Showing results by publisher "Wavesound from W. F. Howes Ltd" in Literature & Fiction

Ross Grant has always felt like the black sheep of his wealthy Scottish family. An explorer at heart, he dreams of life on Waybell, their remote cattle station in Australia’s last remaining wilderness, the Northern Territory. Then his brother Alastair is branded a deserter after going missing during the Great War, and Ross is coerced into marrying Darcey Thomas, a woman he has never met, to save the family name. Disgusted with his manipulative family, he turns his back on his unwanted wife just hours after the ceremony and heads to Waybell with no plans to return.

Sydney journalist Chloe Brown is left devastated when her long-term boyfriend finally admits he never wants children. Impulsively, she takes a job on a small country newspaper in Queensland's far north to escape disappointment. But she soon realises that no place is free from trouble or heartache. The grouchy news editor, Finn Latimer, is a former foreign correspondent who has retreated after a family tragedy. Emily, the paper's elegant, 60-something owner, is battling with her husband's desertion. Meanwhile, the whole town is worried when their popular young baker disappears.

What would you do if you had the chance to change a pivotal moment from your past? How far would you go to save someone you loved? These are just two of the fateful choices a woman is forced to grapple with in this highly original and hauntingly evocative detective story of love and loss. At the core of the enigmatic Stella’s story, past and present, is a mystery she is compelled to solve, a beautiful young woman who went missing 50 years ago – and a tragedy much closer to home she must try to prevent.

Kim is a creative woman of the land, renowned in her community. But deep down she's lonely. She's already watched the man she loves falls for someone else, and her dream of starting a family feels like it's slipping through her fingers. Enter Charlie McNamara, visiting Lake Grace on business, intriguing Kim with his mysterious past....

1941, Estonia. As Stalin’s brutal Red Army crushes everything in its path, Katarina battles to protect her grandmother’s precious legacy - the weaving of gossamer lace shawls stitched with intricate patterns that tell the stories passed down through generations. Meanwhile Lydia is suffocating in her prison of privilege in Moscow. Yearning for freedom and to discover her beloved mother’s Baltic heritage, she escapes to Estonia. Soon these two young women find themselves in a fight for life, liberty and love.

Geraldine is born with an adventurer’s heart. Whether it is sneaking out of home in Yorkshire, escaping from boarding school in Rhodesia, or buying hormones from the local speed dealer in Weston-super-Mare, Geraldine is wide open to all the world has to offer–even if the world doesn’t know what to make of Geraldine. Arriving in Australia as an adolescent, Geraldine will use music as the key to unlock her soul. And as a woman, she will find a way to inspire others, and to be accepted for herself.

Ester is a family therapist with an appointment book that catalogues the anxieties of the middle class: loneliness, relationships, death. She spends her days helping others find happiness, but her own family relationships are tense and frayed. Ester is yearning to fall in love again. Meanwhile, her ex-husband's past decisions are catching up with him, her sister is struggling through her own directionless life and her mother is about to make a choice that will profoundly affect them all.

1938, as the world spirals towards war, Klara Koch is employed as Hitler's personal cook. While Germany reveres the image of the Fuhrer, Klara and the household staff are privy to the real Hitler—his secrets, his ailments and his addictions. As Klara observes those circling the Fuhrer, she realises that not all of them are his admirers. Hitler is right to be paranoid. This thoroughly researched and compelling story takes listeners right up close and personal with Hitler as he spirals increasingly out of control in pursuit of his drug-fuelled quest for world domination.

London, 1991: Alex Johns, trainee art intern at the Courtauld, believes a hidden secret lies within Diego Velázquez's Las Meninas—one of the most written about paintings of all time. Her own mother died in mysterious circumstances while trying to uncover its secrets and Alex is troubled by memories of her own encounter as a child with the girl in the painting—the Infanta Margarita—who continues to haunt her. Alex must take up her mother's work and find evidence to uncover the truths within the canvas

Busy mum-of-four Lizzie, newly divorced Sam and single mum Megan are best mates. And after a couple of decent coffees, they reckon they can handle anything. So when Baytree Primary calls out for volunteers to help at an upcoming camp, these three jump at the chance. Because nothing ever goes wrong at school camp, right?

Flora's teenage crush, Mitch, is standing at the altar when his bride has a sudden change of heart. Decades earlier, in the same church, a similar story of heartbreak played out. From the rolling green hills of the Tablelands to the crowded streets of Shanghai on the eve of the Second World War, this beautiful romantic saga asks the question - do we ever get over our first love, and is it ever too late to make amends?

In a peaceful coastal town, a young woman is found brutally murdered, a piece of Scripture held tightly in her hand. Local detective Charlotte Callaghan is put on the case, and she’s glad for the distraction - Gull Bay can be a hard place to keep a secret, and she’s holding on to a few. After Charlotte asks her brother, Father Joseph Callaghan, about the verse, her suspicions fall on his parishioners. Then a second victim is found, along with another biblical message.

Stella and her mother-in-law, Margie, are two very different women. Stella is kind, compassionate and a little chaotic. Margie is prickly and demanding, with bitter memories of the past. When Margie needs help recovering from a major operation, she reluctantly returns to the family farm, where for decades, until Stella's arrival, she was the one in charge. But the two women gradually form an unlikely bond, as the ambitions, secrets, and tragedies that have shaped their lives are slowly uncovered....

Bronwyn's family has always thrived in the legal profession and a position at their prestigious firm is hers by right. Only problem is, she doesn't want it. Her best friend Claudia has always dreamed of being a lawyer, but tragedy made her take over her father's vineyard instead. Each wants the other's life, so they hatch a plan to swap. But achieving their dreams isn't easy, and falling in love with the wrong men is not a good idea....

When gentleman farmer Harold Crow dies after routine surgery in rural Tasmania, his death exposes a web of forbidden love, secret offspring, and devastating betrayals that will tear two families apart. Local GP Dr David Boyd fears his secret affair with Harold will surface at the inquest. His wife Morven hides her own hurtful truth…Nurse Nathan Wentworth fears his malpractice may have killed Harold. But he's not the only one with blood on his hands.

New South Wales, 1837: Settlers in search of fertile country are venturing far outside the colony. Cutting a swath through the bush with their bare hands, they lay claim to territory beyond government jurisdiction - and the reach of the law. As she accepts a position on one such farm, 17-year-old Kate Carter is unaware she is entering a land of outlaws, adventurers and murderous natives....

Alice had not expected to spend most of the twenty-first century writing about Leonard Woolf. When she stood on Morell Bridge watching fireworks explode from the rooftops of Melbourne at the start of a new millennium, she had only two thoughts. One was: the fireworks are better in Sydney. The other was: is Y2K going to be a thing? Y2K was not a thing. But there were worse disasters to come: Environmental collapse. The return of fascism. Wars. A sexual reckoning. A plague.

Alice Montgomery goes missing in 2015. Seven years later, her best friend Hannah is bouncing from job to job, city to city, forever feeling the need to outrun something, but unsure what. With the niggling need to move nipping at her heels, Hannah decides to return home–a small coastal town in Western Australia–for the first time since she left, to help her mum after surgery and confront their fractured relationship.

Learning to kick a football in a suburban schoolyard. Finding your feet as a young black dancer. Discovering your grandfather’s poetry. Meeting Nelson Mandela at your local church. Facing racism from those who should protect you. Dreading a visit to the hairdresser. House-hopping across the suburbs. Being too black. Not being black enough. Singing to find your soul, and then losing yourself. Welcome to African Australia. Compiled by award-winning author Maxine Beneba Clarke, with curatorial assistance from writers Ahmed Yussuf and Magan Maga.

When a tragic bushfire puts two kids in hospital, Indigenous teenager Andrew knows the police will come after him first. But Andrew almost wants to be caught, because at least it might make his dad come and rescue him from suburban Brisbane and his neglectful mother. Growing up in small-town Tasmania, Andrew struggled at home, at school, at everything. The only thing that distracted or excited him was starting little fires. Flames boosted his morale and purified his thoughts, and they were the only thing in his life he could control.