CURTIS BROWN CATALOGUE Spring 2016
Artwork © Marc Martin 2016 1
CONTENTS Fiction Non-Fiction Young Adult
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Middle-Grade Just Delivered CLICK ME, I'M A LINK!
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FICTION
Fiction | 400pp | October 2016
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Publisher: Pan Macmillan Format: Paperback Rights available: Film/TV, Translation Agent: Pippa Masson pippa@curtisbrown.com.au
THE GOOD PEOPLE Hannah Kent From the bestselling author of Burial Rites comes this muchanticipated second novel ...
Nรณra Leahy has lost her daughter and her husband in the same year, and is now burdened with the care of her four-year-old grandson, Micheรกl. The boy cannot walk, or speak, and unable to care for the child alone, Nรณra hires a fourteen-year-old servant girl, Mary. Alone, hedged in by rumour, Mary and her mistress seek out the only person in the valley who might be able to help Micheรกl. For although her neighbours are wary of her, it is said that old Nance Roche has the knowledge. That she consorts with Them, the Good People. And that only she can return those whom they have taken ...
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Hannah Kent is the co-founder of Australian literary journal Kill Your Darlings. In 2011, she won the inaugural Writing Australia Unpublished Manuscript Award for her debut novel, Burial Rites. Since its publication in 2013, Burial Rites has been translated into nearly thirty languages and has received numerous awards and nominations.
Fiction | 384pp | November 2016
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Publisher: Random House Format: Paperback Rights available: Film/TV, World excl. ANZ Agent: Fiona Inglis fiona@curtisbrown.com.au
CRIMES OF THE FATHER Tom Keneally A timely, courageous and powerful novel about faith, the church, conscience and celibacy.
Excommunicated to Canada due to his radical preaching on the Vietnam War and other human rights causes, Father Frank Docherty is now a psychologist and monk. He returns to Australia to speak on abuse in the Church, and unwittingly is soon listening to stories from two different people – a young man, via his suicide note, and an exnun – who both claim to have been sexually abused by an eminent Sydney cardinal. This riveting, profoundly thoughtful novel is both an exploration of faith as well as an examination of marriage, of conscience and celibacy, and of what has become one of the most controversial institutions, the Catholic Church. 7
Tom Keneally won the Booker Prize in 1982 with Schindler’s Ark, later made into the Steven Spielberg Academy Award-winning film Schindler’s List. His novels The Chant of Jimmie Blacksmith, Gossip from the Forest, and Confederates were all shortlisted for the Booker Prize, while Bring Larks and Heroes and Three Cheers For The Paraclete won the Miles Franklin Award.
Fiction | 352pp | July 2016
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Winner of the 2016 Readings Prize for Australian Fiction
Publisher: Random House Format: Paperback Rights available: Film/TV, Audio, World excl. ANZ Agent: Clare Forster claref@curtisbrown.com.au
MUSIC AND FREEDOM Zoë Morrison A gripping and beautifully written novel in the tradition of Elizabeth Harrower.
‘Morrison’s fiction never falters. Her style sings and the structure revolves like a spiral staircase: the mind of an elderly woman trapped in her terrace in Oxford; the dusty beginnings with her struggling parents on the land in Currabin; a young woman bursting with plans as an elegant cad shows her the hidden spots of a university town; the idea of home and the possibilities of resurrection.’ - The Sydney Morning Herald/Melbourne Age ‘Music and Freedom is a thrilling journey of self-discovery, one that examines the outer limits of what a human being can endure and the possibilities for healing to be found in love and art.’ - The Weekend Australian 9
Zoë Morrison is the author of the novel Music and Freedom, winner of the Readings Prize for New Australian Fiction and commended in the Victorian Premier’s Literary Award for an Unpublished Manuscript. She has a DPhil in Human Geography from Oxford University, where she studied as a Rhodes Scholar, before working as a college lecturer. Her research work has included the fields of gendered violence and social justice. Zoë also studied piano performance at the Adelaide Conservatorium of Music. She lives in Melbourne.
Fiction | 368pp | September 2016
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Publisher: Pan Macmillan Format: Paperback Rights available: Film/TV, World excl. ANZ Agent: Tara Wynne tara@curtisbrown.com.au
THE FENCE Meredith Jaffe What possible kind of trouble can a fence in a quiet suburb really stir up?
Gwen Hill adores Green Valley Avenue. Here she has built friendships, raised her children and nurtured a thriving garden. So when the house next door is sold, Gwen wonders how the new family will settle into this cosy community. Frankie Desmarchelliers has high hopes for her new house on Green Valley Avenue. To maintain her privacy and corral her wandering children, Frankie proposes a fence between the properties, destroying Gwen’s pictureperfect front yard. To Gwen, this is an act of war . . .
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Meredith Jaffé is a writer and occasional book critic. For four years she wrote the weekly literary column ‘The Bookshelf ’ for the online women’s magazine The Hoopla. She is currently working on her next novel in between riding her horses and enjoying farm life with her family on the beautiful NSW South Coast.
Fiction | 304pp | September 2016
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Publisher: Scribe Format: Paperback Rights available: Film/TV Agent: Clare Forster claref@curtisbrown.com.au
THE SCIENCE OF APPEARANCES Jacinta Halloran "Halloran’s gentleness as a writer belies the strength of her worldly wisdom" - The Age
Thirteen-year-old twins Dominic and Mary have very different natures: but the country town of Kyneton, still grappling with the legacy of World War II, cannot contain their ambitions. When their father dies unexpectedly, the reverberations send the two in different directions. Mary escapes to the bohemian haunts of Melbourne while Dominic stays behind, riven by responsibility and an unwavering loyalty to their mother. But the siblings share a special bond, and when a secret emerges with the potential to affect them both, will they be drawn together once more?
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Jacinta Halloran’s short stories have been published in New Australian Stories 2, The Pen and The Stethoscope. A former board member for the Stella Prize for Women’s Writing, Jacinta is also involved as a speaker in the Stella Schools Program. Her first novel, Dissection, was shortlisted for the Victorian Premier’s Literary Award for an Unpublished Manuscript, and her second, Pilgrimage, and was shortlisted for the Barbara Jefferis Award.
Fiction | 430pp | August 2016
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Publisher: Simon & Schuster Format: Paperback Rights available: Film/TV, World excl. ANZ Agent: Tara Wynne tara@curtisbrown.com.au
CYANIDE GAMES Richard Beasley For a friend, Peter Tanner must take on corrupt mining companies and families at the top of the rich list...
When Melissa Cheung’s husband is arrested in China for corruption, her first call is to Peter Tanner. Melissa’s phone call takes Tanner away from drug dealers and crooked property developers into the highest end of corporate corruption. Tanner doubts Joe Cheung - an old friend and a partner at global law firm - is corrupt. As he pursues those who had Cheung incarcerated, he unearths cover-up after cover-up, putting his life and those of others in danger – and he will not let up until he finds the perpetrators and has them brought to justice.
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Richard Beasley grew up in Adelaide, before moving to Sydney where he has worked as a barrister since 1997. He is the author of three previous novels: Hell Has Harbour Views (which was adapted for ABC Television in 2005), The Ambulance Chaser, and Me and Rory Macbeath.
Fiction | 432pp | September 2016
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Publisher: Random House Format: Paperback Rights available: Film/TV, World excl. ANZ Agent: Tara Wynne tara@curtisbrown.com.au
RIVER RUN Nicole Alexander Eleanor's return to her family property didn't exactly go as she had planned...
It is January 1951, and after a year away Eleanor Webber has returned home to River Run, her family’s sprawling sheep property in western New South Wales. Fleeing a failed love affair back in Sydney, she hopes for some time and space to heal. Then, with a storm looming and tensions rising in the shearing shed, a mysterious stranger appears on the horizon. And in one disastrous moment young Robbie entangles Eleanor in a situation that will have serious repercussions for every member of the Webber family.
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Nicole Alexander is a fourthgeneration grazier who returned to her family’s property in the early 1990s to become business manager there. Nicole has a Master of Letters in creative writing and her novels, poetry, travel and genealogy articles have been published in Australia, Germany, America and Singapore.
Fiction | 368pp | November 2016
Deborah
Deborah
CHALLINOR
CHALLINOR
The Cloud Leopard’s Daughter
The Cloud Leopard’s Daughter ‘Challinor is a good storyteller … seamlessly joining fact and fiction and creating a convincing, atmospheric yarn’ Bookseller + Publisher
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Publisher: HarperCollins Format: Paperback Rights available: Film/TV Agent: Clare Forster claref@curtisbrown.com.au
THE CLOUD LEOPARD'S DAUGHTER
Deborah Challinor
On the gold fields of the colonies enemies are easily made. And in close confines things can get ugly...
When Kitty and Rian Farrell sail their schooner Katipo III into Dunedin Harbour in 1863, they are on tenterhooks. The new Otago goldfields have attracted all-comers, including their friend Wong Fu from Ballarat, who has sent a message for their help. To their surprise, Wong Fu reveals he is more than a mere fortune seeker - he is in fact a Cloud Leopard tong master and his daughter, Bao, has been kidnapped and taken to opiumridden China. Kitty and Rian agree to retrieve the missing Bao, but as they sail closer to their quarry the stakes jump dramatically. And little do they know that the deadliest threat lies in their midst. 19
Deborah Challinor has a PhD in history and is the author of thirteen bestselling novels, including the 'Children of War' series, the 'Convict Girls' series and the titles in the 'Smuggler's Wife' series. She has also written one young adult novel and two non-fiction books. She lives in New Zealand with her husband.
Fiction | 288pp | November 2016
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Publisher: Twelfth Planet Press Format: Paperback Rights available: Film/TV, Audio Agent: Tara Wynne tara@curtisbrown.com.au
SHARP TURN Marianne Delacourt Tara Sharp is back with another hell-raising adventure, but not the kind she envisaged…
Tara Sharp’s unorthodox PI business is starting to attract customers – though not necessarily of the kind she envisaged… Working at Madame Vine’s luxurious brothel teaching the ‘girls’ to ‘read’ their clients better isn’t exactly what she had in mind… So it’s a relief when the man of Tara’s dreams, Nick Tozzi, lines her up with a lucrative job. Something is rotten in the local motor racing industry and an associate of Nick’s wants Tara to sniff out the bad egg… It’s not long before Tara finds herself in all kinds of danger, with a murder at Madam Vine’s followed by the discovery of a bloated corpse in the Swan River. 21
Marianne Delacourt is the alter ego of internationally published science fiction writer Marianne de Pierres. Marianne Delacourt writes humorous crime about Tara Sharp - a psychic investigator who can read auras.
Fiction | 320pp | August 2016
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Publisher: Hachette Format: Paperback Rights available: Film/TV Agent: Clare Forster claref@curtisbrown.com.au
SUNSET SHADOWS Bronwyn Parry Will a splitsecond decision by local police officers save the lives of fifty members of a cult?
Tess’s upbringing left her unprepared for the world, however she’s left her past behind her and forged a life for herself through dedication and determination. Her work is everything to her, and she’s committed to protecting the vulnerable. But in the aftermath of a dangerous rescue of a group of cult members, nothing is simple. Tess’s past comes back to haunt her – and her colleague Steve – with tragic consequences. Isolated in rugged country, they’re both faced with the impossible choice: who do you protect when there is more than one innocent life at risk?
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Bronwyn Parry grew up surrounded by books, with a fascination for places, people and their stories. Her first novel, As Darkness Falls, won a prestigious Romance Writers of America Golden Heart Award. Bronwyn Parry is currently shortlisted in the Davitt Awards for Best Crime Novel 2016.
CURTIS BROWN
NONFICTION
Non-Fiction | 248pp | November 2016
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Publisher: University of Queensland Press Format: Paperback Rights available: Film/TV, Audio Agent: Clare Forster claref@curtisbrown.com.au Also by Linda Neil ...
ALL IS GIVEN Linda Neil An exquisite tribute to curiosity, spontaneity and the joys of travel.
In this captivating memoir, Linda Neil shares stories of travel, taking us from the glitz of Shanghai to wintry London, from the outskirts of Ulaanbaatar to inner-city Sydney. Writing songs and playing music as she traverses the globe, Linda finds her life enriched in ways she never could have imagined. As she forges unexpected connections with people, places and even her past, she discovers that everyone, everywhere has their own story to tell.
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Linda Neil is an Australian writer, songwriter and documentary producer. Her first book, Learning How to Breathe, was published in 2009 to wide acclaim. She has a PhD in creative writing and has taught creative writing, cultural and media studies, and film and television at the University of Queensland.
Non-Fiction | 336pp | September 2016
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Publisher: Penguin Format: Hardback Rights available: Film/TV, UK Agent: Clare Forster claref@curtisbrown.com.au
STROKE OF GENIUS Gideon Haigh How one player – and a photograph – changed a sport and a nation forever.
"Fresh from chronicling the multifarious exploits of Shane Warne, Australia’s finest writer on cricket now turns his masterly prose to another legendary cricketer from his native land… Victor Trumper, the man who scored a century before lunch in an Ashes Test, was revered in his brief lifetime not only for his gloriously carefree, cavalier batting, but also as an exemplar of every manly virtue prized in the Edwardian era. Haigh deftly evokes an era retrospectively made golden — more golden than it was — by the horror that followed." - The Times (UK)
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Gideon Haigh has been a journalist for more than three decades, has contributed to more than a hundred newspapers and magazines, published thirty-two books and edited seven others. The Office: A Hardworking History won the NSW Premier’s Literary Award for Non-Fiction; On Warne was shortlisted for the Melbourne Prize for Literature; and Certain Admissions won the 2016 Ned Kelly Award for True Crime.
Non-Fiction | 320pp | September 2016
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Publisher: Random House Format: Paperback Rights available: Film/TV, Audio Agent: Clare Forster claref@curtisbrown.com.au
FIFTEEN YOUNG MEN Paul Kennedy A maritime tragedy that unfolded one sad, dark hour at a time and impossibly altered the lives of many.
It was a maritime tragedy that unfolded one sad, dark hour at a time. A cold, cruelly blustery night revealing – with agonising slowness – that fifteen young men of the Mornington Football Club would never make it home. The sinking of the Process in catastrophically rough seas off Victoria’s Mornington Peninsula in 1892, with the loss of all on board, horrified Australia. In a compelling evocation of a spirited Australian town on the cusp of a new century, Fifteen Young Men the trauma of almost unbearable loss, but also the irrepressible optimism of the times that would come to define a budding nation. 31
Paul Kennedy is a national television presenter for ABC News Breakfast. He has worked for three television networks and has written three books, including co-authoring Hell on the Way to Heaven (with Chrissie Foster), one of the triggers for Australia’s Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse.
Non-Fiction | 448pp | September 2016
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Publisher: Random House Format: Paperback Rights available: Film/TV, Audio, World excl. ANZ Agent: Fiona Inglis fiona@curtisbrown.com.au
ALBANESE Karen Middleton The moving personal story behind the very public political face.
This is the story of Anthony Albanese and the remarkable mother, Maryanne, who raised him. Anthony learned his political craft among the tough men and women of NSW Labor, inheriting his mother’s devotion to social justice, the South Sydney Rabbitohs and the party his family had served for three generations. Maryanne adored her only child and Anthony his only parent. Until his teens, he believed she had been widowed before his birth. Then one evening, she sat him down and told him the truth.
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Karen Middleton is Chief Political Correspondent for The Saturday Paper. Her first book, An Unwinnable War; Australia in Afghanistan was published in 2011. Previously Chief Political Correspondent for SBS Television, Karen has worked in the Federal Parliamentary Press Gallery since 1989 and served as its president for four years. She is a freelance contributor to ABC radio, Monocle24 Radio UK and Radio New Zealand and is based in Canberra.
Non-Fiction | 400pp | August 2016
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Publisher: Penguin Format: Paperback Rights available: Film/TV, World excl. ANZ Agent: Tara Wynne tara@curtisbrown.com.au
THE BATTLE OF LONG TAN
Also by David Cameron ...
David W. Cameron An analysis of one of the most significant battles of the Vietnam War, and its terrible toll.
On the afternoon of 18 August 1966, a rubber plantation near Long Tan, in Phuoc Tuy Province, South Vietnam, became the stage for one of the bloodiest battles of the Vietnam War involving Australian troops – and one of the most significant battles during the Vietnam War. Marking the battle’s 50th anniversary, critically-acclaimed military historian David Cameron brings to life blow-byblow the events of this famous battle as it unfolded. His compelling account commemorates the men who fought in the rubber plantation of Long Tan – and those who did not come home.
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David W. Cameron is a biological anthropologist and was formerly an Australian Research Council QEII Fellow at the Department of Anatomy & Histology, University of Sydney. In early 2003 he conducted a preliminary archaeological survey of the Anzac Gallipoli battlefields and held discussions with Turkish and Australian government officials about conservation issues relating to the ANZAC area. He is the author of several books on the Gallipoli Campaign, including The Battle for Lone Pine.
Non-Fiction | 128pp | November 2016
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Publisher: HarperCollins Format: Paperback Rights available: Film/TV, Audio Agent: Grace Heifetz - grace@curtisbrown.com.au
88 REASONS WHY AUSTRALIA IS THE CRAZIEST Simon Crerar Deadly spiders that survive for days under water ... Centipedes so big they poison snakes ... Prehistoric monsters on our beaches ...
These are just three reasons why Australia is the craziest. But there are more - 88 reasons, in fact, and you'll find them in this book with the pictures to prove it. 88 Reasons Why Australia Is The Craziest is shocking proof that Australia is a terra insanius of deadly flora and fauna and psychotic weather. Then there are the hardy human inhabitants still in denial ... With yarns to make you shriek and freaky photographs that'll blow your mind, you should: (A) Never visit Australia, or (B) If you're already here, never leave the safety of your own home. 37
Simon Crerar is the founding editor of BuzzFeed Australia. Born and bred in the safety of Scotland (where there are no such things as common death adders), he fell in love with Australia from the moment he woke at 33,000 ft on a 747 somewhere over the Northern Territory, and saw the outback glowing blood red under his first southern hemisphere sunrise.
CURTIS BROWN
YOUNG ADULT
Young Adult | 376pp | October 2016
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Publisher: Allen & Unwin Format: Paperback Rights available: Film/TV, Audio, Translation Agent: Fiona Inglis fiona@curtisbrown.com.au
GOLDENHAND Garth Nix The fifth book in the bestselling Old Kingdom series.
Lirael is no longer a shy Second Assistant Librarian - she’s now the Abhorsen-in-Waiting, with a new hand, one of gilded steel and Charter Magic. When she discovers Nicholas Sayre lying unconscious, she must use her powers to save him. A young woman from the distant North is travelling to meet them bearing a message from Lirael’s longdead mother, Arielle. It is a warning about the Witch with No Face. But who is the Witch, and what is she planning? Lirael must save the Old Kingdom from this great danger and it must be forestalled not only in the living world but also in the cold, remorseless river of Death. 41
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. 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 Times and The Australian.
Young Adult | 320pp | November 2016
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Publisher: Allen & Unwin Format: Paperback Rights available: Film/TV, Audio, World excl. ANZ Agent: Pippa Masson pippa@curtisbrown.com.au
WHEN THE LYREBIRD CALLS Kim Kane Madeleine accidentally finds herself in 1900... and a witness to a complex family secret.
When Madeleine is shipped off to stay with her eccentric grandmother for the holidays, she expects the usual: instead, Madeleine tumbles back in time to 1900, where the wealthy Williamson family takes her into their home, Lyrebird Muse. Madeleine must find a way to fit in with the Williamson family’s four sisters - as she searches desperately for a way home. Meanwhile, the Williamson girls’ enchanting German cousin, Elfriede, arrives on the scene on a heavenly wave of smoke and cinnamon, and threatens to shatter everything...
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Kim Kane was born in London in a bed bequeathed by Wordsworth for ‘...a writer, a dancer or a poet’. Despite this auspicious beginning, she went on to practise law. Her picture book Family Forest was shortlisted for the Children’s Book Council of Australia (CBCA) Awards, and The Vegetable Ark and Esther’s Rainbow were both CBCA Notable Books. Kim lives with her family in Melbourne. She writes whenever and wherever she can.
Young Adult | various pp | August 2016
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Publisher: Allen & Unwin Format: Paperback Rights available: various Agent: Fiona Inglis fiona@curtisbrown.com.au
'SHIP KINGS' SERIES Andrew McGahan In a world of storms and monsters, an Empire’s fortune turns on the fate of one boy…
Welcome to the Four Isles, a world that consists almost entirely of ocean. It’s vast sea lies half still unseen and unexplored, bedevilled as it is by monsters of the deep and great storms and perilous zones where ships dare not go. But now the tide is turning against them, as Dow Amber, who is fated – against all likelihood – to become the greatest mariner and captain of his age, and to challenge the Ship Kings at the very heart of their realm. Dow will voyage beyond the limits of the Great Ocean itself, in search of hope for a world that has no other hope left.
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Andrew McGahan is one of Australia’s finest fiction writers. His first novel, Praise, won the 1992 Australian Vogel Literary Award. The White Earth won the 2004 Miles Franklin Literary Award, the Commonwealth Writers’ Prize, The Age Book of the Year and The Courier Mail Book of the Year Award. In 2009 Andrew was shortlisted for the Manning Clark House National Cultural Awards for his contribution to Australian Literature.
Young Adult | 368pp | August 2016
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Publisher: Allen & Unwin Format: Paperback Rights available: Film/TV, Audio, World excl. ANZ Agent: Tara Wynne tara@curtisbrown.com.au
PROMISING AZRA Helen Thurloe Is Azra strong enough to fight for the life she wants? Or must she choose her parents over her freedom?
Azra is sixteen, smart, and knows how to get what she wants. She thinks. When she wins a place in a national science competition, she thinks her biggest problem is getting her parents’ permission to go. But she doesn’t know they’re busy arranging her marriage to a cousin in Pakistan, 20 years her senior, whom she’s never met, in just three months’ time. Can she find a way to do what she wants, while keeping her parents happy? Or, must she choose between being a good daughter and having her own freedom?
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Helen Thurloe is an awardwinning Australian writer, with her poems and essays published in national newspapers and magazines, anthologies and online. Promising Azra is her first novel. To support its completion, this project was awarded a mentorship from the NSW Childrens’ Book Council of Australia, as well as two residential fellowships. Her day jobs have included political staffer, public relations consultant, teacher of the Alexander Technique, and business furniture sales and marketing. She has lived in Australia, Brazil, and Britain.
CURTIS BROWN
MIDDLEGRADE
Middle-Grade | 240pp | October 2016
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Publisher: Allen & Unwin Format: Paperback Rights available: Film/TV, World excl. ANZ Agent: Grace Heiftetz grace@curtisbrown.com.au
ARTIE AND THE GRIME WAVE Richard Roxburgh A fabulously funny madcap adventure from this multi-talented actor, director and writer.
Artie and his best friend Bumshoe have stumbled upon a Cave-ofPossibly-Stolen-Stuff, and along with it a gang of shady characters including scary Mary, fang-toothed Funnel-web and the devious Mayor Grime. Artie and Bumshoe’s attempt to solve the mystery sparks a chaotic chain of events that involves kidnapping, puppy-dog cutlets, modern art and pioneering the sport of the bungeewedgie. It’s a sticky situation and if Artie’s going to escape, he might need help from family, friends, a little old lady, a small dog and the Fartex 120Y.
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Richard Roxburgh is one of Australia’s best-loved and most versatile actors. For his work in films like Moulin Rouge! to the lead role in TV’s Rake, as well as his many highly acclaimed performances with the Sydney Theatre Company, Richard Roxburgh has become a household name.
Middle-Grade | 352pp | September 2016
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Publisher: Allen & Unwin Format: Paperback Rights available: Film/TV, World excl. ANZ Agent: Fiona Inglis fiona@curtisbrown.com.au
ESCAPE TO THE MOON ISLANDS Mardi McConnochie The first title in a breathtaking new series Quest of the Sunfish.
When Will and Annalie's father disappears, they set out on a perilous sea voyage to find him. The motley crew of runaways put their faith in each other, and in a small sailing boat called the Sunfish. In a world transformed by a catastrophic Flood, they embark on an adventure that will test their ingenuity - and their friendship - to the limits. The crew face off against storms and pirates, but the biggest threat of all comes from the Admiralty, the allpowerful navy that rules the oceans of the world. The Admiralty are supposed to be the good guys, but the deeper the Sunfish voyages into the Moon Islands, the more they realise that nothing is what it seems. 53
Mardi McConnochie is the author of four adult novels: Coldwater, which was shortlisted for the Commonwealth Writer's Prize First Novel Award, The Snow Queen, Fivestar and The Voyagers. She has also written two novels for younger readers, Melissa, Queen of Evil, winner of an Aurealis Award; and Dangerous Games. Her TV scriptwriting credits include Home and Away, McLeod's Daughters, Always Greener and Pacific Drive. She lives in Sydney with her partner and their two daughters.
Middle-Grade | 192pp | September 2016
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Publisher: Penguin (NZ) Format: Paperback Rights available: Film/TV, World excl. NZ Agent: Pippa Masson pippa@curtisbrown.com.au
THE IMPOSSIBLE BOY Leonie Agnew Vincent is an imaginary friend who doesn’t know he’s not real.
Benjamin Grey is an orphan. His closest companion is his imaginary friend, Vincent Gum. Nobody sees Vincent Gum apart from Benjamin and Vincent knows he will die the second Benjamin stops believing in him. Set in a fictional, war-torn country, violence has erupted over disputed water rights and many ex-pat families have been ripped apart. Vincent drags Benjamin into the Northern Children’s Shelter. He has no idea why he’s invisible and wants some answers. What he finds out at the Children’s Shelter is disturbing – he must act quickly and convince the other children he is real in order to save himself. 55
Leonie Agnew lives in Auckland, New Zealand. She is an award winning children’s author, a former advertising copy writer, and currently moonlighting as a primary school teacher. Witnesses claim her defining characteristic is a tendency to make things up. This is called lying, unless you write it down. Then it is pleasantly referred to as being an author.
Middle-Grade | 320pp | November 2016
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Publisher: HarperCollins Format: Paperback Rights available: Film/TV Agent: Clare Forster claref@curtisbrown.com.au
DANNY BEST: NEVER WRONG
Also in the series ...
Jen Storer Danny best is a total legend ... and as far as he's concerned he's NEVER WRONG!
From best-selling author Jen Storer comes the second book in the Danny Best series, a collection of very funny short stories about life, as seen through the eyes of Danny, who with his gang of friends and trusty dog Pugsley rules the neighbourhood. Jam-packed with hilarious illustrations by renowned illustrator Mitch Vane, this is a book guaranteed to be read and re-read until it becomes as scruffy as Danny and his gang.
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Jen Storer has written many acclaimed books for children, including the best-selling ‘Truly Tan’ series. Jen is the author of the children’s fantasy novels, Tensy Farlow and the Home for Mislaid Children, The Accidental Princess (illustrated by Lucia Masciullo) and most recently, The Fourteenth Summer of Angus Jack (illustrated by Lucinda Gifford).
CURTIS BROWN
JUST DELIVERED
Fiction | 260pp | March 2017
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Publisher: Simon & Schuster Format: Paperback Rights available: Film/TV Agent: Tara Wynne tara@curtisbrown.com.au
THE HIDDEN HOURS Sara Foster Eleanor can't remember part of her night - the part she most needs to know to save her family ... and her life.
Arabella Lane is found dead in the Thames on a frosty winter’s morning after an office Christmas party. No one is sure whether she jumped or was pushed. The one person who may know the truth is the newest employee – the office temp, Eleanor. As one of the last people to talk to Arabella, Eleanor cannot recall a few vital hours of that night. When Eleanor finds herself with a key piece of evidence, she desperately tries to recover her memory and uncover the truth, while her own family are dragged deeper into the murky terrain that surrounds Arabella’s death.
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Sara Foster is the critically acclaimed author of three bestselling psychological suspense novels. Come Back to Me reached the Sydney Morning Herald top ten. Beneath the Shadows was an Australian Sunday Telegraph bestseller, and Shallow Breath was longlisted for a Davitt Award. Sara lives in Perth, Western Australia, with her husband and two young daughters.
Fiction | 400pp | April 2017
KATHERINE
ONGO AWN \
KATHERINE SCHOLES
CONGO DAWN \
IN THE DARKEST HEART OF AFRICA, CAN LOVE LIGHT THE WAY?
UNCORRECTED PROOF 11/08/2016 3:08 pm
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Publisher: Penguin Format: Paperback Rights available: Film/TV, World excl. ANZ Agent: Fiona Inglis fiona@curtisbrown.com.au
CONGO DAWN Katherine Scholes On a journey into the heart of darkness, humanity will be pushed and lives will be lost or reclaimed.
Anna Emerson’s life is turned upside down when a stranger hands her a plane ticket to the Congo. The newly independent country is in turmoil, Simba rebels are on the move – but the invitation holds a precious clue to the whereabouts of her estranged father. Dan Miller signs up as a mercenary commando to help fight the communist uprising. He believes in the cause, but that’s not really why he’s there. Their two paths collide through circumstances more extraordinary than fate. On a journey into the heart of darkness, humans are pushed to become demons or heroes, and lives are lost or reclaimed. 63
Katherine Scholes was born in Tanzania, the daughter of a missionary doctor and an artist. She has fond memories of going on safaris to remote areas where her father operated a clinic from his Land Rover. When she was ten the family left Tanzania, going first to England, then migrating to Australia. She now lives in Tasmania but makes regular trips back to Africa where many of her books are set. She is the author of international bestsellers including The Rain Queen, Make Me An Idol, The Stone Angel, The Hunter's Wife and The Lioness. She is particularly popular in Europe where she has sold over two million books.
Non-Fiction | 200pp | May 2017
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Publisher: Affirm Format: Paperback Rights available: Film/TV, Audio Agent: Tara Wynne tara@curtisbrown.com.au
WISH YOU WERE HERE Sheridan Jobbins A memoir of a transAmerican trip to find a beating heart amidst the ruins of a marriage.
‘In this moment I am perfect. I am free to be whoever I want, and all I want to be is a woman in a red spotty dress, speeding into her future in a shiny red car.’ Reeling from the devastating collapse of her marriage to the man she thought was the love of her life, Sheridan Jobbins decides she needs to do something drastic to save her sanity. Her solution is to buy a hot red car and drive across America. Hopelessly unprepared, she sets out on the road trip of a lifetime determined to find herself - and finds love instead. But not before some hilarious adventures and wrong turns along the way. 65
Sheridan Jobbins is a third generation Australian film maker. She kickstarted her career as one of the original celebrity chefs on Cooking with Sheri. She was presenter on numerous TV programs, including Simon Townsend’s Wonder World! and Good Morning Australia. She was a director of the film company Latent Image Productions which produced the award-winning film Priscilla, Queen of the Desert. Since 2000 she has co- written screenplays with director Stephan Elliott for Disney, Warner Bros, Working Title, Hopscotch and Ealing Studios. Wish You Were Here is her first book.
Young Adult | 180pp | July 2017
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Publisher: Hachette Format: Paperback Rights available: Film/TV, World excl. ANZ Agent: Tara Wynne tara@curtisbrown.com.au
THE DREAM WALKER Victoria Carless The weight of a secret can drag you under . . .
Sixteen-year-old Lucy Hart has been counting the days till she can get the hell out of Digger’s Landing – a small Queensland fishing hamlet home to fifteen families, a posse of mongrel dogs, and Parkers Corner Store (no apostrophe and nowhere near a corner). But just like the tides Lucy’s luck is on the turn, and as graduation nears her escape plans begin to falter; her best friend, Polly, is dropping out of school to help pay the bills, and Tom has been shipped off to boarding school, away from the flotsam of this place. And then there’s Lucy’s nightlife, which is filled with dreams that just don’t seem to belong to her at all . . . 67
Victoria Carless grew up in a small town on the North Queensland coast and spent weekends on the water in a tinnie with her family. She is a published playwright, having written and produced seven plays since 2006. Her Queensland Theatre Company award-winning script for The Rainbow Dark was published in 2013 by Currency Press. She holds a PhD in creative writing. The Dream Walker is her first novel.
Young Adult | 180pp | July 2017
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Publisher: Random House Format: Paperback Rights available: Film/TV, World excl. ANZ, Audio Agent: Tara Wynne tara@curtisbrown.com.au Also by Fleur Ferris ...
WRECKED Fleur Ferris A brilliant psychological thriller from a master of teen suspense.
Eighteen-year-old Tamara arrives home one day to find her house ransacked. She is abducted by one of the intruders who claims to be protecting her against those who are trying to kill her. Meanwhile, fifteen-year-old William is part of a disastrous boating accident in which his cousin, Christian, disappears and is never found. William suspects his older brother Knox to be involved somehow, but has no evidence. As William tries to right the wrongs of the past, Tamara fights to escape her pursuers.
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Fleur Ferris spent the first seventeen years of her life growing up on a farm in Patchewollock, north-west Victoria. She then moved twenty times in twenty years. She now lives a more settled lifestyle on a rice farm in southern New South Wales, with her husband and three young children.
Young Adult | 280pp | April 2017
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Publisher: Penguin Format: Paperback Rights available: Film/TV, World excl. ANZ Agent: Tara Wynne tara@curtisbrown.com.au Also by Megan Jacobson ...
THE BUILD UP Megan Jacobson Love shouldn't be a battlefield ... even when it is.
Seventeen year old Iliad Piper can't believe that the gorgeous local actor Jared Lovett is her boyfriend. The only problem is, his love for himself eclipses anything he might feel for anyone else. Her school nemesis Max Selwyn wants to be a famous reptile documentary maker, but now his mother has terminal cancer and his number one priority is to find her a cure. He and Illy make a pact. If Illy teaches him about her new age mother's healing therapies then he'll teach her how to use a camera. Jared's bound to notice her then, right?
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Megan Jacobson grew up in Darwin and the far north coast of NSW but now lives in Sydney where she works in TV news production at the ABC. She has a degree in journalism and has worked as a question writer for TV game shows and as an in-house script story-liner and script editor for several Australian television dramas. Her short stories have been published in the Sydney Morning Herald and the Review of Australian Fiction, aired on ABC radio, and appeared in the UTS Writers Anthology. The Build Up is her second novel.
Middle-Grade | 150pp | September 2017
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Publisher: Allen & Unwin Format: Paperback Rights available: Film/TV, World excl. ANZ Agent: Tara Wynne tara@curtisbrown.com.au
GAME DAY: ON THE BALL Patty Mills A new series to showcase a love of basketball and a pride in Indigenous heritage.
A fabulous new series for 6-9 year olds about Patty Mills and his firsthand experience as a regular kid from Canberra who rose to become international sports star. Patty's journey begins on the junior sports field, with Patty on the AFL team. Through persistence, courage and the support of friends and role models, Patty develops a fascination with basketball. This is how a 'too short' kid used his determination and learning to take a basketball team from misfits to semi-finalists, and set the stage for a future full of intense and spectacular competition ...
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Patrick "Patty" Mills is an Australian professional basketball player for the National Basketball Association (NBA). He signed with the San Antonio Spurs in 2012 and won an NBA championship with them in 2014. He plays the point guard position. Patty is from Canberra, ACT and is only the second Indigenous Australian and the first player of Torres Strait Islander descent to play in the NBA.
Fiction | various pp | 2008-2016
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Please contact Tara Wynne for details of rights available, publishers and more details at tara@curtisbrown.com.au.
ZOE FOSTER BLAKE Backlist From romance tips to bestselling novels, get to know this extraordinary woman.
Air Kisses
The Younger Man
After Hannah Atkins, the magazine world’s most unlikely beauty editor, is dumped for the local TV weather girl, she adopts some hardcore rules to attain the Perfect Life.
When Abby enjoys a memorable night with a delicious 22-year-old, she easily waves him out of her life the next morning. It was only supposed to be a bit of fun…
Playing the Field
The Wrong Girl
Jean Bennett knows as much about football as she does astrophysics. But when she moves to the bright lights of Sydney and falls in love with a star footballer, she has to learn – fast.
A funny, heartfelt novel about what happens when life, love, work and friendships collide.
Textbook Romance Zoe’s step-by-step lessons in successful romancing, with male commentary from self-confessed male, Hamish Blake. 75
Zoe Foster is a journalist, beauty blogger, cosmetics entrepreneur, Orangutan Project ambassador and author of (clearly) many talents. Zoe is from Bowral and currently lives in Melbourne.
Fiction | 440pp | October 2017
A reimagining of Sleeping Beauty set among the passions and scandals of the Pre-Raphelite circle of artists and poets ... 76
Publisher: Random House Format: Paperback Rights available: Film/TV, World excl. ANZ, Audio Agent: Tara Wynne tara@curtisbrown.com.au
BEAUTY IN THORNS Kate Forsyth Kate Forsyth has sold more than a million books worldwide. Her novels include Bitter Greens, which won the 2015 American Library Association award for Best Historical Fiction; The Wild Girl, the story of the forbidden romance behind the Grimm brothers' fairy tales; and The Beast’s Garden, Told in the voices of five set in the underground resistance to extraordinary women – the wives and Hitler in Nazi Germany. Named one mistresses, sisters and daughters of the of Australia's Favourite 15 Novelists, famous artists of the Pre-Raphaelite Kate has a doctorate in fairy tale circle – Beauty in Thorns brings studies and is an accredited master the dramatic story of love, desire, storyteller. obsession and tragedy that lies behind the creation of this famous depiction of Sleeping Beauty. In 1890, the Pre-Raphaelite artist Edward Burne-Jones finished a monumental series of paintings inspired by Sleeping Beauty. Greeted with ecstasy by the public, it sold for a record 15,000 guineas and made the artist a rich and famous man.
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Fiction | 300pp | October 2017
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Publisher: Penguin Format: Paperback Rights available: Film/TV Agent: Clare Forster claref@curtisbrown.com.au
SIENNA'S STORY Fiona McArthur '​McArthur ...has great skill in telling a story' The Sydney Morning Herald
A sweeping rural story. When a new governess arrives, the boss thinks she comes with a secret. Can she master an old fear as the land is taken over by flood and prove worthy to him and to herself ?
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Fiona McArthur works as a rural midwife and is a published author in fiction and non-fiction. Fiona lives in NSW with her husband and researching books means travelling to remote places to garner extraordinary stories from people who inspire her, before she returns to her other calling as a midwifery educator.
Fiction | 260pp | May 2017
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Publisher: Text Publishing Format: Paperback Rights available: Audio, Film/TV Agent: Clare Forster claref@curtisbrown.com.au
AUSTRALIA DAY Melanie Cheng ​'Australia Day is ... beautifully nuanced. ' Victorian Premier's Prize Judges
A collection of short stories, winner of the 2016 Victorian Premier's Literary Prize for an Unpublished Manuscript. The stories, varied in length, combine to form a coherent kaleidoscope of characters and situations that sensitively explore contemporary Australia through themes of family and chance encounter. Here is a unique contribution to Australian short fiction.
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Melanie Cheng is a writer and general practitioner living in Melbourne. Her work has been published in Meanjin, Overland, the Griffith Review and Sleepers Almanac. Melanie’s short stories have been shortlisted or commended in prizes including the Lascaux Prize for Short Fiction (US), the Bridport Prize (UK), the Hal Porter short story competition, the Fellowship of Australian Writers/National Library of Australia short story award, and the Deborah Cass Prize.
Non-Fiction | 300pp | January 2017
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Publisher: HarperCollins Format: Paperback Rights available: TV/Film, World excl. ANZ, Audio Agent: Clare Forster claref@curtisbrown.com.au
LINE OF FIRE Ian Townsend The smoking volcano of Rabaul, is shaken by the most intense seismic activity of any place on earth.
In 1942, an eleven year-old- Australian boy and his family, holding hands on either side of him, were shot for suspected spying. This was Richard Manson, and the locale Rabaul in Papua New Guinea. The story of Richard Manson and Rabaul isn’t just a war story, but the story of the literal collision of continents. Tectonic forces created this tropical island paradise and blessed it with a deep, wide harbour so strategically placed that the empires of Britain, Germany, Japan, and the US fought over it during the course of two world wars.
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Ian Townsend is a journalist with ABC Radio National. He has won a record four national Eureka Prizes for science and medical journalism, as well as an Australian Human Rights Award for journalism. He is a postgraduate research student in history at the University of Queensland, and lives in Brisbane with his wife, and their three daughters.
Fiction | 360pp | December 2016
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Publisher: Harlequin Format: Paperback Rights available: TV/Film Agent: Clare Forster claref@curtisbrown.com.au
WAYWARD HEART Cathryn Hein 'Cathryn Hein [is one of my] must-read Australian women writers.' Book'd Out
Jasmine Thomas should feel safe in her cosy cottage at Admella Beach after finally putting an end to an ill-advised romance. But her perfect sanctuary is shattered with the arrival of hand-delivered threatening notes. Someone has discovered her secret. Digby Wallace-Jones is stumbling through the motions of life, wrapped in a fog of grief since his fiancée Felicity died. Withdrawn from his family, Digby doesn’t care about anything beyond his loss. Slowly but surely, Felicity is falling in love with Digby, who sees her only as a friend. How can Felicity remind him he still has a life ahead of him?
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Cathryn Hein is a best-selling rural romance and romantic adventure author, currently living at the base of the Blue Mountains in NSW. Cathryn’s novels include the rural romances Summer and the Groomsman, The Falls, Rocking Horse Hill, Heartland, Heart of the Valley and Promises, and the romantic adventure The French Prize. From debut release, she has been a multiple finalist in the Australian Romance Readers Awards and in 2014 for Favourite Australian Romance Author.
Middle-Grade | 200pp | February 2017
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Publisher: Hardie Grant Egmont Format: Paperback Rights available: TV/Film Agent: Clare Forster claref@curtisbrown.com.au
BLADE'S EDGE Steve Lochran What is the dark conspiracy Joss must uncover at the heart of Thunder Realm?
Welcome to Thunder Realm, where cowboy-knights known as paladeros herd dinosaurs during peacetime, and take up arms during war. Joss, a young orphan, has always wanted to be a paladero - but first he must prove himself by going on The Way, a treacherous journey through the kingdom to retrieve a rare Questing Egg. With his trusty raptor Azof by his side, Joss will face off against witches, bloodthirsty monsters and even his own brethren to learn what it truly means to be a paladero - all while uncovering a dark conspiracy at the heart of the kingdom.
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Steven Lochran graduated from Queensland University of Technology with a BA in Creative Writing. He has worked as a journalist and sub-editor and has been working in publishing for the past four years. After a stint in marketing, he is currently out on the road as a Sales Rep in Victoria.
Fiction| 360pp | March 2017
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Publisher: Penguin Format: Paperback Rights available: TV/Film, Audio Agent: Clare Forster claref@curtisbrown.com.au
DIAMOND LUKE Jennifer Scoullar An illicit love and vengeful husband mean Luke Tyler must return to Hobart - but can
In 1890s Tasmania, Luke Tyler is a lowly carpenter who makes a dangerous enemy when he falls in love with a childhood friend, Belle, despite her jealous husband Sir Edward Abbott. Cheating death, Luke escapes to South Africa and returns to Hobart in disguise only to protect his family as the mysterious Colonal Buchanan. When Belle learns his true identity, however, the question remains - when is it too late for love to conquer all?
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Jennifer Scoullar is a bestselling author of Australian rural fiction/ romance, and lives with her family on a rural property in West Gippsland. Jennifer has five published novels. Wasp Season, Brumby’s Run, Currawong Creek and Billabong Bend. Currawong Creek was a finalist in the 2014 RUBY (Romantic Elements) Award. Her latest novel Turtle Reef was published in April 2015.