Exclusive extract from The Forgotten Garden by Kate Morton, the Great Read in the July issue of The Australian Women’s Weekly. A sharp turn and Eliza was thrown against the hard, cold door. Shocked from sleep, it took her some moments to remember where she was, why she was alone in a darkened carriage being […]

Exclusive extract fromThe Dark Mountainby Catherine Jinks, the Great Read in the June issue of The Australian Women’s Weekly. The day itself was hot and sultry. A late storm threatened in the slow gathering of dark clouds to the north, but from sunrise it was evident that there would be no early relief. I remember […]

Exclusive extract from Certain Girls by Jennifer Weiner. When I was a kid, our small-town paper published wedding announcements, with descriptions of the ceremonies and dresses and pictures of the brides. Two of the disc jockeys on one of the local radio stations would spend Monday morning picking through the photographs and nominating the Bow-Wow […]

Exclusive extract from Trip of a Lifetime by Liz Byrski. Later, even when she’d had time to think about it, she still couldn’t remember anything unusual about that evening; no sense of foreboding, no warning signal, not even feeling of unease. The meeting ran late, it was dark and wet as they came out of […]

Exclusive extract from Addition by Toni Jordan. It’s Friday, 13 degrees. It’s exactly 10.30 a.m. I leave the house on foot, like I do every day. 150 steps to the corner, then 400 to the next corner. 20 to cross the street. 325 to the next corner, then 25 paces to the front of the […]

Download your exclusive first chapter from Bitter Chocoalte by Lesley Lokko here. Marrying The Bookie’s Daughter Port-au-Prince, Haiti 1985 On a hot, sultry afternoon in May when the breeze has stopped and the air was oppressively still, Ameline, the reste-avec in the St Lazare household, pushed open the door to the parlour, dragging her bucket […]

Exclusive extract from A Question of Death (Allen and Unwin) by Kerry Greenwood. Marrying The Bookie’s Daughter ‘Phryne,’ said Lindsay Herbert. ‘Will you marry me?’ Phryne Fisher had been drowsing, lying naked on her moss-green sheets with the young man’s head on her shoulder. Now she was shocked awake. She released Lindsay and slid down […]

Exclusive extract from monsoon by Do Morrissey (Published by Pan MacMillan). Sandy pushed the send button and then, in the twilight, changed into cotton shorts, a T-shirt and running shoes and walked down to Hoan Kiem Lake in the centre of Hanoi to think about her future. She loved the tranquil scenery there – weeping […]

Exclusive extract from Broken (Macmillan Australia) by Ilsa Evans , the Great Read in the September 2007 issue of The Australian Women’s Weekly. She’d worn white to her wedding. Huge clouds of frosted white that billowed around her in the wind like fairytale snow. Against her waist she held a bouquet of milky roses that […]

Exclusive extract from Buying A Piece of Paris (Scribe) by Ellie Nielsen, the Great Read in the August 2007 issue of The Australian Women’s Weekly. It’s true. I didn’t understand French meat. And what I wanted, more than anything else in the world, was to walk into that butcher’s shop and buy a piece of […]