Showing results by narrator "Rebecca Macauley" in All Categories

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. 

For many years Elizabeth Lawson has battled single-handedly to run the family's historic horse stud in memory of her beloved father. But a devastating loss puts her dreams at risk. With no options left, Liz is forced to turn to her estranged sister Kayla for help. Kayla has built a new life in the city as a wedding planner, far removed from the stableyard sweat and dust of her rural upbringing. She never thought she'd go back. But when Liz calls out of the blue, Kayla forms a plan that could save their childhood home. 

Maggie O'Rourke has always had a hard head. No man was going to tie her down to a life of babies and domestic slavery, even if that man was as good (and as annoyingly attractive) as Sam Taylor. Maggie is happily earning her own way as a maid in a house on the Murray River when disaster strikes.  Forced to defend herself and a friend from assault by an evil man, she flees downriver on a paddle steamer. With death at her heels, Maggie begins to realize that a man like Sam might be just who she wants in her hour of need.

Eleven-year-old Allegra shuttles between her grandmothers, who live next door to one another but couldn't be more different. Matilde works all hours and instils discipline, duty and restraint. She insists that Allegra focus on her studies to become a doctor. Meanwhile free-spirited Joy is full of colour, possibility and emotion, storing all her tears in little glass bottles. She is riding the second wave of the women's movement in the company of her penny tortoise, Simone de Beauvoir, encouraging Ally to explore broad horizons and live her 'true essence'. 

On a special night that is supposed to be a celebration of new beginnings, Paige MacRitchie's joy quickly falls away when her mother collapses during the speeches at her book launch. In the aftermath, and terrified of losing her, Paige decides she wants to make the ultimate tribute to her parents' perfect marriage: She will wear her mother's wedding dress for her own big day. There's just one problem - her mum, Rebecca, no longer has the dress. As Paige tries to track down the elusive gown, she discovers that Rebecca has a long-hidden secret that could blow her whole family apart.

Alice Hunter is smarting from the raw deal life has thrown her way: suddenly single, jobless, and forced to move home to her parents' tiny seaside town. And now she faces an uncomfortable truth. She wants her twin sister Libby's enviable life. Libby's closest friend, Jess Dekic, has been around the Hunter family for so long she might as well be blood. She's always considered herself a sister closer to Libby than Alice ever could be.... Libby Hunter has all of life's boxes ticked. But when she is betrayed by those she loves most, it reveals how tenuous her world is....

Taylor Markham is now a senior at the Jellicoe School, and has been made leader of the boarders. She is responsible for keeping the upper hand in the territory wars with the townies, and the cadets who camp on the edge of the school's property over summer. She has to keep her students safe and the territories enforced and to deal with Jonah Griggs - the leader of the cadets and someone she'd rather forget. B ut what she needs to do, more than anything, is unravel the mystery of her past and find her mother.

Francesca is at the beginning of her second term in Year 11 at an all boy's school that has just started accepting girls. She still misses her old friends, and, to make things worse, her mother has had a breakdown and can barely move from her bed.

Buddhism for Mothers explores the potential to be with your children in the all-important present moment; to gain the most joy out of being with them. How can this be done calmly and with a minimum of anger, worry and negative thinking? How can mothers negotiate the changed conditions of their relationships with partners, family and even with friends? Using Buddhist practices, Sarah Napthali offers ways of coping with the day-to-day challenges of motherhood.

Margaret, the matriarch of the wealthy Jamieson family, has always been as tight-fisted with the family money as she is with her affection. Her eldest daughter, Sarah, is successful in her own right as a wife, mother, and part owner of a gourmet food empire. But it’s not enough to impress her mother. Always in the shadow cast by the golden glow of her younger brother, Sarah feels compelled to meet Margaret’s every demand to earn her love. 

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. 

In 1470 the Wars of the Roses threatens to tear England apart. Overnight a man can find himself set against his brother or unable to trust the woman in his arms. For the beautiful and spirited ward of Warwick the Kingmaker, Margery, freedom is the only prize worth fighting for. Disgraced and banished to a nunnery after the philandering Edward IV seduced her, she is determined that no man will ever decide her fate again.

An adventure fantasy about Nim - a young girl alone on a tropical island except for her three amazing friends: an iguana, a sea-lion and a turtle, plus a satellite dish for her e-mail. No one else in the world lives quite like Nim, and she wouldn't swap places with anyone.

But when Jack, Nim's Dad, disappears in his sailing boat, and disaster threatens her home, Nim must be braver than she's ever been before. Just as well she can call on her friends, old and new, to help!

Lisa Wheeldon has a lovely life. Wife to a gorgeous husband, Scott, and a devoted mother to two small daughters, the former accountant has everything she wants - except a third child. But the universe has a strange way of providing. On the surface, Ava's fifth birthday party seems the ideal opportunity for Lisa to meet her daughter's new kindergarten friends - all 32 of them! But from beginning to end, the day is a complete nightmare, capped off by the discovery of a little girl hiding in the Wheeldon's backyard. At first, Lisa reasons that Ellie's mum is running late.

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. 

Tinahely, Ireland, 1959. Rosie Hart is content leaving her home behind to follow her new husband to Australia. But she soon discovers there is no room for her or their young son in the life he has built in vibrant Kings Cross. As their marriage crumbles, Rosie will need to fight for the golden future her son deserves...until the day her world is shattered and all hope turns to dust.

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.

They've been best friends since their sons started high school together, and Felicity, Emma, and Neve share everything...or so they thought. But Flick's seemingly perfect marriage hides a shocking secret which, with one word, threatens to destroy her and her family's happiness. Emma is in denial about a potential custody battle, her financial constraints, the exhaustion she can't seem to shake off, and the inappropriate feelings she has for her boss. And single mum Neve is harbouring a secret of her own; a secret that might forever damage her close-knit relationship with her son.

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.

When a lethal bushfire tore through Myrtle, nestled in Victoria's breathtaking Otway Ranges, the town's buildings - and the lives of its residents - were left as smoldering ash. For three women in particular, the fire fractured their lives and their relationships. Eighteen months later, with the flurry of national attention long past, Myrtle stands restored, shiny and new. But is the outside polish just a veneer?