Land Down Under:
Novels Set in Australia


Baggage, by Emily Barr. Plume, 2003, 2002.

Lina Pritchett thinks she is safe in Craggy Rock, one of the most remote hamlets in Australia and that no one, not even her husband, will ever find out that she i sreally Daisy Fraser, who supposedly committed suicide 10 years earlier while awaiting trial for the murder of four of her friends by supplying them with tainted drugs. But her secret is about to be exposed when she unexpectedly runs into her old best friend.

The Past is Another Country, by Lois Battle. Viking, 1990.

Decades after their days at St. Brigid's convent school, three women-Hollywood director Megan, married Greta, and Sister Joan-reunite and struggle to rediscover themselves.

The Back of Beyond,by Barbara Bickmore. Kensington, 1994.

In 1938, with the world on the verge of war, Dr. Cassandra Clarke becomes the first woman to serve in the Australian Flying Doctor Service, and finds herself torn between three very different men.

Call Waiting, by Dianne Blacklock. T. Dunne, 2003, 2002.

Dissatisfied with her life as a teacher, Ally Tasker envies her best friend Meg's seemingly idyllic (perfect job, perfect man, perfect child) exitsence. But Meg is not as happy as she seems, and looks to handsome contractor Matt Serrano, to inject some passion and spontaneity in her life.

Oscar & Lucinda, by Peter Carey. Harper & Row, 1988.

Booker Prize-winning novel about Oscar, a defrocked Anglican priest and Lucinda, who owns a glass factory because she thinks that industrialization will bring about the liberation of women. The unlikely duo, who share a compulsion for gambling, embark on a half-mad expedition to transport a glass church across the Outback. By the same author: The True History of the Kelly Gang (2001, 2000), My Life as a Fake (2003), Theft (2006).

Price of an Orphan, by Patricia Carlon. Soho, 1999, 1964.

Nine-year-old Johanny Bradford witnesses a murder, but no one believes him because he has alwats been a trouble-maker with a habit of making up tall tales. Then he digs up a piece of physical evidence that draws even more of the killer's attention to himself. By the same author: The Whispering Wall (1996, 1969), The Running Woman (1998), The Unquiet Night (2000, 1965), Death By Demonstration (2001, 1970), Hush, It's a Game (2001, 1967), Who Are You, Linda Condrick? (2002, 1962).

Matrimonial Causes, by Peter Corris. Dell, 1994.

An electic mix of fantasy, horror, and science fiction by Australian writers new and old.

The Secrets Within, by Emma Darcy. Mira, 1997.

With only four months to live, ruthless Eleanor Vandelier plots to make sure her daughter, Tamara, does not get her inheritance. Meanwhile, Tamara has a plan to destroy the mother who never loved her, but which may also destroy the man who does.

The Drowner, by Robert Drewe. St. Martin's, 1997. 1996.

In the late 1800s, Will, a Civil engineer, is the son of a "drowner"-a person who understands the secrets of irrigation. He takes a job that involves laying a pipeline to carry water from Perth to the desert interior where gold is being mined, water is in short supply, and typhoid a constant danger.

The Vines of Yarrabee, by Dorothy Eden. Coward-McCann, 1969.

An aristocratic English beauty who marries an ambitious and ruthless plantation owner isn't prepared for the violence of the Australian wilderness.

The Service of Clouds, by Delia Falconer. Farrar, Straus, Giroux, 1998.

Follows the coming-of-age of Eureka Jones, whose town of Katoomba springs to life once she sees it through the eyes of photographer Harry Kitchings, for whom she bears a never-to-be-fulfilled passion.

My Brilliant Career, by Miles Franklin. St. Martin's, 1980, 1901.

Headstrong 16-year old Sybylla Melvyn is determined to live a life independent of the stagnant life on her parents' dairy farm where her inevitable fate is to be either a teacher or a wife.

Inherit the Sun, by Maxwell Grant. Coward, McCann & Geoghegan, 1981.

Epic story of daring and dynasty in the Australian Outback as lived through three generations of the Carylon family.

Pride of the Peacock, by Victoria Holt. Doubleday, 1976.

Anxious to escape the resentment of her once wealthy family, a young woman enters into a platonic marriage to the heir of an opal fortune and moves with him to Australia.

Oyster, by Janette Turner Hospital. Norton, 1998, 1996.

Outsiders once flocked to the remote town of Outer Maroo looking for the "truth" as interpreted by a charismatic doomsday prophet named Oyster. Abruptly they stopped coming. Now, a year later, few visitors come to Outer Maroo and nobody will talk about what happened at Oyster's commune.

Snake, by Kate Jennings. Ecco, 1997.

Contemptuous of her war-hero husband and feeling suffocated by life in a farm town, Irene enters into a series of unfaithful liaisons.

The Playmaker, by Thomas Keneally. Simon & Schuster, 1987.

In 1789, Lt. Ralph Clark is given the task of recruiting a cast of convicts to put on a production of George Farquhar's Restoration Comedy "The Recruiting Officer."

River Town, by Thomas Keneally. Talese, 1995.

In turn-of-the-century New South Wales, Tim Shea struggles with his own and society's demons to make a life for his family.

Woman of the Inner Sea, by Thomas Keneally. Doubleday, 1993.

Kate Gaffney-Kozinski flees her marriage to the Australian outback where she hides her identity and finally comes into her own as a person.

Kangaroo, by D. H. Lawrence. Penguin, 1983.

A couple leave post-war Europe for the beauty of Australia where they become involved with the leader of a political group called the Diggers.

The Hero, by Louise Le Nay. Allen & Unwin, 1996.

With their mother dead and their father missing in action during World War I, Nonie and her siblings are brought to live with their Aunt Ruth. In the year that passes Nonie learns how to make sense of the adult world and how to give & take and to trust & love.

The Thorn Birds, by Colleen McCullough. Harper & Row, 1977.

Epic saga depicting the lives and loves of the proud Cleary family, in particular the fiery Meggie, whose life is haunted by her doomed love for a Catholic priest.

Tim, by Colleen McCullough. Hall, 1974.

A middle-aged spinster begins a relationship with a strikingly handsome but retarded young man.

The Conversations at Curlow Creek, by David Malouf. Pantheon, 1996.

In 1827, two men-one a convicted felon and the other the officer charged with hanging him at dawn-spend a night in a hut speaking of their very different lives.

Remembering Babylon, by David Malouf. Pantheon, 1993.

In the 1840s, cabin-boy Gemmy Fairley is washed up on the Queensland coast where he is found by Aboriginals. Sixteen years later he is "rescued" and must assimilate back into white society.

Loving Daughters, by Olga Masters. Norton, 1993.

After World War I, Una and Enid Herbert, two lively young women hungry for love are both smitten by clergyman Colin Edwards.

Tears of the Moon, by Di Morrissey. HarperPaperbacks, 1998, 1995.

Lily Barton, desperate to learn more of her forgotten past, finds her great-grandmother's diary which reveals the secret behind a love so enduring that nothing could destroy the power of its magic.

Beautiful Lies, by Emilie Richards. Mira, 1999.

To be on the safe side, Liana Robertson locks a century-old pearl said to be "cursed" in a vault. When her son disappears with it, Liana and her ex-husband must put aside their bitterness to find the boy and the enemy determined to reclaim the dangerous treasure.

The Estuary, by Georgia Savage. Graywolf, 1993, 1987.

In trying to cope with the death of her husband, Vinnie Beaumont unwittingly becomes estranged from her only child, Clare. Vinnie attempts a new beginning by working at an exotic hotel dubbed "The Bananas," where she encounters all manner of eccentric personalities.

A Town Like Alice, by Nevil Shute. Morrow, 1971.

Having survived immense cruelty as a Japanese prisoner-of-war in the South Pacific, Jean Paget returns to pay her debt of gratitude to the Malayans and to the Australian soldier who befriended her.

On the Beach, by Nevil Shute. Morrow, 1957.

The people of Melbourne deal with the reality of approaching death as the fallout from a recent atomic war in the north approaches.

Turning Back the Sun, by Colin Thubron. E. Burlingame, 1992.

A young doctor is dispatched to a frontier town where mutual fear sets native blacks against whites, and when two bodies wash up in the river, apparently murdered by aborigines, racial hatreds build. Violence erupts after a baffling disease starts rumors of poison and plague.

Listening for Small Sounds, by Penelope Trevor. Allen & Unwin, 1996.

Joss is a young girl trapped in the tensions of her parents' tangled marriage and at night she lies in bed listening for small sounds to determine that mood of her unpredictable and violent father.

The Eye of the Storm, by Patrick White. Viking, 1973.

Blessed at birth with wealth, charm, and beauty, Elizabeth Hunter has wrecked havoc all her life with her constant demands for love and her inability to give it. Now at 80, she prepares to die and receives a string of visitors, including her middle-aged children who have returned from the other side of the world.

The Dreaming, by Barbara Wood. Random House, 1991.

In 1871, after the death of her parents, Joanna Drury leaves her native India for Australia to unlock the secret past that haunted her mother.

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