Dymphna Cusack: 8 books

'Women are cursed, all right. If you wither on the virgin stem you go all pathological; if you go off the deep end you get seme foul disease; and if you marry and have dozens of young you die of exhaustion.' These seem to be the options for women in 1936, but Eve, Marc and Thea are determined...

A powerful story of young love in the aftermath of war, and quiet heroism in the face of death. Internationally acclaimed, Say No to Death has been translated into fourteen languages. 'Dymphna Cusack. has created a number of attractive, likeable characters, given them a tragic dilemma, and moved them inexorably to a fine dramatic conclusion.' New York Times

As the horror of the Second World War comes home to Australia with the attack on Darwin, an up-and-coming steel executive returns to Newcastle. His ambitious wife seeks a way to distance him from his unsuitable family and advance her social standing. His two brothers - a union man and a merchant sailor...

For Tempe Caxton, glamorous television star, life has lost its lustre. Her son was killed in the war, her lover has walked out on her, her job is over and life seems meaningless. Suicide seems to promise an easy way out. While recovering from a failed attempt, she discovers a surprising secret...

A cheerful comedy celebrating the lives of small-town Australians. Gubba is preparing to celebrate its centenary and its history as a goldrush town. But there are two factions in Gubba - the wealthy 'woolocracy' with their social pretensions and the ordinary townsfolk who are just after the peaceful...

'An epic of compassion.' The Sydney Morning Herald Uncertain of herself, vulnerable, Roslyn is a woman who needs people - and who needs to feel that people need her. But her husband Rod, an officer in the Australian Navy, is often away at sea, and her daughter, grown up and preoccupied with...

'Then she saw again the dark figure rise, poised on the wavetop.' Paul, a Vietnam vet disfigured by a napalm attack, has recently been deserted by his horrified wife. Day after day he camps at Devil's Head and takes his surfboard over the outer reef, hoping the sharp rocks will claim him and save...

'Is it worse to be exiled from one's country than from one's heart?' Alexandra, an acerbic writer of popular travel books, is leaving Australia on the Boudicea. Tortured by the early death of her beloved sister in childbirth, she has long been a lone observer of the foibles of others. To her...