Something about the long and largely unknowable history, the wide open spaces, the different peoples who have made this continent their home and continue to add to its hugely diverse culture attracts us to fiction from Australia. Perhaps the extremes of the climate and landscape, which have forced an accommodation with nature over the years, contribute to the bold creativity expressed in these titles. Sometimes, as with Paul Jennings, there's sense of home-but-not-home and, equally, Lisa Fuller's writing shows us how those who have lived on this land for thousands of years have been made stateless and to feel out of place. However it is, there's an edginess, a lack of comfort that continually challenges, questions and reaches for our empathy.