Book picks similar to
Drums of Mer by Ion L. Idriess


australia
fiction
australian-author
ion-idriess

When Archie Met Rosie: An Unexpected Love Story


Lynda Renham - 2018
    The first is to move off the Tradmore Estate, and the second is to see Paris. Archie wants for nothing. He has his five-bedroom house but no one to share it with now that his beloved wife, Cath, has died.  And then … Holly has a disastrous night out and, against all the odds, Archie meets Rosie. A funny, sad and poignant tale of how love can be found in the strangest of places.

Patrick's Journey


Roy T. Humphreys - 2014
    Like many young men he is patriotic, adventurous and headstrong. He also feels assured of a bright future with his sweetheart Catherine. Patrick’s world comes crashing down around him when he becomes a pawn in the political aspirations of the United Irishmen under Wolfe Tone. He finds himself in prison sentenced to transportation to the penal colony of New South Wales and begins a downward spiral into rage and depression. Patrick’s saviour comes in the form of Father Michael O’Court, the chaplain of the prison ship Boddington. Over time Patrick is guided out of his depression and is able to accept the vastly different directions that his life’s journey has taken. He also finds an unlikely mentor in one Preston Balfour, a British Army officer who was originally his target for assassination, but who ultimately provides him with the means of restoring his life in a new land. Patrick’s life is complete when tragic circumstances eventually lead to him being reunited with Catherine for a new life in a new land. He comes to realise that the most important journey we travel is not measured in miles but by our changes within. Patrick’s Journey is a work of fiction, but is based on the real life history of the author’s great (6 times removed) grandfather.

Changing Lara


Anna Jacobs - 2019
    She is looking forward to the prospect of spending the rest of her days in comfort in a leisure village in Wiltshire and the adventure that her new life will bring.But when long-standing arrangements crumble, her situation quickly becomes worrying. With her dreams in disarray, Lara makes friends with the other residents and finds herself entangled in the ups and downs, triumphs and tragedies of her new community, hoping against hope that her independence will one day be restored.

Australian Heist


James Phelps - 2018
    On June 15, 1862 a gang of bushrangers pulled off the largest gold robbery in Australia's history atEugowra Rocks. The gang escaped with bank notes and 77kg of gold, worth about $10 million today. It remains Australia's largest gold robbery. The story of how Ben Hall, Frank Gardiner, John O'Mealley, John Gilbert, Harry Manns, Alex Fordyce, John Bow and Dan Charters - planned and executed the robbery and what happened to all that gold is the stuff of a brilliant, modern, exciting crime book. This is Australian history on the very best crime-writing steroids from Australia's number one true crime writer.

Sign


Colin Dray - 2018
    He lives with his mother and sister Katie, all dutifully cared for by Aunt Dettie, their father's sister, who believes herself sympathetic to his pain. Their father abandoned the family some time ago, but when their mother begins to date again, Aunt Dettie reacts very badly. After an unexpected phone call, Aunt Dettie packs Sam and Katie into the backseat of her car and tells them that she's taking them to Perth to be reunited with their father. As Dettie drives the children across Australia in the middle of a sweltering and dangerous bushfire season, her behaviour becomes increasingly erratic, and the children begin to realise that there is something very wrong. Voiceless, Sam can only watch helplessly as the family trip becomes a smoke-filled nightmare.

We Were Never Friends


Margaret Bearman - 2020
    What is art? What’s true courage? I could not put it down.’ —Melissa Ashley,bestselling author of THE BIRDMAN’S WIFELotti lives under the shadow of a genius: her father George Coates is a brilliant and celebrated Australian painter.When Lotti meets the outcast waif Kyla at a suburban Canberra school, two worlds are set to collide. Slowly Kyla is drawn into the orbit of the Coates family. Or is it the other way around?As Lotti and Kyla navigate their way towards adulthood, dark secrets start to unravel, with devastating consequences …WE WERE NEVER FRIENDS is unforgettable novel about friendship, the pursuit of a creative life and the legacies we leave behind.‘Margaret Bearman’s intimate, unsettling novel of family dysfunction perfectly captures the ambivalent passions of girlhood while offering an incisive critiqueof the cult of artistic genius. Sharp and subtle at the same time, refusing any easy certainties, WE WERE NEVER FRIENDS is a haunting portrait of the humancapacity for cruelty and love in equal measure.’ —Kirsten Tranter, bestselling author of THE LEGACY

The Wise Man Said


Priya Kumar - 2017
    He decides to participate in a life he missed to live. Eleven months in a year he leaves behind his identity and money and allows his curiosity and his willingness to experience anything—death even, to take him on life changing adventures and experiences across the world. Loaded with wisdom, surprise, humor and an eagerness to embrace life, The Wise Man Said is a collection of twelve such adventures of Sammy, where his journey becomes his greatest achievement—a life well lived. The Author, Priya Kumar, is an Internationally Acclaimed Motivational Speaker. No matter who we are, where we are and what our circumstance, when purpose, confidence and self-determination becomes our guiding force, we live to our truest honor—this has been the driving force behind Priya’s endeavors in speaking and in writing.

Oceanside blues =: Samudrantike


Dhruv Bhatt - 1993
    My heart suddenly grew heavy with sadness. I 'felt that the entire system needed a complete change. Education should mean teaching to love nature. A system that can produce many more Noor-bhāis should be evolved. Man, too, should be able to inspire in birds and beasts the same confidence and trust that the black drongo inspired in the smaller birds. But who would be able to bring about that big a change? Could I, one who had come here on an assignment to draw up blueprints of a chemical industrial zone, affect that change? ...

The Friendship Tree


Helen J. Rolfe - 2015
    But as she vows to start over, she meets Jake – and life gets more complicated than she could ever have imagined. Jake is the direct competitor for the family business, and a man with a dark secret, and Tamara struggles to fight her attraction to him as she deals with secrets of her own and an ex who refuses to give up. Tamara is soon drawn in to the small community of Brewer Creek where she becomes the coordinator for an old fashioned Friendship Tree – a chart telling people who they can call on in times of trouble. And before long, she realises the Friendship Tree does a lot more than organise fundraising events and working bees; it has the power to unite an entire town. Should you ever try to run from your past? ‘An enjoyable read by a new author. One to watch!’ Katie Fforde 'A fantastic sense of place, a traditional romance, contemporary issues and a nice touch of mystery.' Sue Moorcroft. 'The gorgeous setting, impossible romance and fabulous main characters are making this such a fantastic read.' Librarian Lavender ***Shortlisted for the Romantic Novelists' Association's Joan Hessayon New Writers' Scheme Award 2016***

A Smaller Country


Phillip Tennison - 2015
    Nations cease to exist. Refugees flock to other lands in search of safety and security.What remains of the Australian Government moves its borders to the south and evacuates the survivors from the northern half of the continent. Australia becomes a smaller country.But some survivors are left behind. They face a perilous existence.One such survivor is John Timms, a former outback cop.Timms embarks on an odyssey that takes him across much of the north. Along the way he encounters other Australians as well as many of the newcomers. Timms finds that he must confront the darkness and violence of the new frontier.

44 Days: 75 Squadron and the Fight for Australia


Michael Veitch - 2016
    This group of raw young recruits scrambled ceaselessly in their Kittyhawk fighters to an extraordinary and heroic battle, the story of which has been left largely untold.The recruits had almost nothing going for them against the Japanese war machine, except for one extraordinary leader named John Jackson, a balding, tubby Queenslander - at 35 possibly the oldest fighter pilot in the world - who said little, led from the front, and who had absolutely no sense of physical fear.Time and time again this brave group were hurled into battle, against all odds and logic, and succeeded in mauling a far superior enemy - whilst also fighting against the air force hierarchy. After relentless attack, the squadron was almost wiped out by the time relief came, having succeeded in their mission - but also paying a terrible price.Michael Veitch, actor, presenter and critically acclaimed author, brings to life the incredible exploits and tragic sacrifices of this courageous squadron of Australian heroes.

ಗ್ರಹಣ [Grahana]


S.L. Bhyrappa - 1972
    A Sanyasi goes about apprising the people of the village that life should be found on values and not superstitions.

Echo of Another Time


Audrey Howard - 1995
    Harper. By the age of 18 she has become a talented cook, but when she falls in love with a Latimer, all their lives change with frightening swiftness.

The True Colour of the Sea


Robert Drewe - 2018
    He understands his desperate plight and the ocean's unrelenting power. But what is its true colour?A beguiling young woman nurses a baby by a lake while hiding brutal scars. Uneasy descendants of a cannibal victim visit the Pacific island of their ancestor's murder. A Caribbean cruise of elderly tourists faces life with wicked optimism.Witty, clever, ever touching and always inventive, the eleven stories in The True Colour of the Sea take us to many varied coasts: whether a tense Christmas holiday apartment overlooking the Indian Ocean or the shabby glamour of a Cuban resort hotel. Relationships might be frayed, savaged, regretted or celebrated, but here there is always the life-force of the ocean - seducing, threatening, inspiring.In The True Colour of the Sea, Robert Drewe - Australia's master of the short story form - makes a gift of stories that tackle the big themes of life: love, loss, desire, family, ageing, humanity and the life of art.

Notes on an Exodus


Richard Flanagan - 2016
    With illustrations from Archibald Prize winner Ben Quilty.In January 2016 Richard Flanagan and Ben Quilty travelled to Lebanon, Greece, and Serbia to follow the river that is the exodus of our age: that of refugees from Syria.Flanagan's 'notes' and Quilty's sketches bear witness to the remarkable people they met on that journey and their stories. These individual portraits from the Man Booker Prize-winning author and Archibald Prize-winning artist combine to form a powerful testament to human dignity and courage in the face of war, death, and suffering.Refugees are not like you and me. They are you and me. That terrible river of the wretched and the damned flowing through Europe is my family.