It’s November 1948, and the widowed Hanora Sparrow and her teenage daughters, Aria and Rosy, have fallen on tough times; when they move into a housing commission camp on the outskirts of Sydney, their spirits are low and their prospects few. While Hanora copes via various pharmaceutical offerings and Rosy with nothing other than indignity, the spirited Aria rises immediately to the challenge of keeping the family together in such trying circumstances. With her endless curiosity and lively sense of humor, Aria draws the Sparrow women into close friendships with other camp residents and supports her family through her work as a photographic model in the city. Despite the setbacks, Aria strives toward their eventual salvation.

    Much better to see it for what it is than to be perennially disappointed.With a hefty new mortgage, a frustrating career as a newspaper columnist and a flailing relationship with a married co-worker, Jo Liddell is resigned to living a less-than-perfect life.That is, until she crosses paths with Joe Bannister – a celebrated foreign correspondent returning home to care for his dying father. Against all her natural instincts, Jo finds herself falling for Joe, and with his help begins to realise that she might deserve to be happy after all. But when she decides to take the plunge and give love a chance, the results are catastrophic. And so Jo must fight hard for everything she never believed in – success, self-acceptance, and above all, real love.

    He lives with his mother and sister Katie, all dutifully cared for by Aunt Dettie, their father's sister, who believes herself sympathetic to his pain. Their father abandoned the family some time ago, but when their mother begins to date again, Aunt Dettie reacts very badly. After an unexpected phone call, Aunt Dettie packs Sam and Katie into the backseat of her car and tells them that she's taking them to Perth to be reunited with their father. As Dettie drives the children across Australia in the middle of a sweltering and dangerous bushfire season, her behaviour becomes increasingly erratic, and the children begin to realise that there is something very wrong. Voiceless, Sam can only watch helplessly as the family trip becomes a smoke-filled nightmare.

    He and his friends while away their days smoking dope, trying to root chicks and surfing at Maroubra. Ned's life is only just beginning – tomorrow, some time.Ned is 35. He and his mates drift through the days snorting cocaine, trying to root chicks, clinging to the pub and surfing at Bondi. For Ned, this is it – tomorrow never came.What happens when life passes you by? When the drugs no longer work and the promise of the future has become the wreckage of the past? What happens when a generation of men lose their way?Confrontingly honest, blackly funny, The Lost Boys is a compelling look at the dark side of being a 21st century man from a powerful new voice in fiction.

    With illustrations from Archibald Prize winner Ben Quilty.In January 2016 Richard Flanagan and Ben Quilty travelled to Lebanon, Greece, and Serbia to follow the river that is the exodus of our age: that of refugees from Syria.Flanagan's 'notes' and Quilty's sketches bear witness to the remarkable people they met on that journey and their stories. These individual portraits from the Man Booker Prize-winning author and Archibald Prize-winning artist combine to form a powerful testament to human dignity and courage in the face of war, death, and suffering.Refugees are not like you and me. They are you and me. That terrible river of the wretched and the damned flowing through Europe is my family.

    The graffiti on the holding room wall says it all: 'Gunyah is hell on earth'. And Ellen's about to find out why. Ellen was never the daughter her mother wanted. Patent leather shoes and frilly dresses just weren't her thing and, at age fourteen, she's ready to leave school and find her own way. No one is going to stop her from going where she wants, doing what she wants, and hanging out with Robbie. Or so she thinks. But when the police turn up, Ellen is deemed to be in 'moral danger' and is sentenced to the Gunyah Training School for Girls. Suddenly, she's no longer Ellen, she's Girl 43, and she has to follow the rules, work hard and - most importantly - stay quiet. When it's discovered that she's pregnant, there's no respite from the staff. Told she isn't capable of bringing up a child, they twist the truth to make her cooperate. But however hard they try, they can't destroy the connection between a mother and her child . . . or can they? Drawn from experiences in Parramatta Girls' Home in the seventies, "Girl 43" is a story that could have come straight from today's headlines about the shocking treatment of innocent children and teens by people in the very institutions that were supposed to protect them.

    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.

    Born in 1951, he had a happy childhood — raised by his loving adoptive parents, Bert and Gwen Tickner, in the small seaside town of Forster, New South Wales. He grew up to be a cheerful and confident young man with a fierce sense of social justice, and the desire and stamina to make political change. Serving in the Hawke and Keating governments, he held the portfolio of minister for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander affairs. Among other achievements while in government, he was responsible for initiating the reconciliation process with Indigenous Australians, and he was instrumental in instigating the national inquiry into the stolen generations.During his time on the front bench, Robert’s son was born, and it was his deep sense of connection to this child that moved him at last to turn his attention to the question of his own birth. Although he had some sense of the potentially life-changing course that lay ahead of him, he could not have anticipated learning of the exceptional nature of the woman who had brought him into the world, the deep scars that his forced adoption had left on her, and the astonishing series of coincidences that had already linked their lives. And this was only the first half of a story that was to lead to a reunion with his birth father and siblings.This deeply moving memoir is a testament to the significance of all forms of family in shaping us — and to the potential for love to heal great harm.

    She had no intention of sticking around any longer than absolutely necessary and certainly no intention of rekindling her relationship with the man who had shattered her tender, eighteen year old heart. If only he didn’t still make her body sizzle with desire… The moment Scott Armstrong set eyes on Jenny Hynes again, he was determined to win her back. But a decade is a long time and she was no longer the shy, impressionable girl who had won his heart. The new Jenny was confident, worldly and very, very guarded. It would take all his patience, persistence and a healthy dose of chemistry to convince her they were meant to be together.

    Shashank was older, but flawless and their relationship bloomed. She relished every moment with him, and all the cinematic surprises and unmatched happiness that she could have only dreamed of! With time, in her quest to build the ‘perfect love story’ with Shashank, Amyra found her heart crushed mercilessly. A poignant story of love, friendship, hatred and revenge, My Imperfect Love Story will make you smile, break your heart and take you to cloud nine. More than anything, it will help you rediscover the power of your love.

    He worked for the Australian Financial Review in Melbourne, Sydney and Perth before being posted as a correspondent to Jakarta and Shanghai. Andrew is currently a senior business journalist for the Australian in Perth, where he has covered the WA mining boom since 2006. He won the business prize at the West Australian media awards in 2006 and 2009.

    Peopled by an ensemble cast, the local publican the single mother who manages the pub’s kitchen, the unhappily married couple that runs the corner store, a newcomer from Johannesburg with a murky past, a snivelling B&B proprietor and a determined ex-girlfriend, Wood Green artfully evokes the claustrophobia of small-town life. While Michael believes he is making a new life for himself, Lucian has other plans. Rabin writes with wit and intelligence – and deftly executes an unsuspected plot twist – in his exploration of the perils of literary ambition and the elusive prospect of artistic legacy.

    'Nonno Anni gives me a nudge. "You know, when I first came to Australia, I knew that my life would change forever."'Leaving the small village of Fossa in Italy in 1939 to meet a father he barely remembered in a place that was far from everything he knew, fifteen-year-old Annibale Boccabella arrived in Australia determined to make a go of it. It was a time when everything was changing and anything seemed possible. Life was tough but you could still chase your dreams. More than 70 years later, in 2011, Zoe Boccabella and her family hurriedly try to save the treasured belongings of Annibale and his wife Francesca-Zoe's grandparents-from the rising waters of the Brisbane River. When Zoe sees the sign from their old fruit shop and milk bar about to disappear beneath the floodwater, this triggers in her a realisation that while she has long looked to Italy to discover her migrant heritage, much of it happened here in Australia. In Joe's Fruit Shop and Milk Bar, Zoe artfully weaves her own experiences with those of her grandparents, taking us on a journey from Abruzzo and Calabria in Italy to Australian sugar cane fields, internment camps, Greek cafes, and the fruit shop and milk bar that was the focus of a family's hopes and dreams for the future. With memorable, beautifully portrayed characters, evocative writing and a sweeping tale that reflects the experience of so many Australians, this is a story that will touch your heart and remind you of the important things in life. Praise for Zoe Boccabella's Mezza Italiana'A charming and thoughtful writer' Frances Mayes'There is much to love about this book. The wonderful characters, her fabulous Italian grandfather who takes his love for all Italian traditions to Brisbane ... her boyfriend who becomes the poster boy for all things Italian, and the people of Fossa, a village tucked away in the mountains of Abruzzo... I can highly recommend Mezza Italiana on a cold day when you are dreaming of Italy... ' Carla Coulson'This is one of those books that come along every so often that resonates with so many. Whether you have a migrant background or just love reading about Italy, this is a book with heart and soul, humour and sincerity. A wonderful read.' Cate, ABC Shops website

    It will make you laugh, think and feel and is the perfect Christmas gift for those who speak human. Illustrations by Shaun Tan Every copy sold will contribute to cancer research

    In this superb anthology can be found the best of the English-speaking world’s inspirational and reassuring verse, including such classics as Rudyard Kipling’s ‘If’ and W.H. Davies’ ‘Leisure’. This beautifully illustrated collection of over 120 poems is sure to offer solace, hearten the soul and motivate the human spirit.