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The Hidden Hand

Summary:

The student Ai Ming, a Chinese student, is forced by her government to transfer from Harvard to Oxford University, where she is recruited to an elite Chinese study centre based out of St Felix’s College.

The scapegoat Meanwhile, the centre’s newly recruited head stumbles on its more sinister purpose: recruiting Chinese and sympathetic British students to steal high-value research and intellectual property. Unsure who at the university he can trust, he turns to CIA agent Manon Tyler for help.

The spy who might be their only hope... But as Ai and another Chinese-American student are drawn deeper into a deadly game, will Manon be able to penetrate the heart of St Felix’s secrets in time to save them?

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Blood Pact

Summary:

Detective Superintendent Jack Hawksworth is seconded by counter-terrorism to investigate a spate of domestic events. First it was needles in strawberries, then tampering with lipstick samplers and baby formula. But when toxic mushrooms enter the market system and a death occurs, a wave of terror is set to sweep the country. Breaking news of a possible serial killer only heightens the alarm.

There are no leads, no DNA, no witnesses, no CCTV footage. Jack and his team must work on instinct to figure out why someone would want to harm innocent victims, each of them curiously linked to a single blood transfusion.

When a hospital bomb threat erupts, it is up to the team to prevent the inevitable bloodshed. The clock is ticking, and no one is safe from the possibility of a tragedy on a catastrophic scale.

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Unfinished Business

Summary:

Sri Lanka, 2009. Decades of civil war and bloodshed are being brought to an end at last—by any means necessary. In the capital, Colombo, tenacious journalist Ameena Fernando is murdered, execution-style, on a busy street near her home, with no witnesses.

With pressure growing to find Ameena’s killer, CIA agent Ellie Harper is sent to seek justice for the journalist’s death, with strict instructions: find something, but not too much. It’s her first time returning to the island after her last mission went tragically awry four years prior, and Ellie has more than one ghost to lay to rest. Amid the international scheming and jostling for stakes in post-war Sri Lanka, Ellie follows the trail of secrets on a mission to uncover a truth worth killing for.

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One Dark Night

Summary:

One night in the woods

A party gone wrong

A body discovered at sunrise

He murdered her at the folly on their wedding day, left her body for the crows. They say she haunts the woods now, a girl in a white dress …

Everyone in the small town of Thorncombe knows the tales of the haunted woods where the birds don’t sing and a girl in a white dress roams, luring people to their deaths. But when a girl in white is found dead the morning after Halloween, her body carefully arranged at the bottom of an old stone folly, the community is thrown into turmoil.

With a teenage daughter of his own, police detective Ben Chase knows how high the stakes are. Was the girl the victim of a party prank gone wrong, or does her death represent something more sinister and ritualistic?

As the investigation unfolds and the noose tightens around Chase’s own family, the only thing anyone can be sure of is that no one is safe until this violent killer is caught.

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The Note

Summary:

It was meant to be a harmless prank.

Growing up, May Hanover was a good girl, always. Well-behaved, top of her class, a compulsive rule-follower. Raised by a first-generation Chinese single mother with high expectations, May didn't have room to slip up, let alone fail. Her friends didn't call her the Little Sheriff for nothing.

But even good girls have secrets. And regrets. When it comes to her friendship with Lauren and Kelsey, she's had her fair share of both. Their bond-forged when May was just twelve years old-has withstood a tragic accident, individual scandals, heartbreak and loss. Now the three friends have reunited for the first time in years for a few days of sun and fun in the Hamptons. But a chance encounter with a pair of strangers leads to a drunken prank that goes horribly awry.

When she finds herself at the center of an urgent police investigation, May begins to wonder whether Lauren and Kelsey are keeping secrets from her, testing the limits of her loyalty to lifelong friends.

What had they gone and done?

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The Knitting Club at Wagtail Ridge

Summary:

These ladies know a perfect match when they see one...

Bree Johnston has given up trying to be the perfect lawyer. It's time to focus on her own dreams, so she decides to leave the city and set up an alpaca farm and wool shop. Her grandmother Rose might be her only supporter, but that's fine. Bree's done trying to win her parents' approval.

She finds the perfect property in the charming small town of Wagtail Ridge but gets more than she bargained for when sparks start flying with the handsome real estate agent.

Being a dad is the most important thing in Matt Ambrose's life. His small agency is struggling, but he's committed to raising his young daughter, Vicki, in the country, the way he and her late mother had planned. But Vicki's grandmother wants to take control, and her interference is only getting worse, putting his little family at risk.

Although these two have a lot on their plates, the ladies of the newly formed Wagtail Ridge Knitting Club know a perfect match when they see one. Or rather two perfect matches, when shearing boss Mike walks onto Bree's farm and into her grandmother's life. With needles, yarn and cups of tea to hand, the matchmaking begins...

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Panic

Summary:

BRONTE NEEDS A PLACE TO LIE LOW.

She posted a drunken rant that went horrifically viral. Now – jobless, friendless and broke – she’s forced to volunteer as a carer on an isolated rural property. She won’t be paid for looking after dementia sufferer Nell, but at least she’ll have a place to stay.

Bronte’s host is Nell’s daughter Veda, who runs spiritual rebirthing retreats. She also claims the rights of a sovereign citizen and rejects the authority of the state, refusing even to register her car. She has acquired a small but devoted following.

Are they harmless cranks, with their conspiracy theories and outrage at government overreach? Or dangerously paranoid domestic terrorists? And what is the dark secret that Nell, in her confusion, keeps harking back to?

Bronte, increasingly uneasy, would be getting far away from the whole place – if she had anywhere else to go.

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The Three Lives of Cate Kay

Summary:

Who is Cate Kay?

Cate Kay is the most famous author on the planet. But it’s just a name. Somehow, despite her bestselling novels and the record-breaking film franchise, the writer has remained completely anonymous.

Anne Marie Callahan is the name nobody knows. Only the people she left behind. And Annie knows there’s no one there anymore who could connect the dots between the girl who ran away all those years ago and the famous novelist.

If you asked, she’d say her name was Cass Ford. That’s what her barista shouts each morning. And it’s how she introduces herself to the woman she’ll eventually call the love of her life.

Three names, three lives. But Cate Kay is finally ready to tell you who she really is.

And when the truth is out, will everyone’s favourite novelist hold on to her place in our hearts or are some betrayals impossible to forgive?

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The Governor, His Wife and His Mistress

Summary:

When future governor Philip Gidley King sailed with the First Fleet to the new colony, he had his pick of the convict women to look after him.

Two years, and two sons, later, he set out back to England to provide a report on Sydney and its newly tamed Norfolk Island, as his mistress Ann Inett begged him to return to her and their children.

After a year and a half he did - but bringing with him a shocking secret that would cut her to the core, and change all their lives forevermore.

This is a story of tangled love affairs, female friendship, twisted loyalties, betrayals, hardship, male infidelity, and the tragedies and triumphs of life in a new land.

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Shattering Dawn

Summary:

Amelia Rivers, a member of the Lost Night Files podcast team, hires private investigator Gideon Sweetwater to catch the stalker who has been watching her. Amelia suspects the stalker may be connected to the shadowy organization responsible for the night that she and her two friends lost to amnesia - a night that upended their lives and left them with paranormal talents.

Gideon suspects that Amelia is either paranoid or an outright con artist, but he can't resist the chemistry between them. He takes the case despite his skepticism. For her part, Amelia has second thoughts about the wisdom of employing the mysterious Mr. Sweetwater. She is wary of the powerful attraction between them, and deeply uneasy about the nightmarish paintings on the walls of his home. She senses they were inspired by his own dreamscapes.

Amelia knows she doesn't have time to find another investigator, and Gideon is forced to reckon with the truth when he disrupts what was intended to be Amelia's kidnapping. Now the pair is on the run, with no choice but to return to the haunting ruins of the old hotel where Amelia's lost night occurred. They are desperate to stop a killer and the people who are conducting illegal experiments with a dangerous drug that is designed to enhance psychic abilities. If they are to survive, they will have to trust each other and the passion that bonds them.

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The Hitchcock Hotel

Summary:

Why did he invite them? Why did they come? A hotel dedicated to the Master of Suspense - round-the-clock film screenings, movie memorabilia in every room, and an aviary of fifty crows. Owner Alfred Smettle invites his five closest friends from college to stay. He hasn't spoken to any of them in sixteen years. Alfred calls it a reunion. Really, it's a last chance. But Alfred is not the only one with an agenda. And it's only a matter of time before things get worse. After all, no Hitchcock set is complete without a dead body.

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The Wedding Party

Summary:

A group of old friends. A grieving mother. A lying bride.

Adele and Jason are childhood sweethearts. Their wedding day on the sunny Australian coast is a chance to reunite and celebrate with friends and family.

But Adele isn’t telling the truth about her relationship. And some of the wedding party – still reeling from a tragic death in the group a decade before – hold secrets of their own.

What happened on the jetty all those years ago was an accident, everyone agrees.

Or do they?

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Gunnawah

Summary:

When nineteen-year-old farmgirl Adelaide Hoffman applies for a cadetship at the Gunnawah Gazette, she sees it as her ticket out of a life too small for her. The paper's owner, Valdene Bullark, seeing something of the girl she once was in young Adelaide, puts her straight to work.

What starts as a routine assignment covering an irrigation project soon puts Adelaide on the trail of a much bigger story. Water is money in farming communities, and when Adelaide starts asking questions, it's like she's poked a bull ant's nest. Someone will do whatever it takes to stop Adelaide and Val finding out how far the river of corruption and crime runs.

Shady deals. Vested interests. A labyrinth of lies. It seems everyone in Gunnawah has a secret to keep. And too many are already dead quiet.

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Three Boys Gone

Summary:

'First rule of rescue: don't create another casualty.'

Grace Disher is about to face every teacher's worst nightmare.

Three of her students are going to die.

On a high school camping trip, three boys slip away for an ocean swim. By the time Grace catches up, the perilous surf conditions are overwhelming the teenagers. If she goes in, she will die trying to save them.

Should she have given her life?

The question haunts Grace as investigations begin and her decision not to attempt a rescue comes under scrutiny. Hounded by conflicted staff, grieving parents and relentless media - all dissecting her actions, all looking for someone to blame - Grace's safety is compromised and she must be careful who she trusts.

And she's not the only one with a secret.What she discovers is altogether more complicated.

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The Spirit Circle

Summary:

For Ellen Whitfield, the betrothal of her dear friend Harriet to Ellen’s brother has brought both loss and solace. But when Harriet suddenly breaks off the engagement, ostensibly at the insistence of her deceased mother, Ellen is bewildered. And when she learns that Harriet is involved with a spiritualist group led by the charismatic Caroline McLeod, she fears losing her friend altogether.

So it is that practical, sceptical Ellen moves into the gloomy East Melbourne mansion where Caroline, along with her enigmatic daughter Grace, has assembled a motley court of the bereaved. Ellen’s intention is to expose the simple trickery—the hidden cabinets and rigged seances, the levers and wires—that must surely lie behind these visits from the departed.

What she discovers is altogether more complicated.

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The Teacher of Auschwitz

Summary:

Fredy built a wall against suffering in their hearts...

At the dark heart of the Holocaust, there was a wooden hut whose walls were painted with cartoons; a place where children sang, staged plays and wrote poetry. Safely inside, but still in the shadow of the chimneys, they were given better food, kept free of vermin, and were even taught meditation to imagine full stomachs and a day without fear. The man who became their guiding light was a young Jewish prisoner named Fredy Hirsch.

But being a teacher in such a brutal concentration camp was no mean feat. Whether it was begging the SS for better provisions, or hiding his homosexuality from his persecutors, he risked his life every day for one thing: to protect the children from the mortal danger they all faced.

But time is running out for Fredy and the hundreds of children in his care. Can he find a way to teach them the one lesson they really need to know: how to survive?

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Emily Wilde’s Compendium of Lost Tales

Summary:

Emily Wilde has spent her life studying faeries. A renowned dryadologist, she has documented hundreds of species of Folk in her Encyclopaedia of Faeries. Now she is about to embark on her most dangerous academic project yet: studying the inner workings of a faerie realm-as its queen.

Along with her former academic rival-now fiance-the dashing and mercurial Wendell Bambleby, Emily is immediately thrust into the deadly intrigues of Faerie as the two of them seize the throne of Wendell's long-lost kingdom, which Emily finds a beautiful nightmare, filled with scholarly treasures.

Emily has been obsessed with faerie stories her entire life, but at first she feels as ill-suited to Faerie as she did to the mortal world-how could an unassuming scholar like herself pass for a queen? Yet there is little time to settle in-Wendell's murderous stepmother has placed a deadly curse upon the land before vanishing without a trace. It will take all of Wendell's magic-and Emily's knowledge of stories-to unravel the mystery before they lose everything they hold dear.

Shellharbour City Libraries partnered with Warrigal Care to deliver Bee Connected, an intergenerational program aimed at forming meaningful connections between young people and seniors in the community through songs, games, reading, and crafts. 

Shellharbour City Libraries partners with UOW on a range of Paint Shellharbour REaD initiatives. Paint Shellharbour REaD is part of the Paint the Town REaD network, dedicated to promoting early childhood literacy. 

Shellharbour City Libraries partners with The Man Walk to deliver the Tall Tales program. This program aims to make connections with local, social, hobby and information organisations who appeal to male audiences and bring them into our library programs space. 

Shellharbour City Libraries partners with Smith Family to promote early childhood literacy through the Paint Shellharbour REaD initiative. Paint Shellharbour REaD organises reading days and kids events throughout the year dedicated to fostering a love of reading. 

QBD

Shellharbour City Libraries have worked with QBD Shellharbour as the preferred bookseller at all of our Author Talk events. 

Shellharbour City Libraries sponsors Project Bucephalus in their facilitation of the Shellharbour Robo Club. The club teaches youth to form robotics teams and particulate in the FIRST LEGO League tournament. 

Shellharbour City Libraries collaborates with Paint the Gong REaD in conjunction with the Paint the Town REaD network. This partnership promotes early childhood literacy across the Illawarra through multiple reading events and activities. 

Shellharbour City Libraries has partnered with NSW Health to facilitate Independent Living Skills sessions aimed at teaching foster children health and wellbeing skills, in collaboration with the William Campbell Foundation.

The Multicultural Communities Council Illawarra attends Warilla library to utilise the 2528 community room. This is used for exercise and light physio sessions with senior community members.

Shellharbour City Libraries partners with Living Connected to offer drop-in Tech Help sessions to our customers at Warilla, Albion Park and City Libraries. These short one-on-one sessions are designed to assist customers in their digital skills development. 

Shellharbour City Libraries partnered with Legal Aid NSW to bring free community talks across our branches discussing a range of legal topics and how people can access help and resources as a part of the Libraries Law Week celebration.

Shellharbour City Libraries partners with Kiama Community College to deliver Tech Savvy Seniors sessions at our libraries. Tech Savvy Seniors is a NSW Government and Telstra partnership coordinated by the State Library of NSW. The program aims to teach seniors digital skills and knowledge.

Shellharbour City Libraries partners with Junior Einsteins to deliver Bee Connected, an intergenerational program aimed at forming meaningful connections between young people and seniors in the community through songs, games, reading, and crafts. 

Shellharbour City Libraries partners with Judi Sandilands-Cincotta to bring Ollie and Shiko the therapy dogs to a range of children’s and youth programs. These programs aim to promote positive mental health and social connection.

Shellharbour City Libraries partnered with Illawarra Legal Centre to bring free community talks across our branches discussing a range of legal topics and how people can access help and resources as a part of the Libraries Law Week celebration.

Shellharbour City Libraries partners with HARS to deliver the Tall Tales program. This program aims to make connections with local social, hobby and information organisations who appeal to male audiences and bring them into our library program space. 

Shellharbour City Libraries organises Sensory Experiences with Greenacres Disability Services at Warilla Library.

Shellharbour City Libraries and the Youth Services team partnered with Fitness Cartel Albion Park to deliver a Youth Fitness program at Warilla Library. This program engaged local youth and taught them about health, personal fitness, and respect.

Shellharbour City Libraries partners with Ed U Play to facilitate programs and activities that bring young people together. These programs support social and emotional wellbeing amongst youth. The libraries support the Girls Only Project which aims to provide young women with knowledge of and access to positive activities in their own communities. Ed U Play are funded by the Communities for Children Program.

Shellharbour City Libraries partners with Bunnings to deliver free monthly Craft Workshops at City Library. In these sessions, experts from Bunnings teach our customers a range of crafting skills. These workshops include, Kokedama Balls, Painting Art Canvas and much more!

For Library Lovers Day, Shellharbour City Libraries partnered with Belladonna Book Club to produce a series of Book Review videos. 

These reviews were released on the Libraries’ Facebook and Instagram pages, as well as on the Belladonna Book Club’s social media channels.

Shellharbour City Libraries partners with Barnardos to promote early childhood literacy through the Paint Shellharbour REaD initiative. Paint Shellharbour REaD organises reading days and kids events throughout the year dedicated to fostering a love of reading.

Shellharbour City Libraries partners with Aruma Disability Services to deliver Library Links. Library Links is a program that aims to invite disability services groups into their local branches to utilise craft and puzzle kits as well as getting to know our collections. Aruma is the first group at the Warilla branch and comes monthly to utilise space, kits and collections with their joined organisation library card.

Shellharbour City Libraries partnered with Warrigal Care to deliver Bee Connected, an intergenerational program aimed at forming meaningful connections between young people and seniors in the community through songs, games, reading and crafts. 

Shellharbour City Libraries partners with the William Campbell Foundation to deliver the Independent Living Skills Program. This program involves teaching foster children integral health and wellbeing skills and knowledge. Additionally, the City Library hosts WCF’s fortnightly Homework Club.

Sydney Writers Festival

Every year, Shellharbour City Libraries partners with the Sydney Writers Festival to deliver author panel livestreams and local events as part of the festival’s Live and Local programming. 

Paint the town read

Shellharbour City Libraries leads Paint Shellharbour REaD, which is part of the Paint the Town REaD network. This initiative aims to promote early childhood literacy by connecting local early childhood education stakeholders and providers and collaborating with them to deliver reading events and activities. 

Little Zaks Bee connected

Shellharbour City Libraries partnered with Little Zaks Academy to deliver Bee Connected, an intergenerational program aimed at forming meaningful connections between young people and seniors in the community through songs, games, reading and crafts. 

Frasers Property

Shellharbour City Libraries partners with Frasers Property Australia to deliver Toddler Tales, a weekly childhood reading program, at The Waterfront Shell Cove. The libraries have also partnered with Frasers Property Australia to deliver a term of Tech Savvy Seniors at Shell Cove.

Frasers Property

Shellharbour City Libraries partners with Frasers Property Australia to deliver Toddler Tales, a weekly childhood reading program, at The Waterfront Shell Cove. The libraries have also partnered with Frasers Property Australia to deliver a term of Tech Savvy Seniors at Shell Cove.

Paint Shellharbour REaD

Shellharbour City Libraries partners with Big Fat Smile to deliver Transition to School programs to prepare pre-schoolers for their move into primary school. Big Fat Smile is also a part of the Paint Shellharbour REaD initiative, which organises events that promote early childhood literacy.