Inspired by Jana Wendt, this bogan from the Brisbane backwaters waded through the 'cruel and shallow money trench' of television to land a dream role: national news anchor for a commercial network. But the journalist found that, for women, TV was less about news and more about helmet hair, masses of makeup and fatuous fashion, in an era when bosses told you to 'stick your tits out', 'lose two inches off your arse', and 'quit before you're too long in the tooth'. Still, Tracey plastered on a smile and did what she was told. But when she was sacked by email after having a baby, this good girl turned 'bad', taking legal action against the network for pregnancy discrimination. In this frank and funny 'femoir' - part memoir, part manifesto - Tracey 'sheconstructs' the structural barriers facing women in the workplace and encourages us all to shake off the shackles of the good girl. "Glows with the wisdom of a woman who has learned essential truths about love, life and happiness" - Caroline Overington "Wickedly witty and wonderfully wise" - Wendy Harmer "Fiercely smart and ferociously funny" - Benjamin Law

    Welcome to a chronicle of broken hearts, fervid pursuits, passionate friendships, deranged letter-writing, the allure of the bottle, the singular charms of musicians, the lost song of youth, and three very awkward evenings with varying prostitutes--exactly zero percent of which the author's parents will want to read. Add to that a slightly misguided attempt to give real-life friends and ex-lovers a 'right of reply' to the stories they appear in and it's fair to say an extended stint in the Witness Protection Program beckons.Confessional, voyeuristic, painful, hilarious and heartfelt, You'll Be Sorry When I'm Dead reveals the acerbic wit, unflinching gaze and razor-sharp insight of a writer at the height of her powers-or the unhinged fantasies of a dangerous mind with not enough to do.

    But few know the real-life story behind her rise to fame on reality TV and in Australia’s legal circles as a respected Melbourne barrister.Just like the woman herself, Fearless is up-front, inspiring and passionate.Born in Melbourne to Italian parents, Gina’s happy childhood turned sour when her parents’ business and marriage failed. Gina battled to finish her schooling, and while her ambition was to study law, she was a married mother of one by the time she was 23. Along with her talented sisters she would establish three highly successful fashion stores in stylish inner-Melbourne.But Gina never lost sight of her goal to study law and become a barrister, and at 33, after years of schooling, she was finally admitted to the bar. With a dream career, a new husband and a second child, she was ready to take on the world. But it was not to be; only four years later, she received a shock diagnosis of life-threatening cancer.With more twists and turns than any reality TV show, every step of Gina’s unique journey is intimately recounted in Fearless with the frankness and honesty that audiences have come to expect from the straight-talking star of the Real Housewives series. ‘Sassy and sophisticated. Tough and tender. Glamorous and gregarious. Everyone has an opinion of Gina Liano, but those who know even a little about her know she’s a survivor, then a thriver and always a winner … against all odds.’ Eddie McGuire

    It's also a roar against injustice, a rallying cry for sisterhood and a way to free ourselves from ludicrous expectations and imposed perfectionism.Kaz's own 30-year history of interest and experience in advice - from her newspaper etiquette column to best-selling books, including Up the Duff and the Girl Stuff series - and years of archives and research have culminated in a full-colour, exuberant shout of a book with hundreds of wacky and sobering historical photos of objects and instructions.You're Doing It Wrong examines what we're told to do (change shape, shoosh, do all the housework), and what we're not supposed to do (frown, have pockets, lead a country). It covers sex & romance, paid work, fashion & beauty, health advice, housework, and a motherlode of mad parenting instructions - from witchcraft to beauty pageants, with a side of aviatrixes. Put the kettle on and settle in.

    Two young women are brutally murdered. The killer has never been found. What happened in the house on Easey Street?On a warm night in January, Suzanne Armstrong and Susan Bartlett were savagely murdered in their house on Easey Street, Collingwood – stabbed multiple times while Suzanne’s sixteen-month-old baby slept in his cot. Although police established a list of more than 100 ‘persons of interest’, the case became one of the most infamous unsolved crimes in Melbourne.Journalist Helen Thomas was a cub reporter at The Age when the murders were committed and saw how deeply they affected the city. Now, forty-two years on, she has re-examined the cold case – chasing down new leads and talking to members of the Armstrong and Bartlett families, the women’s neighbours on Easey Street, detectives and journalists. What emerges is a portrait of a crime rife with ambiguities and contradictions, which took place at a fascinating time in the city’s history – when the countercultural bohemia of Helen Garner’s Monkey Grip brushed up against the grit of the underworld in one of Melbourne’s most notorious suburbs.Why has the Easey Street murderer never been found, despite the million-dollar reward for information leading to an arrest? Did the women know their killer, or were their deaths due to a random, frenzied attack? Could the murderer have killed again? This gripping account addresses these questions and more as it sheds new light on one of Australia’s most disturbing and compelling criminal mysteries.‘An overdue examination of the Easey Street murders that adds tantalising new information to known and forgotten facts.’ Andrew Rule, journalist and co-author of UnderbellyHelen Thomas has been a journalist for more than forty years. In 2005, Thomas spent months researching the Easey Street murders for Radio National’s Background Briefing, shedding new light on the investigation. She is the manager of ABC News Radio and author of five books, including Moods: The Peter Moody Saga (2016).

    She had been Hotel K's most famous inmate.Schapelle was a 27-year-old beauty-school student when, in 2004, Bali customs officers found 4.2 kilograms of marijuana in her boogie-board bag. She was convicted of a crime she still vehemently denies committing.She spent ten years in Hotel K, where she survived unimaginable horrors, corrupt guards, degrading conditions, and abuse at the hands of other prisoners, but also, amazingly, found the love of her life - a love that still burns strong.In this revised and updated edition of My Story, first published in 2006, Schapelle describes her descent into madness, and finding her way back, the chaos of her release, the trials of surviving outside on parole and, eventually, her dramatic return to Australia, all the while hounded mercilessly by the media.This is the first time since 2006 that Schapelle has spoken, driven by a determination to show she has emerged, scarred, but with her dignity, humour and courage intact.Written with bestselling author Kathryn Bonella, this is a deeply unsettling but utterly compelling tale of what should have been a holiday in paradise but instead turned into 13 years of living hell. You won't be able to put it down.

    For several years, Lamb has taught writing to a group of women prisoners at York Correctional Institution in Connecticut. In this unforgettable collection, the women of York describe in their own words how they were imprisoned by abuse, rejection, and their own self-destructive impulses long before they entered the criminal justice system. Yet these are powerful stories of hope and healing, told by writers who have left victimhood behind. In his moving introduction, Lamb describes the incredible journey of expression and self-awareness the women took through their writing and shares how they challenged him as a teacher and as a fellow author. Couldn't Keep It to Myself is a true testament to the process of finding oneself and working toward a better day.

    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.

     Whether they did or not is for you to decide as Jonquil Graham takes you on a return journey to childhood and teenage years that included sea voyages, modelling assignments, making a movie, Contiki trips, doing the hippie trail across Asia and hitch-hiking around Europe. Join her in this fun flashback to memories that will make you sigh and laugh aloud as she recalls life in Australia in the 50s and 60s.

    Resolute, self-possessed and a penetrating thinker on subjects from workplace relations to foreign affairs, she is admired by members of parliament and the public from across the political divide.In this first-ever biography of Penny Wong, acclaimed journalist Margaret Simons traces her story: from her early life in Malaysia, to her student activism in Adelaide, to her entry into the male-dominated chambers of federal parliament, to her leading role as a voice of reason and respect in the polarising campaign to legalise same-sex marriage – and to her current position, poised to become Australia’s future minister for foreign affairs. What emerges is a picture of a leader for modern Australia, a cool-headed, cautious, yet charismatic figure of piercing intelligence and a personal history linking back to Australia’s colonial settlers and through to its multicultural present.Drawing on exclusive interviews with Penny Wong, and her Labor colleagues, parliamentary opponents, close friends and family, this scintillating portrait of an Australian politician without precedence promises to be one of the most talked-about political biographies of the year.

    Once here she was assisted by a number of Australian women, and was ultimately encouraged to apply for refugee status in order to stay in this country. So began her battle to be granted asylum in Australia. Carrie stood before the Refugee Review Tribunal and revealed the dark underbelly of child sexual abuse and organised crime rings in our privileged, first-world neighbourhoods.This is the story of one young woman's heroic journey to survive, escape and soar above her shocking childhood experiences, and her powerful struggle for freedom and a beautiful life in Australia.

    Secrets are different from privacy. They are things you are forced to keep to yourself, by family, friends, by your own shame. Secrets like these come to the surface one day and demand an airing.Emerging from an unconventional, boisterously happy childhood, Mary-Rose MacColl was a rebellious teenager. And when, at the age of fifteen, her high-school teacher and her husband started inviting Mary-Rose to spend time with them, her parents were pleased that she now had the guidance she needed to take her safely into young adulthood.It wasn't too long, though, before the teacher and her husband changed the nature of the relationship with overwhelming consequences for Mary-Rose. Consequences that kept her silent and ashamed through much of her adult life. Many years later, safe within a loving relationship, all of the long-hidden secrets and betrayals crashed down upon her and she came close to losing everything.In this poignant and brave true story, Mary-Rose brings these secrets to the surface and, in doing so, is finally able to watch them float away.

    Australia was alive to the historic possibilities. Here was a new approach for a new time.It was to last three extraordinary years.This is Julia Gillard’s chronicle of that turbulent time – a strikingly candid self-portrait of a political leader seeking to realise her ideals. It is her story of what it was like – in the face of government in-fighting and often hostile media – to manage a hung parliament, build a diverse and robust economy, create an equitable and world-class education system, ensure a dignified future for Australians with disabilities, all while attending to our international obligations and building strategic alliances for our future. This is a politician driven by a sense of purpose – from campus days with the Australian Union of Students, to a career in the law, to her often gritty, occasionally glittering rise up the ranks of the Australian Labor Party.Refreshingly honest, peppered with a wry humour and personal insights, Julia Gillard does not shy away from her mistakes, as well as detailing her political successes. Here is an account of what was hidden behind the resilience and dignified courage Gillard showed as prime minister, her view of the vicious hate campaigns directed against her, and a reflection on what it means – and what it takes – to be a woman leader in contemporary politics.Here, in her own words, Julia Gillard reveals what life was really like as Australia’s first female prime minister.

    Mia delivers." Elizabeth GilbertThis book is for every woman who's been told success is as simple as Lean In, Say Yes, Live Your Best Life, Beat Your Fear, Follow Your Dream... and then feel #soblessed.It's for guilty friends, bad mums, crap wives, imperfect feminists, rebellious daughters and any girl with a big mouth and at least one foot in it. It's for any woman who's ever asked: 'Am I the only one who isn't quite coping?'Here is Mia Freedman's low road to the top - a fearless, hilarious, inspiring and surprising collection of modern misadventures to read, relate to and rejoice in, then share with all the women in your life.MORE PRAISE FOR MIA FREEDMAN"Funny, raw, fierce and - at heart - profoundly generous." Annabel Crabb"There are few writers in Australia who care as much about what makes women tick as Mia Freedman and who reveal so much of themselves." Leigh Sales"Mia Freedman is one of the most inspirational, informative and accessible voices among contemporary Australian writers ... She is dedicated to improving the lives of other women. Hers is an important unique voice in our national conversation." Cate McGregor

    Chrissie and Anthony Foster were like any other young suburban family, raising their three daughters, Emma, Katie, and Aimee in a quiet spot and educating them with what they hoped were the right values. In Chrissie's case, these values were based on her Catholic faith; when she married Anthony, not a religious man, they both committed to bringing up their children in the faith, which included attending Catholic schools. Carefully driving her children to school each day, Chrissie could not have known that the stranger-danger she feared lurked not on the streets, but in the presbytery attached to the school. There, an evil man dwelled whom the Church knew to be a long-term pedophile, moving him from parish to parish in order to avoid his career of sexual assault on children becoming public. This was Father Kevin O'Donnell. First one, then two of their beautiful girls fell victim to the after-effects of O'Donnell’s crimes against them as small children. Chrissie and Anthony Foster began a battle to find out the truth of what had happened, and how it was that the very Church which promised to love and protect their children could slam the doors shut on them. Instead, the Church offered silence, lies, denials, broken promises, and threats, until one day the Bag Man arrived. This is a courageous account of a family's suffering and their determination to stand up for themselves against the massive power of the Catholic Church.