Martine Murray

When twelve-year-old Cedar loses her dog, it sets off a chain of events leading her to find a new friend, become an acrobat, and learn some bitter-sweet truths about family, community, and herself.

The Slightly True Story of Cedar B. Hartley, who Planned to Live an Unusual Life

A big-hearted story of a family filled with secrets, and the ways they grow up--and apart--over the course of a single, life-altering summer.

The Last Summer of Ada Bloom

Molly has a strange life. Her mama collects herbs at dawn and makes potions, her father and brothers have gone away, and her house feels like a gypsy caravan. Molly doesn’t want to know anything about herbs and potions. She wishes she could be more like her best friend, Ellen, who has a normal family and a normal house. But she is also secretly interested in Pim, who is inquisitive and odd and a little bit frightening. When Molly’s mama makes a potion that has a wild and shocking effect, Molly and Pim look for a way to make things right, and Molly discovers the magic and value of her own unusual life. Molly and Pim and the Millions of Stars is a delightful story about friendship and acceptance and learning to see the wonder in the world.

Molly and Pim and the Millions of Stars

The second funny, touching chapter in the life of Cedar B. Hartley, who plans to be infamous. Cedar's world turns upside down when her almost-boyfriend, Kite, moves to Albury to join a professional circus.

(who Can't Help Flying High and Falling in Deep).

The Slightly Bruised Glory of Cedar B. Hartley

When seventeen-year-old, small-town Australian girl Manon Clarkeson leaves home in the middle of the night, wearing her mother's long, inappropriate red silk dress and riding her bike, she is heading for Melbourne, not exactly sure what she is looking for but not wanting to stay at home alone with her father anymore.

How to make a bird

-Originally published in paperback by The Text Publishing Company, Melbourne, Australia in 2015---Copyright page.

Molly & Pim and the Millions of Stars

When she investigates the ominous noise under her bed, Henrietta finds a small fairy with a big problem.

Henrietta Gets a Letter

There’s a hill out the back of Joey’s house. Hardly anyone goes there—it’s not a beautiful place, just a covered-over old rubbish tip. But Joey likes it up there. It’s his hill—somewhere he likes to go to wonder about life. He longs to be the best at something, to be a famous astronaut, or mountain climber, to stand out. When Joey discovers a tree house in an old peppercorn tree on the hill, he is annoyed that someone has invaded his special place. But he is also curious about who the intruder could be. But making contact isn’t easy. The tree-house girl is wild and hostile and full of secrets—Joey needs to work out a way to win her over. And as he does, he finds a way to shine. Marsh and Me is a story about friendship and trust and learning to believe in yourself and what makes you special. Martine Murray’s beautifully rounded characters, with all their self-doubts, yearnings and wise insights, will delight readers young and old.

Marsh and Me

Henrietta, the great go-getter, is going to be a big sister, but she'll have to wait half way to Christmas before the baby is ready. Five charming and quirky stories from the author of the CBCA shortlisted book Molly and Pim and the Millions of Stars. HONOUR BOOK: CBCA Book of the Year, Younger Readers, 2018 Hello everybody, it's me. Henrietta the Great Go-Getter, and I'm having a big think. Right now I'm thinking I'd like a baby sister, so I can dress her up in different sorts of hats. But Mum says we'll have to wait and see. I'm terrible at waiting. Meanwhile, I'm an explorer of life, and that includes trees, bugs, animals and all mysteries. I'm going to school for the very first time, which means I might have to go as a spy so that I can have a secret peep inside... When Henrietta sees Olive Higgie crying in the classroom, she goes on a rescue mission and finds that you only need one friend in a room full of strangers to feel perfectly happy. Henrietta's stories are full of funny thoughts and discoveries, and maybe the best are the ones that take a long time to come.

Henrietta and the Perfect Night

A big-hearted story of a family filled with secrets, and the ways they grow up—and apart—over the course of a single, life-altering summer. In a small country town during one long, hot summer, the Bloom family is beginning to unravel. Martha is straining against the confines of her life, lost in regret for what might have been, when an old flame shows up. In turn, her husband Mike becomes frustrated with his increasingly distant wife. Marital secrets, new and long-hidden, start to surface—with devastating effect. And while teenagers Tilly and Ben are about to step out into the world, nine-year-old Ada is holding onto a childhood that might soon be lost to her. When Ada discovers an abandoned well beneath a rusting windmill, she is drawn to its darkness and danger. And when she witnesses a shocking and confusing event, the well’s foreboding looms large in her mind—a driving force, pushing the family to the brink of tragedy. For each family member, it’s a summer of searching—in books and trees, at parties, in relationships new and old—for the answer to one of life’s most difficult questions: how to grow up? The Last Summer of Ada Bloom is an honest and tender accounting of what it means to come of age as a teen, or as an adult. With a keen eye for summer’s languor and danger, and a sharp ear for the wonder, doubt, and longing in each of her characters’ voices, Martine Murray has written a beguiling story about the fragility of family relationships, about the secrets we keep, the power they hold to shape our lives, and about the power of love to somehow hold it all together.

• A beautiful and affecting story about the fragility of family relationships and about the pervading effects of secrets we keep, set in a small Victorian country town. • It is 1980, the year of John Lennon's assassination, and the Bloom family is beginning to unravel. Martha is lost in regret for her past, her husband Mike is yearning for a time when his wife wasn't always so distant, teenagers Tilly and Ben are both coming of age in their own unruly ways, and nine-year-old Ada is holding on to a childhood that is about to be lost to her. • Told from the perspectives of each family member, Martine Murray's impressive adult fiction debut is about a family growing up and growing apart, each of them longing for their own kind of freedom. • Lyrical, sophisticated and immensely captivating, The Last Summer of Ada Bloom is ultimately a story about relationships, what people withhold from each other, and what happens when secrets, present and past, come to light. • For fans of Holly Throsby's Goodwood, Peggy Frew's Hope Farm and Anne Tyler's A Spool of Blue Thread • Martine Murray is an award-winning children’s novelist and illustrator. She was born in Melbourne and now lives in Castlemaine, Victoria.

Funky, charming and full of adventure, this story about the inimitable Henrietta is perfect for young children and anyone else with a curly imagination. In an appealing small hardback format, illustrated throughout.

The Great Go-getter

Henrietta

A gentle and humorous fable about a tiny monster who causes enormous trouble in one village. The story pits the small village, with its stream and forest and fields, against human greed, carefully stirred into the minds of the hapless villagers by the attention-seeking Wanting Monster. The villagers realize that their emergent competitiveness and acquisitiveness has ruined the life and beauty of their village, just as the Wanting Monster, now expelled from the village, realizes the value of befriending.

The Wanting Monster

Molly has a strange life. Her mama collects herbs at dawn and makes potions, her father and brothers have gone away, and her house feels like a gypsy caravan. Molly doesn’t want to know anything about herbs and potions. She wishes she could be more like her best friend, Ellen, who has a normal family and a normal house. But she is also secretly interested in Pim, who is inquisitive and odd and a little bit frightening. When Molly’s mama makes a potion that has a wild and shocking effect, Molly and Pim look for a way to make things right, and Molly discovers the magic and value of her own unusual life. Molly and Pim and the Millions of Stars is a delightful story about friendship and acceptance and learning to see the wonder in the world. Martine Murray writes and illustrates picture books, middle-grade fiction and young adult fiction, including The Slightly True Story of Cedar B Hartley, The Slightly Bruised Glory of Cedar B Hartley and How to Make a Bird. Her books have been published internationally and translated into seventeen languages. She was born in Melbourne and currently lives in Castlemaine in Victoria. 'Murray’s storytelling is so fresh and beguiling that, for a moment, we feel this is great wisdom heard for the first time.’ The Times UK, ‘Children’s Book of the Week’ ‘Martine Murray’s writing is majestical and sophisticated...this book has a sense of wonder about it.’ Books & Publishing ‘A beautiful magical story, full of surprises and brimming with wisdom.’ Karen Foxlee ‘Molly and Pim is wild, whimsical and wonderful. It makes you fall in love with the world and everyone in it.’ Sally Rippin ‘Open-hearted and magical—an utter delight.’ Rebecca Stead ‘Here is a middle-grade novel that sees beauty and magic in the environment around us, and celebrates seeds of friendship which grow deep roots. I loved this charming and whimsical novel, and young readers will too!’ Alpha Reader ‘Murray gives the reader a truly delightful tale and adorns her text with charming illustrations...A magical read.’ BookMooch ‘Sensory and lyrical, with awe-inspiring imagery.’ Boomerang Books ‘A sweet and heart-warming story, perfect for children and adults too.’ Bookish Manicurist ‘Sensitive and wonderfully eccentric...This is a beautiful, hopeful book.’ Readings ‘There is a lyrical quality to this narrative, a cadence—soft and whimsical. Martine Murray’s Molly and Pim and the Millions of Stars brings a sense of magic and wonder and is beautifully written.’ ReadPlus ‘This novel is The Loveliest. Sweet and splendid and magical, while still being of-this-world.’ Steph Bowe ‘A novel for young readers about difference, connections, magic, life and the forces of nature...Beautifully written.’ Stuff NZ ‘It’s such a gorgeous story that I devoured it in one sitting, marvelling in the beauty of small little sketches that were dotted intermittently throughout the novel and the lyrical way the paragraphs were weaved together, presenting a book that was equally satisfying to admire and immerse yourself in.’ Written Word Worlds ‘Magical and perceptive’ Parents in Touch ‘Murray’s storytelling is so fresh and beguiling that, for a moment, we feel this is great wisdom heard for the first time.’ Times UK ‘A glorious heartwarming book.’ Read It Daddy ‘Molly and Pim and the Millions of Stars by Martine Murray is an eccentric highly readable story about friendship and individuality. If you have ever marvelled at all the wonder in the world then join Molly on an exciting adventure of discovery.’ Armadillo

The Owl Who Got Left Behind

When Joey, a loner whose life consists of home, school, and the hill where he plays guitar, meets Marsh, she opens his eyes to a new world.

Marsh & Me

storia quasi vera di una tredicenne con una vita da acrobata

Il mio cuore fa i salti mortali

For fans of Katherine Rundell’s Rooftoppers comes a story about mothers and daughters and magical trees that Rebecca Stead calls “an utter delight.” All Molly wants is to be normal like her friend Ellen Palmer. Ellen, with her neat braids and a tidy house and a mother and father who are home for dinner every night. But Molly’s mom spends her mornings tramping through the woods, looking for ingredients for her potions. Their house is not neat, and their rooster, the Gentleman, runs wild in their yard. And it is the Gentleman that angers their grumpy neighbors, the Grimshaws. So Molly’s mom makes a potion that will grow a tree between their houses. When Molly’s mom accidentally drinks the potion and turns into the tree, Molly is determined to get her back. But with the Grimshaws planning to cut down the tree branches that reach onto their property, time is of the essence. With the help of her mysterious classmate Pim Wilder, Molly sets out to save her mother and discovers the wonder that lies in the ordinary. Praise for Molly & Pim and the Millions of Stars: “Open-hearted and magical—an utter delight.” —Rebecca Stead, author of When You Reach Me and Goodbye, Stranger “A beautiful, magical story, full of surprises and brimming with wisdom.” —Karen Foxlee, author of Ophelia and the Marvelous Boy

Mannie is escaping - from small town life, from family mysteries, from grief, from her fragile former self; she's heading for the city in search of an elusive 'something' to make herself feel right. A YA novel of rare sensitivity, whimsical humour and revelation.

How to Make a Bird

Friendship takes some imagination in this story of two kids who discover they have more in common than they knew, for fans of Stargirl. Joey wants more than anything to talk to someone about music, to be a part of the group. But he's so shy, something always seems to get in the way. He escapes to a secret place on a hill, until one day he discovers that a strange girl has invaded the hill--and built a fort that looks like a spaceship. The hill is the one place he can be himself, so Joey decides he needs to stake his claim. He confronts the girl, whom he calls Marsh (short for Martian), and finds that she has been busy in her little makeshift "spaceship," building an imaginary world. It's a world that hides secrets, but might also be the very thing to bring Joey out of his shell. And when Joey decides to follow Marsh home, her real life is not what he expected. But there he finds that they have music in common and he realizes that no distance is so great that music cannot bridge. Martine Murray brings a unique friendship to life in this openhearted, imaginative tale.

Martine Murray

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