Worlds Apart (2014)

Erin and Laura are cousins living in Dublin. Laura is the hectic wife, mother and business owner. Erin is a single high school teacher yearning for more in life. They are surrounded by a large, Irish family including Erin's mum Moira who has dementia and Cathy, Laura's distant and reluctant mother. Struggling with life in Dublin, Erin makes the brave decision to move to Sydney, leaving behind her ill mother. The family pitches in to help care for Moira but in return she releases a long-held family secret that will have repercussions for everyone but particularly Erin and Laura. Will Erin find happiness in Sydney and will Laura learn the trick to living happily in amongst the chaos of her life? A delightful tale that spans Ireland and Australia as is Carrroll's style. (LF)

Less Than Perfect (2011)

Irish Catholic Caitlin O'Reilly was raised in a family where rules and knowing right from wrong meant everything. Her father raised her to believe that if she lived her life within the rules she world be safe and could achieve perfection. At 18 she meets her first love, Protestant, Josh McKinstry. A tragic event shatters her image of the perfect life she thought she had, and destroys forever her family and hometown. It also ruins her faith in her father. She flees Ireland to start a fresh life in Australia, where she tries to get away from all of the painful memories of her past and her fractured family. However, her past continues to haunt her in every aspect of her life - from her job, friends and love life. When she meets police officer Matthew, who always lives his life within the rules, her defences start to crumble and she is forced to confront the issues that she has long kept hidden. Will she lose someone close to her again or will she learn that being less than perfect is OK? This is one of those great books where I grew to care about the characters. I was touched by Caitlin's story and wanted to follow her on her journey. (LF)

The Better Woman (2009)

This is the story of two women, Irish Sarah Ryan and Australian Jodi Tyler who conquer personal adversity to climb the corporate ladder in the cut-throat and lucrative world of finance and banking. Sarah overcomes being orphaned as a young child. Jodi, raised on Sydney's North Shore, enjoys the family Sarah never had, but suffers her own personal trauma when she is young which ultimately tears her family apart. Shaped by their experiences they become driven, ambitious and determined. The book commences when the girls are 12 years old. The stories run parallel until they are 18 and alternates between their views until they are in their early 30s. Whilst living diverse lives on opposite sides of the globe, they suffer similar difficulties, experience grief and loss; abuse, search for real love and more importantly try to find themselves. Will they sacrifice the success of their careers for love? It's obvious that the lives of these women will entwine at some point but exactly how this happens is not obvious. It's a story about the strength of the female character and not just about the men they meet. (LF)

Just Business (2008)

Irish Niamh Lynch is unhappily married to Chris, an ambitious lawyer. Now living in Sydney, she is a successful human resources manager that must deliver redundancy news to her colleagues. The announcement of retrenchments leads to a series of events that destabilise Niamh's existence. She continues to struggle with a dark past locked in Ireland; her marriage is crumbling; the relationship with her mother is distant and the firm she is working to protect comes under threat. Amongst all of this her fellow colleague Scott, whom she made redundant, seems to be the only one to understand and support her. Can Niamh overcome the obstacles of the past to be happy in the present? (LF)

High Potential (2007)

Katie Horgan is one of six lawyers picked for her company's High Potential path to partnership. And her hectic schedule of billing clients and working through the competitive program doesn't allow much time for a social life. But her eye is drawn to one of the other lawyers, Jim Donnelly, an Irishman who has relocated to Sydney. Katie's overseas assignment sends her to Dublin - her parents' hometown that they seem so reluctant to return to. Katie starts working with a pro bono team at a community clinic, while trying to find out what happened to her parents' families. But then an incident occurs which just may change Katie's path for good.

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