Peter Corris
Saving Billie

When journalist Louise Kramer hires Cliff Hardy to find Billie Marchant, Hardy heads for unfamiliar territory of the far southwestern suburbs of Sydney. Billie claims to have information about media big-wheel Jonas Clement – the subject of an incriminating expose by Kramer. Clement doesn’t want Billie found and Clement’s enemies want to find her first. Hardy tracks Billie down, but Billie, ex-stripper, sometime hooker and druggie, is a handful. The enemies close in and Hardy is soon fighting on several different fronts. Clement and his chief rival, Barclay Greaves, have heavies in the field, and Hardy has to negotiate his way through their divided loyalties. Some negotiations involve cunning but others involve guns. The action takes place against the backdrop of the Federal election campaign, and all outcomes are uncertain.

Jo Dutton
Out Of Place

Daughter of Italian immigrant Eve, and mother of beautiful Jasmine and headstrong Ella, Nina’s life has always been bound to those of other women. Out of Place charts Nina’s course through life, from her girlhood, when her mother’s European ways are a puzzle and an embarrassment, through to her troubled marriage to a man who is always looking elsewhere for happiness, to her struggles as a mother. But just when these three generations of feisty women seem to be pulling together and looking to a happier future, where their lives and loves can be balanced by distance and independence, a tragic accident tears them apart.

On the eve of the local rugby club (the 'Rabbitohs') being expelled from the national competition, Johnnie Butler arrives in Redfern with his mother. On the day that the Rabbitohs are kicked out of the league, Johnnie disappears. When found, he is profoundly disturbed and has lost the power of speech. What has caused Johnnie to descend into silence? This powerful novel traverses the twentieth century, interweaving the experiences of Greek and Lebanese immigrants, Aboriginal stolen children, World War II prisoners of war, and sporting fanatics whose lifelong devotion to their local footy club is essential to their identity. It is a deeply moving and unforgettable story.