Opening Sentence:One way Martha wanted me out of her kitchen, but another way she didn’t want me burning wood to keep just myself warm. Synopsis:Set in the Housatonic Valley of Connecticut in 1816, this is the beautifully told story of… Read More ›
International Standard Book Number
‘Too Safe For Their Own Good’ by Michael Ungar
Opening Sentence:Tom and Janice thought they had shown the right amount of concern. Synopsis:While our kids are safer now than they have ever been, we are constantly fearful for them. We drive them everywhere, organise their time, and cocoon them… Read More ›
Black Juice by Margo Lanagan
Opening Sentence:We all went down to the tar-pit, with mats to spread our weight. Synopsis:‘And through the silence comes something immense and leisurely, that sheds the filth of heavens from it’s dusty wings…Whatever it is, it comes for all of… Read More ›
Haunted Animals by Allan Zullo
Opening Sentence:Some kids claim they have seen ghosts. Synopsis:A ghostly cat comforts its former owner. A mistreated bulldog returns to haunt its master. A mysterious horse leads a group of rescuers to an injured boy – then disappears. Could animals… Read More ›
Fat Cat – A Danish Folk Tale
Synopsis:Have you heard the saying “your eyes are bigger than your stomach”? Well, Cat’s stomach is bigger than his eyes. He is always hungry and manages to eat everything in sight, including the washlady and her washtub, a troop of… Read More ›
The Little Election
Synopsis:One day at lunchtime, Rory decides to become the Prime Minister because then he can do anything he wants. Before you know it, the whole class is having an election. Who will be the new Prime Minister: Rory or Debra-Jo… Read More ›
The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
Opening Sentence:In my younger and more vulnerable years my father gave me some advice that I’ve been turning over in my mind ever since. Synopsis:The Great Gatsby captures all the romance and glitter of the Jazz Age in its portrayal… Read More ›
Splinter by Adam Roberts
Opening Sentence:Hector flew in. Synopsis:When Hector discovers his estranged father has channeled the family fortune into a bizarre survivalist sect who await the imminent destruction of the Earth, he is wracked by feelings of betrayal and doubt. Things change, however,… Read More ›
The Life of Riley by Steve Wright
Opening Sentence:As he stumbled and cursed his way up the flinty slope of Mount Mornington beneath a remorseless summer sun, Joseph Cornelius Riley experienced the painful delusion that he was not twenty miles inland from the breeze-sweetened coast of Central… Read More ›
Seven Little Australians by Ethel Turner
Opening Sentence:Before you fairly start this story I should like to give you just a word of warning. Synopsis:’Without doubt Judy was the worst of the seven, probably because she was the cleverest.’ Her father, Captain Woolcot, found his vivacious,… Read More ›
The World Without Us by Alan Weisman
Opening Sentence:One June morning in 2004, Ana Maria Santi sat against a post beneath a large palm-thatched canopy, frowning as she watched a gathering of her people in Mazaraka, their hamlet on the Rio Conambu, an Ecuadorian tributary of the… Read More ›
Rafferty's Rules is Closing Down 