Kathleen Hale

Maureen McCarthy

A moving novel about three country girls sharing an inner-city house in their first year of university. A novel with political and social themes as well as an incisive portrait of different families, and the relationships between mothers and daughters in particular.

Queen Kat, Carmel and St. Jude Get a Life

11-year-old Ruth is stuck in a family who just don't understand her. It takes a magical encounter with the sharp-nosed and even sharper-tongued Rodney the Rat to help her see what's really important. Ruth is sick of her annoying family who are all too busy and preoccupied with their own lives. Her brothers are exasperating and her parents are embarrassing and nobody understands her – except her beloved aunt, Mary Ellen, who has just died. But when Rodney the Rat grants her three chances to wish for her perfect life, Ruth gets a whole lot more than she bargained for. Her first wish is for the perfect family – but that is boring and strangely oppressive, and she misses her brothers. So in her second wish she thinks it would be best to have no family at all. But that doesn’t turn out too well either. Finally she wishes she could just be somebody who is noticed… A moving, warm and funny story about family, friends and coming back home from best-selling author Maureen McCarthy.

Careful what You Wish for

So how did you meet him? I hear you asking. Was it love at first sight? Was he a fellow teacher? Did you meet in a pub? This might be hard to believe, but the first time I looked into your father's eyes, he was holding a gun to my head. But first, let me explain . . . Everything is coming together for twenty-year-old Kit. She loves her new subjects at uni, she has some great friends, her big country family is safely three hours drive away, and the lecturer she's been idolising for months seems interested in her. Kit's life is taking off! But then there's an accident, the family calls Kit back, and suddenly all her certainties are shattered. Kit takes off to Ireland in search of answers. What she finds is a past dominated by violence, a present where the history still lives and a man who can help her understand . . .

When You Wake and Find Me Gone

Rose is all packed up. She's got a van full of petrol and a stack of CDs. She's got a surfboard in the back and a secret that won't go away. But that's okay. She also has enough attitude to light up the night sky. Then her mother decides to come along... and Rose's road trip takes an unplanned U-turn, straight to the heart of last summer. For ages 16+, this is a new edition of the best-selling book by much loved author Maureen McCarthy. A warm, generous novel, big on family dynamics, and a rich portrait of a feisty young girl facing up to love, loss and life's big issues.

Rose by Any Other Name

At seventeen, Sophie is a mess. Her best friend is dead and her boyfriend has gone. She's dropped out of school, sleeps through the day, eats all night and refuses to see anyone. Her family has had enough. But Sophie is about to embark on the strangest journey of her life. It will take her back into her family's past, back to the origins of the bitter rift between her mother and her Aunt Fran, to her Uncle Jimmy and the Vietnam War, and finally to the girl in the painting and the story haunting all their lives.

Chain of Hearts

Christian. Blank

Cross my Heart.

Flash Jack

A murder in a country town is the backdrop for the story of three young people, Alice, Tom and Jonty, who are bound together because Alice's mother was murdered and Jonty is the suspect.

Somebody's crying

Somebody's Crying

Carmel, Jude and Katerina come from the same country town, so when they all move into the same inner-city house in their first university year, sparks are ready to fly. But this year is a time to re-invent themselves, a time to get a life.

When burglars break into Jack's house, they take all his stuff. Now he's got no skateboard, no TV, no music, nothing. All his brothers do is fight, his mum thinks they all need counselling, his dad's trying to set an example, but hey, who's interested? Jack just wants to get out of that house. So he does. And he meets Diana. And her dog. And her grandma, who wears tiger-skin bikinis. They're all pretty vicious. And suddenly, life is anything but boring.

Book 4 in the 'Mission Top Secret' series of six titles. The Centauri Network, an international computer-linked association of children, helps to solve the mysterious failure of the Spanish fishing harvest by recovering the lost icon of good fortune: the golden chalice. The Network is connected by the world's most powerful computer, which is housed in a farm in the Australian outback. The ABC TV series of the same name is a co-production of Grundy Australia Productions and Quartier Latin Productions for the European Children's Film Corporation.

The Treasure of Cala Figuera

When burglars break in to Jack's house, they take all his stuff. Now he's got no skateboard, no CDs, nothing. All his brothers do is fight his mum's going crazy, his dad's trying to set an example, but hey, who's interested? Then Jack meets Diana. And life is anything but boring. For ages 12 to 16.

A compulsively readable story which has achieved classic status. Three very different girls from the same country town share an inner-city house during their first year out of school.

Queen Kat, Carmel and St Jude Get a Life

There is no getting away from the past ... A breathtaking novel from Maureen McCarthy, spanning generations, that will be devoured by young women, their sisters, friends, mothers and grandmothers.

Maureen McCarthy

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