Intertwined portraits of courage and hope in Afghanistan and Pakistan Najmah, a young Afghan girl whose name means "star," suddenly finds herself alone when her father and older brother are conscripted by the Taliban and her mother and newborn brother are killed in an air raid. An American woman, Elaine, whose Islamic name is Nusrat, is also on her own. She waits out the war in Peshawar, Pakistan, teaching refugee children under the persimmon tree in her garden while her Afghan doctor husband runs a clinic in Mazar-i-Sharif, Afghanistan. Najmah's father had always assured her that the stars would take care of her, just as Nusrat's husband had promised that they would tell Nusrat where he was and that he was safe. As the two look to the skies for answers, their fates entwine. Najmah, seeking refuge and hoping to find her father and brother, begins the perilous journey through the mountains to cross the border into Pakistan. And Nusrat's persimmon-tree school awaits Najmah's arrival. Together, they both seek their way home. Known for her award-winning fiction set in South Asia, Suzanne Fisher Staples revisits that part of the world in this beautifully written, heartrending novel. Under the Persimmon Tree is a 2006 Bank Street - Best Children's Book of the Year.

It is 1942 in the Dutch East Indies, and Nick Duncan is a young Australian butterfly collector in search of a single exotic butterfly. With invading Japanese forces coming closer by the day, Nick falls in love with the beguiling Anna van Heerden. Their time together is brief, as both are forced into separate, dangerous escapes. They plan to reunite and marry in Australia but it is several years before their paths cross again, scarred forever by the dark events of a long, cruel war. In The Persimmon Tree, Bryce Courtenay gives us a story of love and friendship set against the dramatic backdrop of the Pacific during the Second World War.

Nick Duncan is a semi-retired, wealthy shipping magnate who live in idyllic Beautiful Bay, Vanuatu, where he is known as the old patriarch of the islands. He is grieving the loss of his Eurasian true love, Anna, and is suffering for the first time from disturbing flashbacks to the Second World War. So he puts pen to paper and tells the compelling tale of the life he has lived since his war-hero days - a life of adventure, ambition, and fortunes made and lost. A life that has had at its heart the love of two passionate and unforgettable - but very different women. The seductive Anna Til and the beguiling Marg Hamilton have spent a lifetime in contest for Nick's devotion. Nick remains torn between them, and struggles between their two opposing worlds of economic exploitation and environmental crusade - until he is called upon to referee...Moving between the exotic Pacific Islands, Japan and Australia over several decades, Fishing for Stars is an epic drama, and the stunning sequel to Bryce Courtenay's bestselling The Persimmon Tree.

From a remarkable new Australian author comes THE ANCHORESS, a story set within the confines of a stone cell measuring seven paces by nine. Tiny in scope but universal in themes, it is a wonderful, wholly compelling fictional achievement. Set in the twelfth century, THE ANCHORESS tells the story of Sarah, only seventeen when she chooses to become an anchoress, a holy woman shut away in a small cell, measuring seven paces by nine, at the side of the village church. Fleeing the grief of losing a much-loved sister in childbirth and the pressure to marry, she decides to renounce the world, with all its dangers, desires and temptations, and to commit herself to a life of prayer and service to God. But as she slowly begins to understand, even the thick, unforgiving walls of her cell cannot keep the outside world away, and it is soon clear that Sarah's body and soul are still in great danger ... Telling an absorbing story of faith, desire, shame, fear and the very human need for connection and touch, THE ANCHORESS is both mesmerising and thrillingly unpredictable. 'Sarah's story is so beautiful, so rich, so strange, unexpected and thoughtful - also suspenseful. I loved this book.' Elizabeth Gilbert, author of EAT, PRAY, LOVE 'Robyn Cadwallader does the real work of historical fiction, creating a detailed, sensuous and richly imagined shard of the past. She has successfully placed her narrator, the anchoress, in that tantalizing, precarious, delicate realm: convincingly of her own distant era, yet emotionally engaging and vividly present to us in our own.' Geraldine Brooks 'An intense, atmospheric and very assured debut, this is one of the most eagerly anticipated novels of the year ... this one will appeal to readers who loved Hannah Kent's bestselling BURIAL RITES.' Caroline Baum 'Absorbing and finely structured .. surprisingly suspenseful ... The contemplative tone of this beautiful novel leaves behind a feeling of calm and restoration, and a deeper sense of the power of the written word.' Australian Book Review 'Cadwallader has chosen a rich subject, for while a story located in a single small room might sound claustrophobic, this is in fact what heightens Sarah's observations. It is precisely this limitation that drives the narrative - in the same way it does in Emma Donoghue's Room and Anne Frank's The Diary of a Young Girl ... Cadwallader's writing evokes a heightened attention to the senses: you might never read a novel so sensuous yet unconcerned with romantic love. For this alone it is worth seeking out. But also because The Anchoress achieves what every historical novel attempts: reimagining the past while opening a new window - like a squint, perhaps - to our present lives.' Sydney Morning Herald 'Affecting ... finely drawn ... a considerable achievement.' Sarah Dunant, The New York Times The Anchoress was highly commended in the 2016 ACT Book of the Year Award, and winner of the People's Choice Award

History. Reality. Fantasy. All rolled into one zany family. If Justine Hale had the time, she'd get in her car and go crazy. She owns two kids, an ex-mother-in-law, and a bankrupt mother. Money scarce, she moves her entire family into a run-down, two-hundred-year-old farmhouse. Resident ghost Lottie Roberts offers to help. She’s bossy, but she cooks. So what if she’s betwixt and between? After all, it's her house. Before Lottie can intervene, though, Tucker Highsmith steals her thunder with his sexy grin, lazy Alabama drawl, and Mr. Fix-it talent. Plagued with the demands of her family, Justine dismisses ghost and handyman alike. But hidden agendas prevail, and Justine is caught in the middle.

The Square Persimmon and Other Stories is an introduction to Takashi Atoda—one of Japan's most popular and versatile writers of fiction. Takashi Atocia is a master storyteller. Like the bar madam in "The Glow of Lipstick," he is capable of weaving a tale that captures the reader's attention from beginning to end. His plots deal with ordinary people, yet the emotional impact of each story is unusually strong. His down-to-earth characters inhabit a world that may at first appear familiar, but Atoda can so manipulate a scene that suddenly the reader is wondering whether it is reality or illusion that he is observing. Many stories feature bizarre endings. In these eleven stories, Atoda examines universal themes-first love, lost love, change, fate-through unmistakably Japanese eyes. The dreamlike quality of some stories invites the reader to draw his own conclusions in the denouement. Yet, in each one, Atoda brings to bear his precise style and his own unique vision, by turns mysterious, romantic, darkly humorous, and even bizarre.

A remarkable story about the power of tolerance from one of the most important voices in contemporary Muslim literature, critically acclaimed author Randa Abdel-Fattah. Michael likes to hang out with his friends and play with the latest graphic design software. His parents drag him to rallies held by their anti-immigrant group, which rails against the tide of refugees flooding the country. And it all makes sense to Michael.Until Mina, a beautiful girl from the other side of the protest lines, shows up at his school, and turns out to be funny, smart -- and a Muslim refugee from Afghanistan. Suddenly, his parents' politics seem much more complicated.Mina has had a long and dangerous journey fleeing her besieged home in Afghanistan, and now faces a frigid reception at her new prep school, where she is on scholarship. As tensions rise, lines are drawn. Michael has to decide where he stands. Mina has to protect herself and her family. Both have to choose what they want their world to look like.

Have you ever looked at a tree? That may sound like a silly question, but there is so much more to notice about a tree than first meets the eye. "Seeing Trees" celebrates seldom-seen but easily observable tree traits and invites you to watch trees with

"Imagine you're fourteen. You're in a new country with your camera, your best friend and her dog. You uncover a secret, are instantly in danger and can't tell anyone. Join Baggy, Abigail and Curly Connor as they explore Elfin Pond, sneak around Bar Gundoom Castle and discover an underground lake. Corporate giants want the Heartstone of Arden-Goth and have placed a spy in their new school. Challenges sidetrack them as they struggle to reveal the truth, find the Heartstone and stop the bullying of their friend Christoper."--Page [4] of cover.