Book picks similar to
The Sea Caves by Colin Thiele


australia
children-s
children-s-fiction
intermediate-kids

If you were here


Fleur McDonald - 2017
    In If You Were Here, the bestselling author of Red Dust and Crimson Falls reveals the events of thirty-five years ago, which led up to the mysterious disappearance of Brianna Donahue's mother from their family farm. Brianna is three years old and very much loved by her mother, Josie, and her father, Russell. What seems like an ordinary work day on the farm becomes a nightmare when Josie vanishes without a trace. Do the travellers found camping on their property have something to do with her disappearance or is it something more sinister?This original SHORT STORY by Fleur McDonald includes a sneak peek of her forthcoming novel Suddenly One Summer.

Just One Kiss


Susanne Bellamy - 2015
    Amy is certain she can resist the attraction of this man who holds a secret. But is Amy as strong as she thinks she is? Will the truth of Dan’s past tear their love apart?

Hothal


Bharathi Vyas
    When her father is exiled from his kingdom, Hothal disguises herself as a man and fights alongside the valient Odha, who she eventually falls deeply in love with.

Cairo Jim on the Trail to Chacha Muchos


Geoffrey McSkimming - 1993
    What happened there nearly five hundred years ago remains a mystery. Who were these people? And why, in the end, did the entire tribe dance itself to extinction? When that well-known archaeologist and little-known poet, Cairo Jim, sets out to solve the mystery, he doesn't know that he is not the only one on the trail to ChaCha Muchos...

Go Tell It to Mrs. Golightly


Catherine Cookson - 1977
    A blind girl who is sent to stay with her grandfather stumbles upon a kidnapping in their small town.

Past the Headlands


Garry Disher - 2001
    The fall of Malaya and Singapore and the bombing of Darwin—what looked like the invasion of Australia—ebb and crash over a man’s long search to find a home and a woman’s determination to keep hers, connected by old memories and new betrayals. It is a thriller and a romance, a story of earth and water, air and metal—an unforgettable ride through the most precarious time in our region's recent history. Garry Disher writes: ‘Past the Headlands came from the same World War 2 research as The Stencil Man. I was struck by the power of two documents. The first was a letter written by a woman alone on a cattle station near Broome in 1942, at the time the Japanese were overrunning Malaya and Singapore and bombing areas of northern Australia. One day she found herself giving shelter to Dutch colonial officers and their families, who were fleeing Sumatra and Java ahead of the Japanese advance (many people like them lost their lives when Japanese planes shot up their waiting seaplanes in Broome Harbour in March, 1942). This woman stuck in my head (the isolation, the danger, the efforts to communicate, her bravery, etc). The second document was a war diary written by an Australian army surgeon who escaped Singapore ahead of the Japanese and was stuck in Sumatra, trying to get out. Here he treated many of the civilians (and Australian Army deserters) fleeing from Singapore. He was captured by the Japanese, but survived the war. But his last few diary entries detail how he and a mate were waiting for a plane or a ship to take them out, then one day he wrote, “Davis [his mate] left last night without telling me”. So much for mateship. I spent years trying to find my way into their stories. At one stage I spent a year writing 40,000 words before realising it wouldn’t work. I put it aside, then realised one subplot didn’t belong, so extracted it and turned it into a separate novel The Divine Wind, which has sold 100,000 copies around the world, won a major award and been published as both a young adult and a general market novel. But cutting it out like that freed me up to write about the woman and the man betrayed by his mate, in Past the Headlands.’

The Grandest Bookshop in the World


Amelia Mellor - 2020
    And not just any bookshop. In 1893, Cole’s Book Arcade in Melbourne is the grandest bookshop in the world, brimming with every curiosity imaginable. Each day brings fresh delights for the siblings: voice-changing sweets, talking parrots, a new story written just for them by their eccentric father.When Pearl and Vally learn that Pa has risked the Arcade – and himself – in a shocking deal with the mysterious Obscurosmith, the siblings hatch a plan. Soon they are swept into a dangerous game with impossibly high stakes: defeat seven challenges by the stroke of midnight and both the Arcade and their father will be restored. But if they fail Pearl and Vally won’t just lose Pa – they’ll forget that he and the Arcade ever existed.

Goose Girl


Joy Dettman - 2001
    Sally De Rooze is almost thirty. She survived the accident that killed her father and brothers. Her mother never forgave her for that. But she survived her mother too. Surviving is what she does best. Farmer Ross Bertram, who offers her his acres and safety, is the answer for a while. Until he starts pushing for a wedding. Sally wants ... wants more. Wants to know great love. Wants to find herself. One year. That's what she wants. One year of freedom in the big, bad city. Her survival skills are tested in the urban sprawl and she discovers more about herself than she had ever dared to imagined.

Charlie's Will


Susan Mackie - 2020
    Rose Gordon knew the farm would be hers when her grandfather died. Strong and sassy, she was the only heir to five generations of cattle country and the magnificent Barrington Homestead. But Charlie’s will was not as she expected and the appearance of Angus Hamilton on the day of the funeral unsettled her. Handsome and single, she was attracted to him in a way she had never experienced. The ongoing drought and discovering she had friends, if not family, in the small rural community complicate matters. More sinister threats lurk in the shadows. Will Rose give up city life to face the threats head on and fight for her inheritance?

Best Mates


Michael Morpurgo - 2015
    A collection of six magical and heart-warming animal stories, specially for World Book Day, by the nation’s favourite storyteller.From the author who brought you Joey the War Horse, Shadow the dog and Kaspar the cat comes a pocket-sized collection of perfect animal stories – proving that it’s not just dogs that are man’s best friends…Taken from the length of Michael Morpurgo’s career, the tales in this charming book will delight any child who loves animals … or stories! Readers will return to the best mates in this little book again and again.From dogs to cats, and from horses to dolphins and whales, it’s all here in this timeless treasury.Contains the stories:• The Silver Swan• It’s a Dog’s Life• Snug• Didn’t We Have a Lovely Time?• Dolphin Boy• This Morning I Met a Whale

Cowboy Next Door


Ann B. Harrison - 2012
    He is the one person that stands between her and the family home that has been left to her. So why then does the man stir her up to such an extent, her body pulses with the need to have him? They do nothing but clash and snap at one another, and he makes no bones about the fact she shouldn't be Quincy's Station's new owner, but back in the city where he thinks she belongs. Having had an unpleasant clash with a "city girl" once before, Nathan does not think Libby has it in her to stick it out. He refuses to give in to his urges. But when Mother Nature brings chaos to Quincy Station and threatens Libby's children, he'll either be proved right in his assumptions or find his barriers taken down by a stubborn woman and her kids.

Vali


Anant Pai
    Brave enough to confront the most vicious of demons, and strong enough to destroy them every time, he unfortunately could not conquer his own pride. Foolishly, he turned his adoring brother, Sugreeva, into a mortal enemy and drove him to take the help of that supreme warrior, the mighty Lord Rama.

The Love that Remains


Susan Francis - 2020
    He is a gentle giant of a man, who promises Susan the world.Two years later they throw in their jobs, marry and sell everything they own, embarking on an incredible adventure, to start a new life in the romantic city of Granada, where they learn Spanish and enjoy too much tapas. In love, and enthralled by the splendour of a European springtime, the pair treasure every moment together.Until a shocking series of events alters everything.Susan Francis' memoir is riveting and remarkably honest and Susan Duncan said it was fearless and raw and an amazing read.

Meet Alice


Davina Bell - 2012
    . . and Alice lives with her big family by the Swan River in Perth, while on the other side of the world, World War I rages. Alice's deepest wish is to become a ballerina, and when she auditions for a famous dance teacher from London, it seems as if her dreams might come true. But then there's a terrible accident, and Alice must ask herself whether there are more important things than dancing. Meet Alice and join her adventure in the first of four stories about a gifted girl in a time of war.

Summer of Spies


Abigail Hornsea - 2013