Showing results by narrator "Rebecca Macauley" in All Categories

Food stylist Cara, corporate lawyer Alex and stay-at-home mum Beth couldn't be more different. If it wasn't for the fact they live next door to each other in Cuthbert Close, they'd never have met and bonded over Bundt cake. The Close is an oasis of calm and kindness. The kind of street where kids play cricket together and neighbors pitch in each year for an end of summer party. But no one told Charlie Devine. When she roars straight into the party with her huge removal truck and her teenage daughter with no care or regard for decades-old tradition, the guacamole really hits the fan.

Ard O'Rourke is Linley Seymour's perfect man. They've known each other since they were children and she has never wanted anyone else. But when she discovers Ard has fathered a child with another woman, her dreams turn to dust. Then fate takes a hand. Linley and her Aunt Cee Cee run a women's refuge and Linley finds herself unexpectedly and painfully the guardian of Ard's baby: a child that needs her protection from the greed-filled schemes of a violent man.

1854, Ballarat, Victoria: When Nell Amberton's husband is shot dead by a bushranger, there are few who grieve his passing, and Nell least of all. How could she miss the monster who had abused her from the day they wed - the man who had already killed his innocent first wife? But his death triggers a chain of events that seem to revolve around the handsome bushranger who murdered him - a man to whom Nell, against her better judgement, is drawn.

Florence Saint Claire is a loner. Albert Flowers is a social butterfly. Good friends who think they know each other. But somewhere between who they are and who people think they are lies The Best Kind of Beautiful. Award-winning journalist and author Frances Whiting brings her renowned warmth and empathy to this witty and gentle novel about bringing out the best in each other.

Behind the tall hedges of the affluent gated community of Apple Tree Creek, not all is as it seems. Out of the blue, Gertie’s husband decides they need a break, and he’s leaving her with their three children. Two streets east and three gardens down, successful businesswoman Rachael discovers her husband has cheated on her—again—even though she’s pregnant with his third child. Thrown together by a chance encounter, the two women bond over the shared disaster that is their marriages. But did one husband push his wife too far?

This is how Danielle felt for most of her life. For the best part of five decades, within a hyper-masculine sporting environment, Danielle Laidley harboured a secret. As a boy growing up in the backblocks of Perth, as a teenager and young man playing AFL, as a married father of three, she knew she was female, regardless of the gender she was assigned at birth.

Written 20 years ago, Puberty Blues is the best-selling account of growing up in the 1970s that took Australia by storm and spawned an eponymous cult movie. Puberty Blues is about "top chicks" and "surfie spunks" and the kids who don't quite make the cut: it recreates with fascinating honesty a world where only the gang and the surf count. It's a hilarious and horrifying account of the way many teenagers live, and some of them die.

When Viola' Oswald's beloved brother Sebastian dies of a hereditary blood disease, Viola suspects her stepfather, prestigious surgeon Elias Sinclair, has used Sebastian's illness to enhance his reputation. But Viola has no proof until she discovers a letter within the pages of Sebastian's favourite book—Lamb's Tales of Shakespeare. A letter that sends a determined Viola, on a journey to the country town of Maitland to find a homeless boy who suffered at her stepfather's hands and can provide the proof she needs.

From a talented emerging writer comes a brave, honest, unforgettable memoir about mental illness, which breaks the silence and shatters the taboos to give hope to all those struggling to find their way through. One day Sophie Hardcastle realised the joy she’d always known had disappeared. She was constantly tired, with no energy, no motivation and no sense of enjoyment for surfing, friends, conversations, movies, parties, family - for anything. Her hours became empty.

Senior year is over, and Lucy has the perfect way to celebrate: tonight, she's going to find Shadow, the mysterious graffiti artist whose work appears all over the city. He's out there somewhere - spraying color, spraying birds and blue sky on the night - and Lucy knows a guy who paints like Shadow is someone she could fall for. Really fall for. Instead, Lucy's stuck at a party with Ed, the guy she's managed to avoid since the most awkward date of her life. But when Ed tells her he knows where to find Shadow, they're suddenly on an all-night search around the city.

Love will kill us all. Angels are real. They aren’t always kind. Violet Eden is certain of all this because she is Grigori - part angel, part human. She has felt the influence of both light and dark. When Hell unleashes its worst, Violet must embrace every facet of her angel self to save the people she cares about and the world as she knows it. But death is not the worst thing that Violet will face. For her, the endless question "Can love conquer all?" will finally be answered.

There are a lot of things Jamie hates about her life: her dark hair, her dad's Stone Age Charter of Curfew Rights, her real name – Jamilah Towfeek. For the past three years Jamie has hidden her Lebanese background from everyone at school. It's only with her email friend John that she can really be herself. But now things are getting complicated: the most popular boy in school is interested in her, but there's no way he would be if he knew the truth.

It's December 1900, and Berylda Jones is heading home to Bathurst for Christmas. Tragically, 'home' is where she and her beloved sister Greta live in terror, under the control of their sadistic Uncle Alec. But Berylda has a plan, borne out of desperation, to free herself and Greta from Alec for good - if she can only find the courage to execute it.

1898, Geelong, Victoria. Stella Truehart is all alone in the world. Her good-for-nothing husband has died violently at the hands of an unknown assailant. Her mother is dead, her father deserted them before she was born, and now her kindly Truehart grandparents are also in their graves. Private detective Bendigo Barrett has been tasked with finding Stella. He believes his client's intentions are good, but it is evident that someone with darker motives is also seeking her.

Violet has come to terms with the fact that being part angel, part human, means her life will never be as it was. Now Violet has something Phoenix - the exiled angel who betrayed her - will do anything for, and she has no intention of letting it fall into his hands. The only problem is that he has something she needs, too. With the help of surprising new allies, ancient prophecies are deciphered, a destination set and, after a shattering confrontation with her father, Violet leaves for the islands of Greece without knowing if she will have a home to return to....

Georgina Calthorpe is unhappy living with her indifferent foster family in their crumbling house on the banks of the River Murray. Unlike the rest of the family, she isn't looking forward to the return of prodigal son Dane. Dane MacHenry is furious when, on his return, he finds his homestead in grave decline. Unaware that his father has been drinking his way through his inheritance, he blames Georgina, and Georgina decides she has no option but to leave. Unfortunately, she chooses Dane's horse to flee on, and when Dane learns she has stolen his prized stallion, he gives chase.

When the ever-enthusiastic and high-spirited Penny Pollard accompanies her friend Alistair and his mum (a long-suffering chaperone) on a tour of the United Kingdom, the results are hilariously unpredictable. Penny proves herself to be a very busy and unusual tourist.

Honolulu, Hawaii, 1941. On the evening of her 16th birthday party, Catherine McGarrie wants nothing more than for the night to be over, even though the opulence of the ballroom befits the daughter of a US Navy Rear Admiral. Then she meets Charlie, a navy officer from the other side of the tracks, a man her parents would never approve of. As rumours of war threaten their tropical paradise, Catherine and Charlie fall in love. But the bombing of Pearl Harbor on 7th December 1941 changes their lives forever.

Mystery and adventure are the last things Liz has in mind when she forms Teen Power Inc., Raven Hill High's own job agency. All she and her friends want to do is make some money, and they'll do just about anything. But mystery and adventure are both in store. They are soon confronted with a puzzle they just have to solve - with a little help from the Raven Hill ghost of course.

When Elsa Goody's father and brother, George, die in quick succession, she and her sister, Rosie, are in trouble. Pursued by an unpleasant suitor with dubious motivation, Elsa leaves for Victoria on the hunt for a fortune in gold coins that her brother has hidden. If Elsa can find it, she will be able to save Rosie and herself from married slavery. Their quest leads them on a cross-country journey to find the last man who saw her brother alive, Ezekiel Jones. But Elsa is not the only one looking for buried treasure.