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The Invasion of Sand
Bernie Molloy has returned to her home town in the outback after years of reckless living. Alone in her neglected bungalow, working in the roughest bar in town, she wrestles with the demons of her past - and prepares to turn forty. Then a threatening incident frightens her into taking lodgers and two very different men enter her life, to change it forever. Eddy Carpenter is a young drifter, a gentle, practical soul in touch with the spirit of the land, who won't speak of his past. John Roper is an awkward Englishman who came to Australia to follow his dream of being a pilot. Back home in Liverpool his grandmother Lily broods on the boy she raised alone, for it is she who holds the key to his character.
As Bernie, Eddy and John settle into an unlikely companionship, tensions and desires simmer in the unbearable heat, and events move to their shocking climax. Dealing with profound questions of identity this is a powerful, moving novel of love and loss, which ultimately celebrates the redemptive power of love.
Reviews
'..a very ambitious work...a novel about a land where ancient and modern vie for ownership of its people. This is a moving love story and Mooney writes with insight about learning to be loved again....The Invasion of Sand, Mooney's first return to fiction for eight years, is an impressive return to fiction. The ease with which she handles both big ideas and smaller intimacies makes you hope she won't leave it so long next time'. Melissa Katsoulis, The Times
ISBN: 0-7278-6318-5 |
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Intimate Letters Rosa McKee has never questioned her life. She is happily married to Simon, who runs their garden design business, and their daughter Kathy is away university so life is more or less perfect. Then, two days after forgetting their twenty-second anniversary, Simon dies suddenly of a heart attack. Rosa's contented, stable world is shattered.
Her best friend, Kit Jordan, is there to help her pick up the pieces, and starting work again seems the best way to get her life back in order. Togethert they sit down at the computer, something Rosa has always avoided, buwhat they see on the screen is not lists of clients and plants, not drawings of gardens, but letters - beautiful, intimate letters, written by Simon over a number of years to an anonymous mistress.
Rosa's progress towards self-knowledge, and her discovery of the truth about her husband, his mistress, and her own best friend, build to a moving and compelling detective story of the soul.
Reviews
'Bel Mooney writes acutely, but with sensitive subtlety, of the complexity beneath the surface of marriage, presenting an uncomfortable picture many of us might recognise ...' The Daily Mail
Out of print. Also available on cassette.
ISBN: 0-7515-2261-9
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Lost footsteps At the heart of Ana Popescu's existence is the love for her son. He is the only thing that makes life in Ceausescu's Romania tolerable. In their mean little flat they have created a private world in which no harm can come to them. But Ana is haunted by a mystery in her own past, and by her awareness under a totalitarian regime the soul can gradually be corrupted. At last as incident at Ion's school convinces her she must send him away.
When she seizes the chance to give Ion freedom, Ana unwittingly propels him beyond bureaucracy into an underworld of refugees and migrants. Attempting to follow, she is caught and thrown into prison. Then the collapse of communism and the overthrow of Ceausescu rekindle her hope for a future, as she leaves her country for the first time and embarks on a quest to reclaim her lost child.
This powerful and ambitious novel takes the reader inside the lives of people caught up in the flood tide of political events. A story of sacrifice, loss and love, it is a moving and triumphant celebration of the power and immutability of the bonds of motherhood and is also about one of the most pressing humanitarian issues of our age.
Reviews
'Well -researched ... giving us a fascinating insight into important themes. Moreover, throughout its five hundred or so pages, the book is constantly gripping.' Literary Review
Out of print. Available for Kindle.
ISBN: 978-0140153675
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The Fourth of July Millionaire porn-king Anthony Carl has gathered a group of people together for a fourth of July party in New Jersey.
Among them is the British photo-journalist Barbara Rowe, who finds herself drawn into unexpected sympathy with Annelisa Kaye, Emperor magazine’s most celebrated sex-goddess. Annelisa’s life, too, is defined by the cool eye of the camera. And this weekend, more than ever, she seems beautiful, fragile and doomed…
Reviews
'A remarkable and significant novel ... an attempt .. to define the nature of the world of pornography.' Bernard Levin, The Times
Out of print. Available for Kindle.
ISBN: 978-0241122709
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The Anderson Question Eleanor Anderson's comfortable and well-ordered life is completely shattered when her husband Davis, the dependable and much respected village doctor, disappears. A few days later he is found dead, apparently the victim of a heart attack, and speculation is stilled as family, friends and patients akin feel a kind of relief at knowing the worst.
But genuine grief at their bereavement gives way to angry bewilderment when a post-mortem reveals that the man they thought they knew so well, the man they all depended on, had taken his own life, for no obvious reason. And Eleanor discovers, in the uneasy company of her ungracious son, that all she had assumed and lived by has been false...
Reviews
'An almost Hardyseque ending ... always interesting .. This book deserves respect for its intelligence and frequent subtlety.' The FT
Out of print. Available for Kindle.
ISBN: 978-0330291378
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The Windsurf Boy To newly separated Anna, holidaying in Devon with her seven-year-old son, the exquisite windsurfer winging across the waves on the river near their cottage represents all that is young, strong and free.
In a nearby nursing home Anna's mother is dying of cancer, calmly accepting impending death with a dignity her daughter cannot begin to understand.
Faced with the dilemma of many conflicting emotions - guilt, grief, nostalgia and an increasing infatuation with the teenage windsurfer - Anna struggles to come to terms with her life.
Reviews
'Sensible and unpretentious (it) examines the complexities and ambivalences of love and memory.' The Sunday Telegraph
Out of print. Available for Kindle.
ISBN: 978-0224020794
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Please be aware that although some of the books are out of print some new and used copies are still available through online stores.
Most of my out of print books are now available for Kindle.