STATIONERY

The American BoysOlivia Spooner is the number one bestselling author of two historical novels, The Girl from London and The Songbirds of Florence. She is also the author of two contemporary novels, A Way Back to Happy and A Bumpy Year. A former bookshop owner, Olivia is a strong advocate for the importance of books and reading. She lives in Auckland, New Zealand, with her family.

The Matchbox Girl: Lose Yourself In This Autumn'S Most Captivating Historical Novel From the multi-award-winning author a beautiful, stunningly ambitious novel telling the story of a young girl's battle for survival and search for the truth in occupied Vienna 'A shimmering masterwork' Alice Austen 'An extraordinary novel about resilience' Amanda Craig 'A mesmerising tapestry woven across history' Gina Rippon 'Gripping and profound. A masterful work of rare complexity that lingers and haunts' Christine LeunensAdelheid Brunner does not speak. She writes and draws instead and her ambition is to own one thousand matchboxes. Her grandmother cannot make sense of this, but Adelheid will stop at nothing to achieve her dream. She makes herself invisible, hiding in cupboards with her pet rat, Franz Joseph, listening in on conversations she can't fully comprehend.Then she meets Dr Asperger, a man who lets children play all day and who recognises the importance of matchboxes. He invites Adelheid to come and live at the Vienna paediatric clinic, where she and other children like herself will live under observation.But the date is 1938 and the place is Vienna a city of political instability, a place of increasing fear and violence. When the Nazis march into the city, a new world is created and difficult choices must be made.Why are the clinic's children disappearing, and where do they go? Adelheid starts to suspect that some of Dr Asperger's games are played for the highest stakes. In order to survive, she must play a game whose rules she cannot yet understand. Triumphant and tragic, soulful and spirited, The Matchbox Girl is a burningly brilliant book that brings the stories of a generation of lost children into the light. 'A vividly imagined story told with real drive and heart' Rachel Seiffert 'Unique and profoundly human' Emma Darwin 'One of the most charismatic and companionable narrators I've ever come across' Toby Litt 'The sheer brilliance of Alice Jolly's writing stopped me in my tracks, stole my breath' Angela Findlay 'An important, powerful book, so real I couldn't put it down' Kathleen Jones

DuskRobbie Arnott is the author of Limberlost, The Rain Heron and Flames. He's a two-time winner of The Age Book of the Year, and has also been awarded the Voss Literary Prize. He's been named a Sydney Morning Herald Best Young Novelist, and has twice been shortlisted for the Miles Franklin Literary Award, as well as the Dylan Thomas Prize. He lives in Hobart with his wife and daughter.

The Bell And The Blade Paullina Simons is the author of sixteen internationally bestselling novels, one non-fiction memoir, a cookbook, and two children's books. Born and raised in the former Soviet Union, Paullina immigrated with her family to the United States in the mid-seventies. She received her Bachelor's degree in political science from Kansas University. She has lived in Rome, London, Dallas, and now lives in New York with her husband and four children.

Sinners An electrifying tale of rage and resistance that gives voice to the tragic and remarkable story of a young Roman noblewoman, Beatrice CenciRome, 1599. A young noblewoman accused of murder, awaits execution. Imprisoned in the Corte Savella, she has captured the hearts and sympathy of all Rome.This is the true and tragic tale of Beatrice Cenci.History has sold her short. She is no doe-eyed victim of her father's brutality, nor the cunning murderer who plotted her father's demise. No, this Beatrice - a woman pregnant by her lover, incarcerated in a remote castle by her father, and brim-full of white-hot rage - is both innocent and guilty, saint and sinner.And she will stand tall in the face of the violence of men, no matter the cost.

PilbaraA stunning tale of loyalty and survival from a master storyteller ...In this ancient, harsh place, faint hearts will not last.The Pilbara, late 1800s: Frontier country, the wild west of Australia - a lawless, violent place where treachery is a way of life.Widower Charles Burton arrives in this forbidding corner of the world with his three young children. They've travelled half the globe, from the lush rolling hills and dales of Yorkshire, on a mission to save their family's sheep and cattle property. Rebuilding the fortunes of Burton Station will ask everything of Charles and his children, particularly daughter Victoria, who will at times threaten to bring about their downfall.Here in the oldest landscape on earth, survival has always proved a battle. And when greed takes over, the battle only intensifies. Aboriginal people are robbed of their lands and their very way of life as every new arrival fights for the riches on offer - the grazing territory, the pearls and the gold. Amid all this brutality, the Burtons and their allies must fight to conquer the savagery that surrounds them.From Yorkshire to Cossack in Western Australia, and London to Tahiti in French Polynesia, Pilbara is the tale of a family on a mission to restore the honor of its name.

The next action-packed novel in Wilbur Smith's new Egyptian series

The Stowaway An epic romantic adventure of passion and heartbreak in an age of exploration, danger and opportunity. Norway, 1828. A fiery descendant of Vikings, Elsa Ferner wasn't termed Elsa the Determined by her father for no reason, so when her mother pushes her to marry a wealthy but unscrupulous man, she seizes the opportunity to stow away and escape. Now aboard The Starling with her ally, handsome English officer Thompson Smith, she chooses to trust her heart, following their shared destiny on the salted wind.On arriving in Iceland, it seems the pair might finally explore the possibilities of a new life together. However, a rash and catastrophic act sees Thompson taken away in chains, with Elsa the one now fighting for their future, and leading them on to new frontiers. However, tragedy strikes, and Thompson chooses to stowaway himself, this time to Tasmania, embittered yet resolved to find a new life with their son, Sven.Little do they know that Elsa searches for them, even to the ends of the earth, never giving up on love...The Stowaway is an epic romantic adventure that whisks the reader from one end of the earth to the other, to witness sights unimagined, see places steeped in timeless beauty... and to experience passion and heartbreak in an age of exploration, danger and opportunity on a desperate quest for love.

<p>Murder Most Foul is a dark, witty and fast-paced novel, from one of Britain's best-loved screenwriters.</p><p>It's 1593, Elizabeth I is Queen and everyone is terrified of the worst outbreak of plague in a generation. Shakespeare has only written six plays and is lagging behind his friend Christopher Marlowe, London's leading playwright. When Marlowe is stabbed to death in mysterious circumstances, rumours abound but the one that won't go away is that Shakespeare did it to remove his greatest rival.</p><p>Will is determined to clear his name, and teams up with his old flame, Marlowe's sister Ann, who has plenty of secrets of her own. In their search to solve the crime, Will and Ann uncover a dark world of treachery, murder, and corruption which in turn provides Shakespeare with scenes and characters which will appear in his greatest plays.</p><p>'Clever, funny, ingenious and endearing' Lissa Evans</p>

Based on the true story of Tasma Walton’s ancestor, a powerful, heart-wrenching novel about maternal love that endures against pitiless odds. Kidnapped by sealers and enslaved far from her homeland, Nannertgarrook has a spirit that refuses to bow … From her idyllic life in sea country in Nerrm (Port Phillip Bay, Victoria), Nannertgarrook is abducted and taken to a slave market, leaving behind a husband, daughter and son. Pregnant when seized, she soon gives birth to another son, whom she raises with the children of her fellow captives. Nannertgarrook is separated not only from her Boonwurrung family, but from her birthright – the ceremonies she once was so joyously part of, the majestic whales who are her totem, the land and sky and sea country and its creatures. All these things she loves as deeply as she does her blood kin. But now, as her reality becomes profoundly different, she must keep that family and her old life alive in her mind. Their rich, pulsating elements sing to us through her beautiful voice, even while Nannertgarrook herself is subjected to the worst of humanity. This sweeping novel asks us to consider who, in colonial history, were the real savages, and what it truly means to be civilised.

By Her Hand The engrossing and propulsive historical fiction debut from a talented new writer, for readers of Geraldine Brooks' Year of Wonders, Maggie O'Farrell's Hamnet, Lauren Groff's Matrix, Robyn Cadwallader's The Anchoress, Pip Williams's The Dictionary of Lost Words. She must write her rage ... to win her war. Peak District, Mercia, AD 910: a young girl, Freda works hard to avoid her father's temper, while longing for his approval. She loves foraging in the woods and hearthside stories of heroes. Secretly she thinks in poetry and dreams of one day being able to write; her quills are grass stalks and sticks, her parchment the sky, the earth, her skin. But Freda's world is at war, and when her village is decimated in a savage raid and her father goes missing, Freda must find the strength to survive. Taken in by the church, her only options are a life of servitude or prayer. But the cunning bishop sees an opportunity. As well as teaching Freda to write, he uses her survival as evidence of a miracle so as to attract pilgrims who bring wealth. As Freda chafes against the bishop's increasing control, she develops a friendship with the Mercian leader Ethelflæd, Lady of the Mercians, who shows her what it is to lead as a woman in a world that worships warrior kings. Soon Freda must choose. Does she remain the powerless, subservient quill whose fate lies in the hands of another, or does she fight for the right to create - and write - her own story? 'A dazzling debut. Marvellous.' Robyn Mundy, Cold Coast 'A remarkable feat of storytelling. I wept as I read, in recognition of bravery, grief and longing' Michelle Tom, Ten Thousand Aftershocks 'Deft, vivid, intimate story-telling which reels us into a past that casts a bright, penetrating light' Sally Colin-James, One Illumined Thread 'I sank into this novel, knowing myself in sure hands. With meticulous research and deep empathy, Taffe invites us into the world of the tenth century, so unlike our own and yet, we discover, also familiar, a place of beauty and brutality, poetry and pain, longing and loss.' Robyn Cadwallader, The Anchoress

The Jam Maker Jam is sweet but it can also burn. Tasmania, 1874. Growing up in the impoverished tenements along the Hobart Rivulet, Harriet Brown is used to doing whatever it takes to survive. Including, at just twelve years old, shearing off her hair and pretending to be a boy to secure a job as label-paster at the George Peacock and Sons jam factory. Four years later, the deceit becomes too much to bear and Harriet risks everything on the chance at a future with her ambitious friend and workmate Henry Jones. But this decision forces her into a new deception: play the role of expert jam maker, or else be cast out onto the streets. As the secrets and lies grow, Harriet is driven to more and more desperate choices. Choices that will end with a dangerous secret which, if discovered, could destroy not only her life but the lives of those she loves and protects. Intertwined with the fascinating history of the Tasmanian jam industry and the striking historical figure Henry Jones, The Jam Maker is a tale of danger, deceit and the desperate measures one woman will take to succeed in love and life. PRAISE: 'Brought to vivid life with richness, colour, and incredible warmth, the prose sings in this bitter-sweet Tasmanian tale of triumph over adversity, love, loyalty and the ties that bind and divide. The Jam Maker is another irresistible story from Mary-Lou Stephens, one that will sweep you into its heart and linger in yours. Simply delicious.' Bestselling Australian author Karen Brooks

The Four Winds Kristin Hannah is a New York Times bestselling author. She is a former lawyer turned writer and is the mother of one son. She and her husband live in the Pacific Northwest near Seattle, and Hawaii. Her first novel published in the UK, Night Road, was one of eight books selected for the UK’s 2011 TV Book Club Summer Read, and her novel The Nightingale was a New York Times number one bestseller, selling almost three million copies worldwide.

<p><strong><em>Amid the rising flood waters and shearers' strike violence, can one brave woman reclaim her future?</em> From an Australian bestselling author comes a riveting historical adventure about one woman's journey from a life of isolation to one of love and acceptance.</strong></p> <p><strong><em>1894, Echuca, Victoria</em></strong></p><p>Tess Hawthorn is a woman on the run from her abusive husband. All she has to do is get on the riverboat <em>Victor</em> and she will be free.</p><p>But with tensions at an all-time high between unionist shearers and Scabs, Tess isn't the only person trying to board a boat under the cover of night. When a brawl erupts between the union and non-union men, Tess is mistaken for a fellow Scab and in the chaos pulled aboard the PS <em>Rodney</em> - the same boat heading up the Darling River that her husband was bound for. </p><p>The last person Bram Kempster expects to see on board is Tess Hawthorn, the girl he's loved from afar since they were young. But he can't afford to get distracted, not when he's on an urgent trip to Renmark. Tess didn't want him back then and, if her haughty behaviour is anything to go by, she certainly doesn't want him now.</p><p>But childhood hurts are the least of their problems. The continent is a tinderbox of violence and bloodshed waiting to ignite, and at home the Murray River is rising fast. Can they overcome their past in time to work together and survive?</p><p><strong>PRAISE FOR DARRY FRASER:</strong></p><p>'Fraser has established herself as one of Australia's most loved historical fiction authors.' - <em>The Herald Sun</em></p><p>'In <em>The Milliner of Bendigo</em>, Fraser delivers another enthralling adventure, sweeping us along on the remarkable journey of a woman determined to forge her own path.' - <em>Better Reading</em></p><p>'Darry Fraser is at the top of her game with her latest Australian historical ... <em>The Milliner of Bendigo </em>is another wonderful tale to immerse yourself in.' - <em>Great Reads & Tea Leaves</em></p>