Book picks similar to
Michaela Betrayed by Margaret Lynette Sharp


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The Shifting Light


Alice Campion - 2017
    She’s transformed her rundown outback property, The Springs, into a successful artists’ retreat; she’s won a distinguished art prize, and she’s living with her soulmate, trail-blazing grazier Heath Blackett.But the chance discovery of a portrait of her father, renowned artist Jim Larkin, makes her question everything. How could it have been drawn just weeks ago when Jim has been dead for years . . . Or so she thought.Could her father still be alive? Can she track down the man in the picture? And is this connected to the missing gold buried by her ancestor over a century ago?Her search for answers will draw Nina into a maze of family secrets – just as the man who stepped out of a portrait arrives at her door . . .Alice Campion is the pseudonym for four members of a Sydney book club. Their first novel, The Painted Sky, also features Nina, Heath and the captivating landscape of outback Wangalla.

Red Dust Dancer


Eva Scott - 2016
    Tamsin Cooper's career as a Parisian showgirl is coming to an end. Nearly thirty, with no boyfriend and no prospects of a family of her own, she decides to take up her inheritance–her Uncle Ted's cattle farm in Queensland.Farm life seems to be suiting her until Tamsin discovers that Uncle Ted had a secret–and her sexy neighbour Angus Walker helped him keep it. Faced with losing her farm and her heart, Tamsin returns to what she knows best, dancing, and starts teaching the residents of Elliott's Crossing how to get in touch with their inner showgirl. She may have the dance moves, but can she shimmy past a forty–year–old lie and a betrayal of lost love to find her place–and rediscover love–in this country town?

All That I Am


Anna Funder - 2011
    Ten years later, Ruth and Hans are married and living in Weimar Berlin when Hitler is elected chancellor of Germany. Together with Dora and her lover, Ernst Toller, the celebrated poet and self-doubting revolutionary, the four become hunted outlaws overnight and are forced to flee to London. Inspired by the fearless Dora to breathtaking acts of courage, the friends risk betrayal and deceit as they dedicate themselves to a dangerous mission: to inform the British government of the very real Nazi threat to which it remains willfully blind. All That I Am is the heartbreaking story of these extraordinary people, who discover that Hitler’s reach extends much further than they had thought.Gripping, compassionate, and inspiring, this remarkable debut novel reveals an uncommon depth of humanity and wisdom. Anna Funder has given us a searing and intimate portrait of courage and its price, of desire and ambition, and of the devastating consequences when they are thwarted.

Unsolved Australia: Lost Boys, Gone Girls


Justine Ford - 2019
    But not for everyone. Unsolved Australia: Lost Boys, Gone Girls tells thirteen stories of people whose luck ran out in the most mysterious of circumstances.It's a journalistic deep-dive into Australia's dark heart by one of Australia's premier true crime writers, Justine Ford, the acclaimed bestselling author of Unsolved Australia and The Good Cop .Why are four people missing from a Western Australian doomsday cult? Who abducted and murdered beauty queen Bronwynne Richardson on pageant night? And why is a cooked chook important evidence in the outback disappearance of Paddy Moriarty?Key players are interviewed, evidence laid out and suspects assessed. Never-before-published information is revealed. Can you help crack the case and solve these mysteries?Hold tight as Unsolved Australia: Lost Boys, Gone Girls takes you on a chilling yet inspiring true crime rollercoaster ride where the final destination is hope.

House of Sticks


Peggy Frew - 2011
    She tells herself she has no regrets, but sometimes the isolation and the relentless demands of three small children threaten to swamp the love between Bonnie and her partner, Pete. Then an old mate of Pete’s arrives. Doug is eccentric and intrusive, and his unsettling presence disrupts Bonnie’s world further. Yet as the cracks really start to show in the life Bonnie and Pete have built together, it seems the dangers might also come from within.House of Sticks is a revealing portrait of contemporary family life, its joys and compromises, and how quickly things can unravel. It’s about trying to stay connected in our disconnected society; a story of identity and community, loyalty and love.

1988


Andrew McGahan - 1995
    When two frustrated artists take jobs at a remote weather station in Australia's Northern Territory--in hopes of finding solitude and inspiration--their journey affords an unflinching, original, and at times, hilarious look at what it means to grow up in the world today.

A Chance Of Stormy Weather


Tricia Stringer - 2016
     Self-reliant Sydney girl, Paula, is looking forward to a new life in the country. Just married to sheep farmer Dan Woodcroft she can’t wait to escape her protective family and exchange her busy existence for a new life down on the farm in rural South Australia.But life on the farm proves rather different to what she was expecting. Why does everyone talk about the weather all the time? Why does no one seem worried by the mice plague? And how is she supposed to feed all those shearers?With Dan’s brusque Aunt Rowena to contend with, his gorgeous ex-girlfriend showing up with a grudge, and communication between her and Dan breaking down, Paula begins to question whether she can cope — is the life of a farmer’s wife is really for her? Forecast: stormy weather.[First published as Changing Channels in 2004, with a sequel Due Date in 2008.]

Flame Tree Hill


Mandy Magro - 2013
    After a tragic accident that left her scarred, she fled overseas. Now, three years later, she’s finally returning to Flame Tree Hill, her beloved family farm.But at twenty-five Kirsty isn’t prepared for the terrifying newchallenge ahead: breast cancer.Kirsty’s never been a quitter and that’s not about to change. But can her budding romance with local vet Aden bear the strain?As she battles with chemotherapy and as her past threatens tooverwhelm her, Kirsty realises you can never take anything – oranyone – for granted. Drawing strength from her family and thebeauty of Far North Queensland, Kirsty finally understands whatshe must do.A lyrical and heartwarming testament to the power of love – and forgiveness.

The Railwayman's Wife


Ashley Hay - 2013
    But in Thirroul, in 1948, she’s not the only person trying to chase dreams through books. There’s Roy McKinnon, who found poetry in the mess of war, but who has now lost his words and his hope. There’s Frank Draper, trapped by the guilt of those his medical treatment and care failed on their first day of freedom. All three struggle to find their own peace, and their own new story.But along with the firming of this triangle of friendship and a sense of lives inching towards renewal come other extremities—and misunderstandings. In the end, love and freedom can have unexpected ways of expressing themselves.The Railwayman’s Wife explores the power of beginnings and endings, and how hard it can sometimes be to tell them apart. Most of all, it celebrates love in all its forms, and the beauty of discovering that loving someone can be as extraordinary as being loved yourself.

The Women in Black


Madeleine St. John - 1993
    On the second floor of the famous F.G. Goode department store, in Ladies' Cocktail Frocks, the women in black are girding themselves for the Christmas rush. Lisa is the new Sales Assistant (Temporary). Across the floor and beyond the arch, she is about to meet the glamorous Continental refugee, Magda, guardian of the rose-pink cave of Model Gowns.With the lightest touch and the most tender of comic instincts, Madeleine St. John conjures a vanished summer of innocence. The Women in Black is a classic.

Fool Me Once


Karly Lane - 2020
    Her every waking hour for years, has revolved around planning to make this dream become a reality. When an unlikely meeting with Michael Delacourt at a rowdy B&S Ball sends them on a whirlwind romance, Georgie can't believe it's possible for life to be this good and her dream of buying back Tamban has, for the first time, taken a backseat to happiness. But her world shatters when she discovers the shocking secret Michael has been trying to keep from her.Can Michael convince her they still have a future? And after having her heart so thoroughly broken, can Georgie ever trust anyone again?

The North Wind


Bronwyn Parry - 2016
    Her life is elsewhere, and the ties that have for decades bound her family to the struggling town and its old hotel may soon be broken.But the arrival of two strangers in town – Owen Caldwell and his grandfather – along with the hot, dry north wind herald a time of challenge and unexpected change.Owen has no idea why his grandfather has quietly insisted on this Christmas visit to Dungirri, a town he's never been to. But the old doctor has a final quest, and as long-held secrets come to light and Owen and Angie use their skills to assist those in need, they both must decide where they belong, and where their future is.

Those Other Women


Nicola Moriarty - 2018
    .Poppy's world has been tipped sideways: the husband who never wanted children has betrayed her with her broody best friend.At least Annalise is on her side. Her new friend is determined to celebrate their freedom from kids, so together they create a Facebook group to meet up with like-minded women, and perhaps vent just an little about smug mummies' privileges at work.Meanwhile, their colleague Frankie would love a night out, away from her darlings - she's not had one this decade and she's heartily sick of being judged by women at the office as well as stay-at-home mums.Then Poppy and Annalise's group takes on a life of its own and frustrated members start confronting mums like Frankie in the real world. Cafés become battlegrounds, playgrounds become war zones and offices have never been so divided.A rivalry that was once harmless fun is spiraling out of control.Because one of their members is a wolf in sheep's clothing. And she has an agenda of her own . . .

The Death of Noah Glass


Gail Jones - 2018
    His adult children, Martin and Evie, must come to terms with the shock of their father’s death. But a sculpture has gone missing from a museum in Palermo, and Noah is a suspect. The police are investigating.None of it makes any sense. Martin sets off to Palermo in search of answers about his father’s activities, while Evie moves into Noah’s apartment, waiting to learn where her life might take her. Retracing their father’s steps in their own way, neither of his children can see the path ahead.Gail Jones’s mesmerising new novel tells a story about parents and children, and explores the overlapping patterns that life makes. The Death of Noah Glass is about love and art, about grief and happiness, about memory and the mystery of time.

Logan's Lady


Tracie J. Peterson - 1997
    Despite her aristocratic English breeding, Amelia falls in love with this barbaric country...and with Logan Reed.Will Logan's love and faith in God force Amelia to confront her own firm belief that there is no God? If only God would prove Himself to her...and find a way for her to be Logan's Lady.