by Joy Dettman
‘A rich tapestry of love and loss, family loyalty and personal sacrifice . . . Marillier’s strong voice and rolling, lucid prose seem appropriate for a 10th century Irish tale, and her command of a fantasy story’s elements make this an excellent conclusion to a fine trilogy’
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
‘an utterly absorbing, satisfying end to the trilogy, and perhaps the best novel of the three’
THE HISTORICAL NOVELS REVIEW
Cecilia Dart-Thornton
The Lady of the Sorrows
BOOK TWO OF THE BITTERBYNDE TRILOGY
Though Imrhien’s memory is clouded by sorcery, she must take vital news to the King-Emperor of Caermelor. She hopes that there she may also find Thorn, the fearless ranger who has won her heart.
Since no commoner may approach the royal court, Imrhien assumes a new identity as Rohain, a noble visitor from the distant Sorrow Isles. She soon discovers that the King and his rangers have departed to battle the unseelie hordes which have suddenly declared war against mortals.
Attacks by nightmare monsters of the Wild Hunt, led by the unseelie Lord Huon, grow ever more frequent and brutal. And when evil forces lay siege to the royal sanctuary on a hidden mystic island, Rohain is confronted with a horrifying discovery.
To protect those she loves, the Lady of the Sorrows must undertake a desperate quest to discover who she is and why an unhuman evil would wreak such destruction. But the truth of Rohain’s past will prove more incredible – and far more tragic – than any she could possibly have imagined.
‘Not since Tolkien’s The Fellowship of the Ring . . . have I been so impressed by a beautifully spun fantasy’
ANDRE NORTON, GRAND MASTER OF SCIENCE FICTION
‘a narrative tapestry that is richly imagined and teeming with enchanted beings, a Goblin Market meets Lord of the Rings’
SUNDAY AGE
Beverley Harper
Jackal’s Dance
Agony exploded in her knee. She staggered, tried to keep going, then nearly fell as a shocking pain rushed up her leg. Confusion and fear swamped her senses, escape suddenly essential. The tuskless cow turned and hobbled away, each step agonising torture. Her front right knee joint had been shattered by the single copper-jacketed bullet.
Man, her hated enemy, had just handed out a death sentence.
As the rangers and staff of a luxurious lodge in Etosha National Park, Namibia, welcome the last guests of the season, thoughts are predominantly on the three-month break ahead. Except for Sean, who is fighting his growing attraction for the manager’s wife, Thea.
Camping in the park nearby, Professor Eben Kruger has his work cut out keeping the attention of the university students in his charge on the behavioural habits of the cunning jackal.
None of them could ever be prepared for the horrendous events about to take place. Each will be pushed to breaking point as the quest for survival becomes the only thing that matters.
Shocking, gripping, breathtaking.
‘Because her novels are set in Africa, Australian writer Beverley Harper has been labelled our answer to Wilbur Smith . . . the fact is that Harper is a considerably better writer. Jackal’s Dance is her most accomplished work’
GOLD COAST BULLETIN
‘ . . . very credibly written, gripping, exciting and obviously well-researched’
MARIE CLAIRE
Isolde Martyn
The Silver Bride
England 1483. It seems the Wars of the Roses are not yet over. Only the powerful rule of Edward IV prevents old enmities from tumbling the kingdom into civil strife. In Wales, Sir Miles Rushden, adviser to Harry, Duke of Buckingham, awaits the chance to thrust his friend towards the crown. And in the north, Richard, Duke of Gloucester is becoming increasingly isolated from the growing intrigue in the south.
But the threat to Miles’s ambitions, when it comes, is from a completely unexpected source. A land dispute sees him forced into a marriage at sword-point with Heloise, a girl whose clairvoyancy terrifies people. He thinks himself rid of her but Heloise seeks out her reluctant husband after being cruelly cast out by her father. Miles must tread carefully as his unwanted wife is a former maid of honour in Gloucester’s household and has powerful allies.
With the sudden death of the king, Miles and Heloise find themselves at the heart of a power struggle as the mighty dukes of Gloucester and Buckingham manoeuvre ruthlessly to seize the crown. In a conspiracy that could have a lethal ending, can loyalty, that most elusive, fragile cornerstone of love, prevail?
Jacqueline Carey
Kushiel’s Dart
She will sell me to this cruel old woman, I thought, and experienced a thrill of terror. My mother stood with my hand in hers and gazed down at my upturned face. It is my last memory of her, those great, dark, lambent eyes searching my own, coming at last to rest upon the left. Through our joined hands, I felt the shudder she repressed.
Such a small thing on which to hinge such a fate. Nothing more than a mote, a fleck, a mere speck of colour. If it had been any other hue, perhaps, it would have been a very different story. My eyes, when they had settled, were that colour the poets call bistre, a deep and lustrous darkness, like a forest pool under the shade of the ancient oaks. Bistre, then, rich and liquid-dark, save for the left eye, where in the iris that ringed the black pupil, a fleck of colour shone. Thus did I enter the world, with an ill-luck name and a pinprick of living blood emblazoned in my gaze.
‘Take her, then.’ Letting go my hand, she shoved me violently. I turned my head at the last for one final glimpse of my mother, but her face was averted, shoulders shaking with soundless tears. I had entered a different world.
Is it any wonder, then, that I became what I did? Delaunay maintains that it was ever my destiny, and perhaps he is right, but this I know is true: When Love cast me out, it was Cruelty who took pity upon me.
Dianne Blacklock
Call Waiting
Ally Tasker is trapped in a dead end teaching job and a relationship that’s going nowhere. Her dreams of a fulfilling life after art college didn’t include cleaning up after bored school children and being a doormat for her yuppie boyfriend. What she really wants is to be more like her friend Meg – at least she has turned her art training into a lucrative job in computer design, not to mention having a doting husband and a gorgeous baby son to complete the package.
But when Ally’s grandfather and sole relative dies, she returns to the Southern Highland home of her childhood where she must confront painful issues from her past that her safe life in the city has allowed her to ignore. Meanwhile Meg is not as happy as Ally imagines. Dissatisfied with the pretty picture her world projects, a restless Meg longs to inject more passion and spontaneity into her life – but at what cost to her family’s happiness?
Sometimes you have to risk all you have to realise what is worth saving.
‘Full of genuine warmth and gentle humour . . . the perfect example of utterly relaxing escapism’
CATHY KELLY
