I know what an endsister is, ' says Sibbi again.We are endsisters, Else thinks, Sibbi and I. Bookends, oldest and youngest, with the three boys sandwiched in between.Meet the Outhwaite children. There's teenage Else, the violinist who abandons her violin. There's nature-loving Clancy. There's the inseparable twins, Oscar-and-Finn, Finn-and-Oscar. And then there is Sibbi, the baby of the family. They all live contentedly squabbling in a cottage surrounded by trees and possums...until a letter arrives to say they have inherited the old family home in London. Outhwaite House is full of old shadows and new possibilities. The boys quickly find their feet in London, and Else is hoping to reinvent herself. But Sibbi is misbehaving, growing thinner and paler by the day, and she won't stop talking about the mysterious endsister. Meanwhile Almost Annie and Hardly Alice, the resident ghosts, are tied to the house for reasons they have long forgotten, watching the world around them change, but never leaving.The one thing they all agree on - the living and the dead - is never, ever to open the attic door..

'I know what an endsister is,' says Sibbi again. We are endsisters, Else thinks, Sibbi and I. Bookends, oldest and youngest, with the three boys sandwiched in between. Meet the Outhwaite children. There's teenage Else, the violinist who abandons her violin. There's nature-loving Clancy. There's the inseparable twins, Oscar-and-Finn, Finn-and-Oscar. And then there is Sibbi, the baby of the family. They all live contentedly squabbling in a cottage surrounded by trees and possums...until a letter arrives to say they have inherited the old family home in London. Outhwaite House is full of old shadows and new possibilities. The boys quickly find their feet in London, and Else is hoping to reinvent herself. But Sibbi is misbehaving, growing thinner and paler by the day, and she won't stop talking about the mysterious endsister. Meanwhile Almost Annie and Hardly Alice, the resident ghosts, are tied to the house for reasons they have long forgotten, watching the world around them change, but never leaving. The one thing they all agree on - the living and the dead - is never, ever to open the attic door...

Outwaite House is full of old shadows and new possibilities when the family arrive from Australia. Teenage Elise is hoping to reinvent herself in London. Nature-loving Clancy makes a new friend and the twins quickly find their feet. But Sibbi is misbehaving, growing thinner and paler by the day and she won't stop talking about the mysterious endsister. Meanwhile, Almost Annie and Hardly Alive are bound to the house for reasons they have long forgotten. The only thing they all agree on - the living and the dead - is to never, ever open the attic door.

Giving up citizenship of home country and taking a citizenship of Australia made me think of a question I was asked many times. 'What made you to come to Australia?' I met many other migrants who carry different stories of their own migration. Many migrants were victim of significant wars around the world. My little awareness of recent trend of migration to Australia and the social concerns and meeting some assured migrant became the trigger. This the story and experience of warmth and the coldness while leaving the nest that grew me up and again searching for a nest to raise new generation.

Pastor Michael of Ainsworth Baptist Church has taken several months away from his duties to enjoy a well-earned Sabbatical and so Sister Marjory Steeple, stalwart of the church, upholder of traditional values and all that is seemly and decent, has taken it upon herself to write regular letters to Pastor Michael to keep him up to date regarding what is going on during his absence. Sister Marjory also takes the opportunity in her correspondence to make helpful suggestions as to how the good pastor might best improve the running of the church upon his return, and ?nds it unexpectedly therapeutic to o?-load some of her own personal problems at the same time. These problems mainly revolve around her non-church going husband, George, and his unnerving obsession with his own funeral arrangements, their wayward son Christopher, and a blu? old cousin called Murgatroyd Thrip who is diligently (and against all the odds) following his calling to be a maverick missionary in far ?ung corners of the world. Strangely enough Pastor Michael does not seem to appreciate Sister Marjorys sel?ess sacri?ces and insightful suggestions quite as he should.

Three very different girls sign up as student nurses in 1936, while England is still mourning the death of George V. Dora is a tough East Ender, driven by ambition, but also desperate to escape her squalid, overcrowded home and her abusive stepfather. Helen is the quiet one, a mystery to her fellow nurses, avoiding fun, gossip and the limelight. In fact she is in the formidable shadow of her overbearing mother, who dominates every aspect of her life. Can a nursing career free Helen at last? The third of our heroines is naughty, rebellious Millie an aristocrat on the run from her conventional upper class life. She is doomed to clash over and over again with terrifying Sister Hyde and to get into scrape after scrape especially where men are concerned. This utterly delightful novel brings a London pre-war hospital vividly to life.