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

It’s the 1980s, and in their small coastal town, Ali and her best friend, Jessie, are on the cusp. With The Golden Book, a journal of incantation and risk-taking as their record, they begin to chafe at the restrictions put on them by teachers, parents, each other. Then Jessie suffers a devastating accident, and both their lives are forever changed. When Ali is an adult, with a young daughter herself, the news of Jessie’s death brings back the intensity of that summer, forcing her to reckon with her own role in what happened to Jessie so many years ago.

On a frozen January evening in 1944, Nancy Levin and her three-year-old daughter, Emily, flee their East London home as an air raid siren sounds. Not far away, Diana Meadows and her own three-year-old daughter, Abigail, are lost in the blackout as the air raid begins. They hurry to the safety of the underground tube station, but in wartime people will do anything to survive - even at the expense of others.

In 1917, while the world is at war, Alma falls pregnant, and her daughter, Molly, is born in secret. In 1952, Anna enters a Salvation Army home for unmarried mothers, determined to keep her baby. In 1975, Cathy is living with David, determined not to get married, but when she falls pregnant a new chapter is added to this family story. Interweaving the intimate lives of three generations of Australian women, this is a tale about secrets, motherhood, adoption and the untold stories that shape us.

After the death of their young daughter, Penny Whittaker and Adam Riggs are struggling. Penny's lifelong dream of becoming a successful artist has stalled, and Riggs, battling an addiction to prescription painkillers, is coming to grips with the end of his glittering professional skateboarding career. When Penny is unexpectedly offered a chance to exhibit her work at an Auckland gallery, she accepts, despite her reservations.

The Dinka tribe fights a desperate battle against marauding Arab militias in the war-torn landscape of South Sudan. They are determined to protect their oil-rich lands and secure a brighter future. But the odds are stacked against them. Enter PRIMAL, a renegade agency that steps in where governments fear to tread. Joining forces with Jonjo, a fierce teenage warrior, and Garang, a battle-hardened veteran, they embark on a global mission to protect the oppressed.

It's 1982. The Knighton women, all living under one roof are about to be struck with dance marathon fever....

Sam is a young boy recovering from an operation that has left him mute. He lives with his mother and sister, Katie - all dutifully cared for by Aunt Dettie. As he struggles with his inability to speak, his mother begins to date again, and Dettie reacts very badly. After an unexpected phone call, she packs Sam and Katie into the back seat of her car and tells them that she's taking them to be reunited with their estranged father.

When troubleshooting manager Tess Drummond arrives to take the reins of Broken Creek, she's faced with some nasty surprises. For starters, her head stockman, Nate McAdam, happens to be the same gorgeous stranger she hooked up with - and ran out on - a few weeks before. Determined not to give in to her attraction to Nate, Tess sets out to do her job. But it turns out that Nate and his men aren't going down without a fight.

Sutton doesn't like the 3 a.m. phone calls. He should change his number; that way Rawson wouldn't have it. Sutton's best mate is a hero cop, but strife flows through him like a highway. A story of good dogs living in a bad-news town...a fragrant harbour city where the judges are dead, the vendetta's lively and every glittering fortune hides a sin. An epic novel of corruption, murder and the true nature of justice, Winter Traffic announces the arrival of a compelling new voice in literary crime.

Heico is an ornithologist fighting a losing battle to protect the birds in his beachside suburb. When a journalist asks for comment on a planned development, Heico exaggerates his reports on how many migratory birds use the site. Soon it is revealed that the proposed building is a mosque, and he finds himself embroiled in community resistance to the project. Still, he refuses to back down. Nahla, Heico’s house cleaner, is trying to find her place in a new country and a new marriage.

In the sun-drenched chaos of 2010s Silicon Valley, a tech company's meteoric rise culminates in a devastating fall. Dot Van Jensen, the trailblazing CEO-turned-fugitive, narrates her story from a hidden corner of Indonesia. A scandal has painted her as the villain, a puppet-master who fractured democracy and paved the way for a darker future. But is the truth as cut and dry as the headlines seem to imply?

In 1989 Afghanistan, a Russian platoon fought a desperate battle against Afghan warriors, racing against time to bury a devastating secret that demanded the ultimate sacrifice. Now, in the present day, a veteran turned arms dealer is poised to unleash apocalyptic consequences. As he prepares to sell the ultimate doomsday weapon to a radical Iranian commander, only the elite vigilante force PRIMAL can prevent global catastrophe.

Glamorous, charismatic Bliss Henderson has led a flawed, fascinating life, from country Australia to the art world of 1960s London, from lust to love and loss. Now, in her last days, she is reliving it all. But as she excavates her past, deeper layers emerge. Secrets she still can't reveal, not even to herself. As her stepchildren hover around her, she wants them to judge her fairly. But how can they when they don't really know who she is?

The Life of Houses explores, with a poet's eye for detail, the hidden tensions in one of Australia's establishment families. These tensions come to the surface during a week in summer when Kit's recently divorced mother sends her away to stay with her estranged grandparents, and her unmarried aunt who cares for them, in their old and decaying house by the sea.

Lori Spyker is taking her kids to school one unremarkable day when a policeman delivers the news that her brother, Scott Green, has been injured and hospitalised following a hit and run. Lori hasn't seen Scott in decades. She appears to be his only contact. Should she take responsibility for him? Can she? And if she does, how will she tell her own family about her hidden history, kept secret for so long? Twenty years before, when she and Scott were teenagers, their lives and futures, and those of their family, had been torn to shreds.

On the morning of her wedding, 24-year-old Beth Shaw drives down the peninsula to the Portsea Hotel. She is uneasy and confused because she has just learnt something devastating about her fiancé, Jordan, that completely changes her view of him. As Beth’s old schoolmates and her relatives arrive for the big day at the bayside idyll, Beth contemplates her childhood in suburbia. She worshipped the school relay runners, one of whom was Jordan’s high school sweetheart. Painful memories of earlier disloyalties and betrayals resurface.

M, a writer, finds her own past triggered by the constant revelations of misogyny and violence. The novel she is writing stalls. She speaks out about her past, and this has consequences for her life and work - including the threat of litigation. To escape, she retreats to an island off the Scottish coast, and there she encounters B - a woman who may or may not be a figment of her imagination. This encounter takes M’s novel in an entirely different direction.

A breathtaking debut that explores love, science, loss and the so-called feminine ideal. The rains come to Brisbane just as Elise and Dan descend into grief. Elise, a scientist, believes that isolation and punishing fieldwork will heal her pain. Her husband, Dan, a writer, questions the truths of his life and looks to art for answers. Worlds apart, Elise and Dan must find a way to forgive themselves and each other before it's too late.

When Rex Dalton’s family is killed in the Madrid train bombings on March 11, 2004, he emerges from the shadows with one purpose: to hunt the perpetrators who shattered lives that fateful day. Fueled by revenge, Dalton will stop at nothing to take down the criminals targeting innocents. Known by whispered names—El Gato, Alshaytan, the Ghost—he becomes a sniper with unparalleled precision, a master of disguise, and a lethal force in close combat.