Showing results by narrator "Lisa Armytage" in All Categories

It is the spring of 1961, and the sleepy little town of Jingera is at its most perfect with its clear blue skies, pounding surf and breathtaking lagoon. Yet all is not so perfect behind closed doors. George Cadwallader - butcher by day and stargazer by night - is loved by everyone, except his wife. He only wants the best for his family, yet it's all falling apart. Philip Chapman is a sensitive young boy, a musical prodigy - and a target for bullies. But with his wealthy parents indifferent to his cries for help, his entire future is at risk.

Bequeathed a century-old house, four estranged friends return to their hometown, Calingarry Crossing, where each must stay for a season at Dandelion House to fulfil the wishes of their benefactor, Gypsy. But coming home to the country stirs up shameful memories of the past, including the tragic end-of-school muck-up day accident twenty years earlier.

Party-planner Jo Swainson takes pride in her optimistic outlook. Nearly fifty, she has come to terms with both her childlessness and the estrangement from her cold mother, Bobbi. But after being blindsided by Bobbi’s sudden dementia diagnosis, she’s devastated when her husband announces that he’s leaving to start a family with another. Puzzled by a photo of a newborn in Bobbi’s handbag, she is further stunned to learn her mother was once hospitalised for a psychotic breakdown. Each revelation only leads to more mysteries, and Jo soon realises her mother is a stranger she longs to know.

Aspiring supermodel Kelli Crawford seems destined to marry her hotshot photographer boyfriend—but on her twenty-fifth birthday she wakes up in an entirely different world. Suddenly, she isn’t twenty-five; she’s turning fifty. She doesn’t have a big-deal boyfriend; she has a nerdy husband. She also has demanding adult children, a grandchild on the way, and symptoms of menopause. Not to mention a whole lot of very confusing technology to figure out.

Sandwiched between the needs of her elderly mother and her own family, Annie barely has time for a quick swim, let alone a leisurely chat about a long neglected tea set. But as the story unfolds, the modern world seems to fall away along with her mother's dementia, and forgotten family histories are revealed.

Dan Ireland, a work-weary police crash investigator still hell-bent on punishing himself for his misspent youth, has ample justifications for not going home to Calingarry Crossing for the school reunion, but one very good reason why he should...Maggie Lindeman. Maggie is back in Calingarry Crossing trying to sell the family pub, while also dealing with a restless 17-year-old son, a father with dementia, a fame-obsessed musician husband back in the city and a dwindling bank account. The last thing she needs is a surprise houseguest for the summer.

The sudden death of her refugee friend sets off a chain of events that will change Shelley’s quiet life forever. Her burning desire for the truth uncovers a web of conspiracy, danger, and corruption that reaches all the way to the top. Shelley is reluctant to jeopardize her safe career and comfortable life, but it soon becomes clear that she will have to break rules and risk everything to uncover the truth.