Best of
Australia

2015

A Mother's Story


Rosie Batty - 2015
    But her world changed forever when her troubled ex-partner, Greg Anderson, killed Luke in an horrendous attack at the local cricket ground in February that year. Rosie had suffered years of family violence, and had intervention orders in place in an effort to protect herself and her son. She believes the killing was Greg's final act of power and control over her. But Rosie would not be silenced. Since the events of last February, she has become an outspoken crusader against family violence, winning hearts and minds all over Australia with her compassion and her courage. In January 2015, she was named Australian of the Year.

Kakadu Sunset


Annie Seaton - 2015
    Soaring above the Kakadu National Park, she feels freed from the questions around her father’s suicide and the heavy loss of her beloved family farm. But when a search-and-rescue mission on the boundary of the old farm reveals unusual excavation works, Ellie vows to investigate. The last thing she needs is her bad-tempered copilot, Kane McLaren, interfering. He's the son of the current owners of the farm, and her attraction to him is a distraction she can’t afford, especially when someone threatens to put a stop to her inquiries - by any means necessary. Ellie must trust Kane if she is to have any hope of uncovering the truth. Between Ellie’s damage and Kane’s secrets, can they find a way to open up to each other before the shadowy forces shut her up...for good?

Heart of the Country


Tricia Stringer - 2015
    Spanning several generations, this epic tells the story of the Baker, Smith and Wiltshire families forging their paths in a land both beautiful and unforgiving.Lives are intertwined by love and community then ripped apart by hate and greed but remain always bound to the land they love…1846. Newly arrived from England, Thomas Baker is young, penniless and alone. Eager to make his mark on this strange new place called South Australia, he accepts work as an overseer on a distant sheep property, believing this will be the opportunity he seeks. But when Thomas’s path crosses that of ex-convict, Septimus Wiltshire — a grasping con man hell bent on making a new life for himself and his family at any price — trouble is on the horizon.But Thomas is made of stern stuff and his fortunes take a turn for the better when he meets spirited farmer’s daughter Lizzie Smith, and soon he envisages their future together.But this land is like no other he has encountered: both harsh and lovely, it breaks all but the strongest. When his nemesis intervenes once more and drought comes, Thomas finds himself tested almost beyond endurance with the risk of losing everything he and Lizzie have worked for… even their lives.

Good Muslim Boy


Osamah Sami - 2015
    By the age of thirteen, Osamah had survived the Iran–Iraq war, peddled fireworks and chewing gum on the Iranian black market, proposed 'temporary marriage' not once but three times, and received countless floggings from the Piety Police for trying to hold hands with girls in dark cinemas. And the trouble didn’t stop when Osamah emigrated to Australia. As much as he tried to be a Good Muslim Boy – his father was the lead cleric in Melbourne, after all – life was short and there were beaches with girls in bikinis to skip school for, a medical degree to fake because the son of a cleric should become a doctor, and an arranged marriage to run away from because his heart belonged to someone else. Good Muslim Boy is a hilarious and heartbreaking memoir of loss, love and family. It's about what we'll do to live up to expectations – and what we must do to live with ourselves.

Salt Creek


Lucy Treloar - 2015
    Failed entrepreneur Stanton Finch moves his family from Adelaide to the remote Coorong area of Southern Australia, in pursuit of his dream to become a farmer.Housed in a driftwood cabin, they try to make the best of their situation. The children roam the beautiful landscape of Salt Creek; visitors are rare but warmly welcomed; a local Indigenous boy becomes almost part of the family. Yet there are daily hardships, and tensions with the Ngarrindjeri people they have displaced; disaster never seems far away.With Mrs Finch struggling to cope, Hester, their perceptive eldest daughter, willingly takes on more responsibility. But as Hester’s sense of duty grows, so does a yearning to escape Salt Creek and make a new life of her own …Lucy Treloar was born in Malaysia and educated in Melbourne, England, and Sweden. Awards for her writing include the 2014 Commonwealth Short Story Prize. Salt Creek is her first novel.

One Life: My Mother's Story


Kate Grenville - 2015
    These were the starting point for One Life, the story of a woman whose life spanned a century of tumult and change. In many ways Nance’s story echoes that of many mothers and grandmothers, for whom the spectacular shifts of the twentieth century offered a path to new freedoms and choices. In other ways Nance was exceptional. In an era when women were expected to have no ambitions beyond the domestic, she ran successful businesses as a registered pharmacist, laid the bricks for the family home, and discovered her husband’s secret life as a revolutionary.One Life is an act of great imaginative sympathy, a daughter’s intimate account of the patterns in her mother’s life. It is a deeply moving homage by one of Australia’s finest writers.

Monash


Grantlee Kieza - 2015
    General Sir John Monash attends a glittering banquet to dine with the King of England and the likes of Woodrow Wilson, Winston Churchill and Rudyard Kipling. Just four months earlier, the commander of the Australian Corps had been knighted in a battlefield, a long way from the streets of Melbourne where this son of a long line of Polish rabbis had grown up. Field Marshal Montgomery would declare decades later that Monash was the best general to serve on the Western Front. How had this notorious ladies' man, who harboured private thoughts about the futility of war and had never fired a shot in anger, come to be feted by the British establishment as well as his countrymen back home? In this essential biography of a most unlikely folk hero, Grantlee Kieza paints a lively portrait of an outsider who shaped modern Australia through his energy, drive and ambition, his military brilliance and his vision.

Outback Midwife


Beth McRae - 2015
    But there was one more frontier she was determined to conquer.At a time when most people are thinking about slowing down, Beth decides to move to a remote Aboriginal community in Arnhem Land to embark on a whole other adventure.

Carry Me Home


Dorothy Adamek - 2015
    And she’s determined to marry a man who’s neither. Chasing her dead father’s dreams, the twenty-year-old English bride arrives in Australia in 1875 for an arranged marriage. Anticipating her future as village preacher’s wife, she records her thoughts in her Everlasting journal. But instead of her fiancé, Finella is met by Shadrach Jones, a poor farmer sent to collect her from the busy Melbourne pier. This is not what her father planned. And it’s only the beginning of the unraveling of Finella Mayfield ~ the bride with no groom. All Shadrach Jones longs for is rows of mustard and chicory. He’s busy growing a farm near the Phillip Island fishing village of Cowes, and caring for Molly, his simple sister. Far from the brutal life they remember with their ex-convict father, Shadrach’s building something new. But he’s also made a promise to a dying friend. To collect and marry the English girl destined to never be a preacher’s wife. Can Shadrach convince Finella she has a future with a farmer? Can he convince himself, knowing his family secrets will haunt their future? Carry Me Home ~ Book 1 in the Blue Wren Shallows series. An Australian historical romance set in the pioneering era of the 1870s, on Victoria’s majestic Phillip Island.

The Friendship Tree


Helen J. Rolfe - 2015
    But as she vows to start over, she meets Jake – and life gets more complicated than she could ever have imagined. Jake is the direct competitor for the family business, and a man with a dark secret, and Tamara struggles to fight her attraction to him as she deals with secrets of her own and an ex who refuses to give up. Tamara is soon drawn in to the small community of Brewer Creek where she becomes the coordinator for an old fashioned Friendship Tree – a chart telling people who they can call on in times of trouble. And before long, she realises the Friendship Tree does a lot more than organise fundraising events and working bees; it has the power to unite an entire town. Should you ever try to run from your past? ‘An enjoyable read by a new author. One to watch!’ Katie Fforde 'A fantastic sense of place, a traditional romance, contemporary issues and a nice touch of mystery.' Sue Moorcroft. 'The gorgeous setting, impossible romance and fabulous main characters are making this such a fantastic read.' Librarian Lavender ***Shortlisted for the Romantic Novelists' Association's Joan Hessayon New Writers' Scheme Award 2016***

Not Just Black and White


Lesley Williams - 2015
    Lesley Williams is forced to leave Cherbourg Aboriginal Settlement and her family at a young age to work as a domestic servant. Apart from a bit of pocket money, Lesley never sees her wages – they are kept ‘safe’ for her and for countless others just like her. She is taught not to question her life, until desperation makes her start to wonder, where is all that money she earned? So begins a nine-year journey for answers which will test every ounce of her resolve. Inspired by her mother’s quest, a teenage Tammy Williams enters a national writing competition with an essay about injustice. The winning prize takes Tammy and Lesley to Michael Jackson’s Neverland Ranch and ultimately to the United Nations in Geneva. Along the way, they find courage they never thought they had and friendship in the most unexpected places. Told with honesty and humor, Not Just Black and White is an extraordinary memoir about two women determined to make sure history is not forgotten.

Australia's Second Chance


George Megalogenis - 2015
    Australia is on its second. For the best part of the nineteenth century, Australia was the world's richest country, a pioneer for democracy and a magnet for migrants. Yet our last big boom was followed by a fifty-year bust as we lost our luck, our riches and our nerve, and shut our doors on the world. Now we're back on top, in the position where history tells us we made our biggest mistakes. Can we learn from our past and cement our place as one of the world's great nations? Showing that our future is in our foundation, Australia's Second Chance goes back to 1788, the first contact between locals and migrants, to bring us a unique and fascinating view of the key events of our past right through to the present day. With newly available economic data and fresh interviews with former leaders (including the last major interview with Malcolm Fraser), George Megalogenis crunches the numbers and weaves our history into a compelling thesis, brilliantly chronicling our dialogue with the world and bringing fresh insight into the urgent question of who we are, and what we can become. 'Megalogenis has emerged as something of a polymath. He slaps history and politics and culture like mortar in and around his knowledge of economics and numbers to build compelling, even thrilling, theses about the country of his birth and where it stands in the world.' Tony Wright, Saturday Age

Gallipoli Street


Mary-Anne O'Connor - 2015
    A time of desperate love born in desperate times and acts of friendship against improbable odds.

Mercy Street


Tess Evans - 2015
    While his marriage to Pen was a happy one, they never had children, so his life has narrowed to trips to the shop, occasional visits from his bossy sister Shirl and afternoons in the pub with his old mate Redgum.But one day, everything changes when Angie, a nineteen-year-old single mother, unexpectedly saves his life. George grudgingly acknowledges his debt to her, and later, when Angie asks for a favour, he has no choice but to agree. Gradually George's life begins to blossom, until Angie's fecklessness unexpectedly sets him on the wrong side of the law. It takes all of his love and courage, and friends both old and new, for George to deal with a very unexpected turn of events.A novel about mistakes, accidental families, and the transformative power of love, from the bestselling author of Book of Lost Threads, Tess Evans.

Splash!: 9 Refreshing Romances Filled with Faith


Valerie ComerJan Thompson - 2015
    Come visit Scotland, Zambia, Australia, Canada, and several American states, including Alaska, in these inspirational romance novellas. You'll love each refreshing contemporary romance as the characters enjoy the water on hot summer days, whether it be in a river, lake, ocean... or a swimming pool! His Perfect Catch by Narelle Atkins, author of the Snowgum Creek series A holiday romance isn’t part of the plan when Mia Radcliffe temporarily moves to Sapphire Bay and lives next door to Pete McCall, her secret crush from years ago. Pete prefers the simple life. Can Mia leave behind her big-city dreams and settle with Pete in the seaside town? Sweet Serenade by Valerie Comer, author of the Farm Fresh Romance series Carly and Reed thrive on the rush of running rapids in a canoe until they capsize in both river and romance. Will secrets from the past drown their future, or can this idyllic summer romance lead to a lifetime of sweet serenades? More than Friends by Autumn Macarthur, author of the Love in Store series When nurse Catriona asks for help with her Vacation Bible School for disabled children, she never imagines how much could go wrong on a simple seaside day out — or that the colleague she's secretly loved for years might come to see her as more than his best friend's little sister. Love Flies In by Heidi McCahan, author of the Emerald Cove series He’s a seaplane pilot determined to honor his convictions. She’s a kayak guide who mocked his faith for sport. One small lakeside cabin in Alaska can’t house them both.  Testing the Waters by Lesley Ann McDaniel, author of the Madison Falls series After breaking up with her ultra-critical boyfriend, Teresa decides to reinvent herself. She meets a nice guy named Curt on the beach in Crescent Cove, Oregon, and tells him she’s Terése from Paris. Pretending to be someone else is fun until the unthinkable happens — she starts to fall for him. The Lifeguards, the Swim Team, and Frozen Custard by Carol Moncado, author of the CANDID Romance series Lifeguard Alivia Collins looks forward to another summer on the guard stand at the Serenity Landing Aquatic Center. This year, she’s going to have to keep herself from falling for the cute, new guard - or realize it’s time to give love another chance. Time and Tide by Lynette Sowell, author of the Lone Star Hearts series When out-of-work fashion journalist Karyn Lewis uses the summer to regroup on the coast of Virginia, she plans to lie low at Pine Breezes campground. She doesn't plan for her heart to be on a collision course with old friend Brodie Reed. They must decide if the past that looms between them will be too much for them to have a future together.  Draw You Near by Jan Thompson, author of the Savannah Sweethearts series Savannah artist Abilene Dupree keeps her personal life out of her commercial paintings except one. That one painting has now brought Londoner Lars Cargill back to the coastal town and into her art world. Can she hold him at bay before he invades her personal space and her heart? Orphaned Hearts by Marion Ueckermann, author of the Heart of Africa series His faith buried with his wife,  Simon devotes himself to raising his daughter

Outback Flames


Suzanne Brandyn - 2015
    The incident and her previous memories are wiped from her mind. Whisked away moments later by an unknown aunt, Zoe learns to grow up fast and learns the value of hard work.Fifteen years later, after overhearing her aunt's whispers about Montagreen, and a girl called Zoe Montgomery, the name on her bracelet, Zoe's suspicions increase. She flees the only life she has ever known, and escapes her aunt's harsh lies and abuse, to return home to find answers and rebuild.However, returning opens not only the devastation she'd left behind, it reveals the torment her childhood sweetheart suffered which almost destroyed his life.As Jordan works on the restoration of Montagreen, can they battle their way through a mountain of obstacles and take over where they left off, or is it too late?

Island Home


Tim Winton - 2015
    Wise, rhapsodic, exalted – Island Home is not just a brilliant, moving insight into the life and art of one of our finest writers, but a compelling investigation into the way our country shapes us.

Spirits of the Ghan


Judy Nunn - 2015
    In her spellbinding new bestseller she takes us on a breathtaking journey deep into the red heart of Australia. It is 2001 and as the world charges into the new Millennium, a century-old dream is about to be realised in the Red Centre of Australia: the completion of the mighty Ghan railway, a long-lived vision to create the 'backbone of the continent', a line that will finally link Adelaide with the Top End. But construction of the final leg between Alice Springs and Darwin will not be without its complications, for much of the desert it will cross is Aboriginal land. Hired as a negotiator, Jessica Manning must walk a delicate line to reassure the Elders their sacred sites will be protected. Will her innate understanding of the spiritual landscape, rooted in her own Arunta heritage, win their trust? It’s not easy to keep the peace when Matthew Witherton and his survey team are quite literally blasting a rail corridor through the timeless land of the Never-Never.When the paths of Jessica and Matthew finally cross, their respective cultures collide to reveal a mystery that demands attention. As they struggle against time to solve the puzzle, an ancient wrong is awakened and calls hauntingly across the vastness of the outback . . .

McKellan's Run


Nicole Hurley-Moore - 2015
    Now eight years later, fate has brought Violet and her daughter, Holly, back to the house Violet grew up in.As soon as Violet runs into James 'Mac' MacKellan, she wonders if she should run all the way back to the city. But something about the look in his eyes makes her want to linger. Can she trust him, can she trust herself or will she be burned again?James MacKellan has had a soft spot for Violet Beckett for longer than he can remember. It almost killed him to watch his brother woo her, use her and finally lose her. From their very first encounter he's hooked. But how can he convince her that not all MacKellans are the same?McKellan's Run is an entertaining love story that takes us into the hearts of two very special people who deserve a second chance.

Outback Fever


Suzanne Brandyn - 2015
    An ongoing feud has existed between the Kinkaids and the Thorntons for generations, unknown to Cassandra until a few weeks ago. Now someone isn't happy and wants her out.Cassandra’s mother Beth holds a welcoming home party for Jake Thornton, hoping to end the feud for good. How can they end a feud when the air sizzles like the Capulets and Montagues, although Beth states there was never a Romeo and Juliet involved? Little does she realise Romeo and Juliet did exist, but they are far from star-crossed lovers.How can Cassandra forgive Jake for breaking her heart, and how can she give up on her Grandfather’s wishes? He’d turn over in his grave if he ever knew she was and still is in love with a Thornton. Besides, her grandfather left the property to her for a good reason and she isn’t about to give in for love, or is she?

The White Possessive: Property, Power, and Indigenous Sovereignty


Aileen Moreton-Robinson - 2015
    Focusing on the Australian Aboriginal context, Aileen Moreton-Robinson questions current race theory in the first world and its preoccupation with foregrounding slavery and migration. The nation, she argues, is socially and culturally constructed as a white possession.Moreton-Robinson reveals how the core values of Australian national identity continue to have roots in Britishness and colonization, built on the disavowal of Indigenous sovereignty. Whiteness studies are central to Moreton-Robinson’s reasoning, and she shows how blackness works as a white epistemological tool that bolsters the social production of whiteness—displacing Indigenous sovereignties and rendering them invisible in a civil rights discourse, sidestepping issues of settler colonialism.Throughout this critical examination Moreton-Robinson proposes a bold new agenda for critical Indigenous studies, one that involves deeper analysis of the prerogatives of white possession within the role of disciplines.

The Horse Thief


Tea Cooper - 2015
    She will breed a horse to win the coveted trophy and reunite her fractured family. Determined to make her dream a reality she advertises for a horse breeder. Jim Mawgan arrives at Helligen Stud in the Hunter Valley to take up the position. Jim however, has a mission: he must fulfil his father's dying wish to right past wrongs and prove his ownership of the prized stallion Jefferson. Jim and India discover they share a common goal but as the secrets of the past unravel old enmities surface. Although betrayed, will India save Jim before he is branded a horse thief and sentenced to death?

Stay With Me


Maureen McCarthy - 2015
    Stuck on a farm outside Byron Bay, cut off from family and friends, Tess knows she must find a way to escape her violent partner to save her life and the life of her child ...A chance meeting offers a way out - but can she ever trust again? Tess embarks on a desperate road trip back to the heart of her past. But what will be waiting for her at home? Will her family forgive her - and can she forgive them?

Phillip Hughes: The Official Biography


Malcolm Knox - 2015
    Here was a batting prodigy from a tiny country town with a twinkle in his eye and a wizardry with the willow to fill the dreams of a generation. But those dreams were lost in November 2014 when Hughes was felled, playing the game he loved.Told through the voices of those who knew him best, Phillip Hughes:­ The Official Biography is the incredible story of the boy from Macksville who became Australian Test cricketer 408. It charts the folkloric rise of the banana grower's son with the axe-handle batting technique, reliving his adventures on and off the field and celebrating his many triumphs and travails.And it pays tribute to the fighting spirit and gift for friendship that made this unique young man a hero to millions.

The Paint Horse (White Cloud Station)


Trudy Nicholson - 2015
    But Paintbox was taken from her by his spiteful former owners and there was nothing Lucy could do. Despite having Hope, Lucy never got over losing Paintbox. The worst part was, she had no idea what became of him until, one day, a mysterious letter arrives…. www.whitecloudstation.com A White Cloud Station short story.

Modern Love: The Lives of John and Sunday Reed


Lesley Harding - 2015
    John and Sunday's was a remarkable partnership that affected all those who crossed the threshold into Heide and which altered the course of art in Australia.

Rose River


Margareta Osborn - 2015
    Take one city girl - and drop her into the back of beyond...Housesitting in rural Burdekin's Gap, high up in the East Gippsland Mountains, is not an obvious career move for a PR executive like Jaime Hanrahan. But, hey, retrenchment is a kicker. Plus she's determined not to spend Christmas in Melbourne with her friends, who still have company cars and six-figure salaries, or with her mother, Blanche, who has remarried too soon after her father's death.However, it turns out that Burdekin's Gap is a little more remote than Jaime had anticipated, the house is in the middle of a cattle station, and the handsome manager, Stirling McEvoy, doesn't appreciate a new farmhand in Jimmy Choos and Sass & Bide cut-offs. Soon Jaime is fending off stampeding cows, town ladies wielding clipboards, sheep that think they are goats, nude sportsmen and one very neurotic cat. So why does she feel like she's falling in love . . . with the life, with the breathtaking landscape, and with one infuriating cowboy?

Bindarra Creek Makeover


S.E. Gilchrist - 2015
    When Tessa Gibson reluctantly embarks on an desperate plan to secure her daughter’s safety, she never dared dream of falling in love – especially with a cop and a town that makes her feel like one of their own. The moment Constable Dylan (aka Dodge) Myers meets Tessa, more than his internal cop radar is activated. With his career on shaky grounds, he doesn’t need additional complications in his life. But neither Tessa nor Dodge are a match for his grandmother and her CWA cronies and their own ideas on revitalising the struggling rural township of Bindarra Creek. And not even the monster from Tessa’s past will stop them.

Claiming Noah


Amanda Ortlepp - 2015
    As she's often tried to explain to him, she took care of herself before she met him, and did a good job of it. But James has been especially attentive lately as they struggle to have a baby. They succeed at last through in vitro fertilization, but unwilling to risk the heartbreak of another miscarriage, they decide to make their "spare" frozen embryo available to another family.Diana and Liam Simmons are desperate for a child. Unable to conceive, they are overjoyed to learn that as the closest genetic match to the Sinclairs they are the recipients of the embryo donation. Diana's only concern is her mother's disapproval of IVF, but any doubts raised are quickly eclipsed by Diana's joy of being pregnant.As Diana is finding delight in every aspect of motherhood, Catriona keeps waiting for the rush of adoration she knows she is supposed to feel, but instead slips into a deep depression. Just as Catriona begins to find her way back to normalcy, one of the babies is kidnapped. Suddenly, all of their lives begin to unravel and intertwine, and none of them will ever be the same.

Daughter of the Territory


Jacqueline Hammar - 2015
    In 1919, her father arrived there on the back of a camel. By the time Jacqueline was born, he’d become a mounted trooper, working in a succession of outback towns chasing down murderers and cattle thieves. Jacqueline’s childhood was spent in isolated bush settlements until her parents sent her to boarding school in Darwin to be ‘civilised’.After finishing school, Jacqueline found herself drawn back to the Territory where she soon met and fell in love with cattleman, Ken Hammar. Together they moved to one of the most inaccessible regions in the Top End. Starting out in a bark hut they’d built themselves, hard work and determination saw them prosper until they had a thriving million-acre cattle station with a more comfortable house, where they brought up their two children.A larger-than-life tale of adventure, survival and love in some of Australia’s most isolated country, Daughter of the Territory is an extraordinary autobiography that zips along at a cracking pace, with one entertaining yarn after another.Jacqueline and Ken Hammar are now in their eighties and live in the hinterland of the Gold Coast.

Song Bird: Matters of the Heart


Christine M. Knight - 2015
    To get there, she put her career and son first and her love life on hold. Now an international singing sensation, Nikki discovers her reality is very different from what she had imagined. Determined not to be caged by the fan and media circus, Nikki struggles to protect her son, their relationship and lifestyle. That struggle is complicated by her desire for a love life. The unearthing of Nikki’s dark past, known only to her inner circle, creates a paparazzi whirlwind that threatens to destroy her. Can she find the courage to withstand the media storm? Can she transcend her past? How will she resolve matters of the heart? Set between 2000 and 2002, the themes in Song Bird centre on discovery, belonging, transformation, dealing with adversity, and matters of the heart.

The Coal Face


Tom Doig - 2015
    . ."On 9 February 2014 a fire took hold in Victoria's Hazelwood coal mine next to Morwell and burned for one and a half months. As the air filled with toxic smoke and ash, residents of the Latrobe Valley became ill, afraid – and angry. Up against an unresponsive corporation and an indifferent government, the community banded together, turning tragedy into a political fight.Tom Doig reveals the decades of decisions that led to the fire, and gives an intimate account of the first moments of the blaze and the dark weeks that followed. The Coal Face is a gripping and immediate report of one of the worst environmental and public health disasters in Australian history.

Shining: The Story of a Lucky Man


Abdi Aden - 2015
    Unable to find his family and effectively an orphan, he fled with some sixty others,heading to Kenya. On the way, death squads hunted them and they daily faced violence, danger and starvation. After almost four months, they arrived in at refugee camps in Kenya - of the group he'd set out with, only five had survived.All alone in the world and desperate to find his family, Abdi couldn't stay in Kenya, so he turned around and undertook the dangerous journey back to Mogadishu. But the search was fruitless, and eventually Abdi made his way - alone, with no money in his pockets - to Romania, then to Germany, completely dependent on the kindess of strangers. He was just seventeen years old when he arrived in Melbourne. He had no English, no family or friends, no money, no home. Yet, against the odds, he not only survived, he thrived. Abdi went on to complete secondary education and later university. He became a youth worker, was acknowledged with the 2007 Victorian Refugee Recognition Award and was featured in the SBS second series of Go Back to Where You Came From.Despite what he has gone through, Abdi is a most inspiring man, who is constantly thankful for his life and what he has. Everything he has endured and achieved is testament to his quiet strength and courage, his resilience and most of all, his warm-hearted, shining and enduring optimism.'Powerful and uplifting' Bookseller + Publisher

The Straight Dope: The inside story of sport's biggest drug scandal


Chip Le Grand - 2015
     What happened at Essendon, what happened at Cronulla, is only part of the story. From the basement office of a suburban football club to the seedy corners of Peptide Alley to the polished corridors of Parliament House, The Straight Dope is an inside account of the politics, greed and personal feuds which fuelled an extraordinary saga. A football club and coach determined to win, a sports scientist who doesn't play by the rules, an AFL administration hell bent on control, an anti-doping authority out of its depth, a generation of footballers held hostage by scandal and an unpopular government that just wants it to end; for two tumultuous seasons this was the biggest game of all.

Lasseter's Gold


Warren Brown - 2015
    It was mystery that deepened when he and a surveyor returned to the isolated and mysterious Petermann Ranges where the reef was supposed to be located - and couldn’t find it. It became legendary when the largest inland expedition since Burke and Wills was launched and, from the start, like Burke and Wills, was doomed because the partners only had one thing in common: greed.In LASSETER’S GOLD, Warren Brown vividly recreates the drama of the search - the characters, the fights, the soaring temperatures, the impossible terrain, the plane crash, the pistol-carrying dingo-skinner who appeared out of nowhere. He also asks just who was this man Lasseter? A one-time sailor, a bigamist, a man who claimed John Bradfield stole his plans for a single span bridge to cross Sydney Harbour – was he also a very, very good liar?The entries in Lasseter’s diaries suggest he did find the gold, but that by then it was too late. The expedition had finished, he was alone and what he needed was food. Or did he? Was the body they found even his? What did happen to his vast, lost treasure? Did it ever exist? Does it still exist?LASSETER’S GOLD is the gripping story of an outback legend, a myth and, perhaps, a field of gold - there for the taking?

Will Of The Heart


Darry Fraser - 2015
    His will to win her heart, despite the odds. A surprise codicil of her late father’s will leaves Toni MacDonnell bewildered and angry. The possibility of losing everything she loves, her cattle station home in the red desert of central Australia, to some rich man’s company, is real, and frightening. Then she and her brothers, Paul and Evan discover that fraud and embezzlement have had something to do with her predicament. Now it’s a race to find the truth, and someone to trust. Toni doesn’t have a lot of trust to give—not when she learns that her manipulative ex has left her another financial mess. Newcomer Callum Parker has hit town, intent on delivering his family company’s newest acquisition, a little jewel in central Australia, MacDonnell’s Run. But he’s up against a stubborn and worried Toni fighting for her home and her life—he tries whatever it takes to get what he wants. Does Toni fight her father’s dying wishes, holding her brothers to ransom over it? When Callum plays his final hand, does she follow her heart—and not her head—to find the right way home?

Past the Last Island- Revised Edition: A Misfits and Heroes Adventure


Kathleen Rollins - 2015
    They meet others along the way, people driven to find whatever lies beyond the edge of the world. On the great open sea, they enter a world still ruled by spirits, a place of wonders where beauty and danger live side by side. Some give their life to the journey.

Murphy's Lore: Tales from the West


Bob Murphy - 2015
    Now captain of his beloved Western Bulldogs, he’s showing the young pups at the Kennel how to play the great game the right way.Collected here for the first time are the best of Bob’s much-loved weekly newspaper columns – including his ‘Fantasy Football League’ teams of film stars, musos and pollies. From the strange joy of a wet Melbourne winter to the challenge of playing on the sublime Stevie J, Murphy’s Lore shines with the warmth, wisdom and charm of the Dogs’ evergreen champion.

Chasing Shadows: The Life & Death of Peter Roebuck


Tim Lane - 2015
    He engendered a widespread and loyal following for fearlessly wading into controversies – match-fixing, corruption, rotten governments – that left him exposed and vulnerable. At the end, he was accused of sexual assault and the nature of his death was horrific.In this uncompromising investigation that spans multiple continents, and features unflinching testimonies from the likes of Steve Waugh, Rahul Dravid, Mike Atherton, Gideon Haigh, Ian Chappell, Jonathan Agnew and members of the Roebuck family, the authors have pieced together the fragments of an often brilliant yet uneasy life – and reveal how it all unravelled.'In many ways, he was at his happiest talking about and writing about the game. It was the rest of life he didn't quite master.' The TimesTim Lane is a broadcaster and columnist with extensive experience in the electronic and print media. He worked alongside Peter Roebuck at the Australian Broadcasting Corporation for twelve years.Elliot Cartledge is a writer and editor from Melbourne, Australia who has written extensively about sport, music and travel across the globe. This is his third sports book.

A Chance to Come True


S.M. Spencer - 2015
    Letting go of society’s idea of the perfect life, she’s purchased a five-acre property in the small rural town of Willows. She’s determined to live a solitary life and become a writer. And that means staying away from men altogether. Tom Murray owns and runs the local feed store in Willows. His marriage was a failure but his family is strong, and he can’t imagine a world that didn’t include his three young children. He’s an uncomplicated man, living an uncomplicated life—and he has every intention of keeping it that way. Both are mature … both have baggage … and both have agendas that don’t include romance. And then they meet. Author Biography: S M Spencer grew up reading the romantic suspense works of incredible authors such as Daphne du Maurier and Mary Stewart. Their books stirred in her a passion that would last a lifetime—to write stories that would stay with readers long after they’d finished the books. Although S M Spencer grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area she now lives in Australia and writes clean romance, mystery and fantasy books from the home that she shares with her husband, horses, cats and dogs.

Warrior: A Legendary Leader's Dramatic Life and Violent Death on the Colonial Frontier


Libby Connors - 2015
    European settlers were in awe of Aboriginal physical fitness and fighting prowess, and a series of deadly raids on homesteads made even the townspeople of Brisbane anxious.Young warrior Dundalli was renowned for his size and strength, and his elders gave him the task of leading the resistance against the Europeans' ever increasing incursions on their traditional lands. Their response was embedded in Aboriginal law and Dundalli became one of their greatest lawmen. With his band of warriors, he had the settlers in thrall for twelve years, evading capture again and again, until he was finally arrested and publicly executed.Warrior is the extraordinary story of one of Australia's little-known heroes, one of many Aboriginal men to die protecting their country. It is also a fresh and compelling portrait of life in the early days of white settlement of Brisbane and south east Queensland.

StarStruck (Ryn's Rural-Lit Book 1)


Ryn Shell - 2015
     A stand-alone, not quite cozy, mixed genre novel. Come on a powerfully emotional, twenty-year journey of family love, mystery and danger in rural and outback Australia. In a year of wonders, teenagers Rose and Linton pledged their love, and men walked on the moon. But as the moon mission ends, Rose is pregnant and Linton is gone. Rose and Linton’s love seems doomed from the start. But, can the enduring love Rose maintains for Linton win them a happily ever after, when even ‘the heavens’ seem to be against the lovers? An intriguing story with universal appeal. Romance and recent historical fiction combine in an Australian story that is highly relevant in today's world. As with Ryn Shell’s other historical fiction and rural-lit mystery novels, there is betrayal, resilience and love at the core of a semi-biographical story set in outback and rural Australia. Receive your free Rural-Lit newsletter at http://www.rural-lit.com Scroll up and grab a copy of the novel STARSTRUCK today.

Mannix


Brenda Niall - 2015
    But his political interventions had a profound effect on the wider Australian nation too. Award-winning biographer Brenda Niall has made some unexpected discoveries in Irish and Australian archives which overturn some widely held views. She also draws on her own memories of meeting and interviewing Mannix to get to the essence of this man of contradictions, controversies and mystery. Mannix is not only an astonishing new look at a remarkable life, but a fascinating depiction of Melbourne in the first half last century. Brenda Niall is one of Australia's foremost biographers. She is the author of four award-winning biographies, including her acclaimed accounts of the Boyd family. Brenda has degrees from the University of Melbourne, the Australian National University and Monash University. She has held visiting fellowships at the University of Michigan, Yale University and the Australian National University. In 2004 she was awarded the Order of Australia for 'services to Australian literature, as an academic, biographer and literary critic'. She frequently reviews for the Age, Sydney Morning Herald and Australian Book Review.

Colouring The Rainbow: Blak Queer and Trans Perspectives - Life Stories and Essays By First Nations People of Australia


Dino Hodge - 2015
    The contributors to this ground-breaking book not only record the continuing relevance of traditional culture and practices, they also explain the emergence of homonormativity within the context of contemporary settler colonialism.Colouring the Rainbow is a real, searing and celebratory exploration of modern culture in post-apology Australia.

Season of Shadow and Light


Jenn J. McLeod - 2015
    Also avail in print at https://www.jennjmcleod.com

From Christmas to Forever?


Marion Lennox - 2015
    Pollyanna Hargreaves has been wrapped in cotton wool all her life--now she's determined to strike out on her own! But she never expected to get stuck with handsome GP Dr. Hugo Denver for Christmas. He's meant to have left on holiday with his adorable niece already--not to be tempting her at every turn!As they're forced to work together Hugo's icy exterior soon begins to thaw. And it's not long before Polly realizes that she's falling for him...and for little Ruby, too!

Spoils of the Moon


Mark Shearman - 2015
    They are driven to find the truth over two continents, unearth their real family history, and the theft of some lunar rocks, but is their journey a search for the truth or the whereabouts of the spoils of the moon.

Great South Land


Rob Mundle - 2015
    On 15 January 1688 - almost 100 years to the day before Captain Arthur Phillip arrived in Botany Bay as commander of the First Fleet - another English ship, the sixteen-gun Cygnet, was running downwind on a gentle breeze while closing on the coast of the same continent. Cygnet, however, was 2000 miles to the north-west of where Phillip would anchor HMS Sirius and go ashore to finally establish the first British colony in the Great South Land. To get to this point, Cygnet had crossed the Pacific from the coast of Mexico to the East Indies with a 140-man crew comprising a bunch of unruly seafarers, young and old ... and pirates all.

New Zealand's Far-Reaching Reforms: A Case Study on How to Save Democracy from Itself


Bill Frezza - 2015
    Inflation ran rampant, economic growth fell flat, and soaring public debt set new records. Today, New Zealand outscores almost every other country in the world, including the United States, in terms of overall prosperity, personal freedom, and good governance. How did they do it? Under the leadership of two politicians from opposing parties, Sir Roger Douglas and Ruth Richardson, economic reality was embraced and tough political decisions were made. This case study tells their story. The experience in New Zealand offers lessons for democracies everywhere that face fiscal, monetary policy, and ultimately political crises.

Birdland


Leila Jeffreys - 2015
    The result is a stunning encounter with some of the world's most beautiful birds.On display are fine feathers of all types-eagles in burnished battle armor, fairy floss pink cockatoos, owls in spangled evening wear, and the finches and parrots who couldn't settle for just one or two colours, so chose the whole palette instead.Captured in a moment of stillness, Jeffreys's feathered sitters reveal qualities and features that invite human projection. Meet the sociable gang-gang cockatoos Commander and Mrs. Skyring, always up for a soiree; the dignified and kingly black kite Fenrick; and the adorably gamine Pepper, a southern boobook owl with impossibly huge eyes and irresistibly cute skinny legs.Sydney-based Jeffreys works with animal rescue and conservation groups to create her portraits. Her love and compassion for her subjects is evident throughout, and every bird has a story, which Jeffreys shares in a profile of nearly every species in the back of the book.There are working birds, like Soren, the wedge-tailed eagle, who patrols areas to prevent cockatoos from damaging buildings and lorikeets from overindulging on sugar on hotel balconies; Blue, the orange-bellied parrot who is part of a breeding program to increase the population of this critically endangered species; and Sirocco, New Zealand's kakapo conversation superstar.Birdland invites us to rediscover birds, to gaze unhindered, and to marvel at their many-splendored glory.

Red Dust Dreaming


Eva Scott - 2015
     Elizabeth Langtree’s has her life in order – safe, organised, planned. Sure, she has her troubles, but they are nothing she can’t handle. Then everything is turned upside down when her family send her to Australia to collect her orphaned nephew. It all seemed so simple in New York, but Australia is nothing like she expected, and she soon falls under the spell of the Outback – the station, the lifestyle, and the seriously sexy owner who has been caring for Luke since the death of his mother. Elizabeth soon discovers that what seemed simple a world away is anything but, and her duty is at odds with the dictates of her heart. She must choose, knowing that a mistake will not only cost her everything, but destroy the future of a devastated little boy.

Time and Space: Footy Tactics from Origins to AFL


James Coventry - 2015
    From Pagan's Paddock to Clarkson's Cluster, from Fitzroy's huddle to Sydney's flood, the tactics of Australian football have become part of the vernacular. In this groundbreaking book, ABC journalist James Coventry reveals the secrets behind them all. You'll meet the German gymnast who taught Geelong how to break the game from its rugby roots; the two Test cricketers who became footy's first great coaches; and the water polo player who shaped the modern AFL.Along the way you'll learn how South Australia pioneered the flick pass; how a rule suggested by Tasmania helped Collingwood win four straight flags; and how Fremantle revolutionised the use of the interchange bench.Time and Space is essential reading for any fan who wants to know why their team does what it does, and why it wins or loses.

Ralf: How a Giant Schnauzer brought hope, happiness and healing to sick children


Anne Crawford - 2015
    He was facing an uncertain future until Caroline Lovick and her loving family came along. They rescued Ralf from Tasmania and welcomed him into their family home in Melbourne.Ralf was the recipient of daily cuddles from Caroline's four children who would spend hours playing with him. He became an important part of their daily walk to school and a celebrity at the school gates where children would stop and pat the friendly visitor.One day Caroline and her family took Ralf to compete at the Royal Melbourne Show. It was here that his potential as a therapy dog was first spotted.Shortly afterwards Ralf began working at Trinity Manor nursing home followed by The Royal Children's Hospital in Melbourne where he became an instant hit with children and their families. Soon Ralf was a permanent fixture, earning fans far and wide.Ralf's story is by turns heart-warming and inspiring, and is full of the amusing antics of this endearing animal. It is a true tale of how the love of a human owner can change a dog's life and how the love of a dog can bring hope to those who need it most.

My Life in Ruins


Adam Ford - 2015
    Not only has he been on expeditions to unlock the mysteries of the past in the Caribbean, British Isles, Jordan, Syria, Israel, United Arab Emirates and Australia, he's also had heat stroke, hypothermia, and dysentery; been chased by camel spiders; walked on by scorpions and pestered by bugs big enough to ride. In more than 20 years roaming the globe, he's lived in some of the most remote locations in the world and suffered the back-breaking and soul-destroying monotony of shifting tonnes of dirt with a shovel. From Cold War bunkers in England to Bronze Age cities on the Euphrates, remotes caves in the Jordan Valley, shipwrecks in Western Australia and burials in Barbados, Adam has dug, dived, abseiled and trekked his way into history. Part memoir, part potted history of civilisation, MY LIFE IN RUINS is the story of a life lived in uncovering the past.

A Treasury of Cartoons


First Dog on the Moon - 2015
    For the first time ever… the ultimate collection of witty and adorable cartoons by First Dog on the Moon, the nation’s only marsupial-based Walkley award-winning cartoonist, in one luxurious illustrated leather-bound edition.*Covering everything from daily political commentary to Eurovision, from talkback radio to Sandwichgate, this handsome tome contains over 200 of Mr Onthemoon’s greatest hits – the sharp, hilarious, clever, whimsical and occasionally poignant drawings that have made First Dog on the Moon an international celebrity.*** Not actually leather-bound** Not actually an international celebrity

A Is For Australia


Frané Lessac - 2015
    Discover why Australia is one of the most amazing countries in the world!

A-League: The Inside Story of the Tumultuous First Decade


John Stensholt - 2015
    Armed with $15 million of government funds, Lowy was about to wake the sleeping giant of Australian sport. The A-League kicked off in 2005. Over the competition’s first decade it has seen more than its fair share of drama, on and off the field. International superstars have come to play, eccentric billionaires have bought and sold franchises, and clubs have folded after haemorrhaging millions of dollars. Yet the football has been passionate and captivating, and attendances and television audiences have grown as Australians have embraced the game as never before.Relying on unprecedented access to key figures in the code, John Stensholt and Shaun Mooney reveal the true story behind the A-League’s first ten years: the egos, the power plays and the rows between some of Australia’s richest men as they try to make the world game Australia’s favourite sport. ‘Money, power, ego and ambition. Throw in the odd football match and you have the story of the A-League – from forgotten game to unforgettable glory.’—Francis Leach, ABC‘Once I started, I couldn’t put it down. A wonderful and riveting insight into the first decade of the A-League.’—Ray Gatt, the Australian‘There’s enough in this for a 20-year period, such has been the last decade in Australian club football. Entertaining, informative, this covers it all – the good, the bad, the ugly.’—Adam Peacock, Fox SportsShaun Mooney is the publisher of football journal Leopold Method, and has contributed to the Guardian Australia. Previously, Shaun wrote articles on retail and small business marketing, which were syndicated across six countries. He has also co-authored two business books.John Stensholt is an award-winning journalist for the Australian Financial Review, and edits the BRW Rich list. His work has also appeared in the Age, the Sydney Morning Herald and the Financial Review Magazine.

All the Buildings in Sydney (That I've Drawn So Far)


James Gulliver Hancock - 2015
    This book documents my birthplace, with all that the glittering city of Sydney, Australia has to offer architecturally.

And You May Find Yourself


Paul Dalgarno - 2015
    Living in his in-laws’ lounge room with mounting disgust growing between him and his wife and a tenuous hold on an emotional connection with his two children, Paul’s life is cramped, poor, and seemingly adrift from the future he thought he would have for himself. A brave, enthralling memoir loaded with pathos that will leave you pondering on your own life journey long after you’ve turned the final page.“Honest, raw, hilarious and melancholic. Impeccable writing. Compelling storytelling.”-Catherine Deveny“A brave, enthralling, emotionally charged memoir, told with such arresting candour that I continued to be influenced by its mood whenever I managed to put the book down, and felt the influence of its message long after I’d turned the final page.”-Clint Greagen (Reservoir Dad)“Honest, entirely original, and often hilarious – one man’s coming to terms with his new country, and himself.”-Gay Alcorn (editor, Guardian Australia)

Meet Sidney Nolan


Yvonne Mes - 2015
    This is the story of how he developed his iconic Ned Kelly series of paintings, brought modernist art to Australia and took Australian art to an admiring international audience.

Panthers and the Museum of Fire


Jen Craig - 2015
    While she walks, the reader enters the narrator’s entire world: life with family and neighbors, narrow misses with cars, her singular friendships, dinner conversations, and work. We learn of her adolescent desire for maturity and acceptance through a brush with religion, her anorexia, the exercise of that power when she was powerless in every other aspect of her life.

The Soldier's Wife


Pamela Hart - 2015
    Amid the desperate battles of the Dardanelles, Jimmy dreams of the future they planned together and writes Ruby letters full of love and longing.Back in Sydney, Ruby must face challenges she never could have imagined as a young country bride. Finding a place in the city and taking a job as a bookkeeper in a timber merchant's yard, she discovers that working in a man's world is fraught with complications, especially when her employer suffers a devastating loss and she is expected to take the reins.When Jimmy returns wounded in both body and spirit, he and Ruby come close to losing everything in the aftermath of war. They must find a new way to live and to love if their marriage is to survive.

Six Square Metres: Reflections from a Small Garden


Margaret Simons - 2015
    Sometimes you reap what other people sowed. Sometimes you haven't got a clue what you are sowing, and sometimes you just get lucky, or unlucky. All these things are true of life, as of gardening.In this thoughtful and beautifully observed book, journalist and gardening enthusiast Margaret Simons takes readers on a journey through the seasons, through her life, and through the tiny patch of inner-urban earth that is home to her garden.Over the course of a year, within the garden and without, there are births to celebrate and deaths to mourn; there are periods of great happiness and light, and times of quiet reflection. There is, in other words, all the chaos, joy, sorrow, and splendour of being alive.

Wendy Whiteley and the Secret Garden


Janet Hawley - 2015
    This is the extraordinary story of how a determined, passionate and deeply creative woman has slowly transformed an overgrown wasteland into a beautiful sanctuary for everyone to enjoy - and in the process, transformed herself.Wendy Whiteley was Brett Whiteley's wife, muse and model. An artist herself, with a finely honed aesthetic sense, she also created the interiors at the heart of Brett's iconic paintings of their Lavender Bay home. When Brett died, followed by the death nine years later of their daughter Arkie, Wendy threw her grief and creativity into making an enchanting hidden oasis out of derelict land owned by the New South Wales Government. This glorious guerrilla garden is Wendy's living artwork, designed with daubs of colour, sinuous shapes and shafts of light.This is Wendy's story but it's also the story of the countless people who cherish the Secret Garden. 'I've loved making this garden. It's been a great gift to my life. It let me find myself again, and it's my gift to share with the public.' Wendy Whiteley

Plain-speaking Jane


Jane Caro - 2015
    She says what she thinks. In an era when public figures talk about themselves as brands, this is almost radical. In her memoir, Jane tells us that: her life is not perfect; she has given up trying to control anything; her children are not geniuses; Julia Gillard is fine but she's not a saint; and in her long career in advertising she was bullied by some of the wittiest men in Australia. She also talks frankly about her battle with anxiety. For the anxious among us - one in three Australian women are affected - this memoir offers hope. By example, Jane shows us that anxiety is not a life sentence; it can be managed so long as it is identified and treated; it should not prevent us doing the things in life that bring reward and recognition, and on the other side of anxiety lies the ultimate reward: the freedom to say and do as we please.

Watson's Pier


Joshua Funder - 2015
    On 20 December 1977, sixty-two years to the day since he last stepped from the Gallipoli shore, Watson takes a slow train to visit his family for Christmas and fragments of the long-forgotten truth come together in his mind. When his family gather to listen to his story of Gallipoli, Watson tells his tale with the same steadfast clarity of purpose that helped him get through the war all those years ago.Leading a volunteer Signals Company, newly wed and with a young family, Watson felt compelled to enlist as soon as war broke out in 1914. Setting sail towards an unknown enemy, Watson trained for battle in Egypt while his wife expected their child at home. He was among the first ashore at the fateful landings at Anzac Cove on 25 April 1915, surviving the hazards of battle, fear and disease to build the pier from which so many men later escaped. Facing an impossible mission, Watson was one of a handful of Anzac officers who together decided to get every man out alive. Through to the very end he played his part and became a hero.Watson's Pier is beautifully told, a mix of fact, fiction and veterans' stories reaching back across generations to trace one man's personal journey, and with it the history of a nation. It also challenges the historical record of the final moments at Anzac Cove and offers a new perspective on the meaning of Gallipoli.

The Short Long Book


Martin Flanagan - 2015
    He quietly revolutionised Australian sport by refusing to let a racial insult pass during the Anzac Day match between Essendon and Collingwood. When the overwhelmingly white football public backed a black man against a white institution (the AFL), the culture of the game flipped and the AFL became a leader in Australian race relations. A decade later, he again impacted on the nation when he set out to walk from Melbourne to Canberra to confront the Howard government over Aboriginal issues.This is a portrait of a shy black kid from Darwin who became one of the most notable figures in the history of Australian sport, of a footballer who tore apart the 1993 grand final within seven minutes of the start, of a man known as a joker who is a serious social and political thinker. It is also the story of a white sportswriter who is taken to his limits, and a long way beyond, seeking to understand a man who can only be understood through his Aboriginality. Funny, incisive and revealing, The Short Long Book is a compelling portrait of a man who could be described as the soul of the game, as seen by Australia's greatest sportswriter.

Shelter: How Australians Live


Kara Rosenlund - 2015
    Its lonely, worn loveliness kindled a passion in Kara to photograph and celebrate Australia's authentic, intriguing rural homes and the people who live in them. As she travelled the country, documenting raw and real interiors and landscapes, she found shelter – under the roofs of beach shacks, grand homesteads, sheep stations and shipping containers, and in the welcome of strangers.

No Way Yirrikipayi!


Alison Lester - 2015
    he's hungry. He goes hunting, chasing animals in the sea and on land.What's for dinner? Meet the animals and learn their Tiwi names in this delightful book for all ages.' No Way Yirrikipayi began as a workshop idea and has grown into a fabulous picture book. You're going to love this funny Tiwi story with its beautiful Illustrations.' Alison Lester

Hope Farm


Peggy Frew - 2015
    Hope Farm sticks out of the ragged landscape like a decaying tooth, its weatherboard walls sagging into the undergrowth. Silver's mother, Ishtar, has fallen for the charismatic Miller, and the three of them have moved to the rural hippie commune to make a new start. At Hope, Silver finds unexpected friendship and, at last, a place to call home. But it is also here that, at just thirteen, she is thrust into an unrelenting adult world — and the walls begin to come tumbling down, with deadly consequences. Hope Farm is the masterful second novel from award-winning author Peggy Frew, and is a devastatingly beautiful story about the broken bonds of childhood, and the enduring cost of holding back the truth.

Change Your Name and Disappear: A terrifying true tale of survival


Rosie Malezer - 2015
    Tammy is an Indigenous Australian woman whose determination leads to her surviving the brutality of domestic violence over a six year period, against all odds, after the corrupt local police refuse to help. Each time she calls them for help, the local police amusedly advise her that her abusive spouse is well within his rights to harm her. Imprisoned, repeatedly raped, yet too ashamed to confide in her family, she finally gains the strength to escape after the birth of her son. Nine years later, he tracks her down. The injuries he inflicts upon her are so severe, she is left profoundly Deaf and legally blind. Now living in a new country under a new name, this is her story.

The Bad Jesus: The Ethics of New Testament Ethics


Hector Avalos - 2015
    Writers on New Testament ethics generally view Jesus as the paradigm of human standards and behaviour. But since the historical Jesus was a human being, must he not have had flaws, like everyone else?The notion of a flawless human Jesus is a paradoxical oddity in New Testament ethics. According to Avalos, it shows that New Testament ethics is still primarily an apologetic enterprise despite its claim to rest on critical and historical scholarship.The Bad Jesus is a powerful and challenging study, presenting detailed case studies of fundamental ethical principles enunciated or practised by Jesus but antithetical to what would be widely deemed ‘acceptable’ or ‘good’ today. Such topics include Jesus’ supposedly innovative teachings on love, along with his views on hate, violence, imperialism, animal rights, environmental ethics, Judaism, women, disabled persons and biblical hermeneutics.After closely examining arguments offered by those unwilling to find any fault with the Jesus depicted in the Gospels, Avalos concludes that current treatments of New Testament ethics are permeated by a religiocentric, ethnocentric and imperialistic orientation. But if it is to be a credible historical and critical discipline in modern academia, New Testament ethics needs to discover both a Good and a Bad Jesus.

The Girl Who Stole Stockings: the true story of Susannah Noon and the women of the convict ship Friends


Elsbeth Hardie - 2015
    The crimes of the women and girls on board ranged from pickpocketing to murder, but most were convicted of theft. Susannah Noon, not yet in her teens, tried to steal four pairs of cotton stockings from a shop in Colchester. It earned her a sentence of transportation for seven years' 'beyond the seas'. It was a sentence that reverberated throughout her lifetime; she never returned to England. What drove most of these women, young and old, to crime was what helped them to shape new lives in New South Wales - the will to survive.The newly invented society they found themselves in was, in effect, that of an 'open prison'. In 1811, there were only one hundred women in New South Wales who had not arrived as convicted felons. Susannah and her Friends shipmates were free to work and marry. Most of them grabbed the chance for respectability and, in doing so, they became part of the unexpected phenomenon that was transforming a penal outpost to thriving colony. Author Elsbeth Hardie knew nothing of these women when she went in search of them. Susannah and the others remained largely silent and invisible to history. In uncovering their stories, she provides a little-known account of the convict system that prevailed in the early years of transportation to New South Wales and how these women fared. Susannah's journey would take her on to yet another new life in a whaling station in New Zealand, some years before the arrival of that country's first organised colonists. Her story becomes that of the shore-based whaling industry that drew hardened men from around the world to the southern seas and the families they gained. Later still, Susannah becomes a first-hand witness to the events that led to the fight at the Wairau between the land-grabbing New Zealand Company and Te Rauparaha and his followers.

Catch and Kill: The Politics of Power


Joel Deane - 2015
    Joel Deane’s gripping study of the politics of power takes us into the inner sanctum of state and national politics in Australia, investigating how four friends—Steve Bracks, John Brumby, John Thwaites, and Rob Hulls—beat the factions, won office in Victoria, then tried to hijack Canberra. It delivers a slice of political gothic, exploring the heart of the contemporary Labor Party in search of the nature of power.

Beyond Regeneration


Jenny Schwartz - 2015
    Charley Rowdon knew Dr. Jack Bradshaw years ago, before the accident, before she lost her left arm. Before her husband died. Jack is an internationally respected regeneration specialist, and he’s just made the breakthrough of the century: using QNA to grow non-human bio-enhancements on people, including himself. Think superhuman senses, claws, and even, wings. However, when, as a journalist, Charley accepts Jack’s invitation to accompany him to his private clinic, a luxury resort on the beautiful south west coast of Australia, she finds more than medical science and altered humanity. Murder, espionage and a scientific development that Jack never ever predicted will challenge Charley to shed her grief and fear, and solve a mystery beyond imagining. But as Charley regenerates her life, how much will she risk by loving again? “Beyond Regeneration” is a novel of old grief and new beginnings. The science is fabulous, more fiction than fact, but the emotions are real. This is the story of a woman badly hurt by life who finds the courage to embrace the unbelievable, and love again.

Archipelago of Souls


Gregory Day - 2015
    Through the agency of John Lascelles - the unassuming postmaster on the island and a crusader for the rights of returned soldiers - Wes and Leonie attempt to negotiate a future in which love can prevail in a morally devastated world. Archipelago of Souls is a novel exploring the difficult realities of nationhood, war, morality and love. Compelling and beautifully realised, it is about the creation of identity, the enigmas of memory and the power of the written word to heal the deepest wounds. "Richly layered and skilfully controlled, Day is one of a small, bold band of Australian novelists whose imaginative compass is as spacious as is their appetite for risk. For each renewal of his career we can be thankful." The Australian "A mature and searching book. It is consummately crafted." Michael McGirr, SMH "Archipelago of Souls is a novel that I read as slowly as I could, not only to savour Day's eloquence and skill in evoking his main characters, the villagers on Crete and King Island, and landscape, plants, and animals; not only to marvel at the moving, universal story he tells; not only to listen to the musicality and rhythm he creates with language, but also because I didn't want it to end. Gregory Day is a master storyteller." Newtown Review of Books "It's a beautifully written book with a poetic ring to many descriptions that evoke strong imagery, complementing the strong storyline, which will be remembered long after the last page is turned." The Weekly Times "Day's account of Cress' grinding struggle on Crete is remarkable in every way." The Age

A Smaller Country


Phillip Tennison - 2015
    Nations cease to exist. Refugees flock to other lands in search of safety and security.What remains of the Australian Government moves its borders to the south and evacuates the survivors from the northern half of the continent. Australia becomes a smaller country.But some survivors are left behind. They face a perilous existence.One such survivor is John Timms, a former outback cop.Timms embarks on an odyssey that takes him across much of the north. Along the way he encounters other Australians as well as many of the newcomers. Timms finds that he must confront the darkness and violence of the new frontier.

In the Quiet


Eliza Henry-Jones - 2015
    As the months pass and her children grow, they cope in different ways, drawn closer and pulled apart by their shared loss. And all Cate can do is watch on helplessly, seeing their grief, how much they miss her and how - heartbreakingly - they begin to heal. Gradually unfolding to reveal Cate's life, her marriage, and the unhappy secret she shared with one of her children, In the Quiet is compelling, simple, tender, true - heartbreaking and uplifting in equal measure.

Afghanistan: Australia's War


Ian McPhedran - 2015
    Featuring the stunning images of award-winning photographer Gary Ramage, and the words of best-selling defence writer Ian McPhedran, this book is a stunning, moving and comprehensive record of the war. Over the course of the last ten years, Gary Ramage has travelled extensively with both the United States and the Australian Army in Afghanistan as a civilian and news photographer. Living alongside the soldiers, he has captured images of the battles, the men, and the landscape. His photographs are stunning - powerful, moving, gut-wrenching. they speak of the dirt, blood and the grit of war, of comrades-in-arms, the power of mateship. they also show many unexpected moments of tenderness: a malnourished baby in the arms of a soldier; a child's hand pressed to a window as soldiers march by; a soldier and his dog sleeping together on the ground for warmth. these are the juxtapositions which make his photographs so memorable. He photographs the whole war - not only the battles and their bloody aftermath, but the landscape, the towns, the people, the patrols, the barracks, and the bases. this is Australia's war in Afghanistan.

Amplify


Mark Hollands - 2015
    The tour of rock legends, The Pagan Virtue, is the biggest in music history. Their concerts in Australia should be a career highlight if Billy can keep the warring musicians off the drugs, out of the bars and on the stage. When lead singer Jet Kelly is poisoned, Billy's world starts to crumble. Motorcycle gang the White Sharks has stashed $100 million of cocaine inside the band equipment bound for Sydney, and the cops mark Billy as a killer and drug runner. How will Billy Lime keep the show on the road . . .

The Eva Series Box Set


J.M. Wilde - 2015
    Wilde's bestselling Eva Series reached over 3 million reads online and, after much anticipation, is newly revised and available now! A kick-ass teenage girl, a nation swarming with zombies, and a sweet romance that grows among the ruins. You'll find all that and more in this exciting and action-packed, post-apocalyptic young adult trilogy. Set in Australia, horror, friendship and true love collide to make this tale of survival stand out from the rest. Readers have said it's had them on the edge of their seats, reading all through the night and still craving more. The Eva Series will make you smile, scream, cry and fist-pump the air as you go on a wild and dangerous ride with Eva and her friends. BOOK ONE: AS THEY RISE Eva was just an everyday girl, working as a waitress, hanging out with her friends, and falling in love. But her world changed overnight when a powerful virus spread throughout the country, transforming it into a wasteland of deadly disease and crazed zombies. With Australia cut off from the rest of the world and rampant with terror and chaos, Eva and her friends must do whatever they can to survive. BOOK TWO: WHILE WE FALL After a powerful virus spread like wildfire, Australia became a zombie infested island with no escape. The only way for Eva and her friends to survive is to drive across the country to find refuge with Wyatt's brother, Elliot, in his rainforest hideaway. But with the road ahead filled with unknown obstacles and dangers, will they make it across the country alive? Join Eva as she fights for her life and learns that in her terrifying new world, it's not just zombies she has to fear. BOOK THREE: BEFORE IT FADES Eva and her friends are on a race against time. A team of rescuers are on their way to Sydney to evacuate survivors of the outbreak, and if Eva, Wyatt, Jo and Ben don't make it there in time, they will be trapped in Australia forever. But with rage-filled zombies and unexpected obstacles threatening their lives, friendships and true love, will they make it to safety before it's too late? WHAT READERS ARE SAYING: “As They Rise by J. M. Wilde is not the typical YA zombie book, but that is because J. M. Wilde is not the average independent author. The narrative voice she utilizes for Eva, the main character and decided heroine of the series, is flawless. The flow of the work was excellent. This series is off to an excellent start! 5/5.” – Fox Emm, ZombieApocalypse.net “Wilde skillfully combines fun, quirky characters and a terrifying world.” – Rainey, Goodreads review “This was a delight to read… Eva kicks ass and you can’t help but root for her all the way.” – Rouelle, Goodreads review “The way the author describes the events in the story really get me excited and even makes me feel like I’m actually in the situation the characters are in themselves.” – A. Claudio, Goodreads review

Leona Mitchell: Opera Star


Gwendolyn Hooks - 2015
    She always thought she was a good singer, even when her brothers teased her that she could not sing.When Leona sang for the first time in her high school choir class, she began to realize her voice might be something special. With the help of Mrs. Priebe, the choir director, Leona stepped into the world of opera. She went from a good singer to an opera star, traveling the world, sprinkling her sparkle on audiences everywhere, including the Prince's Palace in Monaco.Reader's will delight in Leona Mitchell's story as they follow her from Enid to the stars.

Tradition, Truth and Tomorrow


Galarrwuy Yunupingu - 2015
    It is the only thing that is certain to me now and I want to advance while I can. I am trying to light the fire in our young men and women. We are setting fires to our own lives as we really should, and the flame will burn and intensify – an immense smoke, cloud-like and black, will arise, which will send off a signal and remind people that we, the Gumatj people, are the people of the fire. There are people of the fire around Alice Springs – and I reach out to them, too. We can then burn united, together.Tradition, Truth & Tomorrow is 'no mere essay. It is an existential prayer,' writes Noel Pearson. Galarrwuy Yunupingu tells of his clan and his early life. He recounts his dealings with prime ministers, and how he learnt that nothing is ever what it seems. And behind him, he writes, ‘the Yolngu world is always under threat, being swallowed up by whitefellas. This is a weight that is bearing down on me; at night it is like a splinter in my mind.’

The Burning Elephant


Christopher Raja - 2015
    The young boy watches on in horror as the elephant is shot and then cremated. Is this a sign for dark days ahead? He has been having a hard time trying to please his father, the headmaster, and figure out his mother – something seems wrong with her but Govinda is not sure what. Mumbles, the family’s cook, is a Sikh and worried about the violence on the streets against members of his religion. In The Burning Elephant, we step into Govinda’s Calcutta, a world which revolves around the magic and menace of Serpent Lane, just beyond the school gates, and spins out into a city and country in crisis, when the Prime Minister is assassinated. This is a story of how the terrors of life can crash into adolescence and how innocence, once lost, can never be regained.

Two Futures: Australia at a Critical Moment


Clare O'Neil - 2015
    But they’re central to Australia’s future—and they’re urgent.In this agenda-setting book, two young parliamentarians take the long view. They identify the dramatic changes looming on the horizon and outline creative ideas for tackling them. Fact-driven and progressive, optimistic and impassioned, Two Futures begins the debate about the decades ahead that we need to have.

Publicity From The Trenches: For Published & Self-Published Authors


Sherri Rosen - 2015
    Giving published and self-published authors great advice on the basics of publicity from a veteran publicist who has been in the business for over 25 years.

Paul Keating: The Biography


David Day - 2015
    Paul Keating was one of the most significant political figures of the late twentieth century, firstly as Treasurer for eight years and then Prime Minister for five years. Although he has spent all of his adult life in the public eye, Keating has eschewed the idea of publishing his memoirs and has discouraged biographers from writing about his life. Undaunted, best-selling biographer David Day has taken on the task of giving Keating the biography that he deserves. Based on extensive research in libraries and archives, interviews with Keating's former colleagues and associates, and walking the tracks of Keating's life, Day has painted the first complete portrait of Paul Keating, covering both the public and private man.

KIN: A Real People's History of Our Nation


Nick Brodie - 2015
    KIN provides a unique insight into Australia’s colonial story: colonies grow and wars are fought as Nick traces his family across land and sea, in their everyday occupations and through their hardships and most memorable events.From convicts, goldminers and sailors, to high-country horsemen, nurses and soldiers – and almost everyone in between – KIN is about generations of real Australian families living real lives.Nick Brodie is a historian, archaeologist, writer and university lecturer. Born in country New South Wales, his fascination with the past dates back to when he was old enough to dig in his parents’ backyard. The rusty objects and broken bottles he uncovered have since been lost, but his tenacious curiosity and a passion for exploring history remain.

The Test: My Life, and the Inside Story of the Greatest Ashes Series


Simon Jones - 2015
    These are the facts. I look around the room. We’re a young team. Strauss, Flintoff, Vaughan, the new guy, Kevin Pietersen. None of us remember England holding the Ashes. We are a generation that have grown up in Australia’s shadow. In 2005 Simon Jones took part in the greatest Ashes series of all time. As a devastating fast bowler in a brave young England team, Jones went toe to toe with the might of the seemingly unbeatable Australians. Over the course of fifty-four days Simon would experience the greatest highs of his career, and plunge to the lowest depths. The series would change his life for ever. In chapters that alternate between an unforgettable, insider's account of each of the five Tests and the remainder of his life, Simon presents the raw and unvarnished truth behind international sport; the joy and the sacrifice, the physical and mental cost and the unrelenting pressure. Heroes emerge, and cricketing legends are made human.

The Broadsheet Melbourne Cookbook


Broadsheet - 2015
    Here, for the first time, they present the recipes for their pick of the best dishes for breakfast, lunch and dinner from its cafes and restaurants.Featured cafes and restaurants include:* The Premises * Chez Dre * Supernormal * Huxtaburger * Mamasita * Pope Joan * Chin Chin * The European * The Everleigh * Cumulus * Tonka * Izakaya Den * Town Mouse * Vue de Monde * Dainty Sichuan * Ladro * The Estelle * Pierre Roelofs * Burch & Purchese * Gerald's Bar *

The Draftees: How Five Boys Made it to the AFL National Draft


Emma Quayle - 2015
    In 2015, they played their first game. In years to come, they could become stars. But first they had to be drafted to a club.Every year, hundreds of boys are put through their paces at AFL draft camps, training sessions, under-18 competitions and school footy matches. They all hope they will end the year signed to an AFL team. Meanwhile, clubs are making brutal calls on which young players will take them up the ladder. Too many bad recruiting decisions could set them back years. Emma Quayle, senior football writer for The Age and an expert on talent identification, tracks these five boys through 2014 – the year they nominate for the AFL's national draft. We meet their coaches and families. We ride the bumps and share the triumphs. With exclusive behind-the-scenes access to recruiters at St Kilda Football Club as they decide on their 2014 draft picks, Emma sheds light on what it takes to become an AFL footballer.For Jake, Pete, Isaac, Tom and Clem, hearing their name called out on draft day is just the beginning of their football story. But it takes a lot to get to that start line.

The World Repair Video Game


David Ireland - 2015
    Though born to a wealthy Sydney family, Stirling now chooses to spend his days living a modest and solitary existence, with his dog Jim, in a small coastal town in NSW. The novel covers just a few brief months in his life, recording his largely uneventful days spent planting trees, and helping out the town’s elderly residents—mowing their lawns, delivering meals, or ferrying them to medical appointments.Occasionally, the darker side of Stirling’s character surfaces, as he pursues his unconventional scheme to regenerate the landscape of his bushland property on Big Hill. Then there is the voice of Pym, which habitually interjects itself into Stirling’s narrative, and which may be an element of Stirling’s consciousness, or may be something else entirely. David Ireland’s novel, shot through with philosophical asides, irony and dark humour, ultimately presents a bleak vision of our modern world. While Stirling’s response to the realities of economic rationalism, community breakdown and environmental degradation, is blatantly absurd, his strategies to repair the world ultimately present themselves as beyond good and evil. In a novel largely devoid of conventional character and storytelling, David Ireland has given us a complex, challenging and deeply committed work.

Thea Astley: Inventing Her Own Weather


Karen Lamb - 2015
    Over a 50-year writing career, Astley published more than a dozen novels and short story collections, including The Acolyte, Drylands, and The Slow Natives, and was the first person to win multiple Miles Franklin Awards. With many of her works published internationally, Astley was a trailblazer for women writers. In her personal life, she was renowned for her dry wit, eccentricity, and compassion. Karen Lamb has drawn on an unparalleled range of interviews and correspondence to create a detailed picture of Thea the woman, as well as Astley the writer. She has sought to understand Astley’s private world and how that shaped the distinctive body of work that is Thea Astley’s literary legacy.

Frank Lowy: A Second Life


Jill Margo - 2015
    Depending on the day, Frank Lowy is either the richest or the second richest man in Australia. His story - from refugee to multi-billionaire - has become part of Australian folklore. Now in his mid 80s, Frank Lowy is still a juggernaut. Since 2000, when his first biography, the bestselling Pushing the Limits, was published, he's kept pushing ahead. Rather than retreating into retirement, Frank Lowy has in fact achieved more in his 'second life' than most do in a lifetime. He has turned Westfield into one of the largest retail property company in the world, dominating retail in London and Australia. He transformed Australian soccer from an insolvent shambles to a profitable mainstream sport. He created Australia's first foreign policy think tank, the Lowy Institute, which has had an impact on the world stage. When his son faced an incurable eye disease, Lowy responded by establishing an international institute to research the disease. Finally, he completed some long unfinished spiritual business by finding an extraordinary way to 'bury' his father, while commemorating the half a million Hungarian Jews who perished at Auschwitz-Birkenau. Although he continued to drive Westfield to be ever more profitable, personal wealth was not a motivator in Lowy's second life. It was all about intangible enrichment, of himself and of others. Covering his successes and failures, the controversies and the triumphs, Frank Lowy: A Second Life gives rare insight into this extraordinary man, his strategies, his pain and his achievements. 'Creative non-fiction at its very best ... Margo has approached [Lowy's life] as would a story-teller. And this approach makes A Second Life one of the most enjoyable biographies it's possible to read. This is biography on steroids, as entertaining as a good novel, as informative as an encyclopaedia.' Jewish News

Eating My Grandmother: A Grief Cycle


Krissy Kneen - 2015
    Krissy Kneen's first collection of poetry.

The Butterfly Prison


Tamara Pearson - 2015
    They stole the world’s flowers and replaced them with plastic ones, they stole art and replaced it with pomposity, and they stole delight and replaced it with canned laughter. They stole beauty.” The Butterfly Prison is a tapestry of vignettes, weaving the hushed up stories of the world with the lives of Paz and Mella. As they both fight for dignity, Paz, who dreams up photos, faces the abandonment of his town and must resist police harassment, while Mella, who always whispers, must learn to lead. Their different decisions in the face of oppression make the novel a compelling story of choices, consequences, battles, systematic injustice, and the inner magic of humanity.Tender, candid, and thought provoking, The Butterfly Prison employs raw lyrical prose to reflect on and redefine our notions of beauty, freedom, heroes, criminals, and poverty.-"In language that bounces and jabs like a prize fighter, Tamara Pearson has given us novel that spans the globe, mixing unforgettable stories with the politics of power. Supremely readable and supremely insightful." – Greg Palast, author of the New York Times bestsellers, Billionaires & Ballot Bandits and The Best Democracy Money Can Buy"Pearson’s writing is poetic, haunting, and acidic. In the Butterfly Prison, she interweaves compelling characters with the much larger issues of war, ecological collapse, and human suffering. This is a meditation on the similarities and differences of the prisons that people are forced to live in and the ways that they resist their imprisonment. This is a story about the power of human creativity in the face of indifference and violence. It is a reminder of the importance of imagination and creating new stories as weapons against evil and self-annihilation." – Mai’a Williams, co-editor of Revolutionary Mothering"I loved this. Some of it made me want to turn the text into artwork. So fucking beautiful and heart exploding," – Margaret Allum, Green Left Weekly"With unsettling metaphors and an intense narrative thread, Tamara Pearson makes you work for it. But you’ll be glad you did. This is a genuinely original, and tender insight into the forgotten lives and dreams that long to break through the cracks in the paving stones of our broken societies." – Iain Bruce, Film maker, journalist, and author of various non fiction books including The Porto Alegre Alternative: Direct Democracy in Action."This is a novel that talks about the hardest things, and in such an engrossing way. The character Paz just blew me away." – Michael Fox, co-director of documentary Beyond Elections: Redefining Democracy in the Americas and co-author of both Venezuela Speaks!: Voices from the Grassroots and Latin America’s Turbulent Transitions"Tamara Pearson has drawn upon her extensive experience observing Latin American political movements to write this promising new novel." – George Ciccariello-Maher, author of We Created Chavez: A People’s History of the Venezuelan Revolution"I strongly recommend Tamara Pearson’s novel La Belleza, for its political and social insight, uniqueness, and moving prose. This is a powerful novel that has an impact, it will stay relevant for a very long time." –Michael Albert, author and co-author of over twenty books, including Looking Forward, Thought Dreams: Radical Theory for the 21st Century, and Parecon: Life after Capitalism."In “The Butterfly Prison,” Tamara Pearson does a fascinating job of injecting political statements into a story about very likeable human beings, victims of social injustice. She is especially effective in her colorful use of words to provide vivid descriptions." – Steve Ellner, author and editor of a range of non-fiction books, including Rethinking Venezuelan Politics: Class, Polarization and the Chávez Phenomenon.“The Butterfly Prison tells of undeclared wars, of stolen stories, of crises declared only when the rich are worried, not when millions of children are dying. The imperative for a different world cries out from every page.” – Mike Cole, co-author (with Sara Motta) of Constructing Twenty-First Century Socialism in Latin America: The Role of Radical Education.

Poison Ivy


Kathryn White - 2015
    I wanted to tell you a nice story. But the truth is, life is not like that...Ivy Brett-Masters has always been a bit of a prankster. But when an act of revenge goes wrong, fashion model Ivy finds herself in a lot of trouble. She might even go to jail.Poison Ivy is not just a story about that. This is a story about family. About friendship. About loyalty. About HIV. About sexuality. Most of all it is a story about a young woman finding the courage to accept herself.

Love The Gift


Ellen Read - 2015
    It’s set in the present and in 1905.Mark Hamilton accepts his friend’s offer to visit her in the New South Wales Highlands. He and Beth have been best mates since university days. Beth had returned to her family home at Sutton Forest four years ago to help her mother turn their family home into a boutique hotel.Mark had spent those years devoting himself to his art, when he wasn’t working in the art shop to help pay the bills. At least until his mother fell ill. She had been everything to him since his father had died years before. She was his friend, his rock, and his inspiration. He was pleased that at the end, he had been her rock. But he could not save her. Despite hours spent at her bedside willing life into her, she slipped way from him and took his happiness and inspiration with her.Mark knows that Beth has brought him to ‘The Magnolias Boutique Hotel and Spa’ to help him recover from his grief, but he doesn’t mind. She has always known when he needed her.Beth gives Mark a room she doesn’t normally use for guests. It belonged to her Great, Great-Aunt Charlotte who died in 1905. The room has been kept just as Charlotte left it. Mark thinks it is quaint and happily settles in. He feels immediately drawn to a portrait of Charlotte that is on the bedroom wall.After dinner, over a nightcap in front of the fireplace in Beth’s room, she declares her love for Mark. He wonders why he has never guessed. This discovery would have been welcomed at another time but not now when his grief consumes him. Shaken, he returns to his bedroom. Drawn once more to Charlotte’s portrait, he steps outside into her walled garden that leads off the bedroom and is shocked to find he is in a sunny afternoon with Charlotte in the garden to greet him.Is it a dream? Or has he somehow stepped into 1905? It’s beyond Mark’s comprehension. Then he discovers that it is only three days until her death, and he becomes desperate to save her. In the end it is Charlotte and Beth who save him.

Gallipoli: Command Under Fire


Edward J. Erickson - 2015
    It took place on a landscape littered with classical and romantic sites - just across the Dardanelles from the ruins of Homer's Troy. The campaign became, perhaps, the greatest 'what if' of the war. The concept behind it was grand strategy of the highest order, had it been successful it might have led to conditions ending the war two years early on Allied terms. This could have avoided the bloodletting of 1916-18, saved Tsarist Russia from revolution and side stepped the disastrous Treaty of Versailles - in effect, altering the course of the entire 20th century. This book is the first to focus on operational and campaign level decisions and actions, which drove the conduct of the campaign. It departs from emotive first-hand accounts and offers a broader perspective of the large scale military planning and maneuvring involved in this monstrous struggle on the shores of European Turkey.

The Forgotten Notebook


Betty Churcher - 2015
    In 2014 she discovered a sketchbook she had forgotten and decided to create a final companion volume to her bestselling Notebooks series. She wrote the manuscript in six months, but died shortly after completing it.A prize-winning artist in her own right, Betty's sketches were inspired by works of some of the biggest names in art: Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, Rubens and Vermeer through to Picasso, Cézanne, Monet and Duchamp. Betty's sketches and notes bring their artworks to life as she explores the stories of how they were created and reveals each artist's influences.As in the bestselling Notebooks and Australian Notebooks, The Forgotten Notebook showcases Betty Churcher's greatest talents: championing art and sharing the excitement of discovering meaning in the great artworks of the world.About the author:Betty Churcher AO was one of Australia's most loved cultural commentators. A Fellow of the Australian Academy of the Humanities, she was director of the Art Gallery of Western Australia from 1987 to 1990 and of the National Gallery of Australia from 1990 to 1997. She wrote several acclaimed books, including Notebooks, Australian Notebooks, The Art of War, Treasures of Canberra and Adam & Sarah Explore Turner, she was art critic for The Australian and wrote and presented successful television art programs such as Take Five and Hidden Treasures. Earlier in her life she was a painter and won a travelling scholarship to Europe, where she became an associate and graduate of the Royal College of Art, London and gained a Master of Arts from the Courtauld Institute of Art at the University of London. Betty had four sons and seven grandchildren and lived in sheep country in the Southern Tablelands of New South Wales until her death in 2015.