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SURRENDER is a mesmerizing psychological thriller from extraordinary novelist Sonya Hartnett. I am dying: itβs a beautiful word. Like the long slow sigh of a cello: dying. But the sound of it is the only beautiful thing about it. As life slips away, Gabriel looks back over his brief twenty years, which have been clouded by frustration and humiliation. A small, unforgiving town and distant, punitive parents ensure that he is never allowed to forget the horrific mistake he made as a child. He has only two friends - his dog, Surrender, and the unruly wild boy, Finnigan, a shadowy doppelganger with whom the meek Gabriel once made a boyhood pact. But when a series of arson attacks grips the town, Gabriel realizes how unpredictable and dangerous Finnigan is. As events begin to spiral violently out of control, it becomes devastatingly clear that only the most extreme measures will rid Gabriel of Finnigan for good.
One bright spring morning in the woods of France, a soldier, blinded by the war, is found by a little girl named Coco, and her older sister Marcelle. In return for their kindness, the soldier tells the sisters marvellous tales, each story connected to the keepsake he carries in his pocket: a perfect, tiny silver donkey. As the days pass and they struggle in secret to help the soldier reach home, Coco and Marcelle learn the truth behind the silver donkey, and what the precious object means: honesty, loyalty, and courage. This is a joyful and enchanting novel for all ages.
It's the Second World War and, with London becoming an increasingly dangerous place to live, the Lockwood children are whisked away to Heron Hall, to stay with their Uncle Peregrine in the countryside. But when they discover two strange boys hiding in a nearby derelict castle, the past and present collide.
Her muzzle wrinkled, and Andrej saw a glimpse of teeth and pale tongue. 'They smell the same, ' the lioness murmured. 'My cubs smelt as she does. Like pollen.' She breathed deeply again, and Andrej saw the missing cubs returning to her on the wings of the baby's perfume. 'All young ones must come from the same place,' she said: then sat down on her haunches, seemingly satisfied. Under cover of darkness, two brothers cross a war-ravaged countryside carrying a secret bundle. One night they stumble across a deserted town reduced to smouldering ruins. But at the end of a blackened street they find a small green miracle: a zoo filled with animals in need of hope. A moving and ageless fable about war, and freedom.
The year is 1977, and Adrian is nine. He lives with his gran and his uncle Rory; his best friend is Clinton Tull. He loves to draw and he wants a dog; he's afraid of quicksand and self-combustion. Adrian watches his suburban world, but there is much he cannot understand. He does not, for instance, know why three neighbourhood children might set ...
With their father, there's always a catch . . . Colt Jenson and his younger brother Bastian have moved to a new, working-class suburb. The Jensons are different. Their father, Rex, showers them with gifts β toys, bikes, all that glitters most β and makes them the envy of the neighbourhood. To Freya Kiley and the other local kids, the Jensons are a family from a magazine, and Rex a hero β successful, attentive, attractive, always there to lend a hand. But to Colt he's an impossible figure in a different way: unbearable, suffocating. Has Colt got Rex wrong, or has he seen something in his father that will destroy their fragile new lives? Sonya Hartnett's novel for adults is an unflinchin...
Harper and her family live in a ramshackle house in the country. Her brother, Tin, lives below them, building tunnels. It is the Depression and each of them is coping in their own way. One year their lives are changed forever by the misguided actions of a well heeled neighbour.
The Willows own a decaying caravan park. When trusting Oliver befriends an outsider intent on uncovering the secrets of their family, the Willows' world is blown apart in a shocking climax. Published to much acclaim, Sleeping Dogs was the winner of both the 1996 Victorian Premier's Literary Award Sheaffer Pen Prize and the 1996 Miles Franklin Inaugural Kathleen Mitchell Award.
Not all cats are tabby. Not all trees are tall. Not all clouds are white... and not all flowers are yellow. A beautiful and inspiring story, from award-winning writer Sonya Hartnett, about the discovery that being different can be something wonderful.
This is a romantic tale about a young girl's love for a boy named Feather. At the beginning, Maddy comes home to find a teenage boy sitting in her living room. She does not know him, but tells the boy the story of her life and her life with Feather. At the story's end we find the boy is Maddy's unborn child and she is dead. Ages 13+. Winner of Children's Book Council of Australia Awards: Book of the Year - Older Readers 2008. Shortlisted for Commonwealth Writers' Prize Best Book - SE Asia and South Pacific 2008.