The Most Beautiful Woman in Florence by Alyssa Palombo

$9.99 AUD

Category: Fiction SPECIALS

A girl as beautiful as Simonetta Cattaneo never wants for marriage proposals in 15th Century Italy, but she jumps at the chance to marry Marco Vespucci. Marco is young, handsome and well-educated. Not to mention he is one of the powerful Medici family's favoured circle. Even before her marriage with Mar co is set, Simonetta is swept up into Lorenzo and Giuliano de' Medici's glittering circle of politicians, poets, artists, and philosophers. The men of Florence-most notably the rakish Giuliano de' Medici - become enthralled with her beauty. That she is educated and an ardent reader of poetry makes her more desirable still. But it is her acquaintance with a young painter, Sandro Botticelli, which strikes her heart most. Botticelli immediately invites Simonetta, newly proclaimed the most beautiful woman in Florence, to pose for him. As Simonetta learns to navigate her marriage, her place in Florentine society, and the politics of beauty and desire, she and Botticelli develop a passionate intimacy, one that leads to her immortalisation in his masterpiece, The Birth of Venus. Alyssa Palombo's The Most Beautiful Woman in Florence vividly captures the dangerous allure of the artist and muse bond with candour and unforgettable passion. ...Show more

8th Confession: Women's Murder Club by James Patterson

$9.99 AUD

Category: Fiction SPECIALS | Series: Women's Murder Club Ser. | Reading Level: very good

 Behind the closed doors of San Francisco's grandest mansions, beautiful people party the nights away in a heady mix of money, drugs, drink and sex. But the rich and famous aren't the only ones with the keys to these most exclusive of addresses, someone else is intent on crashing the party. A rock star, a fashion designer, a software tycoon and a millionaire heiress. Each is glamourous, stunningly attractive and incredibly rich, but their similarities don't end there, they have something else in common too. They are all dead. Just as the rich and famous are the talk of the town when they're alive, interest in them certainly doesn't die when they do, and Detective Lindsay Boxer is quickly assigned to the case. In stark contrast, few people seem as interested when a local hero, Bagman Jesus, is brutally murdered.Reporter Cindy Thomas soon becomes interested in his story: his work with the homeless of San Francisco was admirable. He was loved by so many - who would want to kill him? Could the down-and-out Samaritan have been hiding a dark secret? It isn't just Cindy who has questions that need answering, Lindsay fiercely depends on Claire's help to crack her case. Both seek guidance from their friends, but in doing so, they are forced to confront feelings they'd buried away. Things aren't so simple for Yuki either, as she falls quite literally head over heels in love; but the man of her dreams isn't quite who he seems. The Women's Murder Club need each other more than ever but with tensions running high will the friends be strong enough to stick together or will the strain tear them apart? ...Show more

A Book for All and None by Clare Morgan

$9.99 AUD

Category: Fiction SPECIALS

Raymond is a withdrawn Oxford don and Nietzsche expert who discovers love and life when he meets Beatrice, who is considerably younger than him and works on Virginia Woolf. Walter is Beatrice's alpha-male husband, a power-hungry, philandering construction mogul who makes suspicious deals in the Middle E ast. And around this captivating trio, there is the mystery of a rumoured link between Friedrich Nietzsche and Virginia Woolf... Every single strand is fascinating and fully realised, and yet Clare Morgan somehow manages to weave them together into a dazzling, thought-provoking whole. ...Show more

A Corner of White (The Colours of Madeleine #1) by Jaclyn Moriarty

$9.99 AUD

Category: Fiction SPECIALS | Series: The Colours of Madeleine

'She knew this. That philematology is the science of kissing. That Samuel Langhorne Clemens is better known as Mark Twain. That, originally, gold comes from the stars.' Madeleine Tully lives in Cambridge, England, the World a city of spires, Isaac Newton and Auntie's Tea Shop. Elliot Baranski lives in B onfire, the Farms, the Kingdom of Cello where seasons roam, the Butterfly Child sleeps in a glass jar, and bells warn of attacks from dangerous Colours. They are worlds apart until a crack opens up between them; a corner of white the slim seam of a letter. Elliot begins to write to Madeleine, the Girl-in-the-World a most dangerous thing to do for suspected cracks must be reported and closed. But Elliot's father has disappeared and Madeleine's mother is sick. Can a stranger from another world help to unravel the mysteries in your own? Can Madeleine and Elliot find the missing pieces of themselves before it is too late? A mesmerising story of two worlds; the cracks between them, the science that binds them and the colours that infuse them. ...Show more

A Darker Shade: An Anthology of Swedish Crime Writers by John-Henri Holmberg

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Category: Fiction SPECIALS

Ever since Stieg Larsson shone a light on the brilliance of Swedish crime writing with his bestselling Girl With the Dragon Tattoo trilogy, readers have devoured this new genre of crime fiction. Now the nation's best crimewriters have been brought together to form this dark and gripping collection, publ ished for the first time in the English language. Contributors include: Stieg Larsson, author of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. Henning Mankell, creator of Wallander. Per Wahloo, co-creator of Martin Beck. Eva Gabrielsson, writer and thirty-year partner to Stieg Larsson. ...Show more

A Good Clean Fight (RAF Quartet #2) by Derek Robinson

$6.99 AUD

Category: Fiction SPECIALS

North Africa, 1942. Dust, heat, thirst, flies. A good clean fight, for those who like that sort of thing, and some do. From an advanced landing field, striking hard and escaping fast, our old friends from Hornet Squadron (Piece of Cake) play Russian roulette, flying their clapped-out Tomahawks on ground -strafing forays. Meanwhile, on the ground, the men of Captain Lampard's S.A.S. patrol drive hundreds of miles behind enemy lines to plant bombs on German aircraft. This is the story of a war of no glamour and few heroes, in a setting often more lethal than the enemy. ...Show more

A Question of Trust by Penny Vincenzi

$9.99 AUD

Category: Fiction SPECIALS

Penny Vincenzi, internationally bestselling author of No Angel, has dazzled readers with her intricately crafted novels for nearly twenty years. She unleashes her signature narrative prowess once more in her latest novel, A Question of Trust. In 1950s London, Tom Knelston is charismatic, charming, with a passion for politics and reform. He is a man with ambition--and someone to watch. His wife Alice, a former nurse, shares his ideals. It seems they are the perfect match. Then, out of the blue, Tom meets an old childhood acquaintance, the beautiful and unhappily married Diana Southcott, a fashion model. In many ways, she is everything Tom fights against, but she is also irresistible and so, flirting with danger, they embark on an affair that is potentially damaging to both. And when his child becomes ill, Tom is forced to make decisions about his principles, his career, his marriage, and, most of all, his love for his child.A Question of Trust is a vintage Penny Vincenzi novel: rich in characterization, life-changing decisions, love, desire, and conflict. "Seductively readable+? (The Times), it is a luscious, page-turning read about a precarious situation--both utterly compelling and hugely rewarding. ...Show more

A Sentimental Traitor by Michael Dobbs

$9.99 AUD

Category: Fiction SPECIALS

A Single Thread by Tracy Chevalier

$9.99 AUD

Category: Fiction SPECIALS | Reading Level: 1 Fiction

From the globally bestselling author of Girl with a Pearl Earring 'I loved it. So compelling and warm and subtle, and very moving' Bridget Collins, author of The Binding 'Deeply touching ... careful, beautiful' Louisa Young, author of You Left Early It is 1932, and the losses of the First World War are still keenly felt. Violet Speedwell, mourning for both her fiancé and her brother and regarded by society as a 'surplus woman' unlikely to marry, resolves to escape her suffocating mother and strike out alone. A new life awaits her in Winchester. Yes, it is one of draughty boarding-houses and sidelong glances at her naked ring finger from younger colleagues; but it is also a life gleaming with independence and opportunity. Violet falls in with the broderers, a disparate group of women charged with embroidering kneelers for the Cathedral, and is soon entwined in their lives and their secrets. As the almost unthinkable threat of a second Great War appears on the horizon Violet collects a few secrets of her own that could just change everything...  Warm, vivid and beautifully orchestrated, A Single Thread reveals one of our finest modern writers at the peak of her powers.   ...Show more

A Song for Summer by Eva Ibbotson

$5.99 AUD

Category: Fiction SPECIALS

When eighteen-year-old Ellen accepts the post of housekeeper at Hallendorf School of Music, Drama and Dance she wasn't expecting it to be quite so unusual. For deep in the beautiful Austrian countryside, she finds an eccentrically magical world occupied by wild children and even wilder teachers, experim ental dancers and a tortoise on wheels. Ellen is particularly intrigued by the enigmatic, and very handsome Marek, part-time gardener and fencing teacher.Life in Hallendorf seems idyllic, but outside Hitler's Reich is already casting its menacing shadow over Europe. Through her growing friendship with Marek, Ellen begins to encounter the dreadful reality of a world on the brink of war. And by the time she has figured out Marek's true identity and his dangerous mission, she is completely in love with him – and equally sure that her love will never be requited. ...Show more

A Song for Tomorrow by Alice Peterson

$5.99 AUD

Category: B FORMAT FICTION SPECIALS - MULTI

Tom fell in love with Alice the moment he saw her. He realises that being with her will not be easy, but she is a force of nature, a burst of sunlight in his otherwise ordinary world. Some people might look at Alice and think she has everything, but Alice knows she is not like other women. Her life is c omplicated, unpredictable, difficult. Alice does not like pity. All she wants to do, has ever wanted to do, is sing. Alice has been told not to follow her dreams. So has Tom. But when fate has already dealt a tough hand, it's time to stop listening to everyone else and only follow their hearts. ...Show more

A Talent for Murder by Wilson Andrew

$9.99 AUD

Category: Fiction SPECIALS

Discover the real-life mystery centered on the queen of crime herself. In this tantalizing new novel, Andrew Wilson ingeniously explores Agatha Christie's odd ten-day disappearance in 1926 and weaves an utterly compelling and convincing story around this still unsolved mystery involving the world's best selling novelist. ...Show more