A teenage sports game descends into a brawl after a controversial line call in a fast-paced contemporary novel from the bestselling author of The Orchardist's Daughter.'Sidelines is a riveting novel. It takes our jittery, intensely competitive era and unpicks our self-deceptions until they bleed.' - Jane Caro, bestselling author of The MotherWhen a violent brawl erupts at a suburban junior soccer game, some onlookers are shocked. But others saw it coming. Rivalry, parental pressure, coaching bias, inequity, and many other factors have played a part in turning Saturday mornings into a pressure cooker.Thirteen-year-old Audrey is a talented young football player. But does she want to play for Australia or does she just want to please her father, Ben, whose own thwarted sporting career looms large in his ambitions for his daughter? Audrey's mother, Jonica, doesn't know whether to be more concerned about her anxious daughter, her overbearing...

Sixteen-year-old Mikaela has grown up isolated and homeschooled on an apple orchard in southeastern Tasmania, until an unexpected event shatters her family. Eighteen months later, she and her older brother Kurt are running a small business in a timber town. Miki longs to make connections and spend more time in her beloved forest, but she is kept a virtual prisoner by Kurt, who leads a secret life of his own.When Miki meets Leon, another outsider, things slowly begin to change. But the power to stand up for yourself must come from within. And Miki has to fight to uncover the truth of her past and discover her strength and spirit.Set in the old-growth eucalypt forests and vast rugged mountains of southern Tasmania, The Orchardist's Daughter is an uplifting story about friendship, resilience and finding the courage to break free.

The story of two remarkable women and their tales of forgiveness and acceptance, from the bestselling author of The Lightkeeper's Wife.Abby is a young woman shying away from close contact with others and running from a terrible event in her early teens which has shaped her life. Then she meets Daphne, the daughter of a pastoralist, who grew up in a remote valley of the Brindabella Ranges. Daphne raised her family in the high country with her husband Doug, in a world of horses, cattle and stockmen. But the government forced them off their land, and years later, Daphne is still trying to come to terms with her departure from the mountains and the tragic impact it had on her husband.Though years and life experience separate Abby and Daphne, they understand each other, and a gentle friendship forms. While Abby's traumatic past hampers her involvement with journalist Cameron, Daphne tussles with her own family history and the shadow it may have cast over the original...

A woman at the end of her life. A man unable to restart his. A history of guilty secrets and things left unsaid. A powerful, moving novel that will steal your heart.Elderly and in poor health, Mary fulfils her wish to herself to live out her last days on Bruny Island with only her regrets and memories for company. A long time ago, her late husband was the lighthousekeeper on Bruny, and she'd raised a family on the wild windswept island, until terrible circumstances forced them back to civilisation. The long-buried secret that has haunted her for decades now threatens to break free and she is hoping to banish it once and for all before her time is up. But secrets have a life of their own, and as Mary relives the events that led up to the shattering revelation, she realises she needs to trust a later generation to put things right. As she steadily weakens, she imposes herself on the island's ranger, Leon, who is reluctant to become nursemaid to Mary and resentful that he...

A memorable story of broken hearts trying to mend, of personal discovery and recovery - Weekend Australian. Lex Henderson washes up in a small coastal village after a tragedy shatters his life in Sydney. He wants only to escape from the world, and thinks he's found the perfect place to do it, until the local community starts taking an interest in him. By then, despite himself, he's a little fascinated in return, and is soon drawn into the place in ways he could never have anticipated. He also meets Callista Bennett, an artist with a hidden history, and enters into a friendship with her that is both volatile and difficult - both of them are paralysed by their pasts and by the idea of trusting anyone ever again. What Lex does learn to trust is the beauty of the world around him, and he embraces it wholeheartedly, swimming out among the whales, spending hours a day studying the ever-changing patterns of the sea and the play of light and shadow, storm and sunshine. This is one way he can connect with Callista, who has spent her whole life engaged with the natural world and whose paintings capture it so vividly. Then a whale is stranded on a nearby beach, and Lex, Callista and the townsfolk become involved in a tense and uncertain rescue. It is through the trials and emotions of this event that Lex and Callista see a way through their grief. But will their pasts ever let them go? The Stranding is a beautifully told story of loss and recovery, exile and belonging, and the redemptive power of the natural world.