It's 1982 in Australia. THE MAN FROM SNOWY RIVER is a box office hit and Paul Hogan is on the TV.

In a seaside suburb, housewife Theresa takes up swimming. She wants to get fit; she also wants a few precious minutes to herself. So at sunrise each day she strikes out past the waves.

From the same beach, the widowed Marie swims. With her husband gone, bathing is the one constant in her new life.

After finding herself in a desperate situation, 25-year-old Leanne only has herself to rely on. She became a nurse to help others, even as she resists help herself.

Elaine has recently moved from England. Far from home and without her adult sons, her closest friend is a gin bottle.

In the waters of Shelly Bay, these four women find each other. They will survive bluebottle stings and heartbreak; they will laugh so hard they swallow water, and they will plunge their tears into the ocean's salt. They will find solace and companionship, and learn that love takes many forms.

Most of all, they will cherish their friendship, each and every day.

'A tender, heartwarming read' New Idea

'An upbeat story about suburban life and female solidarity' Spectrum

'A delightful novel about the power of female friendship' Sunday Age

'Reading this book was like snuggling beneath a warm beach towel after a bracing dip in the ocean.' - JOANNA NELL

Praise for Sophie Green's THE INAUGURAL MEETING OF THE FAIRVALE LADIES BOOK CLUB

'Tender, intimate, heartwarming, fulfilling and Australian as a lamb roast and full-bodied shiraz' The Australian Women's Weekly

***THE TOP TEN AUSTRALIAN BESTSELLER***

'The perfect novel to curl up with on a cosy night in' Hello

'The story of these resilient women is tender and intimate . . . As heartwarming, fulfilling and Australian as a lamb roast and full-bodied shiraz' Australian Women's Weekly

LONGLISTED FOR THE INDIE BOOK AWARD FOR DEBUT FICTION 2018
SHORTLISTED FOR THE AUSTRALIAN BOOK INDUSTRY AWARDS 2018: General Fiction Book of the Year and
LONGLISTED FOR THE AUSTRALIAN BOOK INDUSTRY AWARDS 2018: Matt Richell Award for New Writer of the Year

Books bring them together - but friendship will transform all of their lives. An epic saga of five very different women who come together in the Northern Territory of the 1970s.

In 1978 the Northern Territory has begun to self-govern. Cyclone Tracy is a recent memory and telephones not yet a fixture on the cattle stations dominating the rugged outback. Life is hard and people are isolated. But they find ways to connect.

Sybil, the matriarch of Fairvale Station, run by her husband, Joe, misses her eldest son, Lachlan. It is up to their second son, Ben, to take his brother's place, while Kate, Sybil's English daughter-in-law, is thousands of miles away from home and finding it difficult to adjust to life at Fairvale.

Rita, Sybil's oldest friend, is now living in Alice Springs and working for the Royal Flying Doctor Service.

Sallyanne, mother of three, dreams of a life far removed from the dusty town of Katherine where she lives with her difficult husband.

And Della, who left Texas for Australia looking for adventure and work on the land, needs some purpose in her life.

Sybil comes up with a way to give them all companionship: they all love to read, and she starts a book club.

If you loved The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Society, The Little Coffee Shop of Kabul and The Little Paris Bookshop, you will devour this story of five different women united by one need: to overcome the vast distances of Australia's Top End with friendship, tears, laughter, books and love.

'An absolute gem of a novel, with the most evocative sense of place . . . A definite treat for any book club' BETTER READING

'This close-knit Australian saga has rightly earned comparisons to THE THORN BIRDS' iBOOKS EDITOR

'A delightful novel... Sophie Green's beautiful mingling of the book club members' lives down through the years is a testament to her clever storytelling... She provides vivid descriptions of both the triumphs and hardships of life in the outback so readers can empathise with all the joys and heartaches experienced by each one' STARTS AT SIXTY

**Includes bonus extract from Sophie's heartwarming new novel The Shelly Bay Ladies Swimming Circle**

WORLD EXCLUSIVE. In this continuation of a major Home and Away storyline, Ricky and Brax leave Summer Bay to start a new life with their son, Casey.

Leaving behind her devastated husband, Nate, Ricky gambles her future on her reunion with Brax and their new beginning away from Summer Bay in the coastal town of Palm Cove. For Brax, however, this is the future he’s always dreamed of: the woman he loves and their son are with him again – for good. But even though Brax has put his past behind him, he can’t stop it haunting him. Mistakes he made as a young man will appear in Palm Cove to threaten the life he and Ricky are building – and always the spectre of what Ricky has given up for him remains …

Home and Away: New Beginnings contains exclusive material that will never appear on screen. It is the only way to find out what happens to Ricky and Brax when they leave Summer Bay!

*Contains a free bonus chapter of HOME AND AWAY: AN EYE FOR AN EYE*