Best of
Australia

2020

Honeybee


Craig Silvey - 2020
    A fateful connection is made, and an unlikely friendship blooms. Slowly, we learn what led Sam and Vic to the bridge that night. Bonded by their suffering, each privately commits to the impossible task of saving the other.Honeybee is a heart-breaking, life-affirming novel that throws us headlong into a world of petty thefts, extortion plots, botched bank robberies, daring dog rescues and one spectacular drag show.At the heart of Honeybee is Sam: a solitary, resilient young person battling to navigate the world as their true self; ensnared by a loyalty to a troubled mother, scarred by the volatility of a domineering step-father, and confounded by the kindness of new alliances.Honeybee is a tender, profoundly moving novel brimming with vivid characters and luminous words. It's about two lives forever changed by a chance encounter -- one offering hope, the other redemption. It's about when to persevere, and when to be merciful, as Sam learns when to let go, and when to hold on.

Sisters of the Southern Cross


Jean Grainger - 2020
    Along with four other sisters she is charged with setting up a Catholic school for the education of the gold rush families. But life between the tropical Australian rainforest and azure ocean is far from the spectacular paradise it seems.Sister Claire finds life challenging in more ways than she can count, the heat, the terrifying creatures that lurk in every nook and cranny, the crocodiles and snakes, but far more worrying is the constant presence of the much loved mayor of Jumaaroo, Joseph McGrath. Why does a person so respected give Claire such cause for concern?Is it the cruel way he speaks about the Aboriginal people who live on the mission? A closed community run by a peculiar religious leader who seems to deeply resent the arrival of the nuns? As Claire learns of the manner in which the Bundagulgi are treated, she is forced to act, but nobody wants to upset the status quo, and a meddlesome nun suddenly is a dangerous one.

The Exiles


Christina Baker Kline - 2020
    Seduced by her employer’s son, Evangeline, a naïve young governess in early nineteenth-century London, is discharged when her pregnancy is discovered and sent to the notorious Newgate Prison. After months in the fetid, overcrowded jail, she learns she is sentenced to “the land beyond the seas,” Van Diemen’s Land, a penal colony in Australia. Though uncertain of what awaits, Evangeline knows one thing: the child she carries will be born on the months-long voyage to this distant land.During the journey on a repurposed slave ship, the Medea, Evangeline strikes up a friendship with Hazel, a girl little older than her former pupils who was sentenced to seven years transport for stealing a silver spoon. Canny where Evangeline is guileless, Hazel—a skilled midwife and herbalist—is soon offering home remedies to both prisoners and sailors in return for a variety of favors.Though Australia has been home to Aboriginal people for more than 50,000 years, the British government in the 1840s considers its fledgling colony uninhabited and unsettled, and views the natives as an unpleasant nuisance. By the time the Medea arrives, many of them have been forcibly relocated, their land seized by white colonists. One of these relocated people is Mathinna, the orphaned daughter of the Chief of the Lowreenne tribe, who has been adopted by the new governor of Van Diemen’s Land.In this gorgeous novel, Christina Baker Kline brilliantly recreates the beginnings of a new society in a beautiful and challenging land, telling the story of Australia from a fresh perspective, through the experiences of Evangeline, Hazel, and Mathinna. While life in Australia is punishing and often brutally unfair, it is also, for some, an opportunity: for redemption, for a new way of life, for unimagined freedom. Told in exquisite detail and incisive prose, The Exiles is a story of grace born from hardship, the unbreakable bonds of female friendships, and the unfettering of legacy.

The Protector


Mike Lunnon-Wood - 2020
    Titus Quayle was the best MI6 ever had – an operative of exceptional and lethal ability. But they burned him, abandoned him, and left him for dead. Holly Morton is the daughter of the spymaster who first recognised Quayle’s potential and the key to unlocking a global conspiracy her father died trying to bring down. To uncover the truth, Quayle must keep her safe from the threat of a powerful enemy in a globetrotting race against time. Nowhere is safe. But to survive in a secret world of spies and assassins, kill orders and kingpins, there’s no one you’d rather have by your side than Titus Quayle… NOTE: THE PROTECTOR was originally titled BROKEN SQUARE.

Growing Up Disabled in Australia


Carly FindlayEmma Di Bernardo - 2020
    A problem those around me wanted to fix.’‘We have all felt that uncanny sensation that someone is watching us.’‘The diagnosis helped but it didn’t fix everything.’‘Don’t fear the labels.’One in five Australians have a disability. And disability presents itself in many ways. Yet disabled people are still underrepresented in the media and in literature.Growing Up Disabled in Australia is the fifth book in the highly acclaimed, bestselling Growing Up series. It includes interviews with prominent Australians such as Senator Jordon Steele-John and Paralympian Isis Holt, poetry and graphic art, as well as more than 40 original pieces by writers with a disability or chronic illness.Contributors include Dion Beasley, Astrid Edwards, Jessica Walton, Carly-Jay Metcalfe, Gayle Kennedy and El Gibbs.

Witness


Louise Milligan - 2020
    Charting the experiences of those who have the courage to come forward and face their abusers in high-profile child abuse and sexual assault cases, Milligan was profoundly shocked by what she found. During this time, the #MeToo movement changed the zeitgeist, but time and again during her investigations Milligan watched how witnesses were treated in the courtroom and listened to them afterwards as they relived the associated trauma. Then she was a witness herself in the trial of the decade, R v George Pell.She interviews high-profile members of the legal profession, including judges and prosecutors. And she speaks to the defence lawyers who have worked in these cases, discovering what they really think about victims and the process, and the impact that this has on their own lives. Milligan also reveals never-before-published court transcripts, laying bare the flaws that are ignored, and a court system that can be sexist, unfeeling and weighted towards the rich and powerful.Witness is a call for change. Milligan exposes the devastating reality of the Australian legal system where truth is never guaranteed and, for victims, justice is often elusive. And even when they get justice,

Living on Stolen Land


Ambelin Kwaymullina - 2020
    This book is the first of its kind to address and educate a broad audience about our colonial contextual history, in a highly original way. It pulls apart the myths at the heart of our nationhood and challenges Australia to come to terms with its own past and its place within and on ‘Indigenous Countries’.This title speaks to many First Nations’ truths; stolen lands, sovereignties, time, decolonisation, First Nations perspectives, systemic bias and other constructs that inform our present discussions and ever-expanding understanding. This title is a timely, thought-provoking and accessible read.There is no part of this placethat was notis notcared forlovedby an Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander nationThere are no treesrivershillsstarsthat were notare notsomeone’s kin

Fire Country


Victor Steffensen - 2020
    Victor developed a passion for traditional cultural and ecological knowledge from a young age, but it was after leaving high school that Victor met two Elders who became his mentors, particularly to revive cultural burning. Developed over many generations, this knowledge shows clearly that Australia actually needs fire – with burning done in a controlled manner – for land care and healing. Victor’s story is unassuming and honest, written in a way that reflects the nature of yarning. And while some of the knowledge shared in his book may be unclear to western world views, there is much evidence that, if adopted, it could benefit all Australians. For every copy sold, Hardie Grant will donate dollar 1 to Firesticks, which empowers Indigenous fire management practitioners to revive cultural burning.

Throat


Ellen Van Neerven - 2020
    Exploring love, language and land, van Neerven flexes their distinctive muscles and shines a light on Australia's unreconciled past and precarious present with humour and heart. Van Neerven is unsparing in the interrogation of colonial impulse, and fiercely loyal to telling the stories that make us who we are.

Charlie's Will


Susan Mackie - 2020
    Rose Gordon knew the farm would be hers when her grandfather died. Strong and sassy, she was the only heir to five generations of cattle country and the magnificent Barrington Homestead. But Charlie’s will was not as she expected and the appearance of Angus Hamilton on the day of the funeral unsettled her. Handsome and single, she was attracted to him in a way she had never experienced. The ongoing drought and discovering she had friends, if not family, in the small rural community complicate matters. More sinister threats lurk in the shadows. Will Rose give up city life to face the threats head on and fight for her inheritance?

The Rain Heron


Robbie Arnott - 2020
    High on the forested slopes, she survives by hunting and trading—and forgetting.But when a young soldier comes to the mountains in search of a local myth, Ren is inexorably drawn into her impossible mission. As their lives entwine, unravel and erupt—as myths merge with reality—both Ren and the soldier are forced to confront what they regret, what they love, and what they fear.The Rain Heron is the dizzying, dazzling new novel from the author of Flames.

Song of the Crocodile


Nardi Simpson - 2020
    The sign taunts a fool into feeling some sense of achievement, some kind of end- that you have reached a destination in the very least. Yet as the sign states, Darnmoor is merely a gateway, a waypoint on the road to where you really want to be.Darnmoor is the home of the Billymil family, three generations who have lived in this 'gateway town'. Race relations between Indigenous and settler families are fraught, though the rigid status quo is upheld through threats and soft power rather than the overt violence of yesteryear.As progress marches forwards, Darnmoor and its surrounds undergo rapid social and environmental changes, but as some things change, some stay exactly the same. The Billymil family are watched (and sometimes visited) by ancestral spirits and spirits of the recently deceased, who look out for their descendants and attempt to help them on the right path.When the town's secrets start to be uncovered the town will be rocked by a violent act that forever shatters a century of silence.Full of music, Yuwaalaraay language and exquisite description, Song of the Crocodile is a lament to choice and change, and the unyielding land that sustains us all, if only we could listen to it.

The Wave


L.E. Luttrell - 2020
    When they meet in Phuket in December 2004 and share their troubles, the future begins to look more promising. Lucy devises a plan to help Kelly escape from her controlling and violent partner. But a tsunami sweeps through the resort causing tragedy and chaos.After recovering from her injuries, Lucy, whose husband died in the tsunami, travels to Llandudno in Wales to visit her in-laws. Thirteen years later, still in Llandudno and having established a successful business there, an unexpected visitor turns up on Lucy’s doorstep who turns her whole world upside down. She then has to consider how far she will go to protect all she holds dear.The Wave is a psychological thriller set in: Phuket, Thailand; Melbourne, Australia and Llandudno, Wales.

Fire Front: First Nations poetry and power today


Alison Whittaker - 2020
    Curated and introduced by Alison Whittaker, Fire Front is a ground-breaking anthology of First Nations poetry showcasing some of the brightest new stars, as well as leading Aboriginal writers and poets including Bruce Pascoe, Ali Cobby Eckermann and Tony Birch.

Mary’s Last Dance


Mary Li - 2020
    It is a moving and unforgettable story of passion, dedication and devotion - and the highly anticipated sequel to one of the world's most beloved books.Mary Li (nee McKendry) is an international ballet star and a mother like no other. She became a household name when her husband Li Cunxin published his bestselling memoir, Mao's Last Dancer - but that book told only half the story. Growing up in a rambunctious family in Rockhampton, Mary discovered an extraordinary early passion for ballet. It saw her move to London at age sixteen, to study at the Royal Ballet School and dance at the London Festival Ballet with the likes of Nureyev, and later to Houston Ballet, where as Principal Dancer she fell in love with the acclaimed dancer Li Cunxin. The couple became the darlings of the dance world, and were happier than they could have imagined at the arrival of their firstborn daughter, Sophie.Then right at the height of her international career, Mary seemingly disappeared from view. What could have happened to cause a woman so committed, so talented, to give it all away in a heartbeat? Now, almost twenty years on, we learn what happened next to this inspiring family, and why it is Mary's turn to tell a truly remarkable tale.

Beyond The Deep


Kristen M. Fraser - 2020
    As a single mum to a special needs child, she juggles parenthood with renovating her dream home. She knows hard work is the only way through heartbreak, and the only man she needs in her life is the one she's raising her son to be. The ocean has always been Pastor Connor Dayton's haven. Or it had been, until it took away his only son and destroyed his marriage in the aftermath. Left broken and disillusioned, Connor withdraws from all he's known and finds refuge in a quiet, sleepy seaside town where he yearns to escape his grief and the relentless doubts swarming his mind. He didn't count on having his serenity interrupted by a tropical storm, nor did he expect to have his belief system tossed about when he meets the determined woman who owns the house next door. Amid the storm's devastation, can Connor find his way back to his first true love? Can Alecia let go of her pride and learn to trust again? Beyond the Deep, Book 2 in The Potter's House Books Series Two, is an uplifting and inspiring story of hope, redemption and second chances. Grab your copy and be encouraged today.

The Tap-Dancing Knife Thrower: My Life (without the boring bits)


Paul Hogan - 2020
    The then father of four and Sydney Harbour Bridge rigger from Granville did it as a dare, but when the network's switchboard lit up, he was invited back. So popular was he with viewers, Hogan became a regular on Mike Willesee's A Current Affair. The rest, as they say, is history. In collaboration with his business partner and best friend John Cornell (who played his sidekick, Strop), he went on to become Australia's favourite TV comedian. His hugely popular comedy shows and appearances in unforgettable and ground-breaking ads for cigarettes, beer and tourism, came to personify Australia and Australians here and overseas, helping to change the perception of who we are as people and as a nation.Then, in 1986, Crocodile Dundee, the movie he conceived, co-wrote and starred in, became an international smash, grossing more than a billion dollars in today's money and earning its star an Oscar nomination. Despite the fact Hoges claimed to be 'retired', many more movies followed, including Crocodile Dundee II, Lightning Jack, Almost an Angel and Charlie & Boots. But even as his star rose ever higher, he always expected someone to grab him by the arm and say, 'What are you doing here? You're just a bloody rigger!'The Tap Dancing Knife Thrower is a funny and candid account of the astonishing life of 'one lucky bastard', as Hoges describes himself. Full of countless stories never previously shared and told in the comedian's inimitable, funny and self-deprecating style, The Tap Dancing Knife Thrower is Paul Hogan's story told his way - 'without the boring bits'.

My Tidda, My Sister: Stories of Strength and Resilience from Australia's First Women


Marlee Silva - 2020
    It's a culture that manifests itself as the ultimate example of resilience, strength and beauty. It’s also a culture that has consistently been led by its women.My Tidda, My Sister shares the experiences of many Indigenous women and girls, brought together by author and host of the Tiddas 4 Tiddas podcast, Marlee Silva. The voices of First Nations’ women that Marlee weaves through the book provide a rebuttal to the idea that 'you can’t be what you can’t see'. For non-Indigenous women, it demonstrates the diversity of what success can look like and offers an insight into the lives of their Indigenous sisters and peers.Featuring colourful artwork by artist Rachael Sarra, this book is a celebration of the Indigenous female experience through truth-telling. Some stories are heart-warming, while others shine a light on the terrible realities for many Australian Indigenous women, both in the past and in the present. But what they all share is the ability to inspire and empower, creating a sisterhood for all Australian women.Also features foreword by Helpmann and AACTA award-winning actor Leah Purcell.

The Complete Whisper Series


Lynette Noni - 2020
    In that time, she hasn't spoken a single word.As Jane's resolve begins to crack under the influence of her new and unexpectedly kind evaluator, she uncovers the truth about Lengard's mysterious program, discovering that her own secret is at the heart of a sinister plot.Desperate to save her friends—and the rest of the world—from the looming danger, Jane must first question everything she has ever believed, especially when long-lost memories begin to surface and the mysteries of her past continue to grow. Allies become enemies and enemies become allies, leaving her certain about only one thing:One wrong move, one wrong word, could change the world.The Complete Whisper Series is an epic duology of Young Adult dystopian fiction consisting of Whisper and Weapon.

The Octopus and I


Erin Hortle - 2020
    As she tries to navigate her new body through the world, she develops a deep fascination with the local octopuses, and in doing so finds herself drawn towards the friendship of an old woman and her son. As the story unfolds, the octopuses come to shape Lucy's body and her sense of self in ways even she can't quite understand.The Octopus and I is a stunning debut novel that explores the wild, beating heart at the intersection of human and animal, love and loss, fear and hope.

The Girl in the Painting


Tea Cooper - 2020
    A painting that shatters a woman’s peace. And a decades-old mystery demanding to be solved. Australia, 1906 : Orphan Jane Piper is nine years old when philanthropist siblings Michael and Elizabeth Quinn take her into their home to further her schooling. The Quinns are no strangers to hardship. Having arrived in Australia as penniless immigrants, they now care for others as lost as they once were.Despite Jane’s mysterious past, her remarkable aptitude for mathematics takes her far over the next seven years, and her relationship with Elizabeth and Michael flourishes as she plays an increasingly prominent part in their business.But when Elizabeth reacts in terror to an exhibition at the local gallery, Jane realizes no one knows Elizabeth after all—not even Elizabeth herself. As the past and present converge and Elizabeth’s grasp on reality loosens, Jane sets out to unravel her story before it’s too late.From the gritty reality of the Australian goldfields to the grand institutions of Sydney, this compelling novel presents a mystery that spans continents and decades as both women finally discover a place to call home.Praise for The Girl in the Painting:“Combining characters that are wonderfully complex with a story spanning decades of their lives, The Girl in the Painting is a triumph of family, faith, and long-awaited forgiveness. I was swept away!” —Kristy Cambron, bestselling author of The Paris DressmakerStand-alone novel with rich historical detailsBook length: 102,000 wordsIncludes discussion questions for book clubs and historical note from the authorAlso by Tea Cooper: The Cartographer’s Secret and The Woman in the Green Dress

All Our Shimmering Skies


Trent Dalton - 2020
    Darwin, 1942, and as Japanese bombs rain down, motherless Molly Hook, the gravedigger's daughter, turns once again to the sky for guidance. She carries a stone heart inside a duffel bag next to the map that leads to Longcoat Bob, the deep-country sorcerer who put a curse on her family. By her side are the most unlikely travelling companions: Greta, a razor-tongued actress and Yukio, a fallen Japanese fighter pilot. Run, Molly, run, says the daytime sky. Run to the vine forests. Run to northern Australia's wild and magical monsoon lands. Run to friendship. Run to love. Run. Because the graverobber's coming, Molly, and the night-time sky is coming with him. So run, Molly, run.All Our Shimmering Skies is a story about gifts that fall from the sky, curses we dig from the earth and the secrets we bury inside ourselves. It is an odyssey of true love and grave danger, of darkness and light, of bones and blue skies; a buoyant, beautiful and magical novel abrim with warmth, wit and wonder; and a love letter to Australia and the art of looking up.

Truganini


Cassandra Pybus - 2020
    As a child, Cassandra didn't know this woman was Truganini, and that she was walking over the country of her clan, the Nuenonne, of whom she was the last.The name of Truganini is vaguely familiar to most Australians as 'the last of her race'. She has become an international icon for a monumental tragedy: the extinction of the original people of Tasmania within her lifetime. For nearly seven decades she lived through a psychological and cultural shift more extreme than most human imaginations could conjure. She is a hugely significant figure in Australian history and we should know about how she lived, not simply that she died. Her life was much more than a regrettable tragedy. Now Cassandra has examined the original eyewitness accounts to write Truganini's extraordinary story.A lively, intelligent, sensual young woman, Truganini managed to survive the devastating decade of the 1820s when the clans of south-eastern Tasmania were all but extinguished. Taken away from Bruny Island in 1830, she spent five years on a journey around Tasmania, across rugged highland and through barely penetrable forests, with the self-styled missionary George Augustus Robinson, who was collecting all the surviving people to send them into exile on Flinders Island. She managed to avoid a long incarceration on Flinders Island when Robinson took her to Victoria where she was implicated in the murder of two white men. Acquitted of murder, she was returned to Tasmania where she lived for another thirty-five years. Her story is both inspiring and heart-wrenching, and it is told in full in this book for the first time.‘For the first time a biographer who treats her with the insight and empathy she deserves. The result is a book of unquestionable national importance.’—Professor Henry Reynolds, University of Tasmania

Drugs, Guns & Lies: My life as an undercover cop


Keith Banks - 2020
    This is what it's really like to be an undercover police officer.'Banks has told his story in a raw and honest autobiography. It is the best true crime book published in Australia in a decade.' - John Silvester, Crime Reporter for The Age Undercover was like guerrilla warfare; to understand your enemy, you had to walk amongst them, to become them. The trick was to keep an eye on that important line between who you were and who you were pretending to be.This is the true story of Keith Banks, one of Queensland's most decorated police officers, and his journey into the world of drugs as an undercover operative in the 1980s. In an era of corruption, often alone and with no backup, he and other undercover cops quickly learned to blend into the drug scene, smoking dope and drinking with targets, buying drugs and then having dealers arrested. Very quickly, the lines between his identity as a police officer and the life he pretended to be part of became blurred. This is a raw and confronting story of undercover cops who all became casualties of that era, some more than others, when not everyone with a badge could be trusted.

Come


Rita Therese - 2020
    She entered the sex industry at age 18, and has worked as a stripper, porn and as an escort. She currently works as an escort under the alias Gia James. She has written for magazines like Frankie, Vice and Penthouse Australia, and had a monthly sex and dating column for Sneaky magazine. She had her first solo photographic exhibition "Gemini" in 2016 at Goodspace Gallery in Sydney. The exhibit played on the juxtaposition of light and dark, and was centered around themes of sexuality, kink, femininity and fantasy. She is also the author of 4 self published zines - Zero Vol. 1 + 2, Heartbreaker and Fantasy. The zines focus on short stories about her life as a sex worker and discuss relationships, love, grief, mental health and sex. She distributes the zines through her Instagram and website. Rita is currently undertaking her Bachelor of Philosophy and working towards a career as an academic, specializing in the field of Gender Studies with a focus on sex work.

The Freedom Circus


Sue Smethurst - 2020
    By that time Mindla was in a Melbourne Jewish nursing home with other survivors, her body ageing but mind still razor sharp.‘Vhy do you vant to know?’ she’d ask. ‘My story is nothing special.’As death began approaching Sue became a little more pushy. She knew Mindla’s life had to be recorded and they were running out of time. Each week she’d bring cake from her favourite shop in St Kilda, a bottle of the brightest nail polish she could find, a handful of old pictures and her tape recorder. They’d chat and paint Mindla’s nails, and with each ‘chat’ her story unfolded. It was beyond anything Sue could have imagined.The tale of how Mindla and her husband Michael Horowitz, a circus performer for the famous Staniewski Brothers, escaped from Poland with their young son and embarked on a terrifying journey through the USSR and Middle East to Africa and ultimately to safety in Australia, is nothing short of extraordinary.

Songlines: the Power and Promise


Margo Neale - 2020
    It offers what Margo Neale calls ‘the third archive’. Aboriginal people use songlines to store their knowledge, while Western cultures use writing and technology. Aboriginal people now use a third archive – a combination of the two.The authors believe that the third archive offers a promise of a better way for everyone to store, maintain and share knowledge while gaining a much deeper relationship with it.

Charlotte Pass


Lee Christine - 2020
    A killer who will do anything to keep secrets buried.When ski patroller Vanessa Bell discovers human bones high on Mount Stilwell at Charlotte Pass ski resort, Detective Sergeant Pierce Ryder of the Sydney Homicide Squad is called in to lead the investigative team.Arriving in the isolated, snowed-in village with Winterfest celebrations underway, Ryder soon determines that the bones are those of Celia Delaney, a young woman who disappeared from the ski resort in 1964 during the biggest winter storm in Australian alpine history.When a second murder takes place, Ryder suspects that the deaths are related, and that the person responsible is still in the village. Amid the escalating tension, Ryder is desperate to make an arrest before the stakes rise even higher.Set within the stunning Snowy Mountains, this intriguing mystery uncovers deadly, long-buried secrets in the valleys and mountains of this iconic area.

Matilda Next Door


Kelly Hunter - 2020
    But London is daunting, crowded and noisy, and that’s before Tilly finds a baby on the doorstep. There’s a note attached: “Henry, if you’re reading this, please know the worst has happened.”Probability expert Henry Church has finally returned home to Wirralong, Australia to see his grandparents when he gets a phone call from Tilly that breaks every statistical analysis. The probability of him being the father is marginal. Plus, he knows nothing about caring for a baby. Emotions and socializing are even bigger mysteries. He begs Tilly for help—can she cut her holiday short and bring the baby to Wirralong?Tilly will do almost anything for her childhood best friend, but falling in love with him and his motherless baby is an emphatic no. Out of the question. Or is it?

Untwisted: The Story of My Life


Paul Jennings - 2020
    Sometimes, rather than making you laugh or cry out in surprise, a story will instead leave you wondering about human fragility... In the telling of his own tale, children's author and screenwriter Paul Jennings demonstrates how seemingly small events can combine into a compelling drama. As if assembling the pieces of a jigsaw puzzle, he puts together fragments, memories and anecdotes to reveal the portrait of a complex and weathered soul. 'Untwisted' is revealing, moving and very funny. It will appeal to all students of creative writing and all those who wonder about the origins and outcomes of success – and, of course, to Paul's many fans around the world.

Ten Feet Tall and Not Quite Bulletproof


Cameron Hardiman - 2020
    Every morning he put on a navy blue police flight suit, grabbed his flight helmet, and prepared to work on the police helicopter. He could be called to anything during a shift, to search for a missing child, to pull an injured driver from a wrecked car, or a dangerous sea rescue. He saw his fair share of trauma and dealt with it like most coppers would: he quickly put each dangerous job out of his mind as soon as it was over. But one particular rescue job in Bass Strait brought about a reckoning - and Cameron was never the same again.This is the brilliantly told, white-knuckle story of one cop learning every lesson the hard way - and coming to find out that being not quite bulletproof doesn't mean that you're not a good cop.

The Altar Boys


Suzanne Smith - 2020
    A community betrayed ... The whistle-blower priest who paid the ultimate price Glen Walsh and Steven Alward were childhood friends in their tight-knit working-class community in Shortland, on the outskirts of Newcastle, New South Wales. Both proud altar boys at the local Catholic church, they went on to attend the city's Catholic boys' highs schools: Glen to Marist Brothers and Steven to St Pius X. Both did well: Steven became a journalist; Glen a priest. But when Glen discovered another priest was sexually abusing boys, he reported the offending to police, breaking Canon Law and his vows to the Catholic 'brotherhood' in the process. Just weeks before he was due to give evidence at a key trial against the highest cleric to ever be charged with covering up child abuse, Father Glen Walsh was dead. Two months later, his friend Steven also died, only weeks before he was to marry the love of his life. Ensuing investigations revealed that at least 60 men in the region had taken their own lives. Why? What had happened, and why were so many from the three Catholic high schools in the area?By six-time Walkley Award-winning investigative reporter Suzanne Smith, The Altar Boys is the powerful expose of widespread and organised clerical abuse of children in an Australian city, and how the cover-up in the Catholic Church in Australia extended from parish priests to every echelon of the organisation. Focusing on two childhood friends, their families and community, this gripping and explosive story is backed by secret documents, diary notes and witness accounts, and details a deliberate church strategy of using psychological warfare against witnesses in key trials involving paedophile priests.

Loving Country


Bruce Pascoe - 2020
    While readers are encouraged to discover the sacred country of Australia in an open-minded and sensitive manner, the intention of this book is to foster communication and understanding between all peoples and country, to bring about a range of environmental and social changes. Co-authors Bruce Pascoe and Vicky Shukuroglou hope to empower communities to tell their own stories, and for people to honour them and the country from which they have grown. Beautifully designed, all of the writing and photography in Loving Country has been created in consultation with communities. From the ingenious fish traps at Brewarrina and the rivers that feed the Great Barrier Reef, to the love stories of Wiluna and the whale story of Margaret River, there is so much to celebrate and admire about the oldest continuing culture in the world. For those who want to do more than a whistle-stop tour of Australia, this book offers some keys to unlock and reveal the heart of this loving country.

The Ghost and the Bounty Hunter: William Buckley, John Batman and the Theft of Kulin Country


Adam Courtenay - 2020
    A few months later, the local Aboriginal people found the six-foot-five former soldier near death. Believing he was a lost kinsman returned from the dead, they took him in, and for thirty-two years Buckley lived as a Wadawurrung man, learning his adopted tribe's language, skills and methods to survive.The outside world finally caught up with Buckley in 1835, after John Batman, a bounty hunter from Van Diemen's Land, arrived in the area, seeking to acquire and control the perfect pastureland around the bay. What happened next saw the Wadawurrung betrayed and Buckley eventually broken. The theft of Kulin country would end in the birth of a city. The frontier wars had begun.By the bestselling author of The Ship That Never Was, The Ghost and the Bounty Hunter is a fascinating and poignant true story from Australian colonial history.

Bedtime Daddy!


Sharon Giltrow - 2020
    Especially when he starts crying! This story will show you how to wrestle your daddy into his pajamas and read just one more bedtime story. "I’m thirrrrrrrrssssssty," says Daddy. "I need to poop … I’m hungry … But I’ll miss you," he says, while he looks at you with cutie eyes. You’ll have to battle the bedtime excuses and use go-away monster spray until Daddy finally goes to sleep. Bedtime can be a mission for many, but with these gorgeous illustrations of a little bear and his dad, this is the perfect role-reversal bedtime story to help put any fussy child to bed in a fun and positive way. Full of heart and humour, Bedtime, Daddy! is for anyone who wants to try and put a grown-up to bed.

Faking It with the Demon


Rhiannon Hartley - 2020
    But he didn't mean it. He wasn't expecting his buddy to grant his wish like a damn genie in a bottle.Torturing the souls of the damned?Not as much fun as it sounds.Zoephus wants out of Hell. She's willing to make a deal for the chance to escape. How hard could it be to play the fake girlfriend of a human, anyway?For a demonic fake girlfriend, Zoephus isn't what Ryan expected. Since when are demons gorgeous, oddly polite, and hilariously ignorant of the modern world? He just hopes she won't break his coffee machine. Or his heart.Bound together for fifty days, the lines of real and pretend begin to blur, emotions inevitably get involved, and yearnings intensify. But when truths and vulnerability are laid bare, hearts could be left shattered.Can a heart moulded in the flaming depths of Hell truly love?Faking it with the Demon is a feel-good, heartwarming fake relationship romantic comedy that's devilishly good fun. Set in sunny Sydney, this standalone romance promises cosy charm, no cliff-hangers, and a guaranteed HEA.

Where the Fruit Falls


Karen Wyld - 2020
    Hush. Be still for just a moment. Hear its thundering waves crashing on unseen shores.Spanning four generations, with a focus on the 1960s and 70s, an era of rapid social change and burgeoning Aboriginal rights, Where the Fruit Falls is a re-imagining of the epic Australian novel.Brigid Devlin, a young Aboriginal woman, and her twin daughters navigate a troubled nation of First Peoples, settlers and refugees – all determined to shape a future on stolen land. Leaving the sanctuary of her family’s apple orchard, Brigid sets off with no destination and a willy wagtail for company. As she moves through an ever changing landscape, Brigid unravels family secrets to recover what she’d lost – by facing the past, she finally accepts herself. Her twin daughters continue her journey with their own search for self-acceptance, truth and justice."This evocative family saga celebrates the strength and resilience of First Nations women, while touching on deeply traumatic aspects of Australian history. Threads of magic realism shimmer throughout the story, offering a deeper understanding of reality and challenging the reader to imagine a kinder, more just, more human world." Sally Morgan, Author of My Place."In poetic and evocative storytelling, this writing celebrates the agency of Indigenous women to traverse ever-present landscapes of colonisation and intergenerational trauma. Country has an omniscient presence in their story lines, guiding the women across vivid desert and coastal landscapes. Where the Fruit Falls recognises both the open wounds of living histories of colonisation and the healing power of belonging to Country." 2020 Dorothy Hewett Award judges.

Rising Heart: One Woman's Astonishing Journey from Unimaginable Trauma to Becoming a Power for Good


Aminata Conteh-Biger - 2020
    Dame Quentin Bryce AD CVOOne woman's astonishing journey from unimaginable trauma to becoming a power for good.In 1999, Sierra Leone was in the midst of a brutal civil war where mindless violence, vicious amputation and the rape of young enslaved women were the everyday weapons of bloody conflict.It was also where rebel soldiers snatched the young Aminata Conteh-Biger from her father's arms, then held her captive for months.After she was released, the UNHCR recognised that her captors still posed a serious threat to her safety. So, still in her teens, she was put on a plane and flown to Australia to start afresh as a refugee in a land she knew nothing about.It is here that she has proudly built a life, while never allowing her trauma to define her. Yet it was a near-death experience she suffered during the birth of her child that turned her attention to the women of Sierra Leone - where they are 200 times more likely to die while having a baby than in Australia.So she set up the Aminata Maternal Foundation, then returned to the land of her birth to help. This is her story.PRAISE FOR RISING HEART'Aminata knocked me out at our first meeting in Sydney some years ago...courage shining through as she spoke of some of her experiences in Sierra Leone. Her story, Rising Heart, will never leave you; searing, powerful, disturbing, hopeful.' The Hon. Dame Quentin Bryce AD CVO'The spirit of Aminata's story will stay with you long after you finish reading. Rising Heart has refuelled my sense of perspective and purpose. Aminata's courage in sharing this intensely personal story is rewarded with the power of inspiring hope. Thank you, Aminata, for sharing.' Yael Stone, actor and activist'A powerful read that will make you cry at the injustice and brutality of our world - especially the treatment of women and girls - but then shed tears of admiration and hope. Aminata reminds us of the power of an individual to make a difference. She is an inspirational woman who has brought about extraordinary change, and is a shining example of why we must all be good global citizens. What a beautiful Australian story.' Natasha Stott Despoja AO'A gripping story of courage, survival and redemption.' Wendy McCarthy AO'An incredible story of hope and transformation, one that we can all learn from.' Emma Isaacs, Founder and Global CEO, Business Chicks'Women's reproductive health is one of the most important factors in determining their quality of life and that of their children. Aminata's extraordinary efforts in her country of origin will make a life-changing difference to the mothers and children of Sierra Leone.' Professor Kerryn Phelps AM'I have met many refugees the world over, and the courage of Aminata's personal account as a survivor of unimaginable cruelty is both disturbing and inspiring. Her unwavering belief in human kindness in the face of so much adversity is what makes her a role model for so many women and girls.' Louise Aubin, UNHCR Representative'Aminata not only gives an important voice to her own intensely personal story but also to the many forgotten women and girls caught up in war and conflict today. She is a compelling advocate for the rights of these women and also for the work of the UN Refugee Agency who supports them.' Naomi Steer, National Director Australia for UNHCR

Feels Like Home


Dakota Harrison - 2020
    If that means stepping foot in the town that turned its back on him, so be it. He’s not there to cause trouble. He’ll simply find Cat, say his piece, and leave.The last person Catherine Van Alden expects to see in her tiny cupcake shop is Zac—a man she hasn’t seen or spoken to since he destroyed her family and vanished all those years ago. Her desire to think the best of him hasn’t changed a bit, but he’s obviously keeping secrets and she can’t let him into her life again. Not without opening up a world of hurt and feelings best left behind.When the truth is finally revealed, is Cat strong enough to go after the man she never stopped loving?

Top End Girl


Miranda Tapsell - 2020
    There weren’t many. And too often there was a negative narrative around Indigenous lives, and Aboriginal women especially. Now an award-winning actor, she decided to change things herself. Combining her love of romantic comedies with her love of Darwin, the Tiwi Islands and the Top End, Miranda wrote, produced and starred in the box office hit Top End Wedding.In this engaging and thought-provoking memoir, Miranda shares the path she took to create a moving film about reconnection to family and culture. And, like all good storytellers, she holds a mirror up to the society we live in to show the prejudice that too often surfaces.MIRANDA TAPSELL was born in Darwin and her people are the Larrakia. She grew up in Kakadu National Park and began performing at the age of seven. At 16, she won the Bell Shakespeare Company regional performance scholarship. She has her own podcast on BuzzFeed, Pretty for an Aboriginal, with Nakkiah Lui, which rocks the traditional perceptions of Indigenous Australia and challenges rigid mindsets of what women of colour can and cannot do. Top End Girl is her literary debut.

The 99th Koala: Rescue and resilience on Kangaroo Island


Kailas Wild - 2020
    This is the inspiring and sometimes confronting story of what happened next. An arborist by trade and conservationist at heart, when Kai heard that some of the injured koalas could only be reached by a tree climber, he drove 1500 kilometres to volunteer. Seven weeks later, he had participated in the rescue of over 100 koalas, become an international social media sensation and formed a special bond with a baby koala – Joey Kai. In words and pictures, The 99th Koala shares Kai's experience and introduces us to some of the koalas of Kangaroo Island. Sometimes tragic, sometimes hopeful, above all Kai’s story commemorates our unique wildlife, and demonstrates the power of one person trying to make a difference. ‘At a time when many people have felt helpless to act against the immensity of the fires or the threat of climate change, Kai's daily descriptions and videos of saving helpless animals have been a welcome dose of personal courage and deep humanity.’ ABC 'In words and photos that are impossible to look away from, Kai introduces some of the koalas on Kangaroo Island, painting a powerful picture of Australia's unique wildlife ... a gripping reminder of a summer that feels like it's in our country's distant memory.' Mamamia 'Harrowing, touching and uplifting.' The Courier Mail 'The 99th Koala is a plea for wildlife, it's a tribute to the volunteers who strive to save animals and rehabilitate them. It's an emotional rollercoaster that shows the devastation and damage ... but it's a tale of love and dedication.' Good Reading

Smart Ovens for Lonely People


Elizabeth Tan - 2020
    A Yourtopia Bespoke Terraria employee becomes paranoid about the mounting coincidences in her life. Four girls gather to celebrate their underwear in ‘Happy Smiling Underwear Girls Party’, a hilarious take-down of saccharine advertisements.With her trademark wit and slicing social commentary, Elizabeth Tan’s short stories are as funny as they are insightful. This collection cements her role as one of Australia’s most inventive writers.

The Women's Pages


Victoria Purman - 2020
    The armaments factories are making washing machines instead of bullets and war correspondent Tilly Galloway has hung up her uniform and been forced to work on the women's pages of her newspaper - the only job available to her - where she struggles to write advice on fashion and make-up.As Sydney swells with returning servicemen and the city bustles back to post-war life, Tilly finds her world is anything but normal. As she desperately waits for word of her prisoner-of-war husband, she begins to research stories about the lives of the underpaid and overworked women who live in her own city. Those whose war service has been overlooked; the freedom and independence of their war lives lost to them.Meanwhile Tilly's waterside worker father is on strike, and her best friend Mary is struggling to cope with the stranger her own husband has become since being liberated from Changi a broken man. As strikes rip the country apart and the news from abroad causes despair, matters build to a heart-rending crescendo. Tilly realises that for her the war may have ended, but the fight is just beginning...

Murmurations


Carol Lefevre - 2020
    He remembered the rustle of their wings when they twisted in skeins over the fields, or swelled and contracted high above the cliffs, dark wave after dark wave, lifting and falling in a kind of dance. Sister Lucy had said it was a murmuration. He was still quite young, and he had thought the birds were showing him a sign, that there was something written in their fluid patterns.Lives merge and diverge; they soar and plunge, or come to rest in impenetrable silence. Erris Cleary’s absence haunts the pages of this exquisite novella, a woman who complicates other lives yet confers unexpected blessings. Fly far, be free, urges Erris. Who can know why she smashes mirrors? Who can say why she does not heed her own advice?Among the sudden shifts and swings, the swerving flight paths taken, something hidden must be uncovered, something dark and rotten, even evil, which has masqueraded as normality. In the end it will be a writer’s task to reclaim Erris, to bear witness, to sound in fiction the one true note that will crack the silence.

Bachar Houli: Faith, Football and Family


Bachar Houli - 2020
    He's part of two Richmond Premiership sides, he was an All-Australian in 2019, and with over 200 games to his names he remains a key part of a champion team.Picked at number 42 in the 2006 National Draft by Essendon, Houli played 26 games for the Bombers before moving in 2011 to Tigerland, where rookie coach Damien Hardwick was assenting the team that six years later would achieve the seemingly impossible and claim Richmond's 11th Premiership. Another flag followed two years later, with Houli close to best on ground in both deciders.Yet, it's as the AFL's most prominent Muslim player that Houli is best known - and his strong Muslim values are at the heart of the man he is. Writing for the first time, Houli explores the experiences and beliefs that sparked his trailblazing success as a Muslim footballer, and that established him as a teaching voice within the AFL community for inclusion, understanding, and tolerance.Co-authored with acclaimed broadcaster and writer Waleed Aly, 'Bachar Houli: Faith, Football, and Family' tells the unique story of one of football's most fascinating men.©2020 Bachar Houli, Waleed Aly (P)2020 Penguin Random House Australia

Azaria: a true history


Maree Coote - 2020
    Prejudice and gossip grip the nation, and the tragedy transforms into a fight for the truth. How did it all go so wrong?This is a true Australian story of innocence, ignorance, and the perils of 'mob thinking'.A beautifully illustrated non-fiction picture book that sensitively explores the collision of wilderness and civilisation, explains a famous miscarriage of justice, and examines the role of the media in history-telling, in an appropriate manner for young readers.“An important story for children about one of Australia’s most dramatic miscarriages of justice.” —The Hon. Justice Lex Lasry, AM“A modern day fairy tale, cautionary and unforgettable. Essential reading for students of history and the law, young and old.”The book forms an excellent cross-curricular resource, ideal for class discussion and activity.Teachers’ Notes & Resources, with further extensive resource material available online.

Elsa Goody, Bushranger


Darry Fraser - 2020
    A thrilling historical romance adventure from a bestselling Australian author.1896 Robe, South AustraliaWhen Elsa Goody's father and brother George die in quick succession she and her sister Rosie are in trouble. Pursued by an unpleasant suitor with dubious motivation, Elsa leaves for Victoria on the hunt for a fortune in gold coins that her brother has hidden. If Elsa can find it she will be able to save Rosie and herself from married slavery.Their quest leads them on a cross-country journey to find the last man who saw her brother alive, Ezekiel Jones. But Elsa is not the only one looking for buried treasure. She and Rosie are beset by bushrangers and in the confusion Elsa is accused of being an accomplice. Luckily not everyone believes that Elsa is a criminal. When she finally catches up with Ezekiel, it's clear that for him she can do no wrong.But with everyone chasing her and bloody violence on the horizon, life is becoming increasingly complicated. Will she and Rosie ever manage to solve the mystery, find the gold and free themselves from a dark future?'Outstanding prose that flows and ripples through every page.' Starts at 60

The Palace Letters: The Queen, the governor-general, and the plot to dismiss Gough Whitlam


Jenny Hocking - 2020
    A political betrayal. A constitutional crisis. The Palace Letters is the groundbreaking result of one historian’s fight to expose secret letters between the Queen and the then Australian governor general, Sir John Kerr, during the dismissal of prime minister Gough Whitlam in the 1970s. Whitlam was a progressive prime minister whose reforms proved divisive after two decades of conservative leadership in Australia. When he could not get a budget approved, it sparked a political deadlock that culminated in his unexpected and deeply controversial dismissal by Kerr.More than 200 letters between Kerr and the Queen from the period exist in the archive, and historians have long believed that they could reveal the extent to which Buckingham Palace knew about or approved of the dismissal. But until now they have remained hidden in the National Archives of Australia, protected from public scrutiny through their designation as ‘personal’.In the face of this, Professor Jenny Hocking embarked on a 10-year campaign and a four-year legal battle to force the Archives to release the letters. In 2015, she secured a stellar pro bono team that took her case all the way to the High Court of Australia. On 29 May 2020, the court ruled in her favour, requiring the correspondence to be released.Now, Professor Hocking is able to reveal the previously hidden trove of letters. And, drawing on never-before-published material from Kerr’s archives and submissions to the court, Hocking traces the collusion and deception behind the dismissal, and charts the role of High Court judges, the Queen’s private secretary, and the leader of the opposition, Malcolm Fraser, in Kerr’s actions, and any prior involvement of the Queen and Prince Charles in Kerr’s planning.

Pippa


Annie Seaton - 2020
     When Pippa Carmichael inherits a house on a deserted tropical island, it couldn’t have come at a better time for her. Life’s been tough lately; she’s lost her job, given her boyfriend the flick, and now it’s time for her to make a new start. With her two best friends, Pippa heads off to Pentecost Island to investigate her inheritance and is surprised to find there is another resident on the island.  Reclusive author, Rafe Rendell, is not impressed when a boatload of women turn up on his island, interrupting his peaceful  existence. He is less impressed when he meets Pippa, the sassy new owner of Ma Carmichael’s sprawling house. ​​​​​​​Can these two live in harmony on the same small island, or is Pippa's dream destined to fail?

The Truth Hurts


Andrew Boe - 2020
    

Braver: A Wombat's Tale


Suzanne Selfors - 2020
    Wombats are supposed to be shy and quiet, but Lola is talkative, curious, and always getting into trouble.But when her village is attacked by a Tasmanian devil leading a group of swamp rats, Lola’s parents are captured.To rescue them, Lola will have to leave home for the very first time and set off on a wild adventure. And even with the help of friends she meets along the way, Lola will need every ounce of her bold bravery to help rescue her family and save the kingdom!An Imprint Book

The Stockman's Daughter


Jacquie Underdown - 2020
    She’s worked hard all her life to learn the ropes and make a real contribution. But her traditional-minded father continues to overlook her.Ryder Leckie loves the small Victorian town of Woodford Creek. He works hard managing a farm in the local region. But when his boss’s brother has a riding accident, he is sent to Central Queensland to temporarily help the Carmichaels out. A new adventure, despite his sense of obligation back home.The last thing Maddy wants is some unknown man coming in and running her farm, and she’s not afraid to let Ryder know. But when farm life throws up trials even too big for her, she is forced to rely on Ryder’s strength and knowledge.What starts as a working partnership turns into something much deeper. But fraternising with the stockman’s daughter is against the rules. When Maddy’s furious father discovers what clandestine activities Ryder and Maddy have been up to, Ryder is sent packing.When all seems lost, Ryder must fight for the woman he loves, but that means having the courage to take the biggest risk of his life. When leaving her destiny behind feels impossible, Maddy has to discover that following her heart will lead her to where she needs to be, even if that means starting a legacy of her own.

Blood Orphan


Samantha Adair - 2020
    It’s been a while since he killed. Like riding a bike... only messier.’ Tom Grant, disgraced government agent and functioning alcoholic, is assigned a simple job. Take Isabella Wirth from a banquet before a contract killer puts a bullet in her head.An opportunity to redeem himself. A babysitting job. For one night. Isabella, code breaker at a secret intelligence agency is assigned her own job. Seduce Tom and lure him to a hotel room. In the space of twenty-four hours, a secret Isabella has kept for ten years unravels, and they discover their pasts are intrinsically connected.Pursued through the streets of Paris, Tom and Isabella must evade a relentless killer in a deadly game of cat and mouse, while seeking revenge in an effort to reconcile the past.

Fury


Kathryn Heyman - 2020
    Sharp, sassy and determined not to be broken, she accepts a job as a cook on a fishing boat. Totally inexperienced, both as a sailor and a chef, a girl among tough working men and literally all at sea, Kacey confronts more than just the elements on the journey that follows. Facing a ferocious storm as well as treachery, she learns how to fashion a new story for herself-one in which she is strong enough to be the hero. These are captivating memories of growing up in Australia, and the tribulations Heyman encounters and escapes. Unsentimental and unflinching, she stares down disaster and looks back with a healthy rage and exhilarating intelligence.

From Snow to Ash: Solitude, soul-searching and survival on Australia's toughest hiking trail


Anthony Sharwood - 2020
    

I Am Justice


Lara Coates - 2020
    Once a beauty, she’s now barely recognizable, and with a message carved into her stomach, but who is it for? Melbourne Homicide Detectives Carson, a former criminal profiler for the FBI, and his partner Declan are tasked with figuring it out before the killer strikes again. And he will—because to him, murder is more than just the killing, it is justice. As more victims show up, and the kidnapping, torturing, and mutilation show no sign of stopping, Carson and Declan are thrown into a whirlwind of inconceivable evil; a dangerous game of cat and mouse with a sadistic psychopath. As Carson struggles to link the seemingly random victims and their locations, the killer calmly plans his next move.

People of the River: Lost Worlds of Early Australia


Grace Karskens - 2020
    People of the River journeys into the lost worlds of the Aboriginal people and the settlers of Dyarubbin, both complex worlds with ancient roots.The settlers who took land on the river from the mid-1790s were there because of an extraordinary experiment devised half a world away. Modern Australia was not founded as a gaol, as we usually suppose, but as a colony. Britain's felons, transported to the other side of the world, were meant to become settlers in the new colony. They made history on the river: it was the first successful white farming frontier, a community that nurtured the earliest expressions of patriotism, and it became the last bastion of eighteenth-century ways of life.The Aboriginal people had occupied Dyarubbin for at least 50,000 years. Their history, culture and spirituality were inseparable from this river Country. Colonisation kicked off a slow and cumulative process of violence, theft of Aboriginal children and ongoing annexation of the river lands. Yet despite that sorry history, Dyarubbin's Aboriginal people managed to remain on their Country, and they still live on the river today.The Hawkesbury-Nepean was the seedbed for settler expansion and invasion of Aboriginal lands to the north, south and west. It was the crucible of the colony, and the nation that followed.

Pastel Dreams and Glittered Hearts


Samira Vivette - 2020
    Dive underneath the pastel pink cover and between ten "sweet" chapter titles which explore ten completely different themes, some dark and some light, through a rollercoaster of emotions which detail the healing process and the messiness that comes with it.Themes that are explored include: introversion, solitude, dark nights, broken friendships and the grief that follows, anxiety and restlessness, toxic love and heartbreak, grief, depression, finding love, embracing femininity among societal double standards, memories and adventures, and healing affirmations. Pastel Dreams and Glittered Hearts will provide comfort to those darker souls, those misunderstood, and those who seek reassurance. With a versatile collection of 320+ poems and prose, there is something in this book for everyone!

Red Herrings for Breakfast


Annabet Ousback - 2020
    However, nothing was as it seemed and Annabet and Anders were both exposed to harsh, often irrational and frequently violent discipline from their parents, which left them emotionally unbalanced and starved of affection. In a time where domestic violent was never discussed within the family let alone outside of it, Annabet and Anders struggled to keep their spirits and souls afloat. But at least they had each other.As they endeavoured to find their paths in life - Annabet as a children's clothing designer and Anders as an internationally recognised chef, restaurateur and talented potter - neither could escape the legacy of their violent and disturbing upbringing. Anders never overcame a secret he kept tragically to himself and Annabet was perpetually wracked with self-doubt due to her mother's continual criticism.This beautifully written story not only traces the history of growing up on the north shore but the gradual evolution of the food and fashion scene in Sydney in the 70s and 80s. It encompasses many areas of day to day struggles within families that were not discussed then and which are, sadly, still occurring today.

Animals Make Us Human


Leah Kaminsky - 2020
    Proceeds go to the Australian Marine Conservation Society and Australian Wildlife Conservancy.A response to the devastating 2019–20 bushfires, Animals Make Us Human both celebrates Australia’s unique wildlife and highlights its vulnerability. Through words and images, writers, photographers and researchers reflect on their connection with animals and nature. They share moments of wonder and revelation from encounters in the natural world: seeing a wild platypus at play, an echidna dawdling across a bush track, or the inexplicable leap of a thresher shark; watching bats take flight at dusk, or birds making a home in the backyard; or following possums, gliders and owls into the dark.Hopeful, uplifting and deeply moving, this collection is also an urgent call to action, a powerful reminder that we only have one world in which to coexist and thrive with our fellow creatures. By highlighting the beauty and fragility of our unique fauna, Australia’s favourite writers, renowned researchers and acclaimed photographers encourage readers to consider it in a new light.Featuring: Barbara Allen, Robbie Arnott, Tony Birch, James Bradley, Mark Brandi, Geraldine Brooks, Anne Buist, Melanie Cheng, Claire G. Coleman, Ceridwen Dovey, Chris Flynn, Nayuka Gorrie, Dan Harley, Ashley Hay, Toni Jordan, Leah Kaminsky, Paul Kelly, Meg Keneally, Tom Keneally, Cate Kennedy, David Lindenmayer, Ella Loeffler, Maia Loeffler, Jen Martin, Angela Meyer, Sonia Orchard, Favel Parrett, Marissa Parrott, Bruce Pascoe, Jack Pascoe, Sue Pillans, Nick Porch, Holly Ringland, Euan Ritchie, Antoinette Roe, Kirli Saunders, Graeme Simsion, Tracy Sorensen, Shaun Tan, Lucy Treloar, Karen Viggers, Emma Viskic, John Woinarski, Clare Wright.And photographers: Tim Bawden, Kristian Bell, Rohan Bilney, Justin Bruhn, Andrew Buckle, Matt Clancy, Amy Coetsee, Craig Coverdale, Angus Emmott, Jayne Jenkins, Vivien Jones, Sue Liu, Michael Livingston, Caleb McElrea, Nick Monaghan, Richard Pillans, Gillian Rayment, Linda Rogan, David Maurice Smith, Steve Smith, Colin Southwell, Georgina Steytler, Wayne Suffield, Heather Sutton, Peter Taylor, William Terry, Patrick Tomkins, Matt Wright.

The Lost Blackbird


Liza Perrat - 2020
    Clare Flynn, author of The Pearl of PenangLondon 1962. A strict and loveless English children’s home, or the promise of Australian sunshine, sandy beaches and eating fruit straight from the tree. Which would you choose?Ten-year-old Lucy Rivers and her five-year-old sister Charly are thrilled when a child migrant scheme offers them the chance to escape their miserable past. But on arrival in Sydney, the girls discover their fantasy future is more nightmare than dream.Lucy’s lot is near-slavery at Seabreeze Farm where living conditions are inhuman, the flies and heat unbearable and the owner a sadistic bully. What must she do to survive?Meanwhile Charly, adopted by the nurturing and privileged Ashwood family, gradually senses that her new parents are hiding something. When the truth emerges, the whole family crumbles. Can Charly recover from this bittersweet deception? Will the sisters, stranded miles apart in a strange country, ever find each other again?A poignant testament to child migrants who suffered unforgivable evil, The Lost Blackbird explores the power of family bonds and our desire to know who we are.

The Medicine


Karen Hitchcock - 2020
    In an overcrowded, underfunded medical system, she explores how more of us can be healthier, and how listening carefully to a patient’s experience can be as important as prescribing a pill. These dazzling essays show Hitchcock to be one of the most fearless and illuminating medical thinkers of our time – reasonable, insightful and deeply humane.

The Reincarnation of Tom


Aden Simpson - 2020
    What will he be like as a chicken, cow, tiger, tree and Austrian art teacher from 1896?Napoleon was a pig with dreams of revolution. What will he be like as Joseph Stalin?Shirley was a zoo keeper with a big heart and a weakness for helping others. When will she learn?Sal was a cop. Then a cop. Then a cop several times after that. What will he be like as the leader of a coalition sworn to hunt Tom for the rest of his lives?"Simpson's prose adroitly wields deadpan comedy... A wild ride on a picaresque path to some kind of wisdom." --Kirkus Reviews

What Is to Be Done: political engagement and saving the planet


Barry Jones - 2020
    Meanwhile, technologies such as the smartphone and the ubiquity of social media have reinforced the realm of the personal. This has weakened our sense of, or empathy with, ‘the other’, the remote, the unfamiliar, and all but destroyed our sense of community, of being members of broad, inclusive groups.In the post-truth era, politicians invent ‘facts’ and ignore or deny the obvious, while business and the media are obsessed with marketing and consumption for the short term. Sleepers, Wake! Revisited is a long-awaited update on such challenges of modernity.

Widow's Lace


Lelita Baldock - 2020
    Two years later he disappears.25 years later Archie Hargraves abandons his fiancée Clara and travels from England to meet with Edward’s widow, Rosalind. He plans to write a biography and make a name for himself, independent from his wealthy father. Returning to England in 1914 he abandons his work to join the war in Europe. His journal of notes from Australia is never released.Ellie Cannon, a young PhD candidate at Sydney University, is writing a thesis on one of Barrington’s last known poems, The Fall. It’s not going well. Struggling with her relationship with her mother and loss of her father, Ellie is on the brink of failure.Then a body is found by the Finniss River, 130 years after Edward’s disappearance. Could it be the famous poet?The discovery draws Ellie into the worlds of Edward, Archie and Clara, taking her across Australia and England in her search for the truth.Covering life in remote South Australia, the social pressures of 1900s Britain and the historical role of women, Widow’s Lace is an historical fiction, mystery cross-over dealing with themes of obsession, fear, love, inner-secrets and regret. But also the hope that can come from despair.

Lowitja: The Authorised Biography of Lowitja O'Donoghue


Stuart Rintoul - 2020
    But for much of my childhood I was deeply unhappy. I feel I had been deprived of love and the ability to love in return. Like Lily, my mother, I felt totally powerless. And I think this is where the seeds of my commitment to human rights and social justice were sown.' Lowitja O'Donoghue Lowitja O'Donoghue is a truly great Australian. She is a former Australian of the Year and was the inaugural chair ATSIC. She has represented Australia's Indigenous people at UN forums in Geneva and New York and had Australia become voted to become a republic she would have been a contender to become Australia's first president. This long-awaited authorized biography of arguably the most recognized Indigenous woman in Australia is compellingly written by journalist Stuart Rintoul with Lowitja's full cooperation. In 2001 a bitter controversy arose over whether Lowitja had been 'stolen' as a child. There has never been any doubt that she had been handed over to missionaries at the United Aborigines Mission in Oodnadatta and was thereafter completely cut off from her mother and her culture, but the circumstances of her arrival at the mission were not precisely known. Stuart Rintoul, who was then a journalist at The Australian, accompanied Lowitja back to Central Australia to search for answers. This biography completes the journey into Lowitja's life and the challenging history of her times.

Father of the Lost Boys


Yuot A. Alaak - 2020
    Many became refugees in Ethiopia. There, in 1989, teacher and community leader Mecak Ajang Alaak assumed care of the Lost Boys in a bid to protect them from becoming child soldiers. So began a four year journey from Ethiopia to Sudan and on to the safety of a Kenyan refugee camp. Together they endured starvation, animal attacks and the horrors of land mines and aerial bombardments. This eyewitness account by Mecak Ajang Alaak’s son, Yuot, is the extraordinary true story of a man who never ceased to believe that the pen is mightier than the gun.

Mosul: Australia's secret war inside the ISIS caliphate


Ben Mckelvey - 2020
    Focusing on the stories of key figures like 2 Commando's Ian Turner and one of Australia's most infamous Jihadist, Khaled Sharrouf, Mckelvey takes us the heart of this brutal battle and brings history to life in an honest, thoughtful and compelling examination of modern warfare.A must-read for anyone interested in modern military history.

The Labyrinth


Amanda Lohrey - 2020
    Trapped in her grief, Erica retreats from Sydney to a sleepy hamlet on the south coast, near where Daniel is serving his sentence.There, in a rundown shack by the ocean, she obsesses over building a labyrinth. To create it—to navigate the path through her quandary—Erica will need the help of strangers. And that will require her to trust, and to reckon with her past.The Labyrinth is a story of guilt and denial, of the fraught relationship between parents and children. It is also an examination of how art can be ruthlessly destructive, and restorative. Mesmerising yet disquieting, it shows Amanda Lohrey to be at the peak of her powers.

An Alice Girl


Tanya Heaslip - 2020
    Growing up on a vast and isolated cattle property just north of Alice Springs, Tanya tells of wild rides, of making far-flung friends over the Air, of the dangers, the fun and the back-breaking work. As the eldest child, her added responsibility was to look after the littler ones, so she was by their sides dealing with snakes, the threat of bushfires and broken bones.Tanya's parents, Janice and Grant 'the Boss' Heaslip, were pioneers. They developed Bond Springs Station where water was scarce, where power was dependent on generators and where a trip to town for supplies meant a full day's journey. Grant was determined to teach his children how to survive in this severeenvironment and his lessons were often harsh. In a childhood that most would consider very tough, Tanya tells of this precious time with raw honesty, humour, love and kindness. This is the story of an Alice girl.

A Kinder Sea


Felicity Plunkett - 2020
    Composed of sequences—love letters, elegies, narratives and odes—it looks outwards from the intimate to take in others’ lives and voices, remaking form and craft. Felicity Plunkett’s remarkable poems balance wrack and loss with vitality, resilience, and beauty.

The Storm Within: The Autobiography of a Legend


Cameron Smith - 2020
    The recipient of numerous Dally M and Golden Boot awards, he has starred in the toughest league competition on the planet every season since he made his NRL debut in 2002. Captaining the Melbourne Storm to multiple premierships, Smith played in a staggering seventeen finals campaigns. An integral member of the record-breaking Queensland teams of 2006-2017, he won eleven State of Origin series. As skipper of the Australian national team for over a decade, he led the Kangaroos to two World Cups. Smith is credited with revolutionising the number nine position. He holds the State of Origin records for most appearances and most wins, as well as the NRL records for most games, goals, points scored, wins and appearances as captain.This book maps his unique journey in the game: an extraordinary look into the biggest matches and biggest moments, Smith describes his career with great colour and candour, outlining what it takes to climb to the highest level in sport. Talent aside, it is Smith's intelligence and poise that set him apart, coupled with consistency, durability and longevity that are unlikely to ever be matched. Notoriously private throughout his career, The Storm Within sets the record straight. Finally, the life behind the legend - the man behind the mystery - tells his story.Features a foreword by legendary Melbourne Storm coach Craig Bellamy.

China Panic: Australia's Alternative to Paranoia and Pandering


David Brophy - 2020
    Since then that ocean has shown dramatic signs of freezing over. Australia is in the grip of a China Panic. How did we get here and what’s the way out?We hear, weekly, alarming stories of Chinese influence, interference or even espionage – in politics, on campus, in the media, in community organisations and elsewhere. The United States now sees China as a strategic rival, and pressure on Australia to ‘get tough on China’ will only intensify.While the xenophobic right hovers in the wings, some of the loudest voices decrying Chinese subversion come, unexpectedly, from the left. Aligning themselves with hawkish think tanks, they call for new security laws, increased scrutiny of Chinese Australians and, if necessary, military force – a prescription for a sharp rightward turn in Australian politics.In this insightful critique, David Brophy offers a progressive alternative. Instead of punitive measures that restrict rights and stoke suspicion of minorities – moves that would only make Australia more like China – we need democratic solutions that strengthen Australian institutions and embrace, not alienate, Chinese Australians. Above all, we need forms of international solidarity that don’t reduce human rights to a mere bargaining chip.

Homeland Calling


Ellen Van Neerven - 2020
    Written by First Nations youth from communities all around Australia, the powerful words display a maturity beyond their years. Edited by award-winning author and poet Ellen van Neerven, and brought to you by Desert Pea Media, the verses in this book are the result of young artists exploring their place in the world, expressing the future they want for themselves and their communities. These young people are the future, and their passion for their culture, languages and homelands is beyond inspiring. All royalties from the sale of the book will go towards Desert Pea Media’s training and development programs in Indigenous communities.

Paired (The Active Eight Series Book 1)


Kristen Temple - 2020
    

The Fire Wombat


Jackie French - 2020
    But that is just the beginning of their journey to safety.Based on events witnessed by Australian Children's Laureate Jackie French during the 2020 fires, and co-created with award-winning illustrator Danny Snell, this is a story of courage, compassion and survival, which saw people across Australia come together to save our wildlife from devastation.

Great Destinations of a Lifetime


Claudia Martin - 2020
      From California’s legendary Death Valley to the lagoons around Bora Bora in French Polynesia, from Niagara Falls to Victoria Falls, and from Norwegian fjords to the Lascaux cave paintings, Great Destinations roams far and wide to find the most outstanding accessible locations around the world. The natural and man-made wonders include both well-known and less explored places, such as the waterfalls at Plitvice in Croatia, the striking rock formations in the marble caves on General Carrera Lake in Chile/Argentina, and the Sandstone Mountains in German Saxony. For every destination, there’s geographical and historical background. A feast of color and fact, this book makes up a traveler’s bucket list. The destinations include: Devil’s Tower, Wyoming, US   *   Rocky Mountains, Alberta, Canada   *   Teotihuacan, Mexico   *   Nazca Lines, Peru   *   Iguazu Falls, Argentina/Uruguay   *   Lake District, Cumbria, England   *   Sagrada Familia, Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain   *   Stockholm Archipelago, Sweden   *   Mada’in Saleh, Saudi Arabia   *   Dome of the Rock, Jerusalem, Israel    *    Angkor, Cambodia   *   Moai Statues, Easter Island

The Lost Boy: Tales of a Child Soldier


Ayik Chut Deng - 2020
    One of them, Ayik, was once a ten-year-old boy soldier training in the junior forces of the SPLA and like many of the young boys hating it. He regularly ran away, sometimes to refugee camps, but was found, dragged back and brutally punished by then fourteen-year-old Anyang, the man now sitting opposite him.After a tumultuous life in Africa, Ayik brings that trauma with him to Australia and at various times gets in trouble with the law over violence, alcohol and drugs. He is misdiagnosed as schizophrenic and is wrongly medicated for years. One day at a Brisbane church he looks across and sees his childhood torturer and is filled with hate. They do not interact then, but on their next encounter, a few years later, Ayik speaks with Anyang and says if they were still in Africa he would kill him.Thankfully a number of forces (including the law and parenthood and a better psychiatrist) eventually set Ayik on the straight and narrow. He is studying, working as an actor and volunteering at his local PCYC.An incredibly honest book showing that recovering from torture and war is a process of lifelong learning, choices and challenges.

Landscapes of Our Hearts: Reconciling People and Environment


Matthew Colloff - 2020
    It is a book of hope and offers the possibility that a renewed connection to the landscape and to each other could pave the way towards reconciliation.It will change the way you see this land.

Breaker Morant


Peter FitzSimons - 2020
    Born in England and emigrating to Queensland in 1883 in his early twenties, Morant was a charming but reckless man who established a reputation as a rider, polo player and writer. He submitted ballads to The Bulletin that were published under the name 'The Breaker' and counted Banjo Paterson as a friend. When appeals were made for horsemen to serve in the war in South Africa, Morant joined up, first with the South Australian Mounted Rifles and then with a South African irregular unit, the Bushveldt Carbineers.In October 1901 Morant and two other Australians, Lieutenants Peter Handcock and George Witton, were arrested for the murder of Boer prisoners. Morant and Handcock were court-martialled and executed in February 1902 as the Boer War was in its closing stages, but the debate over their convictions continues to this day.Does Breaker Morant deserve his iconic status? Who was Harry Morant? What events and passions led him to a conflict that was essentially an Imperial war, played out on a distant continent under a foreign flag? Was he a scapegoat for British war crimes or a criminal himself?With his trademark brilliant command of story, Peter FitzSimons unravels the many myths and fictions that surround the life of Harry Morant. The truths FitzSimons uncovers about 'The Breaker' and the part he played in the Boer War are astonishing - and, in the hands of this master storyteller, make compelling reading.

All the Beautiful Liars


Sylvia Petter - 2020
    This has already taken her to Vienna, where she met her Uncle Harald who embezzled the Austrian government out of millions, as well as Carl Sokorny, the godson of one of Hitler’s most notorious generals, and then on to Geneva and Madrid. Not only were her family caught up with the Nazis, they also turn out to have been involved with the Stasi in post-war East Germany.It’s a lot to come to terms with, but there are more revelations in store. After the funeral, she finds letters that reveal a dramatic twist which means her own identity must take a radical shift. Will these discoveries enable her to complete the puzzle of her family’s past?Inspired by her own life story, Sylvia Petter’s richly imaginative debut novel, set between the new world and the old, is a powerful tale about making peace with the past and finding closure for the future.

Where Fortune Lies


Mary-Anne O'Connor - 2020
    For fans of Nicole Alexander, Colleen McCullough, and Fiona McIntosh.1879: 'Invisible' Anne Brown fears she'll never escape the harshness and poverty of her life in County Donegal, Ireland. Until, one heartbreaking Beltane night, her life is changed forever and she leaves to seek her fortune in far-flung Australia.Upon the death of their father, charismatic Will Worthington and his beloved sister Mari are stunned to find he has left all their money and a ticket to the far shores of Australia to an enigmatic painted woman. It seems their only hope for a brighter future also lies in Australia, where together with Will's best friend, the artist Charlie Turner, they seek their fortunes.Charlie finds love with a mysterious exotic dancer, yet there is trouble on the horizon. His new friends up in the Victorian Alps might be teaching him to run with the wild horses and find his talent with a brush at last, but life in a bushranger gang is a dangerous game.As Charlie struggles to break free from his fate, all four are left with impossible choices as fortunes waver between life and death, loyalty and the heart.

Captain Cook’s Epic Voyage


Geoffrey Blainey - 2020
    He was ordered to establish an observatory at Tahiti in order to record the 1769 transit of Venus, and – with the skills of naturalist Joseph Banks and his team – to collect natural history in this far part of the world. But Cook’s brief also included a secret mission from the British Admiralty: to discover Terra Australis Incognita, an unknown southern land that might prove to be larger and richer than Australia.Cook was not alone in this quest, and the Endeavour shared the Coral Sea and coastal New Zealand with an armed French merchant ship commanded by Jean de Surville. Eventually in 1770 Cook’s ship crossed the Tasman Sea and reached the southern coast of New South Wales. Sailing north, he charted Australia’s eastern coastline and claimed it for Great Britain. It was the most significant of Cook’s voyages, transforming the world map and the way Europeans viewed the South Pacific Ocean and its lands and peoples.On this 250th anniversary of his major discovery, Captain Cook’s Epic Voyage reveals the hardships, adventure and achievements of Cook’s most important voyage. Reshaping his previous book, Sea of Dangers, Professor Geoffrey Blainey takes us on a vivid journey, challenging accepted views and the intersection of myth, science and exploration.

China's Grand Strategy and Australia's Future in the New Global Order


Geoff Raby - 2020
    The rise of China, Trump's America First policies, division within Europe and successful defiance by authoritarian states are affecting the shape of the emerging new order. Human rights, rule of law, free media and longstanding global institutions all seem set to be weakened. Autocracies are exercising greater control over world affairs. Australia will need to engage heightened levels of diplomacy to forge relations with countries of opposing principles. It will need to be agile in pursuing a realistic foreign policy agenda. China's Grand Strategy and Australia's Future in the New Global Order contains answers for how Australia must position itself for this possibly dystopian future.

Strangers on Country


Dave Hartley - 2020
    No one knows exactly how many received sustenance from the local people, but there are some documented accounts of these experiences. Strangers on Country includes the stories of six Europeans and the people who cared for them.To Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, the first castaways and runaway convicts that arrived in their homes must have appeared pretty scary. The strangers didn’t speak their language and didn’t understand their ways, but they were desperately in need of refuge. Despite their fears, the Indigenous hosts often treated the lost strangers with kindness, taking pity on them and giving them food and shelter. When they returned to live among white people, the castaways and convicts spoke fondly of the people who had rescued them.Based on historical records each story in this book is told through two historical fiction narratives. The first is from the point of view of an Indigenous person who befriends the stranger in their land. The second is from the point of view of the castaway or convict who is given refuge. At the end of each chapter, there is a section of facts and information. Too often Australian history is told only from the point of view of the Europeans who sailed here from across the world.Richly illustrated and drawing on the extensive collections of the National Library of Australia, Strangers on Country will inspire young readers to think about how all Australians today can learn from traditional Indigenous ways of thinking and doing. When we listen to and understand others, work with people, instead of doing things to people, then we can all begin to adopt the wise ways of the past. This book was inspired by and based on Living with the Locals: Early Europeans’ Experience of Indigenous Life by John Maynard and Victoria K. Haskins.

Slack Wyrm Simply Wanted to be Left Alone...


Joshua Wright - 2020
    First seen at joshuawright.net and on various social media sites, Slack Wyrm is the ongoing, rambling story of an unconcerned dragon in an uncaring world. Ferragus Slackwyrm is a lazy, sluggish, self-absorbed creature who lives in an exotic fantasy realm of dubious integrity. Along with Ferragus himself, in Book 3 you'll see how the dragon Pokemon tournament turns out, you'll read about the origins of the Great Magical Black Forest Cake, and be terrified at the sight of a relentless emu invasion. Plus there's the story of Kringlekrist, the Christmas dragon, and the timeless tale of of the Easter Wyrm. You'll also find all-new profiles and secret stats on newly featured characters. If you already have Slack Wyrm Books 1 and 2, you NEED Book 3 to complete your collection! If you don't have Slack Wyrm Book 1 or Book 2, get Book 3 anyway! It's the best one yet!

Beyond the Mirage: An Autobiography


Arthur W. Upfield - 2020
    Perhaps it was the sense of freedom, both physically and spiritually, the knowledge that should I want to look beyond the sandhills and peer beyond the mirage, there was nothing but my two legs and a water bag to prevent me...As thousands did before me, and as men are still doing in these days, I asked for my cheque instead of orders one bright morning in May, and a week later an eager young man pushed a loaded bicycle out of Wilcannia.Arthur Upfield's autobiography was written in 1937 but put aside during the intervening years of the Second World War. Now available for the first time, here is Upfield's own story of tramping Australia and developing his great crime novels featuring Bony, the first Aboriginal detective, alongside real desert characters like One-Spur Dick, Mr Pluto, Dead March Harry and the evil Snowy Rowles. Illustrated with photographs from Upfield's archive.

The Swan Maiden: An Australian Faery Tale


Serene Conneeley - 2020
    There are machines that are trying to kill her, people who want to replace her, and dizzying new emotions she'd rather not feel. When she finds herself torn between two wildly different worlds, she must discover how much she's willing to sacrifice, where she really belongs, and who she truly is.Enter a world where birds shapeshift into wizards, women emerge from sealskins, swans transform into maidens, and love is the most powerful enchantment of all.

No Small Shame


Christine Bell - 2020
    The world is erupting in war. Jobs are scarce and immigrants unwelcome. For young Catholic Mary O’Donnell, this is not the new life she imagined.When one foolish night of passion leads to an unexpected pregnancy and a loveless marriage, Mary’s reluctant husband Liam escapes to the trenches. With her overbearing mother attempting to control her every decision, Mary flees to Melbourne determined to build a life for herself and her child. There, she forms an unlikely friendship with Protestant army reject Tom Robbins.But as a shattering betrayal is revealed, Mary must make an impossible choice. Does she embrace the path fate has set for her, or follow the one she longs to take?From the harshness of a pit village in Scotland to the upheaval of wartime Australia, No Small Shame tells the moving story of love and duty, loyalty and betrayal, and confronting the past before you can seek a future.

We Need to Talk About Mum & Dad: A practical guide to parenting our ageing parents


Jean Kittson - 2020
    Everything you need to know about supporting ageing parents, from author and comedian Jean Kittson.This warm and witty practical guide is a one-stop shop for information on how to support your ageing loved ones: how to protect their health and wellbeing, keep them safe and secure, and enable them to be self-determining and independent for as long as possible.Full of expert advice and first-hand experience, this is your go-to resource to help you:* Navigate the bureaucratic maze while remaining sane* Understand what is needed for your elder's health and wellbeing and how to get it, especially in a medical emergency* Survive the avalanche of legal papers and official forms* Choose the best place for them to live - home, retirement village, residential aged care, or granny and grandpa flat - and help your elders relocate with love and respect.Compelled to discuss some of life's most confronting questions, Jean shares heartfelt stories and clear facts alongside wonderful cartoons from much-loved Australian cartoonist, Patrick Cook.Following on from her 2014 bestseller, You're Still Hot to Me, a treatise on menopause, We Need to Talk About Mum and Dad is a guide to what happens when we become parents of our parents.

Growing Pineapples in the Outback


Tony Kelly - 2020
    The isolation, sweltering heat, and limited employment opportunities make settling into the mining town a challenge. While Rebecca deals with her mother’s declining health and delves into her own past, Tony takes on a new role in native title law. However, caring for Diana—a witty, crossword-loving 92-year-old—proves to be a more enriching experience than either Tony or Rebecca thought possible. As they make deeper connections to the land and community, they find themselves flourishing in a most unexpected place. Growing Pineapples in the Outback explores the highs and lows of caring for an ageing parent, while also celebrating the rewards of a simpler life.

Dry to Dry: The Seasons of Kakadu


Pamela Freeman - 2020
    Those seasons have shaped the astonishing variety of plants, animals, birds, insects ... migratory birds by the thousands, grasshoppers and owls, lizards and turtles, fruit bats and spear grass. And, gliding past them all in the rivers and waterholes, the long, sinuous shapes of crocodiles ...Book Features:**Beautifully written narrative that explores the unique story of one of Australia's most amazing landscapes.**Features lyrical narrative and well-researched facts by award-winning author Pamela Freeman.**Stunning original mixed media illustrations by Liz Anelli.

Black Bones, Red Earth


Lee Richie - 2020
    1951: Katherine’s journey begins in the unforgiving landscape of the Australian outback. Having been abandoned by her father after her mother is killed in a London air raid, Katherine finds little sympathy when she is consigned to an austere life in the care of Lachlan and Daisy Stuart on an isolated property beyond Broken Hill. There is little tenderness in the ten-year-old’s life until Aboriginal station hands offer their friendship, but love comes at a deadly price.Current day: Now living an idyllic life in the north of England, for almost sixty years Katherine has hidden her past. But when an old letter is discovered, she is forced to relive her traumatic years under the Australian sun and explain who died and why she had to run. However, there’s a twist in the tale that will bring her once again to her knees. Will returning to Australia help her truly find peace?A story of hope, love, sacrifice and resilience.

A Question of Colour; my journey to belonging


Pattie Lees - 2020
    Pattie Lees was just ten-years-old when she and her four siblings were separated from their mother on the grounds of neglect and placed into State care. Believing she was being shipped and exiled to Africa, Pattie was ultimately fated to spend the rest of her childhood on the island once dubbed ‘Australia’s Alcatraz’ – Palm Island Aboriginal Settlement, off the coast of Queensland.A Question of Colour; my journey to belonging provides a first-hand account of Pattie’s experiences as a ‘fair-skinned Aboriginal’ during Australia’s assimilationist policy era and recounts her survival following a decade of sexual, physical and emotional abuse as a Ward of the State. A Question of Colour is a deeply moving and powerful testimony to the resilience of a young girl, her identity and her journey to belong.

Death of a Coast Watcher


Anthony English - 2020
    The spectators include villagers he terrorised as his mind frayed under the stress of pursuit by soldiers and their hounds. Rand’s influence transcends his death. For decades he plagues characters who strive to cope with him and one another in New Guinea, the Gilbert Islands, Australia and Japan. Who misperceives? Lies? Self-destructs? Suffers? Loves? The layers unfold as the author entices us through cultural, historical and intellectual curtains, deep into minds and relationships disturbed by the Pacific war and Rand’s legacy.

Just Money: Misadventures in the Great Australian Debt Trap


Royce Kurmelovs - 2020
    Millions of Australians grapple with credit cards, mortgages and student debt repayments each day. As the result of a car crash without insurance, investigative journalist Royce Kurmelovs finds himself among them. When a debt collector knocks on his door, he embarks on a journey through the underbelly of the Australian financial system. Though friends tell him not to worry, that it's 'just money', he learns the opposite is true- our relationship with debt is a convergence of class and power, making it an urgent social justice issue for a growing number of people.

Red Dust Rebel


Eva Scott - 2020
    Fifteen years later, Nate is back in town and JT is more determined than ever to defend him, and not just because of an unrequited crush. But small towns have long memories, and this one is sure Nate is guilty. Being the town's black sheep is hard work, but Nate has neglected his sonly duties long enough. Back in town to care for his mother while she heals from a broken arm, it's not long before Nate discovers her condition is far worse than he expected. His only welcome distraction is JT, the gangly girl he knew from childhood who is now smart, sassy-and entirely kissable.But everyone is keeping secrets, lies are falling apart, and unrequited love is surfacing--a force strong enough to tame a rebel ... or tear a town apart. A small-town romance about overcoming prejudice, second chances and setting the past free.

Red Road


Roger Wheatley - 2020
    How did it get to this? He came to this isolated outpost on Australia's wild Cape York to put himself back together, to lie low for a while. And it was going so well. A great job, new friends, and maybe even a shot at a relationship. But when a young Aboriginal man disappears his instincts won't let him ignore it. And it's not long before his past comes to visit, courtesy of a hard man in a black jeep.

Places We Swim Sydney


Caroline Clements - 2020
    Places We Swim in Sydney is divided into six city regions, encompassing walks and swims within two hours of the CBD – from Manly in the north, to Maroubra in the east, Royal National Park in the south, and out to the Blue Mountains in the west. You'll discover just what makes each swimming spot unique, learn the best time to go, gain some useful local knowledge and find out the most delicious things to eat nearby.With destinations ranging from neighbourhood city pools to gorges that feel like the outback, Places We Swim in Sydney is a celebration of not just these magnificent swimming locations, but of the diverse landscapes and water-loving communities that make up Sydney.

The Stranger Artist


Quentin Sprague - 2020
    He would stay for almost a decade, working alongside a group of senior Gija artists, including acclaimed figures Paddy Bedford and Freddie Timms, to establish Jirrawun Arts, briefly one of the country’s most successful and controversial Aboriginal painting collectives.The Stranger Artist follows Oliver’s journey and the deep relationships he formed, an experience that forever altered his life’s trajectory. His story will draw readers close to what he came to know of Kimberley life: the immersion of culture and spirituality in the everyday, the importance of Law, the deep and abiding connection to country, and the humour and tragedy that pervade the Aboriginal world. Evocative and absorbing in equal measure, The Stranger Artist tells not only of the connections that can be formed through the sharing of mutual interests and experiences, but of what it takes to live between cultures.