Old favourites

First published: Fremantle, W.A. : Fremantle Arts Centre Press, 1981.

Tells of Lata's and her mother's attempts to find a suitable boy through love or through exacting maternal appraisal. Set in post-Independence India and involving the lives of four large families, the book is also a panoramic exploration of the Indian continent.

Over 50 years after its creation, this is the classic narrative on racial tension in South Africa. In the city of Johannesburg a father seeks his delinquent son; his search takes him through a labyrinth of murder, prostitution, racial hatred and, ultimately, reconciliation.

Seven-year-old Simon is affectionately followed by a mysterious red balloon. His mother, Suzanne, a puppeteer and children's entertainer, is completely absorbed in her new show. As Suzanne strives to balance work and motherhood, the red balloon appears to Simon and his Taiwanese nanny as they journey around modern-day Paris, offering the boy the love and support his mother can't.

This story, one of Taylor Caldwell's greatest historical novels, is based on the life of St. Luke, and set against the colourful background of of the Roman Empire.

In the 1950s, underground America was a world of jazz, sex, chill dawns and drugs, for Sal Paradise and his hero Dean Moriarty, traveller and mystic, the living epitome of Beat.

'His perfect indifference, and your pointed dislike, make it so delightfully absurd!' "Pride and Prejudice" has delighted generations of readers with its unforgettable cast of characters, carefully choreographed plot, and a hugely entertaining view of the world and its absurdities. With the arrival of eligible young men in their neighbourhood, the lives of Mr and Mrs Bennet and their five daughters are turned inside out and menide down. Pride encounters prejudice, upward-mobility confronts social disdain, and quick-wittedness challenges sagacity, as misconceptions and hasty judgements lead to heartache and scandal, but eventually to true understanding, self-knowledge, and love. In this supremely satisfying story, Jane Austen balances comedy with seriousness, and witty observation with profound insight. If Elizabeth Bennet returns again and again to her letter from Mr Darcy, readers of the novel are drawn even more irresistibly by its captivating wisdom.

In 1998, Louis de Bernieres went to Perth in Western Australia to attend a literature festival. While exploring, he discovered a statue to Red Dog and decided that he must find out more about the animal. This book consists of stories about the dog that the author collected on a return visit.

A 16-year old American boy relates in his own words the experiences he goes through at school and after, and reveals with unusual candour the workings of his own mind. What does a boy in his teens think and feel about his teachers, parents, friends and acquaintances?

Mira, an experienced therapist, has seen and heard it all before; nothing can shock or faze her and, although she works from home, the line between the personal and the professional is, for her, a boundary not to be crossed. Occasionally, the thin walls allow her husband's cough or a clatter of shoes to penetrate - or perhaps a client touches a nerve - but Mira is practised at politely sidestepping any attempts to draw her in (or out). Once the last client closes the door behind them, however, Mira too has her share of concerns and dilemmas demanding acknowledgement, attention and (re)solution. But as she navigates the central relationships in her life - with her husband, and the son he didn't know about for years, with her war-ravaged homeland, and the sister who lives there still, with her various clients - she finds it's not always easy to keep home and work separate.

Bilbo Baggins, a respectable, well-to-do hobbit, lives comfortably in his hobbit-hole until the day the wandering wizard Gandalf chooses him to take part in an adventure from which he may never return.

People who do not know Salterton call it dreamy and old-world. They say it is the place where Anglican clergymen go when they die. The real Saltertonians, however, know that there is nothing quaint about the place at all.

Introduces Titus Groan, heir to Lord Sepulchrave. He inherits the miles of rambling stone and mortar that form Gormenghast Castle and its surrounding kingdom. His world is peopled by the dark characters who inhabit the castle's half-lit corridors.