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.

    Thomas Keneally's evocative writing gives us searing insight into the sun-parched settlements of hungry transports and corruptive soldiers. But this is not an 'historical' novel in the usual sense. It is the story of a man, Corporal Phelim Halloran, and of the demands made on him - by his girl, his Irish comrades, his superior officers, and, most often, by his conscience. Innocent and lover, poet, soldier-by-accident, scholar by the standards of his day, Halloran attempts to make a world unto himself. through his pity and love for Ann Rush, his 'secret bride'; but many seem pledged to complicate these simple desires. There is the convict-artist, Thomas Ewers, persecuted and compelled to illustrate the officers' journals. There is Halloran's feckless colleague, Terry Byrne. The convict, Quinn, whose term of imprisonment should have been nearly over. Robert Hearne, political prisoner, government clerk and traitor. Halloran comes to disbelieve in any other existence except his own and God's, until, shockingly and irrevocably, he is reunited with Ann."

    Since it had come from the sea, it was an evil omen.Soon after, many people died mysteriously, others disappeared without a trace, and once-friendly families became bitter enemies. The islanders muttered, 'It's the times', but Wooreddy alone knew more: the world was coming to an end.In Mudrooroo's unforgettable novel, considered by many to be his masterpiece, the author evokes with fullest irony the bewilderment and frailty of the last native Tasmanians, as they come face to face with the clumsy but inexorable power of their white destroyers.

    Their liturgical calendar is governed by the changing of the seasons, and by the rising and setting of the sun. Their days are spent performing a ritual of prayer and storytelling, as they knit the wool of the sheep who inhabit the monastery grounds and into whose bodies they believe their deceased sisters' souls to have entered. Then, one day, seemingly out of nowhere, a priest appears. Hoping to rise in the church hierarchy, he has presented plans to his bishop to convert what he believes is an uninhabited and valuable piece of church property into a spa for the wealthy-and he has come to investigate the land. Father Ignatius is as surprised to see the nuns as they are to see a flesh-and-blood man, and what follows is the strange, moving, and often hilarious story of their struggle-a struggle of wills, but also of faith. Lambs of God is a beautifully written and haunting story of colliding traditions, conflicting beliefs, and magical trans-formations. It weaves together Christian belief, classical mythology, fairy tales, Celtic lore, and the mysteries of the natural world into one of the most memorable and gripping of contemporary novels. Like Ron Hansen's Mariette in Ecstasy, Lambs of God is a wildly original investigation into the nature and complexities of faith.

    But when he climbs out again, he can’t see his mother anywhere. He is all alone.As he wanders through the great outback looking for her, Wombat meets all kinds of wonderful creatures – Kookaburra, Wallaby, Possum, Emu, Boy and Koala. None of them think very much of him, though.But when a fire sweeps through the bush, it is Wombat’s skills which save the day, and afterwards everyone races off to find his mum and bring her back to him.AGES 4-8

    You know, again.

    An introduction to environmental awareness describes how a single rosy dock garden in Australia was spread throughout the country on the wind, threatening the native plants and animals in the southern, central, and western regions.

    The fishermen call him The Spuddy. The only person to care for him is Andy, a young dumb boy. For both of them their meeting brings friendship after loneliness. But when they become friends with Jake, skipper of the Silver Crest, events take an unexpected turn...

    He was a grocer's son, strong and proud, but fate had masked his strength and pride with a form that set him forever apart from other men. Compelling need drew them together, A bewitching fantasy encircled and sustained them. Then the Great Depression swept across Australia to impoverish the rich, humble the proud, and turn the poor into a stunned army of desperate vagrants and homeless vagabonds. Expelled from their enchated realm, brutally seperated, they each clutched a secret, a promise a dream of finding each other in a harsh world where only a perfect love like theirs could survive, overcome and triumph.

    Taut yet teeming with life, they are shot through with gritty phrases that catch at one's throat.' - Sydney Morning HeraldSet among the surf and sandhills of the Australian beach - and the tidal changes of three generations of the Lang family - this bestselling collection of short stories is an Australian classic. The Bodysurfers vividly evokes the beach, with the scent of the suntan oil, the sting of the sun and a lazy sensuality, all the while hinting at a deep undercurrent of suburban malaise.From first publication, these poignant and seductive stories marked a major change in Australian literature.--from penguin.com.au

    Set within Australia's lush rain forest at the height of the rainy season, Salt Rain is an absorbing debut about sifting through the complicated stories that shape us, and ultimately reclaiming them as our own.

    

    She must prove to Anders Sæterdal, her trapping partner who makes no secret of his disdain, that a woman is fit for the task. Over the course of a Svalbard winter, Wanny and Sæterdal will confront polar bears, traverse glaciers, withstand blizzards and the dangers of sea ice, and hike miles to trap Arctic fox, all in the frigid darkness of the four-month polar night. For Wanny, the darkness hides her own deceptions that, if exposed, speak to the untenable sacrifice of a 1930s woman longing to fulfil a dream. Alongside the raw, confronting nature of the trappers’ work, is the story of a young blue Arctic fox, itself a hunter, who must eke out a living and navigate the trappers’ world if it is to survive its first Arctic winter.

    But when she drops out of vet school to get her jockey’s license in New York, intent on coming back to Ontario to ride Chique in the Queen’s Plate in three years, he’s the obvious choice to keep an eye on the filly. Nate’s content to watch Liv go, even though he’s got similar aspirations – when he’s not talked out of them by voices from his past. His growing bond with Chique might earn him Liv’s approval and give him the fresh start he’s looking for, but that’s as involved as he’s getting with the boss’s daughter. Not that Liv’s been receptive to anything more. Liv’s determined to keep their relationship professional, no matter how much Chique draws them together. Because racetrack romances are messy…and nothing can interfere with getting Chique to the Plate.Set against the backdrop of North America’s greatest racetracks, Good Things Come is a story about the hearts of Thoroughbreds...thepeople who love them...and the allure of Canada’s most prestigious race.

    These torchlight adventures have since inspired a generation of scientists, and his research is still considered useful today. In The Secret Life of Wombats, James Woodford pursues Nicholson's story and embarks on his own journey to uncover the true nature of our most intriguing marsupial."Woodford has done the research, he has read widely, spoken with the major wombat pundits and with the lay observers. He has travelled to gain direct experience of all species...I know more about wombats than I did, and retain some stark images which I hope never to lose." - Sunday Age.