Showing results by narrator "Kate Hosking" in All Categories

Philadelphia (Delie) Gordon, with her husband Brenton cruelly incapacitated by a stroke, continues to defy tradition by becoming first mate and skipper of the paddle steamer Philadelphia. Rising to this new challenge, Delie is happy with her activity-filled days, and with a growing awareness of the beauty of the river and its slowly paced life, she begins to find some contentment. However, Delie, though espousing the equality of the sexes, is all woman and is to be sorely tempted by the men who enter her life.

Sam Studley's a bit older and wiser than when you met him in Hold My Hand - Or Else!. But it's a pity he can't say the same for his 15-year-old sister Leanne. No one seems to know where she is. Some kids are saying she's got AIDS and some are saying she's been abducted. Some are saying she's on the run to Kings Cross, some are saying she's a speed freak and gone to a drug rehab centre, and some that she's hiding out at home with chickenpox. But if living with Leanne sounds full on, you should hear about living without her!

For 12 years Winter has been haunted. Her past, her memories, her feelings, will not leave her alone. And now, at 16, the time has come for her to act. Every journey begins with a single step. If Winter is going to step into the future, she must first step into the past.

Neville 'Pom' Darling is on the hunt for the perfect photograph. Skye Stewart is searching for her long-lost grandfather. It's 1939, and Neville, escaping an unhappy marriage and his memories of the Great War, finds himself in Mackenzie Crossing on the day of the terrible Black Friday bushfires. He meets the beautiful Georgie Mackenzie and in an instant knows that she is the subject he has been looking for. As the heat intensifies, Georgie and Pom begin to wonder if they have a future together, but first they must survive the blaze.

"Get the doctor," said Dad. "The poor thing is green." "Give it to me," said Mum and took the baby away from Chris. At once it screwed up its nose, closed its eyes and stopped breathing. It started turning purple again. A father at eight years old? It could only be a Paul Jennings story. And it is.

Finding yourself in hospital, in a bed full of shattered glass, is traumatic. Coming to terms with multiple fractures and probable long-term difficulties is something else again - slow, painful, full of obstacles and questions with no clear answers. Anna is used to being athletic, popular, 'normal'. Now she feels the layers of her familiar self being peeled away; nothing is normal or easy. Can she pick up the pieces of her life? What part will Hayden and Luke play? And who, now, is Anna Duncan?

When the neighbors are forced to sell the farm, Chris is desperate to own the cows he has been milking. But Chris' Dad cannot cope with the idea! Then, one moonlit night, Chris sneaks out and follows the cow Petal on a wild rampage to...a mob of motherless cabbage patch babies. Will Chris get to keep his cows? Will he be able to look after this new crop of cabbage patch babies? Will their mothers ever come back?

For eight years Lexie Rogers has been a uniform cop in Sydney's red light district, Kings Cross. Having survived a violent knife attack, she's witnessed far more than most cops her age. Now she's back at work as the newest member of the Bondi Junction detectives' office and ready to start again. One of her first jobs is to execute a search warrant at a bikie clubhouse belonging to one of the two local gangs in the eastern suburbs.

The story of how gold miners rebelled against British authority, beginning a process that would ultimately lead to democracy in Australia. The Eureka Stockade. It's one of Australia's foundation legends - yet the story has always been told as if half the participants weren't there. But what if the hot-tempered, free-spirited gold miners we learned about at school were actually husbands and fathers, brothers and sons? What if there were women and children right there beside them inside the Stockade when the bullets started to fly?

In 1962 Cindy drops out of college to impulsively marry an Australian grazier, moving from the glamorous world of Palm Springs, California, to an isolated sheep station on the sweeping plains of the Riverina in New South Wales. Cindy's new life at Kingsley Downs station is not what she'd imagined, as she is flung into a strange and challenging world. Natural disasters and the caprices of the wool industry shape her destiny and though she tries hard to fit in, she finds she is always the outsider.

Louie has finished her old life, and stepped into a world of sinners. For her, things are not going to be the same again. This darkly funny, disturbing novel explores a lawless world where morality is a nuisance, everything can be bought, and the prices paid are high.

"You can't have a party without music," said Dad. "You can't have a fire without smoke," said Whacka. It went from bad to worse after that. A barbecue from hell. Spuds on the roof. A visit from the police. It was war, a fight to the finish between Dad and Whacka. And Chris was right in the middle of it. All because Dad vomited in the cabbage patch. It could only be a Paul Jennings story narrated by Kate Hosking.

Philadelphia (Delie) Gordon is in the twilight of her years. Finally, it seems, she has found some peace. With the power of the Murray River finally harnessed and the advent of train and rail, the great paddle steamers of the past are redundant. With time to paint and to ponder the continuity of life, she contemplates the randomness of her existence. However Delie's contentment is shattered when fate, with the advent of WWII, is once more to intervene in her life.

City girl Paula married her lovely farmer, the only problem is he comes with a farm...Another heart-warming rural romance from the queen of Australian storytelling. Self-reliant Sydney girl, Paula, is looking forward to a new life in the country. Just married to sheep farmer Dan Woodcroft, she can't wait to escape her protective family and exchange her busy existence for a new life down on the farm in rural South Australia. But life on the farm proves rather different to what she was expecting.

"Roy's tiny breaths sounded like milkshake fighting its way up a very thin straw. His eyes were closed. 'Rory', I said. 'Don't die. Don't die.' His eyes fell open. They flicked wildly around. 'The goat', he shouted. I didn't bother looking behind me. I knew there was no goat. And I knew Rory wasn't dying. Not yet."

"We must be ruthless," Edward snarls, "because we lead ruthless lives: you, of anyone, should understand that. This is our existence, Jordan, this house, this land, that father, that mother - there's no pity, there's no mercy, there's probably no escape. It is hard, Jordan, and we have to be hard to survive it, and the best we can do is fight anything that threatens to make it worse."

The gripping new crime thriller from Karen M. Davis. Detective Lexie Rogers is tough, smart and at the top of her game. She's seen it all, from bikies, blood and betrayal to drugs, deviants and deception...and the violent knife attack that almost killed her as a young cop on the beat. Lexie's sent on the job of a lifetime - to go deep undercover, as beautiful Lara Wild, a drug distributor, to expose a huge dealing ring among Sydney's most treacherous criminals.

This stunning and intoxicating novel speaks of passion and obsession, ranging in setting from an Australian rainforest to Boston and Toronto. A mysterious and elusive love affair haunts the lives of three women in Australia. Twenty years later, on the other side of the world, Charade Ryan sorts through story and counter-story for her father, the legendary Nicholas, and the truth about her origins.

"'There he is', Gramps shrieked. 'The Spy. The scumbag spy.' I looked up and saw a monstrous white hairy face disappear into the drain. I had never seen such a frightening sight. White hair covered its entire head. I couldn't even see any eyes. In a flash Gramps splashed into the drain after it."

To Sam the stud, living with his sister Leanne's bad enough. But when his mother says she's getting married again - to the town cop! - Sam wishes he was anywhere else. You've got to be careful what you wish for: You might get it. Someone's pulling the moves, all right, and suddenly Sam's on a joyride heading in the opposite direction fast. Forget the white dresses, the soppy words, and the tissues - this wedding's burning rubber all the way. And it's a cack.