Bruce and Denise Morcombe have been through hell. This is their account of when their son, 13 year old Daniel, went missing on the Sunshine Coast in Queensland in 2003, and their journey to find him and to find out what happened to him. It is an amazing story of resilience and determination. The Morcombe's outline the search for Daniel, along with details of the police investigation and ultimately the judicial process. For the most, it was riveting reading, although some sections of the book had a little too much detail, mostly around the activities of the Daniel Morcombe Foundation.

I struggled with this book, I liked the story but the writing was poor. The story moved between a priest who was on a self-imposed exile from London and a child learning the ways of a temple dancer in the mid 1700s in India. The transition between the two stories was not handled well, and I was often left wondering what was/had happened. I abandoned the book at around 1/3 of the way through.

Della belongs to a family of con artists. She is in her 20s and lives with her father, her father's partner, her brother, her uncle and aunt and her cousins and they are all in on the game. They have weekly meetings where they assess each other's con ideas and vote on whether or not to proceed. All family members help out others on the projects they decide to proceed with. Della's latest idea is to con a private trust to get a science grant of $25,000. Here she meets rich Daniel Metcalf who has claimed to have seen a Tasmanian tiger in Wilson's Promontory National Park when he was a child - a perfect mark and a perfect con. This book is great fun, easy to read. HIghly recommended.

Night Surfing draws together two people from different walks of life. Hannah, a private school city girl, daughter of a priest, is escaping university life that has become empty and meaningless. Jake, who has been raised by his father after his mother died early in his childhood, is a surf bum with no job and no future.

They meet at Ruben's Cafe, a fast food cafe near the beach on the Mornington Peninsula in Victoria, Australia. They are instantly drawn together and their relationship develops as Jake teaches Hannah how to surf.

This book examines surfing and the sea, along with relationships, grief and the interrelationship between various classes of people in Australia. It is beautifully written and a pleasure to read.

Patricia Grace takes you on a journey with Rua in Dogside Story. Rua is a 24 year old, one legged, Maori man living in a Maori only community. Rua has ostracised himself from the community by living in a remote “falling-down” house, ostensibly to give himself a “physical life”, to become self sufficient after his accident where he lost his leg. Despite this, he is heavily involved in community life and is the community’s main source of fish – he has a deep connection with the ocean and loves nothing better than to fish or collect crayfish from among the rocks.

In Dogside Story Rua comes to terms with a secret he has been carrying for years. During Rua's journey, Patricia Grace depicts a fascinating portrayal of modern day Maori culture – how the culture deals with modern laws which overshadow and conflict with Maori ancient laws, the importance of family, how the community works together, the connection with the sea and the importance of music. I loved this book from the first word to the last - it is beautifully written and has a very unique way of looking at the world.