Showing results by narrator "Arianwen Parkes Lockwood" in All Categories

Gwen Hill adores Green Valley Avenue. So when the house next door is sold, Gwen wonders how the new family will settle into this cosy community. More than a new home, it's a clean slate for Frankie, who has moved her brood in a bid to save her marriage. To maintain privacy and corral her children, Frankie proposes a fence between the properties, destroying Gwen's picture-perfect front yard. To Gwen, this is an act of war.

As children, Ida loves looking after her younger sister, Nora, but when their beloved father dies in 1926, everything changes. The two young girls move in with their grandmother who is particularly encouraging of Nora's musical talent. Nora eventually follows her dream of a brilliant musical career while Ida takes a job as a nanny and their lives become quite separate. The two sisters are reunited when Nora's life takes an unwelcome direction and she finds herself, embittered and resentful, isolated in the Tasmanian bush with a husband and children.

On Shirley Hazzard is a vibrant and personal tribute in which the Miles Franklin Award-winning novelist Michelle de Kretser offers a masterclass in writing and reading. She celebrates the precision and musicality of Hazzard’s prose and illuminates the humour and humanity in her work. This exhilarating book is both a brilliant introduction to Hazzard and a gift for her longtime readers. On Shirley Hazzard reveals Michelle de Kretser’s lively intelligence at work and her distinctive wit.

How the City of Lights gave her lessons in life and love: an Australian beauty journalist shares her obsession with Paris - a city which has been her guide through a lifelong journey of self-discovery. Katrina Lawrence first fell in love with Paris at the age of five, and since then her roads have continually led her back to this most beautiful city, the City of Lights. Telling us the story of why Paris continually fascinates her, Katrina also gives us a mesmerising journey around Paris' most spectacular sights.

There is much that heavily pregnant Grace still doesn't know about her new husband King's background. So, when word comes that King's father is dying, Grace is eager to accompany him to his childhood home, Blackwater, located in a remote part of Tasmania. Things go badly from the start. The house is in terrible repair, King's dying father yells at Grace to leave and King's twin sister, Ruth, seems disturbed by Grace's presence. After his father's death, King convinces Grace they must stay and help Ruth settle the estate, but as time stretches on he grows strange and distant.

Michele Connolly loves food. She loves burgers and pizza, waffles and chocolate. She likes to dine out, and if there are two desserts that sound great, she will order both. She regularly has wine and cheese for dinner. She is not someone who would willingly dine on salad. She doesn't count calories or exclude food groups or go on fad diets. She is not Paleo. She doesn't exercise four hours a day or go to bootcamps. She is not gifted with great genes or extra willpower. So how does she eat this way and still stay thin?

Van Diemen's Land, 1826. Bridget Crack, a desperate convict, flees the cruelty of her master into the impenetrable Tasmanian wilderness. Saved from certain death by Matt Sheedy and his fellow bushrangers, her precarious existence among the volatile and murderous men is a different kind of hell. Hunted by soldiers, at the mercy of killers, and surrounded by roaring river and towering columns of rock, what will she have to do to survive?

Helen and John are too preoccupied with making a mess of their marriage to notice the quiet ways in which their daughters are suffering. Junie grows up brittle and defensive, Anna difficult and rebellious. When 15-year-old Anna fails to come home one night, her mother's not too worried; Anna's taken off before but always returned. Helen waits three days to report her disappearance. But this time Anna doesn't come back....

You don’t become a notorious British comedian without rubbing a few people the wrong way. Ben Martindale has decamped to Australia until the media frenzy surrounding his latest scandal dies down.

When he meets Amy, a perky blonde barber who dresses like a 1950s pin-up, he knows he’s hit gold in terms of material for his weekly London column. Little does it occur to him that Amy might be just a little bit upset when she finds out what he’s been writing....

When Jess accepts an offer to caretake a luxury property in the Australian outback, the isolated, all-inclusive solo trip is just what she needs. But Jess isn't as alone as she thinks. As bushfires rage in the distance, strangers start showing up to seek refuge. And as the fires start closing in, tensions in the group begin to rise. Then, the phones stop working. All exits are cut off. There's no way out. Quickly, Jess's guests begin to panic. And when the first person goes missing, she realises that someone in the house isn't who they say they are.