...the central mystery is cleverly uncovered in a series of revelations which are both truthful and deceptive in the best traditions of classic mystery writing.

The Butterfly Man begins in the opposite direction to most, more traditional crime novels, and asks, long after the crime, if redemption is possible and if transformation and regret are enough justice for the dead, and for the living...

Spirituality permeates Heather Rose’s first novel, White Heart, as much as the past haunts it. This story is a complex of interwoven, sometimes chimeric themes…A-class debut.

This is a classic tale of a spiritual journey set in our modern world. The story flows beautifully and speaks truthfully…

A haunting blend of spirituality, landscape and grief – White Heart is an accomplished novel – an impressive debut.

A delicious crispness and an unusual turn of phrase.

Tasmanian author Heather Rose won a national award for her novel The Butterfly Man last night… The work was short-listed for the 2006 Nita B Kibble Award and is currently long-listed for the 2007 IMPAC Awards in Ireland…

Although 31 years have lapsed, there is no definitive proof that Lucan is dead or that he committed the murder. Even so, Britain’s High Court ruled in 1999 that Lucan was officially dead. In Heather Rose’s new and astutely worked novel The Butterfly Man, Lord Lucan is very much alive. From the opening page we are taken into an assured first-person narrative. Lucan is credible and fully realised. He prompts us to sympathise and maybe forgive… The Butterfly Man is a fine read by a Tasmanian writer whose star is rising.

Rose’s lyrical melding … is masterful. Intriguing as the real-life events of the Lucan story are, Rose transforms it into something far more substantial.

This is a moving novel about a man’s struggle to say goodbye to those who have come to love him for the lies he has told…

On November 7th it will be 31 years since the murder of Sandra Rivett, nanny to the children of Lord Lucan in Britain… Despite the brutal murder that lies at the heart of this impressive novel, the tone of The Butterfly Man is strangely gentle, almost meditative.

The success of this exquisitely crafted novel is that it is difficult to remind oneself that it is a work of imagination.

The River Wife holds stories within stories and they are all woven together with a compassionate and unique hand.

One of the loveliest books you’ll read this year.

A most unusual book. A grown-up fairy tale told in exquisite language. Story-telling at its best.

From the first pages of The River Wife, the reader is struck by the beauty of the prose. There is a fluid brook-like quality to the writing. (A celebration of ) the beauty of nature and the enduring power of story.

From Ovid to Kafka to Hans Anderson, tales of metamorphosis continue to offer writers a rich resource and a classic form of storytelling. Yet few Australians have chosen to write fables that take shape-changing as their central theme. The River Wife tells her story in intimate, seductive prose. A love story must engage readers and persuade them to believe as well. And this one does. The emotions are unfalteringly subtle and persuasive.

A cool and luscious fable of love … (with) all the hallmarks of the great love stories – passionate and tantalising, elegiac and profound. …there are echoes of Oscar Wilde’s fairy tales, Anna Livia Plurabelle from James Joyce’s Finnegan’s Wake, and even Murray Bail’s Eucalyptus. Replete with sensuous, evocative language.

Finding Serendipity was a joy to read. The story is an entertaining adventure combined with clever wordplay and appealing characters. Tuesday McGillycuddy is a wonderful heroine – brave, clever, quirky and full of energy – and I’m looking forward to seeing what the author Angelica Banks (actually two authors from Tasmania, Heather Rose and Danielle Wood) has in store for Tuesday in the future.

Finding Serendipity is a fantastic adventure story brimming with imagination, a love of books, a respect for words and a big dash of magic. Looking for an adventure novel for 7-12? Finding Serendipity is the one.