Lincoln Locke’s fifteen-year-old life is turned upside down when he’s thrust into bachelor-pad living with his father, after his parents’ marriage breaks up, and into an exclusive new school. Crestfield Academy offers Lincoln a new set of peers – the crème de la crème of gifted individuals, who also happen to be financially loaded – and a place on the swim relay team with a bunch of thugs in Speedos. Homunculus, the little voice inside his head, doesn’t make life any easier; nor does Lincoln’s growing awareness of a genetic anomaly that threatens to humiliate him at every turn.
On a search for answers to big LIFE questions, he turns to the hallowed school library, where he spies a nineteenth-century memoir, My One Redeeming Affliction by Edwin Stroud, a one-time star of Melinkoff’s Astonishing Assembly of Freaks. As Lincoln slowly reads this peculiar, life-changing book, the past reaches into his present in fascinating and alarming ways.
Ways that defy imagination...
Audacious, funny and wonderfully inventive, The Origin of Me is a song to friendship, to young love, to the joy of imagination, and to celebrating differences
Lincoln Locke’s fifteen-year-old life is turned upside down when he’s thrust into bachelor-pad living with his father, after his parents’ marriage breaks up, and into an exclusive…
Life is hard enough without having to spend time with your siblings. But there is no other way for Joe, Fin and April Peski to solve the mystery of the cockroach catastrophes that is rocking their new home town of Currawong.
Along with Loretta, their stunningly beautiful yet sociopathic next-door neighbour, and Pumpkin, the world's worst trained dog, they set out to prove their innocence. Together they are The Peski Kids.
Life is hard enough without having to spend time with your siblings. But there is no other way for Joe, Fin and April Peski to solve the mystery of the cockroach catastrophes that…
What happens when someone else’s past catches up with you?
Elizabeth Miller had lived in Deni her entire life. In a small rural town, Beth’s biggest problem is telling her protective and fiercely private father that she has a boyfriend.
But when her dad disappears before her and Jonah’s eyes, Beth discovers that he isn't who she thought he was. Her family’s secret past has caught up with them, and someone wants her dead.
Beth has been unwittingly prepared for this moment her entire life. Can she find a way out before they find her?
What happens when someone else’s past catches up with you?
Elizabeth Miller had lived in Deni her entire life. In a small rural town, Beth’s biggest problem is telling her…
Dark, thrilling and compulsively readable, The Second Cure is a provocative debut novel about control, courage and belief.
A pandemic is racing through our world, changing people subtly but irrevocably. The first sign for some is losing their faith. For others it comes as violent outpourings of creativity, reckless driving and seeing visions.
Scientist Charlotte Zinn is close to a cure when her partner becomes infected. Overnight her understanding of the disease is turned upside down. Should she change the path of evolution?
As Australia is torn apart, reporter Brigid Bayliss is determined to uncover the dark truth behind the religious response to the outbreak.
Brigid and Charlotte find themselves on the frontline of a world splintering into far left and far right, with unexpected power to change the course of history. But at what cost?
Dark, thrilling and compulsively readable, The Second Cure is a provocative debut novel about control, courage and belief.
The accidental gunslinger Dooley Monahan has quit wandering and settled down to a farmer's life. But when the itch for adventure gets too strong, he packs up and rides west. Along with his horse General Grant, and Blue, a dog who's too smart for his own good, Dooley rides for the Black Hills to strike it rich in the gold fields of Colorado. But fate has other ideas. When the trigger-happy Dobbs-Queeg gang holds up the Omaha bank, Dooley is mistaken for one of the robbers, and a price is plastered on his head. With every lawman in the territory hot on his trail, Dooley has no choice but to join up with the murderous outlaws. If the hangman doesn't get him, his new friends will, but Dooley won't turn back. With Blue and General Grant at his side, Dooley will make his fortune-come hell, high water, and everything in between. BECAUSE WHEN YOU'RE DOOLEY MONAHAN, TROUBLE AIN'T FAR BEHIND Also Available in AudiobookThe accidental gunslinger Dooley Monahan has quit wandering and settled down to a farmer's life. But when the itch for adventure gets too strong, he packs up and rides west. Along with his horse General Grant, and Blue, a dog who's too smart for his own good, Dooley rides for the Black Hills to strike it rich in the gold fields of Colorado. But fate has other ideas. When the trigger-happy Dobbs-Queeg gang holds up the Omaha bank, Dooley is mistaken for one of the robbers, and a price is plastered on his head. With every lawman in the territory hot on his trail, Dooley has no choice but to join up with the murderous outlaws. If the hangman doesn't get him, his new friends will, but Dooley won't turn back. With Blue and General Grant at his side, Dooley will make his fortune-come hell, high water, and everything in between.
The accidental gunslinger Dooley Monahan has quit wandering and settled down to a farmer's life. But when the itch for adventure gets too strong, he packs up and rides west. Along…
In the Edo Period of Japan, two teams fight for supremacy - the serious samurai and the scheming ninjas. To determine who is the best, a deadly contest is held. The prize is the Golden Egg, the most magnificent treasure in all of Japan. But when the ninjas cheat, the samurai will stop at nothing to get revenge.
Tighten your topknot and sharpen your sword - the Samurai vs Ninja battle is about to begin!
Get ready for the greatest battle of all time!
In the Edo Period of Japan, two teams fight for supremacy - the serious samurai and the scheming ninjas. To determine who is the…
A Guide to Berlin is the name of a short story written by Vladimir Nabokov in 1925, when he was a young man of 26, living in Berlin.
A group of six international travellers, two Italians, two Japanese, an American and an Australian, meet in empty apartments in Berlin to share stories and memories. Each is enthralled in some way to the work of Vladimir Nabokov, and each is finding their way in deep winter in a haunted city.
A moment of devastating violence shatters the group, and changes the direction of everyone's story. Brave and brilliant, A Guide to Berlin traces the strength and fragility of our connections through biographies and secrets.
A Guide to Berlin is the name of a short story written by Vladimir Nabokov in 1925, when he was a young man of 26, living in Berlin.
Chester is on the road, searching every town for clues about his father and why he disappeared.
But when he's caught accidentally – and illegally – connecting with the Song as he plays his beloved fiddle, Chester is sentenced to death. Only a licensed Songshaper can bend music to their will. The axe is about to fall . . .
But there is someone else watching Chester. Someone who needs his special talents. Who can use him for their own ends. And who knows the secrets of The Hush, where there is no music, only deadly Echoes who will steal your soul.
Susannah is that someone. The young captain of the infamous Nightfall Gang, Susannah has plans for Chester. Finally, she will have her revenge.
Chester is on the road, searching every town for clues about his father and why he disappeared.
But when he's caught accidentally – and illegally – connecting with the Song as…
A chilling, exhilarating new thriller from the award-winning Candice Fox, described by the Sydney Morning Herald as 'an important new voice in crime fiction'. 'I'm sure every day Eden looked in the mirror and wondered if she should kill me...'
If Detective Frank Bennett tries hard enough, he can sometimes forget that Eden Archer, his partner in the Homicide Department, is also a moonlighting serial killer . . .
Thankfully their latest case is proving a good distraction. Someone is angry at Sydney's beautiful people - and the results are anything but pretty. On the rain-soaked running tracks of Sydney's parks, a predator is lurking, and it's not long before night-time jogs become a race to stay alive.
While Frank and Eden chase shadows, a different kind of danger grows closer to home. Frank's new girlfriend Imogen Stone is fascinated by cold cases, and her latest project – the disappearance of the two Tanner children more than twenty years ago – is leading her straight to Eden's door.
And, as Frank knows all too well, asking too many questions about Eden Archer can get you buried as deep as her past …
A chilling, exhilarating new thriller from the award-winning Candice Fox, described by the Sydney Morning Herald as 'an important new voice in crime fiction'. 'I'm sure every day…
This is a story of resilience, the irrepressible, enduring nature of love, and the fragility of life. From one of Australia's most loved novelists.
He felt like a pirate landing on an island of little maimed animals. A great wave had swept them up and dumped them here. All of them, like him, stranded, wanting to go home. It is 1954 and thirteen-year-old Frank Gold, refugee from wartime Hungary, is learning to walk again after contracting polio in Australia.
At the Golden Age Children's Polio Convalescent Hospital in Perth, he sees Elsa, a fellow-patient, and they form a forbidden, passionate bond. The Golden Age becomes the little world that reflects the larger one, where everything occurs, love and desire, music, death, and poetry. Where children must learn that they are alone, even within their families.
Written in Joan London's customary clear-eyed prose, The Golden Age evokes a time past and a yearning for deep connection. It is a rare and precious gem of a book from one of Australia's finest novelists.
This is a story of resilience, the irrepressible, enduring nature of love, and the fragility of life. From one of Australia's most loved novelists.
I don't walk past the house next door. I wish the woman who lives in it was dead. Which makes it hard . . . because she was the one who came running when I screamed.
Kat Jones is woken by an Intruder looming over her bed. She's saved by Edwina – the neighbour Kat believes betrayed her dying mother.
Her dad issues an ultimatum. Either spend nights next door, or accept another Intruder in her life – Hercules, the world's ugliest guard dog. It's a no-brainer, even for dog-phobic Kat.
When she meets adorkable Al at the dog park, finally Kat has someone to talk to, someone who cares.
But the prowler isn't finished with Kat. To stop him, she needs Edwina's help . . . and what Kat learns could mend fences – or break her fragile family apart forever.
I don't walk past the house next door. I wish the woman who lives in it was dead. Which makes it hard . . . because she was the one who came running when I screamed.
Already Dead is another heart-stopping ride of sheer suspense from the author of the bestselling Beyond Fear.
Miranda shrank away from him, arm pressed to the driver's door. ‘What's your name?'
‘I'm already dead. That's my name now. That's what they called me. I'm Already Dead.'
Journalist Miranda Jack is finally attempting to move on from the death of her husband by relocating up the coast with her young daughter, Zoe. Then a single event changes everything.
On a Monday afternoon as she waits at traffic lights, a stranger jumps into her car and points a gun at her chest.
Forced to drive at high speed up the motorway, Miranda listens to the frantic, paranoid rants of Brendan Walsh, a man who claims he's being chased and that they're both now running for their lives.
Two hours later her ordeal is over in the most shocking fashion. Miranda is safe but she can't simply walk away – not without knowing the truth about that terrifying drive.
As a journalist Miranda has always asked questions. But this time the questions are dangerous – and the answers might get her killed . . .
Already Dead is another heart-stopping ride of sheer suspense from the author of the bestselling Beyond Fear.
Miranda shrank away from him, arm pressed to the driver's door.…
In the opening months of the First World War, Emden s trail of destruction was tremendous. This one small ship and her skilled and gallant captain wrought havoc on the maritime trade of the British Empire, capturing and sinking ships at will. Australia, sending wool, wheat and gold across the Indian Ocean to sustain the Mother Country and despatching tens of thousands of young men to join the fight, had a vital interest in bringing Emden to her end. The battle, when it came, was short and bloody, an emphatic first victory at sea for the newborn Royal Australian Navy. It remains to this day a celebrated epic of naval warfare.
In the opening months of the First World War, Emden s trail of destruction was tremendous. This one small ship and her skilled and gallant captain wrought havoc on the maritime…
Avery is a sweeping, romantic fantasy novel about loss and identity, and finding the courage to love against all odds.
The people of Kaya die in pairs. When one lover dies, the other does too. So it has been for thousands of years - until Ava.
For although her bondmate, Avery, has been murdered and Ava's soul has been torn in two, she is the only one who has ever been strong enough to cling to life. Vowing revenge upon the barbarian queen of Pirenti, Ava's plan is interrupted when she is captured by the deadly prince of her enemies.
Prince Ambrose has been brought up to kill and hate. But when he takes charge of a strangely captivating Kayan prisoner and is forced to survive with her on a dangerous island, he must reconsider all he holds true . . .
In a violent country like Pirenti, where emotion is scorned as a weakness, can he find the strength to fight for the person he loves . . . even when she's his vengeful enemy?
Avery is a sweeping, romantic fantasy novel about loss and identity, and finding the courage to love against all odds.
The people of Kaya die in pairs. When one lover dies, the…
A deliciously dark bubblegum-gothic fairytale from a stunning new Australian talent.
'He's gone the same way as those little birds that bothered me with their awful songs! And you will too, you and your horrible heart-music, because you won't stay out of my woods!'
There's a dead girl in a birdcage in the woods. That's not unusual.
Isola Wilde sees a lot of things other people don't. But when the girl appears at Isola's window, her every word a threat, Isola needs help.
Her real-life friends - Grape, James and new boy Edgar - make her forget for a while. And her brother-princes - the mermaids, faeries and magical creatures seemingly lifted from the pages of the French fairytales Isola idolises - will protect her with all the fierce love they possess.
It may not be enough. Isola needs to uncover the truth behind the dead girl's demise and appease her enraged spirit, before the ghost steals Isola's last breath.
A deliciously dark bubblegum-gothic fairytale from a stunning new Australian talent.
'He's gone the same way as those little birds that bothered me with their awful songs! And…
A deliciously dark bubblegum-gothic fairytale from a stunning new Australian talent. ‘He’s gone the same way as those little birds that bothered me with their awful songs! And you will too, you and your horrible heart-music, because you won’t stay out of my woods!’ There’s a dead girl in a birdcage in the woods. That’s not unusual. Isola Wilde sees a lot of things other people don’t. But when the girl appears at Isola’s window, her every word a threat, Isola needs help. Her real-life friends – Grape, James and new boy Edgar – make her forget for a while. And her brother-princes – magical creatures seemingly lifted from the pages of the French fairytales Isola idolises – will protect her with all the fierce love they possess. It may not be enough. Isola needs to uncover the truth behind the dead girl’s demise . . . before the ghost steals Isola's last breath. Near’s writing is clever and sharp, with just the right amount of reality and whimsy, blended with the dark fantasy of masters such as Gaiman and Angela Carter . . . It’s a cobbled path leading deep into a forest, where the reader is never quite sure what each stone will bring. This is a brilliant debut that will appeal to both adult and young-adult fantasy lovers.
A deliciously dark bubblegum-gothic fairytale from a stunning new Australian talent. ‘He’s gone the same way as those little birds that bothered me with their awful songs! And you…
Now a major television series on Channel 10 starring Ashleigh Cummings, Brenna Harding and Claudia Karvan - this is the definitive Australian story of teenagers navigating the chaos of life.
The Text Publishing Company and Random House Australia are delighted to announce that they have combined forces to publish the iconic Puberty Blues by Gabrielle Carey and Kathy Lette.
'By day, we were at school learning logarithms, but by night - in the back of cars, under the bowling alley, on Cronulla Beach, or, if you were lucky, in a bed while someone's parents were out - you paid off your friendship ring.'
For Deb and Sue, life is about surfies, panel vans, straight-leg Levis, nicking off from school, getting wasted and fitting in.
But why should guys have all the fun?
Puberty Blues is raw, humorous and honest. An Australian classic.
Now a major television series on Channel 10 starring Ashleigh Cummings, Brenna Harding and Claudia Karvan - this is the definitive Australian story of teenagers navigating the…
Donna Underwood is in deep trouble.An ancient alchemical order is holding her accountable for destroying the last precious drops of the elixar of life. Never mind the fact that Donna was acting to free her friend, Navin, from the dangerous clutches of the Wood Queen at the time. But what the alchemists have in store is nothing compared to the wrath of the fey. The Wood Queen has been tricked and Donna must pay. Get ready for all hell - quite literally - to break loose...
Donna Underwood is in deep trouble.An ancient alchemical order is holding her accountable for destroying the last precious drops of the elixar of life. Never mind the fact that…
On a radiant day in Sydney, four adults converge on Circular Quay, site of the iconic Opera House and the Sydney Harbour Bridge. Crowds of tourists mix with the locals, enjoying the glorious surroundings and the play of light on water.
But each of the four carries a complicated history from elsewhere; each is haunted by past intimacies, secrets and guilt: Ellie is preoccupied by her sexual experiences as a girl, James by a tragedy for which he feels responsible, Catherine by the loss of her beloved brother in Dublin and Pei Xing by her imprisonment during China's Cultural Revolution.
Told over the course of a single Saturday, Five Bells describes four lives which chime and resonate, sharing mysterious patterns and symbols. But it is a fifth person, a child, whose presence at the Quay haunts the day and who will overshadow everything that unfolds. By night-time, when Sydney is drenched in a rainstorm, each life has been transformed.
Five Bells is a novel of singular beauty and power by one of Australia's most gifted novelists.
On a radiant day in Sydney, four adults converge on Circular Quay, site of the iconic Opera House and the Sydney Harbour Bridge. Crowds of tourists mix with the locals, enjoying…
Imagine if your worst fears came true . . . again. At seventeen, Jodie Cramer survived a terrifying assault at the hands of three strangers. Her schoolmate Angie was not so lucky . . . Now thirty-five, Jodie is a teacher and mother of two - and her past is a horror she's buried deep. When she sets out for a weekend in the country with three friends, all she has in mind are a few laughs and a break from routine. However, unknown to the four women, their secluded cabin was once the focus of a police investigation and, like Jodie, holds a very dark secret . . . When Jodie finds evidence of prowlers at the cabin, she is convinced they are being watched, though none of her friends believe her. And after suffering flashbacks to the night of Angie's murder, she also starts to doubt her own sanity. Until two men come knocking at their door.
Imagine if your worst fears came true . . . again. At seventeen, Jodie Cramer survived a terrifying assault at the hands of three strangers. Her schoolmate Angie was not so lucky…
