Book 2 of Refiner's Fire. The drama of the Civil War unfolds through the eyes of two very different Northern girls. Lovely Julia Hoffman has always enjoyed the carefree life of her well-to-do family, but when she fails to attract the attention of Rev. Nathaniel Greene, a fierce abolitionist, she determines to bring meaning to her empty and shallow existence. When she becomes a Union nurse, her eyes are opened to the realities of war and suffering. She also meets Phoebe, who has entered the army under false pretenses—and whose journey to understanding herself, as well as the tumultuous world about her, is revealed with sensitivity and drama.

Refiners Fire book 3 Kitty, a house slave, always figured it was easiest to do what she'd always done—obey Missy and follow orders. But when word arrives that the Yankees are coming, Kitty is faced with a decision: will she continue to follow the bidding of her owners, or will she embrace this chance for freedom? Never allowed to have ideas of her own, Kitty is overwhelmed by the magnitude of her decision. Yet it is her hope to find the "happy ever after" ending to her life—and to follow Grady, whom she loves—that is the driving force behind her choice. Where will it lead her?

Rachel's idyllic existence with her family in the remote mountain passes of northern Yukon was shattered by her father's depression, the family's relocation to "town" and her father's subsequent disappearance. Obsessed with understanding why her father never returned, Rachel hikes with her dog across mountain passes and along valleys to her childhood home. As she walks, she distracts herself from her anxiety by reinventing fairy tales remembered from her childhood. As the days pass, the imaginary quest begins to echo her own journey as she confronts danger, faces loneliness and unearths the truth about her father.

Shortlisted in the 2010 NSW Premier's Literary Awards for both the Ethel Turner Prize for Young People's Literature and the UTS Glenda Adams Award for New Writing.

Hollywood Ending is a thriller, a comedy about growing up, and a love-letter to Los Angeles.

Pink-haired Hilda and punk Benji haunt the places where Hollywood celebrities have died. In rundown Echo Park, once the hub of the movie business, they find a squalid apartment in which a second-rate silent movie star stabbed himself to death with nail scissors. Its current tenant is Hank, an old man with a mysterious past. While Benji dives deeper into the cult of celebrity death, Hank and Hilda make an unlikely pair. Then Jake the screenwriter turns up. What's his story?

Kathy Charles has written a debut novel to die for.

'Dark, funny, endlessly fascinating and beautifully human. I stayed up all night reading Hollywood Ending and then had crazy dreams.' Simmone Howell