Curtis Brown October Newsletter 2015

Curtis Brown Australia October 2015

Curtis Brown (Aust) Pty Ltd | Literary Agents PO Box 19 | Paddington NSW 2021 | Australia T: [61 2] 9361 6161 | F: [61 2] 9360 3935 E: dana@curtisbrown.com.au | W: www.curtisbrown.com.au 1 Curtis Brown Australia / Rights Newsletter / www.curtisbrown.com.au

Adult Fiction

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Fiction

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368 pp |

September 2015

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RUSH OH! Shirley Barrett Rush Oh! is about family, fish and animals; and about trying to come to terms with life's disappointments.

Published by: Pan Macmillan |Virago UK| Little, Brown USA Rights available: Film/TV, and Translation Agent: Grace Heifetz (grace@curtisbrown.com.au) Description: When Mary Davidson, the eldest daughter of a whaling family in Eden, New South Wales, sets out to chronicle the particularly difficult season of 1908, the story she tells is poignant and hilarious, filled with drama and misadventure.

It's a season marked not only by the sparsity of whales and the vagaries of weather, but also by the arrival of John Beck, an itinerant whale man with a murky past, on whom Mary promptly develops an allconsuming crush. But hers is not the only romance to blossom amidst the blubber...

Swinging from Mary's hopes and disappointments, both domestic and romantic, to the challenges that beset their tiny whaling operation, Rush Oh! is a celebration of an extraordinary episode in Australian history, when a family of whalers formed a fond, unique allegiance with a pod of frisky Killer whales - and in particular, a Killer whale named Tom. Shirley Barrett is best known for her work as a screen-writer and director. Shirley’s first film, Love Serenade won the Camera D’Or (Best First Feature) at Cannes Film Festival in 1996. The script for her most recent film, South Solitary, won the Queensland Premier’s Prize (script) 2010, the West Australian Premier’s Literary Prize (script) 2010, and the West Australian Premier’s Prize 2010. It was also nominated for the NSW Premier’s Literary Awards. Shirley continues to work extensively as a director in television and TVC’s. Rush Oh! is Shirley’s first novel.

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| Fiction | 272 pp | August 2015 |

FEVER OF ANIMALS Miles Allinson In a small town on the outskirts of Berlin, a failed artist finds himself hounded by memories.

Publisher: Scribe|Paperback Rights available: Film/TV Agent: Clare Forster (claref@curtisbrown.com.au) Description: “For nearly five years I have wanted to

write something about the surrealist painter Emil Bafdescu: about his paintings, one of which hangs in a little restaurant in Melbourne, and about his disappearance, which is still a mystery. But this is probably not going to be the book I imagined.

Nothing has quite worked out the way I planned.”

With the inheritance he received upon his father’s death, Miles has come to Europe on the trail of the Romanian surrealist, who disappeared into a forest in 1967. But in trying to write about Bafdescu’s secret life, Miles must also reckon with his own. Isolated by both language and geography, and condemned to wait for someone who may never arrive, Miles is haunted by thoughts of his ex-girlfriend, Alice, and the trip they took to Venice that ended their relationship.

Intense, strange, and exquisitely written, Fever of Animals is a multilayered story of art and loss, and one man’s journey into his own underworld.

Praise for Fever of Animals: 'Heartfelt, darkly comic and nothing short of extraordinary. Allinson’s novel is a rarity fearless, finely judged and alive with mystery.' Andrew Croome 'Fever of Animals is masterful in its treatment of time and memory, and filled with such clarifying moments of observation and insight that it is heartbreaking to reach the final page. This is an exquisite, painterly novel, and Allinson is a writer destined for a cult following.' Emily Bitto Miles Allinson is a writer and artist. He was born in Melbourne in 1981 and was educated in both the Steiner and the Catholic school systems. He has a Bachelor of Creative Arts and a Postgraduate Diploma in Creative Writing from the University of Melbourne, as well as a Masters Degree in Fine Arts (Art in Public Space) from RMIT University. Fever of Animals is his first novel, and won the Victorian Premier’s Literary Award for an Unpublished Manuscript in 2014.

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Fiction |

238 pp | October 2015

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THE NEAR MISS Fran Cusworth The people you meet in a moment can change your life forever.

Publisher: HarperCollins |Paperback Rights available: Film/TV, World Audio Agent: Tara Wynne (tara@curtisbrown.com.au) Description: A near-death accident throws

three very different people together, with farreaching consequences ... Love Actually meets The Slap.

Grace, hardworking and tired, wants another baby. But she's dealing with debt, a manic 4year-old and a jobless husband determined to make his inventions into reality. Can they both get their way, or will competing dreams tear their marriage apart?

Eddy analyses risk for a living, but his insecurities have brought his own life to a halt.

He won't let go of the flighty, unfaithful Romy, but will he ever risk believing in himself?

Melody is trying to raise her son Skip in the city while holding true to her hippie lifestyle. But will past mistakes and judgement from other parents force her to leave her beliefs behind?

This is a story about real life aspirations, and whether you can chase your dreams at the same time as raising children and paying the bills. It's about friendship, and how the people you meet in a moment can change your life forever.

Fran Cusworth is an author and journalist who lives in Melbourne Australia with her husband and two young sons. She worked for 15 years in newswire and newspapers, writing The Love Child after the birth of her first child, snatching time during naps and train rides. She quit her job and moved with her family to the tiny and remote town of Hopetoun, Western Australia, in 2006, where her husband worked as a geologist on a new nickel mine. She stayed 18 months and wrote Hopetoun Wives (Penguin, 2009) followed by The Sisters of Spicefield (Random House, 2013). Her new novel, The Runner (HarperCollins, 2015), will be published late 2015.

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Fiction

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432pp |

September 2015

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WILD LANDS Nicole Alexander An epic novel of bravery, loyalty, and love of the land.

Published by: Random House | Paperback Rights available: World excl. ANZ; Film/TV Agent: Tara Wynne (tara@curtisbrown.com.au) Description: From bestselling author Nicole Alexander comes an epic novel of bravery, loyalty and impossible love that takes the reader on a spellbinding journey from the streets of early Sydney to the heart of Australia’s wild, untamed lands. New South Wales, 1838, and settlers in search of fertile country are venturing far outside the colony. Literally cutting a swathe through the bush with their bare hands, they lay claim to territory beyond government jurisdiction - and the reach of the law.

As she accepts a position on one such farm, seventeen-year-old Kate Carter is unaware she is entering a land of outlaws, adventurers, and murderous natives.

The first people of this new world will no longer accept the white man’s advance, and retaliatory attacks on both sides have made it a frontier on the brink of war.

Into Kate’s path comes Bronzewing, a young white man schooled by a settler family yet raised within an Aboriginal tribe. Caught between two worlds, Bronzewing strives to protect his adopted people and their vanishing civilisation.

But as he and Kate will discover, ‘beyond the outer limits’ is a beautiful yet terrifying place, where it’s impossible to know who’s friend and who’s enemy . . .

Praise for Nicole Alexander: 'Alexander writes [with] a deep love of the land' The Courier-Mail Nicole Alexander is one of Australia’s leading novelists. A fourth generation grazier, she lives in north-west NSW on a mixed agricultural property selected by her great-grandfather in 1893. A passionate writer with over twenty years’ experience, Nicole’s novels reflect the sense of continuity and love for the land that is inherent in most farmers and graziers. Her novels have been praised for their authenticity and the rich tapestry of outback life which is woven into her stories, and her writing style has been described as both inherently beautiful and unique.

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Fiction

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400pp |

October 2015

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SWIMMING HOME Mary-Rose MacColl From the author of bestselling In Falling Snow.

Published by: Allen & Unwin | Paperback Rights available: Film/TV, Translation, Audio Agent: Fiona Inglis (fiona@curtisbrown.com.au) Description: Fifteen-year-old Catherine Quick longs to feel once more the warm ocean waters of her Torres Strait island home to Australia’s north. Now living in London with her aunt Louisa after her father’s sudden death, Catherine has learned that despite their hardwon battles for the vote, in 1925 female swimming is frowned upon. Louisa, who fought in those battles for freedom, is now a busy doctor. Swimming is frivolous as far as she’s concerned, a chance for men to ogle halfnaked women. Louisa wants better for Catherine – education is the key to choice and security. Catherine and Louisa meet wealthy and enigmatic American banker Van Lear Black and embark on a journey: Catherine to join the fledgling Women’s Swimming Association in New York and to make an attempt at conquering the English Channel; and Louisa to find the self she lost twenty years before. Both are finding their own way home.

Mary-Rose MacColl’s In Falling Snow told the story of the extraordinary women doctors who took a hospital to France in World War I. The women of Swimming Home are just as extraordinary, their passion and gift to the world is swimming as we know it today. An homage to the human spirit and the enduring power of water to heal us, Swimming Home is an entrancing novel.

Praise for In Falling Snow: “Impecable research and an innate ability to create a powerful bond between readers and characters.” Kirkus Reviews Mary-Rose MacColl is an Australian writer whose first novel, No Safe Place, was runner-up in the 1995 Australian Vogel literary award. Her first non-fiction book, The Birth Wars, was a finalist in the 2009 Walkley Awards and the Queensland Premier’s Literary Awards. MaryRose MacColl holds degrees in journalism and creative writing and lives in Brisbane with her husband and young son.

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| Fiction | 288 pp | October 2015 |

GOOD MONEY J.M Green Set in the bustling, multicultural inner west of Melbourne, Good Money heralds an exciting new voice in Australian crime fiction.

Publisher: Scribe Rights available: Film/TV, Audio Agent: Clare Forster (claref@curtisbrown.com.au) Description: Stella’s phone rings. A young African boy, the son of one of her clients, has been murdered in a dingy back alley. Stella, in her forties and running low on empathy, heads into the night to comfort the grieving mother. But when she gets there, she makes a discovery that has the potential to uncover something terrible from her past — something she thought she’d gotten away with.

Then Stella’s neighbour Tania mysteriously vanishes. When Stella learns that Tania is the heir to a billion-dollar mining empire, Stella realises her glamorous young friend might have had more up her sleeve than just a perfectly toned arm.

Who is behind her disappearance?

Enlisting the help of her friend, Senior Constable Phuong Nguyen, Stella’s investigation draws her further and further into a dark world of drug dealers, sociopaths, and killers, such as the enigmatic Mr Funsail, whose name makes even hardened criminals run for cover.

One thing is clear: Stella needs to find answers fast — before the people she’s looking for find her instead.

Set in the bustling, multicultural inner-west of Melbourne, Good Money reveals a daring and exciting new voice in Australian crime fiction.

J. M. Green is the author of Good Money, the first crime-noir novel featuring social worker Stella Hardy. It was shortlisted in the Victorian Premier’s Literary Award for an Unpublished Manuscript. J. M. Green studied professional writing at RMIT. Her work has appeared in Overland and received an honourable mention in the Sisters in Crime Scarlett Stiletto Short Story competition. She divides her time between writing in her backyard studio and working as a librarian in Melbourne’s western suburbs.

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| Fiction | 288 pp | October 2015 |

MYTHMAKER Marianne de Pierres The second book in the Aurealis Award winning Peacemaker series.

Publisher: Angry Robot | Paperback Rights available: Film/TV, Audio Agent: Tara Wynne (tara@curtisbrown.com.au) Description: Virgin’s in a tight spot. A murder rap hangs over her head and isn’t likely to go away unless she agrees to work for an organisation called GJIC (the Global Joint Intelligence Commission).

Being blackmailed is one thing, discovering that her mother is both alive and the President of GJIC is quite another. Then there’s the escalation of Mythos sightings and the bounty on her head.

Oddly, Hamish is the only one she can rely on. Life is complicated.

Praise for Mythmaker: “Set within the glorious backdrop of a desolate Australian outback, Mythmaker blends the energy of an old style Western with the splendour of classic SF. Hypnotic, lyrical language adds depth to this background, which Virgin is desperately trying to conserve.” Terror Tree “If you are looking for unique, beautifully written urban fantasy. This series is for you, Peacemaker and Mythmaker are visionary and deeply satisfying books to read.

Mythmaker continues what Peacemaker started, ramping up the action with even higher stakes; it doesn’t let up and definitely doesn’t disappoint.” The Conversationalist Marianne de Pierres is the author of the popular Parrish Plessis trilogy and the awardwinning Sentients of Orion and Peacemaker series. She has won both Aurealis and Davitt awards from her science fiction and crime novels. Marianne is an active supporter of genre fiction and has mentored many writers. She lives in Brisbane, Australia, with her husband and three galahs (and once upon a time three sons–before they grew up).

Marianne also writes award-winning crime under the pseudonym Marianne Delacourt.

9 Curtis Brown Australia / Rights Newsletter / www.curtisbrown.com.au

| Fiction | 272 pp | August 2015 |

THE BIT IN BETWEEN Claire Varley There are seven billion people in the world.

This is the story of two of them.

Publisher: Pan Macmillan |Paperback Rights available: Film/TV, Audio Agent: Grace Heifetz (grace@curtisbrown.com.au) Description: After an unfortunate incident in an airport lounge involving an immovable customs officer, a full jar of sun-dried tomatoes and the capricious hand of fate, Oliver meets Alison. In spite of this less than romantic start, Oliver falls in love with her.

Immediately.

Inexplicably.

Irrevocably.

With no other place to be, Alison follows Oliver to the Solomon Islands where he is planning to write his much-anticipated second novel. But as Oliver's story begins to take shape, odd things start to happen and he senses there may be more hinging on his novel than the burden of expectation. As he gets deeper into the manuscript and Alison moves further away from him, Oliver finds himself clinging to a narrative that may not end with 'happily ever after'.

Claire Varley grew up on the Bellarine Peninsula and lives in Melbourne. She has sold blueberries, worked in a haunted cinema, won an encouragement award for being terrible at telemarketing, taught English in rural China, and coordinated community development projects in remote Solomon Islands. Her short stories and poems have appeared in Australian Love Stories, Australian Love Poems, Seizure online, page seventeen, Sotto and [Untitled].

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Fiction |

352 pp | October 2015

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HOPE FARM Peggy Frew From the award-winning author of House of Sticks comes a magnificent story of love, tragedy, and forgiveness lost.

Publisher: Scribe |Paperback Rights held: Film/TV Agent: Clare Forster (claref@curtisbrown.com.au) Description: Moving to the outback to join the Flying Doctors will change Billie's life forever.

After her teenage daughter Mia falls in with the wrong crowd, Dr Billie Green decides it's time to leave the city and return home to far western NSW. When an opportunity to pursue her childhood dream of joining the Flying Doctor Service comes along, she jumps at the chance. Flight nurse Daphne Prince – who is thrilled to have another woman join the otherwise male crew – and their handsome new boss, Morgan Blake, instantly make her feel welcome.

Just out of town, drought-stricken grazier Soretta Byrnes has been struggling to make ends meet and has opened her homestead to boarders. Tempted by its faded splendour and beautiful outback setting, Billie, Mia and Daphne decide to move in and the four of them are soon joined by eccentric eighty-year-old Lorna Lamerton.

The unlikely housemates are cautious at first, but soon they are offering each other frank advice and staunch support as they tackle medical emergencies, romantic adventures and the challenges of growing up and getting older. But when one of their lives is threatened, the strong friendship they have forged will face the ultimate test . . .

‘Peggy Frew’s novel, Hope Farm, tells an original tale, drawing into the body of Australian literary fiction, a world between the cracks. Peggy’s voice is contemporary, her observations sharp and sensitive. Hope Farm describes the cycle of loss and damage when there are no boundaries to protect us.’ Sofie Laguna Peggy Frew's debut novel, House of Sticks, won the 2010 Victorian Premier's Literary Award for an unpublished manuscript. Her story 'Home Visit' won The Age short story competition.

She has been published in New Australian Stories 2, Kill Your Darlings, The Big Issue, and Meanjin. Peggy is also a member of the critically acclaimed and award-winning Melbourne band Art of Fighting.

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Fiction |

512 pages | August 2015

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THE BEAST’S GARDEN Kate Forsyth A retelling of the Grimms’ Beauty and the Beast, set in Nazi Germany.

Publisher: Random House Australia |Paperback Rights held: Film/TV, World excl. ANZ Agent: Tara Wynne (tara@curtisbrown.com.au) Description: The Grimm Brothers published a beautiful version of the Beauty & the Beast tale called ‘The Singing, Springing Lark' in 1819. It combines the well-known story of a daughter who marries a beast in order to save her father with another key fairy tale motif, the search for the lost bridegroom. In ‘The Singing, Springing Lark,' the daughter grows to love her beast but unwittingly betrays him and he is turned into a dove. She follows the trail of blood and white feathers he leaves behind him for seven years, and, when she loses the trail, seeks help from the sun, the moon, and the four winds. Eventually she battles an evil enchantress and saves her husband, breaking the enchantment and turning him back into a man.

Kate Forsyth retells this German fairy tale as an historical novel set in Berlin during the Third Reich. A young woman marries a Nazi officer in order to save her father, but fears her new husband and the regime for which he works. Ava becomes involved with an underground resistance movement in Berlin called the Red Orchestra, made up of artists, writers, diplomats and journalists, who pass on intelligence to the American embassy, distribute leaflets encouraging opposition to Hitler, and help people in danger from the Nazis to escape the country. The Beast's Garden is a compelling and beautiful love story, filled with drama, intrigue, and heartbreak, taking place between 1938 and 1945 in Berlin.

Praise for Kate Forsyth: 'Kate Forsyth is a storyteller whose books are spun out of magic and folklore. In all her stories there are princesses and wild forests, imagined terrors and real darkness, escapes to be made and arms to fall into. She is the ultimate giver of dreams, taking a fairytale and turning it around to provide even more possibilities.' Readings Kate Forsyth is the bestselling and award-winning author of more than twenty books, ranging from picture books to poetry to novels for both children and adults. Since The Witches of Eileanan was named a Best First Novel of 1998 by Locus Magazine, Kate has won or been nominated for numerous awards, including a CYBIL Award in the US. She’s also the only author to win five Aurealis awards in a single year, for her Chain of Charms series – beginning with The Gypsy Crown – which tells of the adventures of two Romany children in the time of the English Civil War. Book 5 of the series, The Lightning Bolt, was also a CBCA Notable Book. Kate’s books have been published in 14 countries around the world, including the UK, the US, Russia, Germany, Japan, Turkey, Spain, Italy, Poland and Slovenia. She is currently undertaking a doctorate in fairytale retellings at the University of Technology, Sydney, having already completed a BA in Literature and a MA in Creative Writing.

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Non-Fiction

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Non-fiction | 320 pp |

October 2015

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BORN TO RULE Paddy Manning The unauthorised biography of Malcolm Turnbull Published by: Melbourne University Press| Hardback Rights available: Film/TV Agent: Tara Wynne (tara@curtisbrown.com.au) Description: Born to Rule is the unauthorised biography that unravels the many layers of the man who has just become the 29th Prime Minister of Australia. The highs and lows of Malcolm Turnbull's remarkable career are documented here in technicolour detail by journalist Paddy Manning. Based on countless interviews and painstaking research, it is a forensic investigation into one of Australia's most celebrated overachievers. Turnbull's relentless energy and quest for achievement have taken him from exclusive Point Piper to Oxford University; from beating the Thatcher government in the Spycatcher trial to losing the referendum on the republic; from defending the late Kerry Packer—codenamed Goanna—in the Costigan Royal Commission to defending his own role in the failure of HIH, Australia's biggest corporate collapse. He was involved in the unravelling of the Tourang bid for Fairfax, struck it rich as co-founder of OzEmail, and fought his own hotly contested battle for Wentworth. As Opposition leader he was duped by Godwin Grech's 'Utegate' fiasco; as the most tech-savvy communications minister he oversaw a nobbled NBN scheme. And now he has assumed the leadership of the Liberal Party for the second time after wrestling the prime ministership from first-term PM Tony Abbott. Will Turnbull crash and burn as he has before or has his entire tumultuous life been a rehearsal for this moment?

Paddy Manning is an awarded, experienced journalist who has worked for The Australian, The Australian Financial Review, The Sydney Morning Herald, Crikey and the ABC and was founding editor of Ethical Investor magazine. He is author of two books: Boganaire: the Rise and Fall of Nathan Tinkler (Black, 2014) and What the Frack: Everything You Need to Know About Coal Seam Gas (NewSouth, 2013). Before becoming a journalist he worked for the Property Council of Australia, NSW EPA and NSW Parliament. He graduated with first-class honours in history at Sydney University in 1992.

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Non-fiction | 352 pp |

September 2015

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BOYHOODLUM Anson Cameron A hilarious memoir and a crashinvestigator's report into how not to be a boy.

Published by: Random House Australia| Paperback Rights available: World excl. ANZ, Film/TV, Audio Agent: Fiona Inglis (fiona@curtisbrown.com.au) Description: You know those childhood memoirs that tell of the innocence of youth, of a gentle past when boys and girls were adorable and agreeable, respectful of their elders, and spoke only when spoken to?

This isn't one of those.

Boyhoodlum is the hilarious confession of an ingeniously devious and destructive boy. In the late 1960s and early '70s, Anson Cameron waged guerrilla war on his hometown in country Victoria. When he wasn't blowing his family TV to smithereens, he was electrocuting a friend's mother; when he wasn't raining expletives on a genial deaf neighbour, he was raining missiles on classical music fans. And in his leisure hours, he found time to join a Wee Club, stockpiling an ocean of urine for future use.

Knowing he was destined for greatness, young Anson saw no reason to keep his selfimportance to Napoleonic levels. At high school, a posse of hirsute male teachers attempted to put the errant lad in his place. But would the ‘wonderbeards' be able to quell a born entertainer and agitator?

Brilliantly evoking an era in which the Cisco Kid, Valiant Chargers and the lethal powers of a home-made shanghai reigned supreme, Anson Cameron's riotous memoir is a crashinvestigator's report on how not to be a boy.

Anson Cameron has written five critically acclaimed novels: Silences Long Gone, Tin Toys, Confessin' the Blues, Lies I Told About a Girl, and Stealing Picasso, as well as two collections of short stories, Nice Shootin' Cowboy and Pepsi Bears and Other Stories. His most recent novel is The Last Pulse (2014). He was born in Shepparton in 1961 and lives in Melbourne where he writes a column for the Age newspaper.

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Non-fiction | 304 pp |

September 2015

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WENDY WHITELEY AND THE SECRET GARDEN Janet Hawley This is Wendy's story but it's also the story of the countless people who cherish the Secret Garden.

Published by: Penguin Australia| Paperback Rights available: Film/TV Agent: Fiona Inglis (fiona@curtisbrown.com.au) Description: For more than twenty years Wendy Whiteley has worked to create a public garden at the foot of her harbourside home in Sydney's Lavender Bay. This is the extraordinary story of how a determined, passionate and deeply creative woman has slowly transformed an overgrown wasteland into a beautiful sanctuary for everyone to enjoy - and in the process, transformed herself.

Wendy Whiteley was Brett Whiteley's wife, muse and model. An artist herself, with a finely honed aesthetic sense, she also created the interiors at the heart of Brett's iconic paintings of their Lavender Bay home. When Brett died, followed by the death nine years later of their daughter Arkie, Wendy threw her grief and creativity into making an enchanting hidden oasis out of derelict land owned by the New South Wales Government. This glorious guerrilla garden is Wendy's living artwork, designed with daubs of colour, sinuous shapes and shafts of light.

Janet Hawley enjoyed a wide readership in her thirty-year career as a senior feature writer on Good Weekend Magazine, published in the Sydney Morning Herald and The Age. She's renowned for her intimate profiles of artists and creative people, and trusted by her interview subjects to explore their private worlds and mysteries of the creative process. She's published two books on artists, Artists In Conversations and Encounters With Australian Artists. Her book, A Place on the Coast, co-authored with Philip Cox, explores love of gardens, art and architecture. Her wide-ranging feature writing for the Sydney Morning Herald, The Age and The Australian has won her numerous major awards, including two Walkley Awards and the Gold Walkley. Janet's long friendship with Brett and Wendy Whiteley led to her writing the story of Wendy's major opus, Wendy Whiteley and the Secret Garden.

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Non-fiction | 232 pp |

August 2015

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THE BLUE DUCKS’ REAL FOOD Darren Robertson, Mark LaBrooy More (mostly) wholefood recipes from TV’s Darren Robertson and Mark LaBrooy.

Published by: Pan Macmillan| Paperback Rights available: Film/TV, Audio Agent: Tara Wynne (tara@curtisbrown.com.au) Description: Professional chefs, wannabe farmers and flavour seekers, Darren Roberston and Mark LaBrooy are passionate about growing, sourcing and making their own food. In this quirky and fresh take on cooking with wholefoods, Mark and Darren share more than 80 delicious recipes, based around whole grains, free-range meat, sustainable seafood, fresh vegetables and fruit, and nuts and seeds. All of their dishes are bursting with flavour, colour and goodness.

The book also features a series of how-to sections, showing you how easy it is to create your own basics from scratch. Learn how to make yoghurt, flavoured vinegars and salts, smoked salmon, beef jerky and fermented veggies such as sauerkraut and kimchi. There's a comprehensive user's guide to grains, nuts and seeds, as well as sections on cooking with spices (you can't beat a good curry night!), using secondary cuts of meat in your recipes, simple ways to cook whole fish, preserving foods, cold-pressed juices etc.

Darren Robertson was introduced to food by Michelin-starred UK chef Mark Raffan.

At 24 he moved to Australia to work for Tetsuya Wakuda, becoming Tetsuya's head chef. Darren is one of the judges on Channel 10's popular series Recipe to Riches.

Mark LaBrooy has been cooking since he was 18. He completed his apprenticeship at Tetsuya's and then spent seven years travelling, two of those years working as sous chef at Josef, a fine dining restaurant in Zurich. It was during what was supposed to be brief visit back to Sydney, that Mark and two of his close mates discussed the idea of opening a café with a difference. On a whim, they went to look at a run-down chicken shop in Bronte that had just come up for lease, and that day Three Blue Ducks was born.

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Non-fiction | 256 pp |

October 2015

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WHEN THIS THING HAPPENED Michael McKernan A tour de force about the impact of war on one family over the twentieth century.

Published by: Scribe| Paperback Rights available: Film/TV, Audio Agent: Clare Forster (claref@curtisbrown.com.au) Description: Working at the Australian War Memorial for many years, Michael McKernan had heard and written about many stories of war. For him, war was never about the big picture; it always came down to the individual.

Yet little did he know when he met his future wife in 1989 that her father would soon be telling him, over many leisurely afternoons, his own story, of being made a slave to the Nazis in the Second World War, and its unforeseeable consequences.

One of these consequences was that Mychajlo Stawyskyj's son Joe would grow up in Australia in time to be sent to fight in Vietnam, where he would become one of that war's worst casualties.

Drawing on his authoritative grasp of twentieth-century history, and in particular military and social history, Michael McKernan pieces together the disrupted lives of his father-in-law and brother-in-law, creating a compelling narrative of general interest, as well as an unforgettable story about the cost of war to one Australian family.

Michael McKernan is a professional writer, reviewer, and commentator in the area of Australian history. He has written about war and society, the region, sport, and Australian politics. He was a senior lecturer in Australian history at the University of New South Wales, and later, deputy director at the Australian War Memorial. Now working as a consultant historian, he is the author or editor of more than twenty books, including Australians at Home: World War I, and Australians at Home: World War II. He and his wife live in Canberra.

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Non-fiction

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248pp | September 2015

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IS THIS MY BEAUTIFUL LIFE? Jessica Rowe The deeply honest, funny, gut-wrenching and touching memoir from journalist, celebrity, wife, mother, television presenter and author, Jessica Rowe.

Published by: Allen & Unwin| Paperback Rights available: Film/TV, Audio, Translation Agent: Fiona Inglis (fiona@curtisbrown.com.au) Description: The fairytale I had dreamt up saw me still blazing ahead with my career, sharing the cooking and cleaning duties with my husband and having neat, tidy and wellbehaved children who had beautifully brushed hair. But that was not my life.

Journalist, celebrity, television presenter, author, ambassador for beyondblue and patron of its work on post-natal depression, Member of the Order of Australia, risk-taker, social commentator, charity worker, public speaker, passionate mother and wife, Jessica Rowe is all of these things, and more. And in this extraordinary memoir, Jessica reveals herself as a woman who thought it would be easy to have it all, to do it all. But what was supposed to be her beautiful life derailed in the very public collapse of her television career accompanied by astonishingly hurtful public trolling, her long struggle to conceive, her fears and what she believed to be failings as a mother and in her professional life, and the diagnosis of post-natal depression.

Thankfully, with proper medical help, and that of her beloved husband and family, Jessica ultimately rediscovers her 'sparkle'.

Deeply honest, funny, gut-wrenching and touching this book will be treasured by women who don't feel they fit the mould of the perfect woman; women who understand that in life, 'having it all' may develop a different meaning; and women suffering from post-natal depression, who will be encouraged that it's okay to ask for help.

Jessica Rowe is a broadcaster and writer who, in a career spanning over twenty years, has worked at all the major Australian commercial television networks. She is currently a presenter on Channel 10's morning show, Studio 10. In 2015, she was awarded the Member of the Order of Australia for her long commitment to mental health advocacy and her broadcasting career. She lives in Sydney with her husband, journalist Peter Overton, and their two young daughters. Jessica is a graduate of the Faber Academy's Writing Memoir course.

19 Curtis Brown Australia / Rights Newsletter / www.curtisbrown.com.au

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Non-fiction

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304pp | September 2015

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ALL YOUR FRIENDS LIKE THIS! Hal Crawford, Andrew Hunter and Domagoj Filipovic How social networks took over the news.

Published by: HarperCollins | Paperback Rights available: World Audio excl. North America Agent: Fiona Inglis (fiona@curtisbrown.com.au) Description: Social networks are part of a process that has seen the guts sucked out of traditional news outfits and sprayed all over the joint, allowing new players to spring up and different types of story telling to flourish. They have made news better while opening the door to unprecedented abuses. All Your Friends Like This! dives inside the packet to find out what kind of stories matter in the socially networked world.

At the heart of All Your Friends Like This! is the idea that sharing on social networks is a better measure of value than digital traffic alone, and that this measure of value will come to shape news media.

The conclusion – if you are getting it right for social networks, you are getting it right for everything.

Hal Crawford is Editor-in-Chief at Australian digital publisher ninemsn. He began his career at The West Australian newspaper, has worked in the Netherlands and taught journalism at La Trobe University in Melbourne.

Andrew Hunter is an Editor-in-Chief at Microsoft. He has worked in newspapers, magazines and digital during a 20-year career in media. He has an MBA from Macquarie Graduate School of Management and lives in Sydney with his wife and three children.

Domagoj Filipovic is Chief Technology Officer at cloud based video platform provider, Viocorp. He has developed the Likeable Engine, which tracks sharing of news stories in real time.

20 Curtis Brown Australia / Rights Newsletter / www.curtisbrown.com.au

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Non-fiction

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224pp | September 2015

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HELLO TOKYO Ebony Bizys Handmade projects and fun ideas for a cute, Tokyo-inspired lifestyle by a hugely popular Japan-based blogger.

Published by: Murdoch Books| Paperback Rights available: Film/TV, Audio, Translation Agent: Pippa Masson (pippa@curtisbrown.com.au) Description: This book by Japanese-based Australian blogger/crafter/designer/zine publisher Ebony Bizys (aka Hello Sandwich) is a cute and quirky guide to living a handmade lifestyle, filled with projects and ideas inspired by Ebony's life in Tokyo.

Capturing the charm, humour and originality of her eclectic and highly successful blog, Hello Sandwich, this book features craft projects and inspirational styling ideas, and gives the reader a glimpse of Japanese culture.

Hello Tokyo is the quintessential Hello Sandwich publication. It captures Ebony's fascination with the myriad treasures of everyday existence, ranging from personalised crafts such as handmade stationery and clothing accessories, as well as decorative items and storage solutions for the home; to recording your daily life and travels with a camera, journal or even a blog; to hosting, theming and styling a fun party or picnic.

Ebony Bizys is an Australian craft artist, designer and blogger based in Tokyo. Before moving to Tokyo in 2010, Bizys worked at Australian Vogue magazines for 11 years, most recently in the position of Deputy Art Director at Vogue Living. Since moving to Tokyo, Bizys has art directed a Japanese book, designed a Japanese fashion website, been commissioned by Vogue Japan to make artwork for their publication, collaborated with Japanese masking tape brand 'mt' on workshops, and has appeared in many Japanese books and magazines. Bizys also holds regular craft workshops, blogs for Vogue Japan and promotes Martha Stewart Crafts in Japan. In July 2012 she released a craft book with publisher BNN. She records her daily life on her hugely successful cult blog Hello Sandwich: hellosandwich.blogspot.com

21 Curtis Brown Australia / Rights Newsletter / www.curtisbrown.com.au

Young Adult Fiction

22 Curtis Brown Australia / Rights Newsletter / www.curtisbrown.com.au

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Young Adult

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280pp |

August 2015 |

THE CUT-OUT Jack Heath The explosive, mind-bending new series from Jack Heath, acclaimed author of The Lab.

Publisher: Allen & Unwin| Paperback Rights available: Film/TV, Audio, World English excl.

ANZ, Translation Agent: Clare Forster (claref@curtisbrown.com.au) Description: Fero is an ordinary teenager, struggling to fit in at his new school -- until he is chased down and arrested. Apparently he bears an eerie resemblance to Troy Maschenov, a ruthless young spy from a neighbouring nation. When Fero proves his identity to the police, his problems only get worse. He is recruited by the Library, a secret intelligence organisation. They need him to impersonate Troy Maschenov long enough to sneak across the border and rescue a librarian who's stuck behind enemy lines. Hastily trained and loaded up with gadgetry, Fero has no choice but to accept the mission. The future of his country is on the line...

The Cut-Out is a fast-paced roller coaster for boys aged ten and up. It poses, too, a vital question about the consequences of endless warfare: can we be held responsible for the crimes of our ancestors?

Jack Heath is the acclaimed author of novels for young adults including The Lab, Money Run, Hit List (Pan Macmillan) and Replica (OUP). In 2015 he will publish two exciting new series for middle-grade readers, Scream and Thirty Minutes of Danger (Scholastic). He has been shortlisted for the Nottinghamshire Brilliant Book Award, two Aurealis Awards, the National Year of Reading “Our Story” Collection, a Young Australians Best Book Award, a Kids’ Own Australian Literature Award and the Young Australian of the Year. He lives in Canberra with his wife and baby. jackheath.com.au

23 Curtis Brown Australia / Rights Newsletter / www.curtisbrown.com.au

More from Jack Heath… |

Young Adult

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192pp |

September 2015 |

300 MINUTES OF DANGER Coming soon: 400 Minutes of Danger!

Publisher: Scholastic| Paperback Rights available: Film/TV, Audio Agent: Clare Forster (claref@curtisbrown.com.au) Description: George is trapped in a falling aeroplane with no engine and no pilot. Milla is covered with radioactive waste and her hazard suit is running out of air. Otto is in the darkest depths of the ocean, where something hungry is circling . . .

10 dangerous situations. 10 brave kids. 30 minutes to escape.

SCREAM series |

Young Adult

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144pp |

May 2015 |

Publisher: Scholastic| Paperback Rights available: Film/TV, Audio Agent: Clare Forster (claref@curtisbrown.com.au) Description: Josh lives in Axe Falls - a town of mysterious disappearances, terrifying visions and unusual events.

When his family moves to a spooky, run-down old ruin and he meets a strange neighbour telling him to GET OUT Josh thinks his life is weird enough. But when his best friend’s science experiment goes horribly wrong and he finds himself running for his life, Josh starts to wonder…What is really going on in Axe Falls? And will anyone survive long enough to find out?

24 Curtis Brown Australia / Rights Newsletter / www.curtisbrown.com.au

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Young Adult

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144pp |

May 2015 |

Publisher: Scholastic| Paperback Rights available: Film/TV, Audio Agent: Clare Forster (claref@curtisbrown.com.au) Description: Yvette lives in Axe Falls - a town of mysterious disappearances, terrifying visions and unusal events. In Axe Falls myths of the deadly Blue-back spider are whispered. Everyone’s heard about the painful bites, agonising screams, grotesque disfiguration and even disappearing victims. So when an infestation locks down the school library and the hospitabl begins to overflow with bite victims, Yvette begins to wonder…What’s really lurking behind the bookshelves? And will anyone survive long enough to find out?

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Young Adult

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144pp |

August 2015 |

Publisher: Scholastic| Paperback Rights available: Film/TV, Audio Agent: Clare Forster (claref@curtisbrown.com.au) Description: Dale lives in Axe Falls - town of mysterious disappearances, terrifying visions and unusual events. A family trip turns spooky when Dale finds an old handwritten book, starting with the words: DO NOT STOP READING; MY LIFE DEPENDS ON IT. Soon, strange things begin to happen. When a ghost appears in the lake and a cursed giant stalks him through the woods, Dale starts to wonder…What is really hiding in the dusty pages? And will anyone survive long enough to find out?

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Young Adult

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144pp |

August 2015 |

Publisher: Scholastic| Paperback Rights available: Film/TV, Audio Agent: Clare Forster (claref@curtisbrown.com.au) Description: Sarah lives in Axe Falls - a town of mysterious disappearances, terrifying visions and unusual events. Sarah is used to being the odd one out. She lives on a boat, makes up tall tales, loves ghosts and will do almost anything to prove they exist. But when her search leads to the dilapidated hulk of a sunken ship, a terrifying monster lies in wait, and Sarah begins to wonder …What’s really skulking in the deep, dark water? And will anyone survive long enough to find out?

25 Curtis Brown Australia / Rights Newsletter / www.curtisbrown.com.au

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Young Adult |

256 pp | October 2015

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NEWT’S EMERALD Garth Nix A Regency romance with magical elements, featuring an eighteen-year-old heroine and a dashing young hero - and a case of mistaken identity.

Publisher: Allen & Unwin |Paperback Rights available: Film/TV ANZ Audio Agent: Fiona Inglis (fiona@curtisbrown.com.au) Description: After the Newington Emerald is stolen at the height of a conjured storm, eighteen-yearold Lady Truthful Newington goes to London to search for the magical heirloom of her house. But as no well-bred young lady can hunt the metropolis for a stolen jewel, she has to disguise herself as a man, and is soon caught up in a dangerous adventure where she must risk her life, her reputation, and her heart.

Balancing twin roles as a young lady coming out in her first season and as an intrepid young man up against an evil sorceress isn't easy, but Truthful has to manage it. Her father's life and even the fate of England may depend upon her recovering the Newington Emerald!

Garth Nix was born in 1963 in Melbourne, Australia. A full-time writer since 2001, he previously worked as a literary agent, marketing consultant, book editor, book publicist, book sales representative, bookseller, and as a part-time soldier in the Australian Army Reserve. Garth's books include the award-winning young adult fantasy novels Sabriel, Lirael, Abhorsen and Clariel; the dystopian novel Shade's Children; and the space opera A Confusion of Princes. His fantasy novels for children include The Ragwitch; the six books of the Seventh Tower sequence; the Keys to the Kingdom series; and the Troubletwisters series and Spirit Animals: Blood Ties (co- written with Sean Williams). More than five million copies of his books have been sold around the world, his books have appeared on the bestseller lists of the New York Times, Publishers Weekly, the Guardian and The Australian, and his work has been translated into more than forty languages.

He lives in a Sydney beach suburb with his wife and two children.

26 Curtis Brown Australia / Rights Newsletter / www.curtisbrown.com.au

Middle Grade Fiction

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Middle Grade |

336 pp | September 2015

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THE FOURTEENTH SUMMER OF ANGUS JACK Jen Storer, illustrated by Lucinda Gifford The people you meet in a moment can change your life forever.

Publisher: HarperCollins |Paperback Rights available: Film/TV, World Audio Agent: Clare Forster (claref@curtisbrown.com.au) Description: Funny, exhilarating and a little bit scary; a bewitching blend of Norse mythology and urban fantasy.

Since moving to Australia with their father, Angus Jack and his sister, Martha, have moved house constantly. They end up living next door to a peculiar old lady called Reafen, who is a second-hand dealer. To Angus and Martha, Reafen seems harmless enough. But who is she really and where did she get all the weird stuff in her shop?

Without his knowledge, Reafen draws Angus into her world; into ancient feuds, Wild Magick and bitter rivalries - into the secret dealings of Vikings and goblins and all those who have lived in the Old Realm.

Funny, exhilarating and a little bit scary; a bewitching blend of Norse mythology and urban fantasy from the award-winning author of Tensy Farlow and the Home for Mislaid Children.

Jen Storer has written many books for children, including the best-selling Truly Tan series: Truly Tan, Truly Tan: Jinxed!, Truly Tan: Spooked! and Truly Tan: Freaked!. Jen is the author of the acclaimed gothic fantasy, Tensy Farlow and the Home for Mislaid Children, The Accidental Princess and The Fourteenth Summer of Angus Jack. www.fourteenthsummer.com Lucinda Gifford won the inaugural Five Mile Press Illustrator Prize for her forthcoming original picture book, Arthur and the Curiosity, Lucinda is the author-illustrator of Space Invader at Planet Dad (Scholastic).

28 Curtis Brown Australia / Rights Newsletter / www.curtisbrown.com.au

Children’s Fiction

29 Curtis Brown Australia / Rights Newsletter / www.curtisbrown.com.au

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Children’s Picture Book |

32 pp | September 2015

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OLLIE AND THE WIND Ronojoy Ghosh Publisher: Random House |Hardback Rights available: Film/TV Agent: Grace Heifetz (grace@curtisbrown.com.au) Description: Sometimes the best things appear out of thin air.

The wind blows all day on Ollie's island. There aren't many people around, but there's lots of space to play.

One day the wind steals Ollie's hat. Then it darts away with his scarf. But is the wind just naughty, or is it trying to tell Ollie something?

Ronojoy Ghosh has lived in India, Indonesia, Singapore and New Zealand, and currently lives in Sydney with his wife and young son. He wrote Ollie and the Wind for his son, who refuses to sleep until he hears a story each night.

30 Curtis Brown Australia / Rights Newsletter / www.curtisbrown.com.au