Food, Sex and Money by Liz Byrski

$9.99 NZD

$24.99 (60% off)

Category: Contemporary

It's almost forty years since the three ex-convent girls left school and went their separate ways, but finally they meet again.Bonnie, rocked by the death of her husband, is back in Australia after decades in Europe, and is discovering that while financial security eliminates worry, it doesn't guarantee a fulfilling life. Fran, long divorced, is a struggling freelance food writer, battling with her diet, her bank balance, and her relationship with her adult children. And Sylvia, marooned in a long and passionless marriage to an ambitious Anglican minister, is facing a crisis that will crack her world wide open.Together again, sharing their past lives, secrets, aspirations and deepest fears, Bonnie, Fran and Sylvia embark on a creative venture that will challenge everything they thought they knew about themselves - and give them more second chances than they ever could have imagined. ...Show more

A Month of Sundays by Liz Byrski

$9.99 NZD

$24.99 (60% off)

Category: Contemporary

"[A Month of Sundays] demonstrates the capacity of a book to act as a mirror to the soul and an eloquent guide to a more contented future." WEEKEND AUSTRALIAN I wonder if we'll ever have the chance to actually be in the same room together,' Judy had ventured. For over ten years, Ros, Adele, Judy and Sim one have been in an online book club, but they have never met face to face. Until now... Determined to enjoy her imminent retirement, Adele has invited her fellow bibliophiles to help her house-sit in the Blue Mountains. It's a tantalising opportunity to spend a month really getting to know each other, walking in the fresh air, napping by the fire and, of course, reading and talking about books. But these aren't just any books: each member has been asked to choose a book which will teach the others more about her. And with each woman facing a crossroads in her life, it turns out there's a lot for them to learn, not just about their fellow book-clubbers, but about themselves. Liz Byrski has written a beautiful novel about the joy and comfort reading a good book can bring to us all. PRAISE FOR LIZ BYRSKI "Byrski...is by turns turbulent and tender. Her characters are portrayed as...warm, funny flawed heroes grappling with the cards destiny has dealt them." WEST AUSTRALIAN "...reflective, warm and wise..." WEEKLY TIMES "Liz Byrski has a guaranteed cheer squad for her novels which champion...women taking charge of their life and growing old creatively." DAILY TELEGRAPH ...Show more

Family Secrets by Liz Byrski

$9.99 NZD

$19.99 (50% off)

Category: Contemporary

"The doyenne of women's fiction" West AustralianWhen patriarch Gerald Hawkins passes away in his Tasmanian home, after ten years of serious illness, his family experience a wave of grief and, admittedly, a surge of relief. Gerald's dominating personality has loomed large over his wife, Connie, their chi ldren, Andrew and Kerry, and his sister Flora, for decades. Connie, whose own dreams were dispensed with upon marriage, is now determined to renew her long friendship with Gerald's estranged sister, Flora. She travels to France where she finds Flora struggling to make peace with the past and searching for a place to call home. Meanwhile Andrew's marriage is crumbling, and Kerry is trapped in stasis by unfinished business with her father.As the family adjusts to life after Gerald, they could not be more splintered. But there are surprises in store and secrets to unravel. And once the loss has been absorbed, is it possible that they could all find a way to start afresh with forgiveness, understanding and possibility?PRAISE FOR LIZ BYRSKI"Her plots and characters get stronger with each book" The Sydney Morning Herald"Liz Byrski has a guaranteed cheer squad for her novels which champion...women taking charge of their life and growing old creatively" Daily TelegraphFans of Monica McInerney, Liane Moriarty and Joanna Trollope will love Liz Byrski. ...Show more

Bad Behaviour by Liz Byrski

$9.99 NZD

$24.99 (60% off)

Category: Contemporary

One mistake can change a life forever. Zoe is living a conventional suburban life in Fremantle. She works, she gardens, and she loves her supportive husband Archie and their three children. But the arrival of a new woman into her son Daniel's life unsettles Zoe. Suddenly she is feeling angry and hurt, and is lashing out at those closest to her. In Sussex, England, Julia is feeling nostalgic as she nurses her best friend through the last painful stages of cancer. Her enthusiastic but dithering husband Tom is trying to convince Julia to slow down. Although she knows Tom means well, Julia cannot help but feel frustrated that he is pushing her into old age before she is ready. But she knows she is lucky to have him. She so nearly didn't.... These two women's lives have been shaped by the decisions they made back in 1968--when they were young, idealistic, and naive. In a world that was a whirl of politics and protest, consciousness raising and sexual liberation, Zoe and Julia were looking for love, truth, and their own happy endings. They soon discover that life is rarely that simple, as their bad behaviour leads them down paths that they can never turn back from.   ...Show more

The Push by Ashley Audrain

$29.99 NZD

$37.00 (18% off)

Category: Contemporary | Reading Level: near fine

What happens when your experience of motherhood is nothing at all what you hoped for, but everything you always feared? Blythe Connor doesn't want history to repeat itself. Violet is her first child and she will give her daughter all the love she deserves. All the love that her own mother withheld. But firstborns are never easy. And Violet is demanding and fretful. She never smiles. Soon Blythe believes she can do no right - that something's very wrong. Either with her daughter, or herself. Her husband, Fox, says she's imagining it. But Violet's different with him. And he can't understand what Blythe suffered as a child. No one can. Blythe wants to be a good mother. But what if that's not enough for Violet? Or her marriage? What if she can't see the darkness coming? Mother and daughter. Angel or monster? We don't get to choose our inheritance - or who we are...  The Push is a heart-pounding exploration of motherhood, obsession and the terrible price of unconditional love. _____ ...Show more

The Tally Stick by Carl Nixon

$36.00 NZD

Category: Contemporary | Reading Level: near fine

A compulsive and chilling novel about subjugation, survival and the meaning of family. The car containing the four sleeping children left the earth. From the top of the wooded bluff, where the rain-slick road had curved so treacherously, down to the swollen river at the base of the cliff, was easily six ty feet. There was no moon that night, only low, leaden cloud clogging the sky. As if suspended, the car hung in the air for a fraction - of a fraction - of a moment . . . John Chamberlain has brought his family to New Zealand from the UK. Before he starts his new job, he takes them on a driving holiday. The car skids over the road and hurtles off a cliff. The year is 1978. In 2010 the remains of John's older son have been discovered in a remote part of the West Coast, showing he lived for four years after the family disappeared. Found alongside him are his father's watch and what turns out to be a tally stick, a piece of wood scored across, marking items of debt. How had he survived and then died? Where was the rest of his family? And what did the tally stick signify? ...Show more

The Seven Sisters #1 by Lucinda Riley

$19.99 NZD

Category: Contemporary | Series: The Seven Sisters (#1) | Reading Level: very good

Maia D'Apliese and her five sisters gather together at their childhood home, "Atlantis"-a fabulous, secluded castle that their beloved father, the elusive billionaire they call Pa Salt, has died.Maia and her sister were all adopted by him as babies and, discovering he has already been buried at sea, eac h of them is handed a tantalizing clue to their true heritage- a clue which takes Maia across the world to a crumbling mansion in Rio de Janeiro in Brazil. Once there, she begins to put together the pieces of where her story began . . . Eighty years earlier, in the Belle Eqopue of Rio, 1927, Izabela Bonifacio's father has aspirations for his daughter to marry into aristocracy. Meanwhile, architect Heitor da Silva Costa is working on a statue, to be called Christ the Redeemer, and will soon travel to Paris to find the right sculptor to complete his vision. Izabela-passionate and longing to see the world- convinces her father to allow her to accompany him and his family to Europe before she is married. There, at Paul Landowski's studio and in the heady, vibrant cafes of Montparnasse, she meet ambitious young sculptor Laurent Brouilly, and knows to one that her life will never be the same again.In this sweeping epic tale of love and loss-the first in a unique, spellbinding series of seven books, based on the legends of the Seven Sisters star constellation-Lucinda Riley showcases her storytelling talent like never before.� ...Show more

The Woman Next Door by Liz Byrski

$9.99 NZD

$19.99 (50% off)

Category: Contemporary

"The doyenne of women's fiction" West Australian"A reflective, warm and wise observation of the ingredients that create lasting friendships" Weekly TimesOver the years, the residents of Emerald Street have become more than just neighbours, they have built lasting friendships over a drink and chat on the ir back verandahs. Now a new chapter begins with the children having left home. Helen and Dennis have moved from their high maintenance family property to an apartment by the river with all the mod cons. For Joyce and Mac, the empty nest has Joyce craving a new challenge, while Mac fancies retirement on the south coast.Meanwhile, Polly embarks on a surprising long-distance relationship. But she worries about her friend next door. Stella's erratic behaviour is starting to resemble something much more serious than endearing eccentricity...With her trademark warmth and wisdom, Liz Byrski involves us in the lives and loves of Emerald Street, and reminds us what it is to be truly neighbourly.MORE PRAISE FOR THE WOMAN NEXT DOOR"Liz Byrski has a guaranteed cheer squad for her novels which champion ... women taking charge of their life and growing old creatively." Daily Telegraph"Compelling reading, combining great drama with strong and complex characters." West Australian"Byrski ... is by turns turbulent and tender. Her characters are protrayed as ... warm, funny, flawed heroes and heroines grappling with the cards destiny has dealt them ... Byrski here unflinchingly looks age and illness in the face. And what does she see there? Acceptance, yes; but also possibility, continuity and renewal. We all get old. Get over it. And grow with the flow." West Australian"This is her ninth novel, and like the others is carefully crafted and well-written. Byrski also tackles with great success ... the realities of illness and death." Sydney Morning Herald" With The Woman Next Door, Liz Byrski creates some wonderfully recognisable and sympathetic characters, drawn with depth and intelligence. Each of the many strands of their lives contain deeply moving stories that are seemingly about ordinary lives but touch on existential crises that we can all relate to." Better Reading ...Show more

Gang of Four by Liz Byrski

$9.99 NZD

$24.99 (60% off)

Category: Contemporary

She had a husband, children and grandchildren who loved her, a beautiful home, enough money. What sort of person was she to feel so overwhelmed with gloom and resentment on Christmas morning?They have been close friends for almost two decades, supporting each other through personal and professional cris es–parents dying, children leaving home, house moves, job changes, political activism, diets and really bad haircuts. Now the 'gang of four', Isabel, Sally, Robin and Grace, are all fifty-something, successful ...and restless. It is Isabel who makes the first move, taking a year away from her family to follow in her mother's footsteps across Europe. Soon Sally is on her way to San Francisco, to come face to face with a guilty secret. Robin, in the wake of a clandestine relationship, heads for isolation in the country. And Grace? Well, Grace would never go away for an entire year, but, lonely in the others' absence, she thinks she might take a short holiday in England. Once there, she bumps into someone she hardly knows–herself.Gang of Four is a story of four very different journeys and a celebration of women in the prime of life. ...Show more

Ghosts by Dolly Alderton

$37.00 NZD

Category: Contemporary

32-year-old Nina Dean is a successful food writer with a loyal online following, but a life that is falling apart. When she uses dating apps for the first time, she becomes a victim of ghosting, and by the most beguiling of men. Her beloved dad is vanishing in slow motion into dementia, and she's starti ng to think about ageing and the gendered double-standard of the biological clock. On top of this she has to deal with her mother's desire for a mid-life makeover and the fact that all her friends seem to be slipping away from her . . . Dolly Alderton's debut novel is funny, tender and painfully relatable, filled with whip-smart observations about relationships and the way we live today. ...Show more

The Olive Tree by Lucinda Riley

$19.99 NZD

Category: Contemporary

This title is also published as Helena's Secret. The Olive Tree is the number one international bestseller from Lucinda Riley, author of the bestselling Seven Sisters series. A magical house. A momentous summer. It has been twenty-four years since a young Helena spent a magical holiday in Cyprus, where she fell in love for the first time. When the now crumbling house, 'Pandora', is left to her by her godfather, she returns to spend the summer there with her family. Yet, as soon as Helena arrives at Pandora, she knows that its idyllic beauty masks a web of secrets that she has kept from William, her husband, and Alex, her son. At the difficult age of thirteen, Alex is torn between protecting his beloved mother, and growing up. And equally, desperate to learn the truth about his real father ...When, by chance, Helena meets her childhood sweetheart, a chain of events is set in motion that threatens to make her past and present collide. Both Helena and Alex know that life will never be the same, once Pandora's secrets have been revealed ... ...Show more

See You in September by Charity Norman

$23.00 NZD

Category: Contemporary | Reading Level: very good

Cassy smiled, blew them a kiss. 'See you in September,' she said. It was a throwaway line. Just words uttered casually by a young woman in a hurry. And then she'd gone. It was supposed to be a short trip-a break in New Zealand before her best friend's wedding. But when Cassy waved goodbye to her parents , they never dreamed that it would be years before they'd see her again. Having broken up with her boyfriend, Cassy accepts an invitation to stay in an idyllic farming collective. Overcome by the peace and beauty of the valley and swept up in the charisma of Justin, the community's leader, Cassy becomes convinced that she has to stay. As Cassy becomes more and more entrenched in the group's rituals and beliefs, her frantic parents fight to bring her home-before Justin's prophesied Last Day can come to pass. A powerful story of family, faith and finding yourself, See You in September is an unputdownable new novel from this hugely compelling author. ...Show more