The other hand by Chris Cleave

This is a profoundly moving and memorable asylum seeker story.  It offers the reader an understanding of the real pain and trauma that some refugees undergo in their quest for survival.  The main character is a Nigerian known as Little Bee.  She leaves a detention centre in London and seeks help from a family, who 2 years earlier were holidaying in Nigeria.  The mother is also facing her own problems with the recent suicide of her husband.  The young child's obsession with Batman provides light relief and a touch of humour to a rather serious situation. 

Orpheus Lost by Janette Turner Hospital

Belonging to the genre of family and relationships, the main character Leela, a maths genius, meets an Australian musician Mishka, while he is busking in the subway.  They soon become lovers.  There is an explosion in the underground and terrorists are suspected.  An investigator, Cobb who is a childhood friend of Leela's, suggests Mishka may not be all he seems.  He appears to have spent quite a bit of time a a cafe known to be a terrorist meeting place and contact point. His kidnapping brings all suspicions to a head with an unexpected outcome.

The Memory Room by Christopher Koch

An espionage story that traces the process of the making of a spy!  Two friends from Uni, Vincent and Derek, having graduated, aim to join Foreign Affairs.  But Vincent is recruited by the secret intelligence service.  Meanwhile, a childhood friend and journalist, Erika Lange enters the scene.  She has varied involvement with the 2 men and is a most captivating and ensnaring character who uses her power seemingly for her own gain.  Flashback is used to unfold the plot, when Derek inherits Vincent's diaries and returns to where he once lived in Australia.

The Help by Kathryn Stockett

Set in the 1960s in Mississippi, this novel explores the relationship between white middle class women and their black domestic help.  The 3 narrators are Abileen and Minny (black maids) and Skeeter, a white journalist who initiates the process of revealing just what an underclass the blacks are. This is the era of racial discrimination in the US where negroes could not even drink from the same water fountain as whites. This novel is a terrific read for those studying the civil rights movement in the current history course

The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova

A young woman finds an ancient book and some old letters belonging to her father, while rummaging through his library.  This arouses her curiosity and she embarks on a path of research  in an attempt to unravel secrets of the past.  This is a modern day Dracula tale that blends history and folklore.  It culminates in a search for Dracula's tomb in Bulgaria.  It is based on the premise that Dracula still lives.  A grepping read!!!