Evie is a spirit girl. When her island home is devastated by bushfire, she emerges from the shelter of her cave to discover her community has lost all hope. But Evie refuses to believe that hope can be destroyed alongside homes and livelihoods. 'The fire may have taken many things, but the fire can never take everything' she says.Finally, Evie finds a glimmer of hope in the eyes of a young boy named Tom even though he teeters on the brink of grief and despair. Evie helps Tom find new inner strength, 'Are you listening to the earth Tom?' Her eyes sparkle. 'Listen to the earth, the fire, the water, the air. They are part of you,' and together they guide their community towards hope again.Inspired by bushfires that have affected many Australians, Evie and the Bushfire is a moving and sensitive story of surviving a natural disaster, narrated through the eyes of children. (Ages 3-8)

Kira helps out at an animal sanctuary in Australia.

The winner of the 2021 Text Prize, Dancing Barefoot is a smart, funny, immensely readable queer romance with loads of heart.

A young and exciting new literary voice, emerging from one of Australia’s worst natural disasters

Meet the Deans “The fact is, the whole of Australia despises my father more than any other man, just as they adore my uncle more than any other man. I might as well set the story straight about both of them . . .” Heroes or Criminals? Crackpots or Visionaries? Families or Enemies? “. . . Anyway, you know how it is. Every family has a story like this one.” Most of his life, Jasper Dean couldn’t decide whether to pity, hate, love, or murder his certifiably paranoid father, Martin, a man who overanalyzed anything and everything and imparted his self-garnered wisdom to his only son. But now that Martin is dead, Jasper can fully reflect on the crackpot who raised him in intellectual captivity, and what he realizes is that, for all its lunacy, theirs was a grand adventure. As he recollects the events that led to his father’s demise, Jasper recounts a boyhood of outrageous schemes and shocking discoveries—about his infamous outlaw uncle Terry, his mysteriously absent European mother, and Martin’s constant losing battle to make a lasting mark on the world he so disdains. It’s a story that takes them from the Australian bush to the cafes of bohemian Paris, from the Thai jungle to strip clubs, asylums, labyrinths, and criminal lairs, and from the highs of first love to the lows of failed ambition. The result is a rollicking rollercoaster ride from obscurity to infamy, and the moving, memorable story of a father and son whose spiritual symmetry transcends all their many shortcomings. A Fraction of the Whole is an uproarious indictment of the modern world and its mores and the epic debut of the blisteringly funny and talented Steve Toltz.

A boy visits a wild island where he finds children living amongst nature. He is fascinated by their lives and as he spends time with them his own views on life begin to change. Based on Kangaroo Island in South Australia and whimsically illustrated by a local artist this book is one to be treasured for generations.

'A sprawling and surprising story of love, grief, loss and change that crosses generations and continents' - Kate Forsyth Matthew Fenchurch, patriarch and landowner of the northern NSW property Jarulan, lives in a grand decaying folly, invaded by ghosts and the local fauna. His wife is dead, one son has fallen on a battlefield in France, and another lives in exile as a remittance man on a marae in New Zealand. His only company are the farmhands, an old family servant and a part-time laundry maid with dreams above her station. When Matthew builds a memorial above the river for his brave lost son – and all the boys of the district who have died fighting for King and Country – his daughters and grandchildren return for the unveiling. They bring with them someone who will change life at Jarulan forever, who will fight the ghosts of the past and the claimants of the present, and ensure a dynasty, though not as anyone expected. Epic, sensuous, brimming with wildlife, love, beauty, babies, ill deeds, revenge, and unions – illicit and condoned – Jarulan by the River is a glorious story of passion and homecoming. A novel with the magic of Colleen McCullough, Bryce Courtenay and Cloudstreet. Author's note: 'Jarulan' is an Alawa (Roper River, Northern Territory) word for fires started by raptors. These large birds have been observed for hundreds of years dropping burning sticks in grassland and then waiting for the fire to take hold to drive out prey, which they then swoop upon. This description is inspired by a passage in the 1962 book, I, the Aboriginal, by Australian journalist Douglas Lockwood and Waipuldanya (Phillip Roberts), an Alawa language group man from the Roper River country in the Northern Territory. In it, Waipuldanya recalls his own observations of a fire hawk: 'I have seen a hawk pick up a smouldering stick in its claws and drop it in a fresh patch of dry grass half a mile away, then wait with its mates for the mad exodus of scorched and frightened rodents and reptiles. When that area was burnt out, the process was repeated elsewhere. We call these fires Jarulan.' PRAISE 'Jarulan by the River is lushly detailed. The settings are varied from New Zealand to Australia and this makes for an interesting and multilayered kind of narrative. The characters are believable and well created. So too are the family dramas that will have most readers nodding in agreement. A good read for saga lovers' Christopher Bantick, Weekly Times 'Jarulan by the River with its mysteries, obscured parentage, black-sheep sons, inheritances, mixed-race relationships, and exotic landscapes is very definitely story-rich' David Herkt, Stuff NZ