**Discussion of some mature themes**

While Lauren K McKellar is no stranger to publishing, this year marks the release of her first foray into women's fiction with a thoroughly delightful, uplifting and thought-provoking novel entitled 'The Calendar Mums'.

Published by HQ Fiction, 'The Calendar Mums' is a novel about motherhood and the importance of female friendships. A novel that, to me, was 'The Calendar Girls' meets 'Big Little Lies'.

Trust me when I tell you this is a must-read novel for anyone woman who has struggled with post-natal identity, body-image or indeed grief.

I enjoyed a wonderful chat with Lauren for the podcast recently.

Cassie Hamer is not only an Australian bestselling author of 3 novels - 'After the Party', 'The End of Cuthbert Close' and the 'Truth About Faking It' - but a colleague, a writing buddy and most importantly, a dear friend.

This month, Cassie has a new novel out. And listener’s it’s an absolute cracker.

‘The Stranger at the Table’ published by HQ Fiction is part crime, part family drama that’s pacy and page-turning.

Filled with a cast of flawed but relatable characters and a killer plot twist at the end, 'The Stranger at the Table' heralds an exciting new direction for this bestselling author and with an endorsement from Australian literary legend Markus Zusak - you know you’re going to be in good hands with this story.

Have a listen to this brilliant chat I had with Cassie recently.

Sara Foster is a Perth-based author of six best-selling psychological suspense novels that include ‘You Don’t Know Me’ The Hidden Hours’ and ‘All that is Lost Between Us’, along with the acclaimed dystopian thriller ‘The Hush’.

Two of Sara’s novels have been optioned for TV and ‘You Don’t Know Me’ - a book I have read and absolutely loved - was adapted into a chart-topping drama podcast series by Listnr.

Sara’s newest novel ‘When She Was Gone’ was released by HarperCollins earlier this month. And listeners, what a nail-biting thriller this one is.

Taut, pacy and utterly compelling, I ripped through this page-turner at break-neck speed.

With the mystery behind the sudden disappearance of two small children and their young nanny at the heart of this novel - the story not only pulls at the heartstrings, but shines a spotlight on rich people behaving badly and the tricky interplay between politics, power and justice.

An astounding read that I cannot recommend highly enough.

I was thrilled to speak with Sara about this new book on the podcast recently.

Listeners, I may have mentioned once or twice on the podcast before that I’m a huge francophile.

So whenever I have the chance to read a book that takes me back to France or immerses me in the sensory heaven that is French food and wine, I’ll savour it like a glass of Moet and Chandon.

And so when a book called ‘Eat Your Heart Out’ set in France crossed my desk earlier this year, I knew it was going to be something I would enjoy.

Published by Affirm Press in February this year, 'Eat Your Heart Out' was to me an ‘Emily in Paris’ meets ‘Julie and Julia’. A book about French food and culture and about blogging - set against the backdrop of Paris and the French Riviera.

Written by Victoria Brownlee, a writer and editor with experience as a food critic and an international bestselling author of novels that include 'Fromage à Trois' and 'Brioche in the Oven', 'Eat Your Heart Out' is a delightful novel that I gobbled up faster than a wedge of camembert.

I was delighted to chat with Victoria for the podcast recently.

Listeners, if you tune in regularly, I’m sure you appreciate that I read eclectically and I’m fascinated by how books come into being - whatever path that happens to take.

Indie or trad, I’m interested in it all.

So when my fellow writer and friend, Sal Gallaher took the plunge and decided to self-publish her debut, I was keen to have a chat about it.

Sal is a writer and photographer. A Dane by birth but has long called Australia home.

Her debut novel ‘Secrets in the Lakes’ was published in late 2024. Exploring trauma, mystery and rekindling of long-ago friendships, ‘Secrets in the Lakes’ is a pacy, entertaining read from this emerging writer.

And I was delighted to chat with Sal recently about her book and journey to publication.

Listeners I last spoke to my next guest, Maryrose Cuskelly, when her debut novel ‘The Cane’ was published by Allen & Unwin back in 2022.

"The Cane" was an atmospheric crime novel set in a fictional sugarcane town in North Queensland in the 1970s. A terrific story reminiscent of 'The Dry' and other Australian rural and outback noir, that became an Australian bestseller and was later shortlisted for a Davitt Award in 2023.

Recently, Maryrose’s second novel ‘The Campers’ was released. And listeners, this novel is just as good - if not better - than 'The Cane' in my humble opinion.

Nail-bitingly tense and atmospheric, 'The Campers' takes us into some uncomfortable territory. A social commentary novel that forces us to examine a society in crisis at a micro level and leaves us questioning what we would do in the same situation.

Told through the eyes of a middle-class woman - a wife and mother - facing her own personal crises, we witness a community whose fabric is severely challenged by the arrival of the itinerant campers.

Another stunning read from Maryrose that left me unsettled and yet inspired at the same time.

I was thrilled to welcome Maryrose back to the podcast recently.

Listeners today I’m so excited to introduce you to another Aussie author whose book has simply floored me.

Fiona Hardy - a writer, bookseller and reviewer from Melbourne - is the author of a new book published by Affirm Press earlier this year called ‘Unbury the Dead’.

A contemporary crime fiction novel about two best friends who are hired to undertake some morally questionable activities and who then find themselves caught up in a deadly high-stakes drama.

Fast-paced, gritty and compulsive, Fiona Hardy is a talented, fresh new voice in Australian crime literature.

I was thrilled to have the chance to chat with her on the podcast recently.

Marion Taffe is a Melbourne-based writer who after a 20 year career as a journalist, decided to turn her hand to novel-writing.

A graduate of the RMIT degree in Professional Writing and Editing, Marion was named Creative Industries Student of the Year in her graduating year of 2023. She was also runner-up in the Grace Marion Wilson Emerging Writers Prize (non-fiction) in 2022 and a recipient of a Varuna Residential Fellowship in 2023.

Marion’s novel ‘By Her Hand’ was released in early March by HarperCollins’s Fourth Estate and what an impressive, wondrous and exploration of an historical era along with some of its major players that I knew next to nothing about.

‘By Her Hand’ is a book that examines the plight of women in the Kingdom of Mercia - a place now known as the English Midlands - in the 10th century and follows the story of a young farm’s girl’s fight to ensure she writes her own destiny.

I was thrilled to welcome Marion to the podcast recently to chat about her publishing journey, inspiration, research and more in this wide-ranging, fascinating chat.