Book picks similar to
The Great Plains by Nicole Alexander


historical-fiction
australia
fiction
nicole-alexander

The Golden Land


Di Morrissey - 2012
    While helping her mother move house, she finds a little box containing a Burmese artefact. When Natalie learns its unique history in a letter left by her great-great uncle, it sparks off an interest in its country of origin and her uncle’s unfulfilled plans.Her investigations collide with her own rapidly changing circumstances and become the catalyst for a moral dilemma that challenges the foundations of her marriage as she finds herself immersed in two very different golden lands.

A Child of My Own


Vanessa Carnevale - 2021
    But what she wants could break your heart.Isla and Ben are devoted parents to their beloved daughter, Reese. She is their little miracle, the child they thought they’d never have until donors made her existence possible. But Isla has never told Reese about her biological parents. She wants to be honest with her daughter, but can she bear to open up old wounds?Then Isla receives a call from Lucy, once her closest friend and the donor who made her dreams come true, and it seems she may need to make a decision sooner than she thought. They haven’t spoken in almost ten years, but Lucy has devastating news: she has lost her beloved husband Nate, just after they decided they wanted to become parents after all.Heartbroken for her friend, Isla welcomes Lucy back into her life. But then Lucy comes to Isla with a request that changes everything. If Lucy gets what she wants, Isla’s perfect family could be destroyed. But would she deny the woman who helped her become a mother the chance for her own happiness?A Child of My Own is a heartbreaking, gripping and emotional story about motherhood, loss and friendship, perfect for fans of Jodi Picoult, Kelly Rimmer and Kate Hewitt.

Honeybee


Craig Silvey - 2020
    A fateful connection is made, and an unlikely friendship blooms. Slowly, we learn what led Sam and Vic to the bridge that night. Bonded by their suffering, each privately commits to the impossible task of saving the other.Honeybee is a heart-breaking, life-affirming novel that throws us headlong into a world of petty thefts, extortion plots, botched bank robberies, daring dog rescues and one spectacular drag show.At the heart of Honeybee is Sam: a solitary, resilient young person battling to navigate the world as their true self; ensnared by a loyalty to a troubled mother, scarred by the volatility of a domineering step-father, and confounded by the kindness of new alliances.Honeybee is a tender, profoundly moving novel brimming with vivid characters and luminous words. It's about two lives forever changed by a chance encounter -- one offering hope, the other redemption. It's about when to persevere, and when to be merciful, as Sam learns when to let go, and when to hold on.

Burnt Out


Victoria Brookman - 2022
    But is fame and living with a billionaire all it's cracked up to be? A warm and witty story for our times. 'Here's to rising from the ashes ...'Calida Lyons is having a very bad week. She's long past deadline for her still unwritten second novel; her husband has just left her; and her Blue Mountains community is being threatened by bushfires. Just as she hits rock bottom, she's forced to shelter with neighbours while a fire incinerates everything she owns.Devastated and emotional in front of news cameras, Cali delivers a blistering, unfiltered rebuke to the nation's rich to do something.Her rant goes viral, and she quickly becomes the latest celebrity face of the climate movement. Soon she's offered a harbourside refuge by handsome tech billionaire Arlo Richard, her publisher is delighted with the new novel she's writing, and she's the darling of high society.But things aren't as they seem. It's all built on lies, and Cali's pretty sure that the precarious house of cards she's built is about to come tumbling down.'The story zings along with plenty of laugh-out-loud moments, great characters and page-turning tension. It also has a huge heaping of heart and wisdom thrown into the mix, making this a wonderful read.' The Australian'Has everything you want in a summer read: a page-turning plot, intriguing characters with wonky moral compasses, and enough political heart to make you feel like you've done something good for the world just by reading it' Jessica Dettmann, author of This Has Been Absolutely Lovely'Satisfying, surprising, funny and full of observations about the ineffective blame-game that passes for action on Australia's climate emergency. The fact it's also a page-turner is down to Victoria Brookman's quick wit. Read it if you want a rom-com with bite.' Holly Wainwright, author of I Give My Marriage A Year'Blisteringly wise and funny, Burnt Out makes you want to hide from the world until you've turned the last page, then compels you to get up and 'Do Something' ... Searingly smart, heart-warming, and perfect for the world we have now.' Tori Haschka, author of Grace Under Pressure'A page-turner with a big heart' Rose Hartley, author of Maggie's Going Nowhere'The story zings along with plenty of laugh-out-loud moments, great characters and page-turning tension. It also has a huge heaping of heart and wisdom thrown into the mix, making this a wonderful summer read' Better Reading'A true-blue Aussie summer read' Woman's Day

A Long Way From Home


Peter Carey - 2017
    Her husband is the best car salesman in rural south eastern Australia. Together with Willie, their lanky navigator, they embark upon the Redex Trial, a brutal race around the continent, over roads no car will ever quite survive.A Long Way from Home is Peter Carey's late style masterpiece; a thrilling high speed story that starts in one way, then takes you to another place altogether. Set in the 1950s in the embers of the British Empire, painting a picture of Queen and subject, black, white and those in-between, this brilliantly vivid novel illustrates how the possession of an ancient culture spirals through history - and the love made and hurt caused along the way.

Walking on Trampolines


Frances Whiting - 2013
    'That,' she announced, 'is a seriously glamorgeous name.'From the day Annabelle Andrews sashays into her classroom, Tallulah 'Lulu' de Longland is bewitched by Annabelle, by her family, and their sprawling, crumbling house tumbling down to the river.Their unlikely friendship intensifies through a secret language where they share confidences about their unusual mothers, first loves, and growing up in the small, coastal town of Juniper Bay. Their lives become as entwined as Annabelle's initials engraved beneath the de Longland kitchen table.But the euphoria of youth rarely lasts, and the implosion that destroys their friendship leaves lasting scars and a legacy of self-doubt that haunts Lulu into adulthood.Years later, Lulu is presented with a choice: remain the perpetual good girl who misses out, or finally step out from the shadows and do something extraordinary. And possibly unforgiveable.It's not how far you fall, but how high you bounce.