Helen McDonald

A successful Australian writer discovers he has cancer and returns home to Melbourne to be with his estranged wife and daughter.

During the 1860s, Dave Powers, apprentice to a horse trainer, volunteers to ride Archer to the Melbourne Cup race. Their start is 600 miles from Melbourne, and the journey is anything but easy. Of course, the pair have numerous adventures along the way, and in the end Archer competes in the Melbourne Cup race.

Two childhood friends who marry brothers in the Army soon discover that their lives will take a different path from what they first expected.

Nothing and no one is safe in this biting satire of the trials and tribulations of young marrieds buying their first home. "Emoh Ruo" takes direct aim at the financial institutions, builders, furniture salesmen, television commercials and almost any other of the many sharks in our society who lie in waiting, ready to help eager young couples commit economic suicide for their little piece of Australia. "Emoh Ruo" is the story of the Tunkley family. Terry cleans houses for a living - but what she'd really like is a house of her own. Her husband Des is quite content to go on living in a caravan. Terry spots an advertisement for 'The Buckingham', a low-budget project home. For Terri it's love at first sight but it isn't till she reveals the depth of her desperation that Des relents and sells his boat so they'll have enough for the deposit. Excitedly they move to the outskirts of Sydney to begin their new life but they soon discover the dream can turn into a nightmare.