In a politically volatile 1930s Australia, artist Rowly Sinclair looks into the brutal murder of his wealthy uncle, an investigation that yields evidence of conspiracy and exposes the extent of communist hysteria.

On her first day at a new school, Lily befriends one of the daughters of infamous avant-garde painter Evan Trentham. He and his wife are trying to escape the stifling conservatism of 1930s Australia by inviting other like-minded artists to live and work at their family home. Lily becomes infatuated with this wild, makeshift family and longs to truly be part of it. As the years pass, Lily observes the way the lives of these artists come to reflect...

"Handsome, wry, and witty despite his impeccable manners, and the dedicated black sheep of his conservative, wealthy Australian family, Rowland Sinclair prefers to leave managing the immense family fortune and politics to his elder brother, Wil, while pursuing a life as a gentleman artist. A life in company of boho housemates Clyde, a fellow painter; Milton, a plagiarising poet; and Edna, the beautiful, emancipated sculptress who is both his muse...

The black sheep of a wealthy 1930s grazier dynasty, gentleman artist Rowland Sinclair often takes matters into his own hands. When the matter is murder, there are consequences. For nearly 14 years, Rowland has tried to forget, but now the past has returned. A newly-discovered gun casts light on a family secret long kept - a murder the Sinclairs would prefer stayed unsolved. As old wounds tear open, the dogged loyalty of Rowland's inappropriate companions...

It's 1933, and the political landscape of Europe is darkening. Eric Campbell, the man who would be Australia's Führer, is on a fascist tour of the Continent, meeting dictators over cocktails and seeking allegiances in a common cause. Yet the Australian way of life is not undefended. Old enemies have united to undermine Campbell's ambitions. The clandestine armies of the Establishment have once again mobilised to thwart any friendship with the Third...

While drawing pictures of the animals she sees on her trip to Australia, a young girl named Ally meets Pauline, an aborigine woman and fellow artist, from whom Ally learns that art is not always created with just paper and paints, and that mistakes are actually happy accidents.

A fact-based novel in which William Buelow Gould, a talented art forger and thief, attempts to improve his station in a nineteenth-century Tasmanian prison colony by painting fish for the prison doctor Lempriere who dreams of creating an illustrated taxonomy of Australia's exotic sea creatures.