A young Hungarian woman confronts her family's past in an engrossing quest for a stolen painting.When Anika Molnar flees her home country of Hungary not long before the break-up of the Soviet Union, she carries only a small suitcase – and a beautiful and much-loved painting of an auburn-haired woman in a cobalt blue dress from her family's hidden collection.Arriving in Australia, Anika moves in with her aunt in Sydney, and the painting hangs in pride of place in her bedroom. But one day it...

A tale of two very different sisters whose 1890s voyage from London into remote outback Australia becomes a journey of self-discovery, set against a landscape of wild beauty and savage dispossession. London in 1891: Harriet Cameron is a talented young artist whose mother died when she was barely five. She and her beloved sister Sarah were brought up by their father, radical thinker James Cameron. After adventurer Henry Vincent arrives on the scene, the sisters' lives are changed forever. S...

Booth is superb at the small detail that creates a life, and the large one that gives it meaning'Marion Halligan'A captivating slice of Australian history, rich in character and colour, Bellevue is sparkling with acuity and authenticity' Kim KellyNew South Wales, 1972. Following the death of her beloved Aunt Hilda, widow Clare Barclay inherits Bellevue, an historic property in the Blue Mountains township of Numbulla, Australia. Giving up her teaching job to move to the mounta...

When Anika Molnar flees her home country of Hungary not long before the break-up ofthe Soviet Union, she carries only a small suitcase and a beautiful and much-lovedpainting of an auburn-haired woman in a cobalt blue dress from her family’s hiddencollection.Arriving in Australia, Anika moves in with her aunt in Sydney, and the painting hangs inpride of place in her bedroom. But one day it is stolen in what seems to be a carefullyplanned theft, and Anika’s carefree life takes a more ominous...

When is it time to let go of the past?Sally Lachlan has a secret that has haunted her for a decade, is it now time to let it go?A chance meeting with the charismatic geneticist, Anthony Blake, reawakens Sally's desire for love. But as she finally lets down her guard, her daughter, Charlie, shows signs of wishing to know more about her father and what really happened all those years ago. Both the past and the future are places Sally prefers not to think about, but if she wants to move towar...

Alison Booth’s dazzling debut, set in a beautiful coastal town of NSW, is an unforgettable, heart-warming novel about love and loss, betrayal and hope...It's 1957 and, after the death of her husband, pianist Ilona Talivaldis and her nine-year-old daughter Zidra, travel to the remote coastal town of Jingera in New South Wales. Ilona, a concentration camp survivor from Latvia, is searching for peace and the opportunity to start anew. In her beautiful vine-covered cot...

A heart-breaking novel of family and friendships, from the author of Stillwater Creek.It is the spring of 1961, and the sleepy little town of Jingera is at its most perfect with its clear blue skies, pounding surf and breath-taking lagoon. Yet all is not so perfect behind closed doors.George Cadwallader - butcher by day and star-gazer by night - is loved by everyone, except his wife. He only wants the best for his family - yet it's all falling apart.Philip ...

Back in 1957, nine-year-old Zidra Vincent met Jim Cadwallader for the first time. Fourteen years later, their bond of friendship - forged during a childhood in the beautiful coastal town of Jingera - is still strong. But is friendship all they dream of? Jim is now a respected war correspondent in Cambodia, though he has plans to come home for good. because there is something very important he wants to say to Zidra. Zidra, meanwhile, is an ambitious reporter at the Sydney Morning Chronicle,...

In The Dark Thread, scholars examine a set of important and perennial narrative motifs centered on violence within the family as they have appeared in French, English, Spanish, and American literatures. Over fourteen essays, contributors highlight the connections between works from early modernity and subsequent texts from the eighteenth through the twentieth centuries, in which incidents such as murder, cannibalism, poisoning, the burial of the living, the failed burial of the de...

Museums and biographies both tell the stories of lives. This innovative collection examines for the first time biography - of individuals, objects and institutions - in relationship to the museum, casting new light on the many facets of museum history and theory, from the lives of prominent curators, to the context of museums of biography and autobiography. Separate sections cover individual biography and museum history, problematising individual biographies, institutional biographies, obj...

This is the first full-length study of literary tourism in North America as well as Britain, and a unique exploration of popular response to writers, literary house museums, and the landscapes or "countries " associated with their lives and works. An interdisciplinary study ranging from 1820-1940, Homes and Haunts: Touring Writers' Shrines and Countries unites museum and tourism studies, book history, narrative theory, theories of gender, space, and things, and other approaches to...

After the death of her husband, pianist Ilona Talivaldis and her nine-year-old daughter Zidra travel to the remote coastal town of Jingera in New South Wales. Ilona, a concentration camp survivor from Latvia, is searching for peace and the opportunity to start anew. In her beautiful vine-covered cottage on the edge of the lagoon, she has plans to set herself up as a piano teacher. The weeks pass, and slowly mother and daughter get to know the townsfolk: kind-hearted butc...