Tom and Jack's 18th birthday, but it isn't a cause for celebration. For the past three years they've been in a care home for troubled children, a place where Dr Smith tries to silence the voice of Jack in Tom's head. Touching and gripping tale.
In the wolf's mouth, Adam Foulds.
British Field Security Officer and Italian-American soldier are caught in battles as the Allies chase the Germans from Sicily at the end of World War II. Strong and realistic war story.
Terms & conditions, Robert Glancy.
Moving comedy-drama about a lawyer who loses bits of his memory after a car crash. The author now lives in New Zealand.
Never mind Miss Fox, Olivia Glazebrook.
Couple's daughter's new piano teacher is found to be an old friend who has a secret the wife never knew.
Gretel and the dark, Eliza Granville.
Vienna, 1899. Josef Breuer celebrated psychoanalyst is about to encounter his strangest case yet. Found by the lunatic asylum, thin, head shaved, she claims to have no name, no feelings to be, in fact, not even human. Intrigued, Breuer determines to fathom the roots of her disturbance.
The amber fury, Natalie Haynes.
A grieving teacher gets a new start in an Edinburgh school for difficult pupils where she builds a rapport that becomes too close.
Wake up happy every day, Stephen May.
When megarich Russell drops dead in front of him, chancer friend Nicky decides to become him. Sharp and funny comedy about wealth, reward and happiness.
Reckless, William Nicholson.
1962 and London life is all glamour for an 18 year old girl but the Cuba Missiles Crisis threatens as the world is on the bink of nuclear war.
Boy, snow, bird, Helen Oyeyemi.
Fifth novel from highly praised author. Set in the U.S. where a strange connection between three women is uncovered.
The poets' wives, David Park.
The lives of three women - wife, muse and housekeeper - of three poets: William Blake, the Russian pory Osip and a fictional Irish poet.
Spare brides, Adele Parks.
Change of direction for this popular writer from her contemporary tales. Set in the 1920s where people are adjusting to the effects of the War.
The rest just follows ; or, Up here, Glenn Patterson.
Coming of age story set in the 1970s in Belfast. Described as having echoes of Nick Hornby and Jonathan Coe.
In the light of morning, Tim Pears.
War story and love story combined. Set in 1944 as three British parachutists are dropped into Slovenia.
Somewhere in France, Jennifer Robson.
Lady Elizabeth Neville-Ashford, has struggled against both her mother's expectations and the restrictions early 20th-century British society imposes upon women of "gentle breeding". Lilly longs to make a difference, to have a life of substance and meaning. Only one person other than her beloved brother Edward ever listened to what she really wanted-Robert Fraser, Edward's best friend.
Silent night : the alternative school logbook 1984-1985, Jack Sheffield.
Latest tale of life at Raglry-on-the-Forest school sees the choir heading off to sing carols in York.
The embassy of Cambodia, Zadie Smith.
Zadie Smith takes us deep into the life of a young woman, Fatou, domestic servant to the Derawals and escapee from one set of hardships to another. Beginning and ending outside the Embassy of Cambodia, which happens to be located in Willesden, NW London, Zadie Smith's absorbing, moving and wryly observed story suggests how the apparently small things in an ordinary life always raise larger, more extraordinary questions.
The winter garden, Jane Thynne.
Clara Vine, fresh from her adventures in "Black roses," is deeply entrenched in the secret services in prewar Berlin where she becomes part of the Nazi bride school.
Balancing act, Joanna Trollope.
Susie Moran is a success. She has founded and run her own highly profitable company, and now her three daughters are all involved in the business. Rooted in the traditions of the Stoke-on-Trent potteries, and producing charming, useable objects of distinctive design, Susie is justly proud of her family and her achievement and has no intention of letting it change. But what of the men in the family?
The lemon grove, Helen Walsh.
Family's idyllic holiday in Mallorca is upset by a stepdaughter and boyfriend where the wife enters into a passionate relationship that may wreck the
Unfaithfully yours, Nigel Williams.
When Elizabeth Price engages private detective Roland 'Orlando' Gibbons to find out the truth about her husband's suspected affair, she unwittingly sets off a chain of correspondence that reunites four formerly close-knit couples.

Fantasy

Murder of crows : a novel of the Others, Anne Bishop.
After winning the trust of the terra indigene residing in the Lakeside Courtyard, Meg Corbyn has had trouble figuring out what it means to live among them. As a human, Meg should be barely tolerated prey, but her abilities as a cassandra sangue make her something more.
The undead pool, Kim Harrison.
Witch and day-walking deomon Rachel Morgan is uneasy about the looming civil war.
Moth and spark, Anne Leonard.
Described as Jane Austen meets Deborah Harkness with dragons added! Firs novel that tells of a price cursed with an impossible task and a commoner blessed with magical visions. Together they can save a divided Empire.
God save the queen, Kate Locke.
Queen Victoria is the undead matriarch of a Britain where the Aristocracy is made up of werewolves and vampires, where goblins live underground, and where mothers know better than to let their children out after dark.
The winter people, Jennifer McMahon.
Horror tale of ghostly secrets, dark choices and the bond between mothers and daughters as eerie parallels from earlier times come back to haunt a mother and daughter.
Mountain echoes, C. E. Murphy.
Shaman Joanne Walker returns to North Carolina to find her missing father and meet Aidan, the son she left behind long ago. But Aidan has become tainted by an evil reaching forward from the distant past. It will take everything Joanne has to pull the past apart and weave a better future for her, her son, and the Appalachians.
The copper promise, Jennifer Williams.
Unlikely trio of aristocrats explore caverns shrouded in mystery in this interesting fantasy debut.

Fiction from the rest of the World

The bear, Claire Cameron.
Told through the voice of a young girl about what happens to two children on a camping trip after their parents were attacked by a bear. Intriguing novel by Canadian author and based on a true story.
The exiles return, Elisabeth de Waal
Vienna is demolished by war, the city an alien landscape of ruined castles, a fractured ruling class, and people picking up the pieces. Elisabeth de Waal's novel is a vivid postwar story of Austria's fallen aristocrats, unrepentant Nazis, and a culture degraded by violence.
Plague and cholera, Patrick Deville
The story of a protegee of Louis Pasteur and his extraordinary and courageous life. A prizewinning novel in France.
The first true lie, Marina Mader
Luca and his mum are like two peas in a pod in their special, fragile world. Then, one winter morning his mother doesn't wake up. Luca suddenly finds himself alone for the first time. Terrified of what telling the truth might bring, he decides to keep the biggest secret of his life. Luca goes along to school every day, pretending everything is as it always has been. Much praised Italian novel.
Above, Isla Morley.
Similar to "Room" and just as gripping, the story of a teenage girl kindapped and taken to live in an abandoned mission silo by a conspracy theorist. The author is a South African now living in the U.S.
Barcelona shadows, Marc Pastor
Highly original novel translated from the Spanish and described as CSI meets Jack the Ripper in early 20th century Barcelona.
Years of red dust : stories of Shanghai, Qiu Xialong.
Published originally in the pages of "Le Monde, this collection of linked short stories by Qiu Xiaolong has already been a major bestseller in France and Germany where it and the author was the subject of a major television documentary. The stories in "Years of Red Dust trace the changes in modern China over fifty years from the early days of the Communist revolution in 1949 to the modernization movement of the late nineties, all from the perspective of one small street in Shanghai.

Graphic Novel

No. 6. 5, Story by Atsuko Asano ; art by Hinoki Kino ;
Green Lantern, new guardians. Volume 3, Love and death, Tony Bedard, Geoff Johns
The unwritten. 8, Orpheus in the Underworld, Mike Carey & Peter Gross
The shadow out of time, Adapted from the original novel by H.P. Lovecraft ; text adapted and illustrated by I.N.J. Culbard.
Sankarea. 5, Mitsuru Hattori
Batman, the Dark Knight. Volume 3, Mad, Gregg Hurwitz, writer ; Ethan Van Sciver, Szymon Kudranski, artists
Attack on Titan. 11, Hajime Isayama
Snowpiercer. Volume 1, The escape, Jacques Lob ; art by Jean-Marc Rochette
Omamori Himari. 11, Milan Matra
Lazarus. Volume one, Family, Greg Rucka ; art and letters by Michael Lark with Stefano Gaudiano & Brian Level
Wandering son. Volume six, Shimura Takako
Judge. 3, Yoshiki Tonogai
Fables. 19, Snow White, Bill Willingham, writer ; Mark Buckingham

Mystery

Gregory's game : a Naomi Blake novel, Jane A. Adams.
Ex-DI Alec Friedman and a hired killer become involved when a mother and child are kidnapped.
Drowning city, Ben Atkins.
Noir thriller by Auckland writer is set in the 1930s where a bootlegger's business is under threat.
Death of a policeman, M.C. Beaton.
Local police stations all over the Scottish Highlands are being threatened with closure. This presents the perfect opportunity for Detective Chief Inspector Blair, who would love nothing more than to get rid of Sergeant Hamish Macbeth. Blair suggests that Cyril Sessions, a keen young police officer, visit the town of Lochdubh to monitor exactly what Macbeth does every day.
The black-eyed blonde, Benjamin Black.
The return of Raymond Chandler's classic sleuth Philip Marlowe. A glamorous woman asks Marlowe to locate her former love in a novel described as a sharper edged Marlowe for our time.
The train rider, Tony Cavanaugh.
Young women keep disappearing and Victoria's top homicide investigator finds the common thread was they'd been seen on a train.
Payback, Kimberley Chambers.
East End crime family rally when a daughter is kidnapped and it's time for payback in this unsubtle crime yarn for fans of the Martina Cole style.
Trouble in mind, Jeffery Deaver.
Collection of short stories featuring his series characters Lincoln Rhyme and Kathryn Dance.
The toy taker, Luke Delaney.
Third in the DI Sean Corrigan series, a psychological thriller in which a child is snatched from the family home in the night.
The sea of innocence, Kishwar Desai.
Goa, South India, where a social worker/crime investigator searches for a British teenager gone missing.
No regrets, Coyote, John Dufresne.
Introduces Florida's Wylie "Coyote" Melville, haphazard private eye. Thriller in the style and spirit of Carl Hiassen.
The chase, Janet Evanovich and Lee Goldberg.
Janet E. and Lee Goldberg return with another adventure thriller featuring master con artist Nicolas Fox and diehard FBI agent Kate O'Hare
Fatal impact, Kathryn Fox.
When a girl's dead body is found in a toybox, forensic pathologist Anya Crichton joins the police in Tasmania to locate the girl's missing mother.
Thursday's children, Nicci French.
When psychotherapist Frieda Klein left the sleepy Suffolk coastal town she grew up in she never intended to return. Left behind were friends, family, life and loves but, alongside them, painful memories; a past she couldn't allow to destroy her.
Cinderella girl, Carin Gerhardsen.
Three-year-old Hanna wakes up to find she has been abandoned. Her family is gone. The house is locked. She is trapped. Meanwhile, a teenage girl has been found murdered aboard the Cinderella, a cruise ship which sails between Sweden and Finland. Scandinavian crime yarn.
The outcast dead, Elly Griffiths.
Forensic archaeologist Ruth Galloway discovers a body in the grounds of Norwich castle.
Blood brothers, Patricia Hall.
London 1963 and a corpse is found on the site of a new development in the West End. Connections are made to London gangsters and a young crime reporter is put in real danger.
Why kings confess, C.S. Harris.
Regency England, January 1813: When a badly injured Frenchwoman is found beside the mutilated body of Dr. Damion Pelletan in one of London's worst slums, Sebastian S. Cyr finds himself caught in a high-stakes tangle of murder and revenge.
Respect, Mandasue Heller.
Teenage girl Chantelle has to look after her young brother when her feckless mother takes off. Crime, love and family in Manchester.
A pleasure and a calling, Phil Hogan.
Brilliant and creepy tale of a realestate agent who manages to keep a set of keys for every property he sells.
All the things you are, Declan Hughes.
Woman nearing 40 decides on a weekend in Chicago and returns to find her house bare of everything including husband and children.
To die for, Phillip Hunter.
A debut from author who was part of the team that sequenced the human genome. The story of an ex-soldier who has to find out who wants him dead. A tale of vengeance and redemption.
Emperors once more, Duncan Jepson.
Hong Kong 2017 and at a crisis summit for world leaders two Chinese Methodist ministers are murdered. Detective Alex Soong investigates.
A circle of wives, Alice LaPlante.
A distinguished plastic surgeon found dead turns out to have had separate wives - and lives - in three different cities.
Finders, keepers, losers, weepers, Robert S. Levinson.
Murder in the music industry with a rock star out for revenge being pursued by a tabloid journalist and a record company
Don't stand so close, Luana Lewis.
Highly readable first novel that begins with a girl knocking at a door asking for help and an agoraphobic woman whose life will unravel around her.
After I'm gone, Laura Lippman.
Investigating cold cases, retired detective looks into a murder 26 years earlier of shady businessman's mistress.
Unlucky 13, James Patterson and Maxine Paetro.
San Francisco Detective Lindsay Boxer is loving her life as a new mother. With an attentive husband, a job she loves, plus best friends who can talk about anything from sex to murder, things couldn't be better. Then the FBI sends Lindsay a photo of a killer from her past, and her happy world is shattered.
Eden in winter, Richard North Patterson.
Two months after the suspicious and much-publicized death of his father on the island of Martha's Vineyard, it is taking all of Adam Blaine's character to suture the deep wounds both within his family and himself torn open by the tragedy. Moreover, as the court inquest into Benjamin Blaine's death continues, it is taking all of Adam's cunning to protect those closest to him from figures who still suspect that Adam's father was murdered by one of his kin.
Free falling, as if in a dream : the story of a crime, Leif GW Persson
Novel centred around the unsolved murder of Swedish Prime Minister Olaf Palme in 1986.
A killing of angels, Kate Rhodes.
A killer stalks The Square Mile, London's financial district, intent on deadly punishments.
Cold storage, Alaska, John Straley.
Comic detective thriller. Set in the tiny former fishing village of Cold Storage, long since abandoned by the cannery that once provided its definition, Cold Storage clings to the side of a cliff, built on pilings and navigated on a decaying boardwalk. It is populated by a cast of quirky, sad, funny, and deperate characters searching meaning in their lives or to merely hang on.
Denial of murder, Peter Turnbull.
Harry Vicary and team from Murder & Serious Crime Squad of New Scotland Yard on their 4th case.
The boy in the woods, Carter Wilson.
Somewhat nasty tale about three teenage boys in 1981 who witness a murder in the woods and years later these events return to blackmail them.

New Zealand Fiction

Stim : an Aspie new adult novel set in an earthquake zone, Kevin Berry.
Robert is different. He has Asperger's Syndrome. He experiences the world differently to 99% of the population. Follow his entertaining and highly empathetic story as he struggles to realise and accept who he really is, try to understand other people - which he cannot - and find a girlfriend.
Lamplighter, Kerry Donovan Brown.
Novel about a coastal South Island settlement. Winner of the Adam Foundation Prize in Creative Writing.
The train to Paris, Sebastian Hampson.
20 year old Lawrence takes the train back to Paris from Madrid and meets a woman twice his age. A droll and likeable love story from an author who was born here.
Where the Rekohu bone sings, Tina Makereti.
From the Chatham Islands/ Rekohu to London, from 1835 to the 21st century, this quietly powerful and compelling novel confronts the complexity of being Moriori, Maori and Pakeha.
Tropic of guile, Sue McCauley.
When tourism ceased, property prices fell, and the legal system in Fiji was in chaos, Alex Mason hastily buys property, at bargain-bin rates. He then widely proclaims his intention of building a state-of-the-art tourist aquarium, which the country's self-appointed coup government, beleaguered by international disapproval and a rapidly collapsing economy, felt was a much-needed feather in their cap.
A place to stand, Helen McNeil.
Sandra McLeod arrived as a child in Kawerau, New Zealand, with her British family. It was 1954. But the family's hopes for a new and better life faltered in this raw timber town. At sixteen Sandra fled. All she took with her were numbness and denial. Fifteen years later, a letter arrives and Sandra, now a successful real estate agent, knows she must go back.
Rankins Creek : the lives and loves of the people who live there, Robert N. Packer.
Joshua and Mary Rankin are a courageous pioneering couple who arrive from England to the reality of a harsh and isolated life in New Zealand. They chance their arm almost against the odds, assisted by loyal friends they make as their community grows.
Wind down the moon, Christine Toms.
In this modern allegory, Wind Down the Moon features the invincible Saanen goat Cranston and his Friesian dairy cow lover Utopia Eavesdrop, Huntaway dog Harriet and a flock of sheep. Led by ewe Mrs Honeypekker, the animals are required to recite the Abide Ode in exchange for good care. During a near-death binge, Cranston witnesses the moon winding down and vows to discover the origins of this vital daily mission.
Searching for Allie, Franki Wood.
When his family is torn apart by domestic violence, twelve-year-old Nicky is haunted by the promise he made to his mother before she died…that he would look after his little sister Allie. Separated by their vindictive father, Allie and Nicky grow up with very different lives and it seems that they will never be reunited. Then a harrowing ordeal for Allie leads her to a friendly ally who can help bring her back to a brother she had almost forgotten.

Romance

Chocolate cake for breakfast, Danielle Hawkins.
The girl in the yellow vest, Loretta Hill.
Evening stars, Susan Mallery.
Silver silence, Joy Nash.
Irresistible, Karen Robards

Saga & Historical

The daring ladies of Lowell, Kate Alcott.
Young woman caught between two worlds - the camaraderie of factory life and a budding romance with the son of the mill owner.
Be careful what you wish for, Jeffrey Archer.
Be Careful What You Wish For opens with Harry Clifton and his wife Emma rushing to hospital to learn the fate of their son Sebastian, who has been involved in a fatal car accident. But who died, Sebastian or his best friend Bruno?
The visitors, Sally Beauman.
Sent abroad to Egypt in 1922 to recover from the typhoid that killed her mother, eleven-year-old Lucy is caught up in the intrigue and excitement that surrounds the obsessive hunt for Tutankhamun's tomb. As she struggles to comprehend an adult world in which those closest to her are often cold and unpredictable, Lucy longs for a friend she can love. When she meets Frances, the daughter of an American archaeologist, her life is transformed.
I am Abraham : (a novel of Lincoln and the Civil War), Jerome Charyn.
Traces the historic arc of Lincoln's life from his picaresque days as a gangly young lawyer in Sangamon County, Illinois, through his improbable marriage to Kentucky belle Mary Todd, to his 1865 visit to war-shattered Richmond only days before his assassination.
Mrs. Lincoln's rival, Jennifer Chiaverini.
Reveals the famous First Lady's very public social and political contest with Washington social queen, Kate Chase Sprague.
Whisper at dawn, Frank Coates.
At the dawn of the 20th century, young Dan Sullivan signs on to fight the Boers, but discovers war has horrors beyond the battle fields. In East Africa, a railway crosses a land with an unimaginable throng of wild animals. It is the golden age of the white hunter men whose exciting lives entice rich hunters to go in search of big, dangerous game. After many failed attempts, old Bill Freeman sees his chance to make his fortune as a hunter and convinces Dan to join his fledgling safari company. Bill's young granddaughter, Liz, falls in love with Dan and with Africa but tragedy forces her to return to Australia. Years later, as the shadow of the Great War falls across the continent, Liz returns to Africa and the man she has dreamed of since childhood. But Dan has secrets that threaten to shatter their love, and he must finally decide what courage truly means.
All change for Nurse Millie, Jean Fullerton.
Nurse Millie from London's East End is now married to an aspiring M.P.
The rise and fall of Lucy Charlton, Elizabeth Gill.
1920, Durham. Since she was a child, Lucy Charlton has dreamed of working with her father in the family solicitor's firm. But a scandal shatters her dreams and, when her father disowns her, she finds herself on the streets, fighting for survival.
A burnable book, Bruce Holsinger.
In Chaucer's London, a betrayal, murder and intrigue whirl around the existence of a prophetic book foretelling the death of England's kings.
Girl on the golden coin : a novel of Frances Stuart, Marci Jefferson.
Historical fiction debut set in 1660s when the Stuart Monarchy returns and one woman catches the eye of France's sun king and is given the task of seducing Charles II to form an alliance with England.
House of Bathory, Linda Lafferty.
In the early 1600s, Elizabeth Bathory, the infamous Blood Countess, ruled a castle in the hinterlands of Slovakia. She tortured and killed the young women she had taken on as servants.and bathed in their blood to preserve her own youth. 400 years later, echoes of the Countess's legendary brutality reach Aspen, Colorado.
A wartime wife, Lizzie Lane.
Trapped in a marriage to the wrong man. Struggling to make ends meet, Mary Anne Randall is offered no help by her drunk and abusive husband. A pawnbroking business run from the wash house at the back of her home is the only way she can hope to keep her three kids fed and clothed. But, as storm clouds gather over Europe, can Mary Anne break free from her loveless marriage for what might be a last chance at love?
The road to reckoning, Robert Lautner.
Set in 1837, the touching story of a twelve year old orphan and his treacherous journey home through the wide lands of America.
One last dance, Judith Lennox.
As the twentieth century draws to a close, Esme Reddaway knows that she must uncover the truth. A truth that began during the First World War when Devlin Reddaway fell passionately in love with Esme's elder sister, Camilla, and promised to rebuild his ancestral home, Rosindell, for her. But the war changes everything.
Never say goodbye, Susan Lewis.
Story about finding friendship and love in the most unexpected of places. Josie Clark, a loving wife and mother, struggles to make ends meet by cleaning homes and working at a diner while her husband drives a taxi. Josie's joy is her two children, just entering adulthood. But with her son recently imprisoned for a crime she is certain he didn't commit, and her daughter marrying too young, Josie now worries about the future and wonders if she'll ever be able to ensure their safety and happiness.
Driftwood, Mandy Magro.
To Taylor Whitworth, knowing that she'll never meet her dead biological father is devastating. All she knows is he was a stockman, so she yearns to be like her father and to become a jillaroo. So she packs her bags and hits the road, destination unknown, until she happens upon the country township of Driftwood.
The ghost of the Mary Celeste, Valerie Martin.
The crewless ship off the coast of Spain in 1872 is explored in a tale that leads to the highest levels of late 19th century literary alumni.
Reach for the dream, Anne McCullagh Rennie.
From the black soil plains of Australia to the rolling hills of England comes a tale of passion, courage and determination Alice Ferguson is eight years old when a savage bushfire tears her family apart and she is sent to live with her aunt's family in the tiny town of Billabrin.
Crimson dawn, Fleur McDonald.
Since inheriting Nambina, the property that has been in her family for generations, Laura Murphy has worked wonders. Rather than just focus on farming she has set up a successful school teaching women the basics of managing a property, from fencing and mustering to handling the financial side of the business.
Cicada, Moira McKinnon.
First novel of terror, love and survival in the greatest wilderness on Earth. An isolated property in the middle of Western Australia, just after the Great War. An English heiress has just given birth and unleashed hell. Weakened and grieving, she realises her life is in danger, and flees into the desert with her Aboriginal maid. One of them is running from a murderer; the other is accused of murder.
Unrivaled, Siri Mitchell.
Lucy Kendall always assumed she'd help her father in his candy-making business, creating recipes and aiding him in their shared passion. But after a year traveling in Europe, Lucy returns to 1910 St. Louis to find her father unwell and her mother planning to sell the struggling candy company. Determined to help, Lucy vows to create a candy that will reverse their fortunes.
Elianne, Judy Nunn.
In 1881 'Big Jim' Durham, an English soldier of fortune and profiteer, ruthlessly creates for Elianne Desmarais, his young French wife, the finest of the great sugar mills of the Southern Queensland cane fields, and names it in her honour. The massive estate becomes a self-sufficient fortress, a cane-consuming monster and home to hundreds of workers, but 'Elianne' and its masters, the Durham Family, have dark and distant secrets.
Territory, Judy Nunn.
A priceless 16th century locket threads two riveting stories together in this saga set in and around Darwin, Australias ultimate frontier town.
A king's ransom, Sharon Kay Penman.
Follows "Lionheart" with the story of King Richard's imprisonment by the Holy Roman Emperor after the third Crusade.
The bright side of my condition, Charlotte Randall.
Four convicts escape from Norfolk Island jail on a whaling ship. Based on the true story of four convicts who spent more than nine years on the Snares Islands in the earlty 19th century.
The midnight rose, Lucinda Riley.
Epic saga spanning four generations of two cultures, India and Britain.
Raiders of the Nile : a novel of the ancient world, Steven Saylor.
In 88 B.C. it seems as if all the world is at war. From Rome to Greece and to Egypt itself, most of civilization is on the verge of war. The young Gordianus a born-and-raised Roman citizen is living in Alexandria, making ends meet by plying his trade of solving puzzles and finding things out for pay.
War clouds gather, Peter Watt.
Sean and Tom Duffy continue to oppose the ever-increasing greed and megalomania of George Macintosh while Matthew encounters German spies in Iraq. David Macintosh, now almost twenty-one, experiences just how far George will go to protect his wealth. And Donald and Sarah Macintosh have a lot to learn about life, hopes, dreams and careers and about their father.

Science Fiction

Honor among thieves, James S. A. Corey.
A Star Wars debut in which Han Solo and his new friends embark on a daring rescue mission just after the destruction of the first Death Star.
Astra, Naomi Foyle.
Like every child in Is-Land, all Astra Ordot wants is to have her Security Shot, do her National Service and defend her Gaian homeland from Non-Lander 'infiltrators'. But when one of her Shelter mothers, the formidable Dr Hokma Blesser, tells her the shot will limit her chances of becoming a scientist and offers her an alternative, Astra agrees to her plan.
Metro 2034, Dmitry Glukhovsky
Sequel to "Metro 2033," a tale of the apocalypse and humanity fighting for survival in the tunnels of the Moscow Metro.
Descent, Ken MacLeod.
UFO sightings seem to be covered up in a small Scottish town but is it UFOsm political revolutionaries or aliens. Or does the very idea of a coverup hide the biggest secret of all.
Confluence, Paul McAuley.
Confluence a long, narrow man-made world, half fertile river valley, half crater-strewn desert. It is a world at the end of its time, a place of savagery, bureaucracy and war, inhabited by countless flying micro-machines and ten thousand bloodlines ruled by devotion to absent gods.
Star wars. Maul lockdown, Joe Schreiber.
To fulfill his do-or-die mission for the dark masters he serves, the dreaded Darth Maul must take on a bloodthirsty prison warden, a cannibal gang, cutthroat crime lord Jabba the Hutt, and an unspeakable alien horror in order to capture the ultimate weapon: an object that will enable the Sith to conquer the galaxy.
Archetype, M.D. Waters.
Emma wakes in a hospital, with no memory of what came before. Her husband, Declan, a powerful, seductive man, provides her with new memories, but her dreams contradict his stories, showing her a past life she can't believe possible: memories of war, of a camp where girls are trained to be wives, of love for another man.
Like a mighty army, David Weber.
For centuries, the world of Safehold, last redoubt of the human race, lay under the unchallenged rule of the Church of God Awaiting. The Church permitted nothing new no new inventions, no new understandings of the world. What no one knew was that the Church was an elaborate fraud a high-tech system established by a rebel faction of Safehold's founders, meant to keep humanity hidden from the powerful alien race that had destroyed old Earth.
The martian, Andy Weir.
The first man to walk on Mars is left behind assumed dead. A mix of science fiction and thriller.