Lisette S Paris Notebook

What do you wear to Paris? Ami and I discussed it for hours but I still couldn't think of anything suitable. Ami said a trench coat with nothing underneath but your best underwear. That was only if some boy was meeting you at the airport, I said. Eighteen-year-old Lisette has just arrived in Paris (France!) - the city of haute couture and all things stylish - to practise her French and see great works of art. Her clairvoyant landlady Madame Christophe forces her to attend language lessons with a bunch of international students but soon Lise discovers she's more interested in studying boys than art or verbs ... When the undeniably hot Anders jogs into her life it feels too good to be true. Things get even more complicated when she is pursued by Hugo, a charming English antiques dealer. Can she take a chance and follow her own dreams? How far into the future can Madame Christophe see? And could Lise really be falling in love - in Paris?

‘Gripping, compelling and beautiful.’ Emma Cowell, author of The House in the Olive Grove A secret big enough to destroy the Führer’s reputation. . . January 1939:

What do you wear to Paris? Ami and I discussed it for hours but I still couldn't think of anything suitable. Ami said a trench coat with nothing underneath but your best underwear. That was only if some boy was meeting you at the airport, I said. Eighteen-year-old Lisette has just arrived in Paris (France!) - the city of haute couture and all things stylish - to practise her French and see great works of art. Her clairvoyant landlady Madame Christophe forces her to attend language lessons with a bunch of international students but soon Lise discovers she's more interested in studying boys than art or verbs ... When the undeniably hot Anders jogs into her life it feels too good to be true. Things get even more complicated when she is pursued by Hugo, a charming English antiques dealer. Can she take a chance and follow her own dreams? How far into the future can Madame Christophe see? And could Lise really be falling in love - in Paris?

"Dave is dying. Chrissie, Mum, Nan and Badger are going to be left behind. Sometimes life is like that--Back cover.

His Name in Fire is told from three points of view Molly a circus worker employed to engage bored and disaffected local youth - to put on a circus performance; Matthew a teenager and son of TJ the local blues man. Matthew is in love with Emma the snakeman s daughter. Emma is new to the town, a loner who is trying to come to terms with her mother s rejection.Each of these characters are confronting a major crisis in their lives and trying to make sense out of them. Set against the backdrop of a country town the very real issues of unemployment, lack of educational opportunities, lack of facilities, drought and poverty in outback Australia are skilfully woven into the narrative without ever being preachy.His Name in Fire is a celebration of community in a country town. It is a beautiful novel about relationships, love and trust.

" . . . You are going to be pleasant and helpful, Bee, and not chase Jazzi away. I like Jazzi. I want her to be a permanent fixture in our lives and I don't want any bratty, selfish behaviour from you spoiling things . . . "Since her mother died, it'd been just her, her dad and her guinea pigs, Lulu and Fifi. A perfect, non-nuclear family. Exactly how Bee liked it. Nothing stays the same forever though, and when Jazzi moves in, bringing with her a whole new way of looking at the world and a whole lot of secrets, Bee knows things are going to be completely different from now on.But change can be a scary thing, and when someone reaches out to you, sometimes the hardest thing to do is to take their hand.This heartwarming, humorous and vibrant story from award winning author Catherine Bateson reminds us that love comes in many shapes and sizes . . . . . . even in the form of guinea pigs.