Angel: Colleen McCullough

Twenty-one year old Harriet shares her room at home with Grandma... and the dreaded chamber pot - what a life! She flies the respectable suburban nest to take a room in Mrs Delvecchio Schwarz's Bohemian boarding house. Mrs Schwarz tells fortunes, and she opens Harriet's eyes to a world of excitement, passion, adventure and men. But Harriet finds that following your heart is not easy and the future isn't as obvious as Mrs Schwarz's crystal ball would suggest. And there is Flo - Mrs Schwarz's beautiful, mute four year old daughter. Harriet loses her heart to little Flo and when tragedy strikes, she fights to ensure Flo's survival - and solves the mystery of a missing family member. Told in the form of a diary and set in Sydney's colourful King's Cross of the 1960s, this is an uputdownable read.