The object of his desire is Gabriella, the Italian-Irish girl next door. Then one day Gabriella disappearsabandoning Sam. Bitter and resentful, Sam moves on with his life: into the shady side of Brisbane. Over the next two decades, Sam and Gabriella will find their lives inextricably, painfully, and passionately linked.

    Rachael's family comes to America to start a new life after fleeing the pogroms in Russia. Rebekah comes to America with her son, Samuel, fleeing his father, Misha, a Russian soldier with whom she had an affair and has threatened to take him away from her so he will not grow up as a Jew and the son of a cobbler. Set in the Lower East Side of New York and pre-revolutionary St. Petersburg, Russia, both women adjust to life in America until Misha kidnaps Samuel and returns with him to Russia. How Rebekah rises to the challenge of earning enough money as a designer of women's gowns to return to St. Petersburg to find her son, and the difficulties she encounters while there, including murder and prison, show the reader the full extent of a mother's ingenuity and determination when it comes to her child. Rachael also faces the possibility of losing a child to war when her son Solomon enlists in the army as America's entry into World War I approaches.

    But there was no 'big house' here - Toni did not grow up in a large homestead. She lived in a shack that had no electricity and no running water. The oppressive climate of the Territory - either wet or dry - tested everyone. Fish were known to rain from the sky and sometimes good men drank too much and drowned trying to cross swollen rivers.Toni grew up with the Aboriginal people who lived and worked on the station, and got into scrapes with her ever-increasing number of siblings. She loved where she grew up - she was happy on the land with her friends and family, observing the many characters who made up the community on Killarney. When she was sent to boarding school all she wanted to do was go back to the land she loved, despite the fact that her parents' marriage was struggling as Bill Tapp succumbed to drink and June Tapp refused to go under with him.Toni's love of the natural world and of people alike has resulted in a tender portrait of a life that many people would consider tough. She brings vividly to the page a story seldom seen: a Territory childhood, with all its colour, characters and contradictions.

    Along the way readers will also be introduced to new forensic techniques and scientific methods that could - or did - help move the case forward.Cold Case Investigations covers mostly murders or suspected murders - such as Ashley Coulston, Mr Cruel and Ivan Milat - with the victims as the focus. Not only because, criminologically speaking, the more you can learn about your victim the more you can extrapolate about the person who killed or abducted them, but also because they deserve their stories to be told. They deserve for people to know their names. They shouldn't just be someone's victim.

    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.

    You know, again.

    Choices were made without thinking. Young lives came together and would never be the same again. Years on, as Ursula confronts decisions that are not so easy to make, revelations collide with memories of Candelo - and some breathtaking secrets come to light.

    (We can!)

    Monty fell hard for her and, despite strong family opposition on both sides, they would marry.Valerie was keen to have a large brood and, though her pregnancies were difficult, she gave birth to four children. But they were not enough and in 1947 she adopted the first of three more children who were designated to be playmates for her own. It was a social experiment that would end in tears, as would the fortunes of the iconic company, destroyed by the glue that once bound it together - family.Rocky Road is the story of this chocaholic clan and the creative and eccentric woman who dominated it. Behind the irresistible sweetness of Darrell Lea lay a family who made bitter sacrifices to succeed in the candy business.

    Winifred Steger traveled to Australia with her father in the 1880s when he took up a land grant, which turned out to be worthless, in north Queensland. Faced with poverty, endless backbreaking work and isolation, Winifred's father spiralled into depression and alcoholism. Left to fend for herself, Winifred battled insurmountable odds to maintain her dignity and sanity, finding solace when she created fictitious scenarios to ease her hardship. She endured an early loveless marriage and being forced to abandon her four children, and eventually met and fell in love with an Indian trader, Ali. She bore him three children and the family moved to outback Australia where they ran a camel line. Later, a new phase began in Winifred's life, taking her to places she had only ever dreamed of. The Washerwoman's Dream is the story of an extraordinary woman.

    Or they were a family, until their father took his own life to escape his bed-bound wife, too obese to leave her room.But for Lori and the remaining brothers, there is no escape from their volatile, mentally unstable mother. They raise themselves away from the gaze of the authorities, realising that though abandoned, they are now in charge. They can control everything, including their mother's food intake.In time, their mother emerges, after losing two-thirds of her body weight. But does she bring with her the seed of hope for a better future, or will all hell break loose?'The texture of the writing as well as the mind-boggling plots give her books a fatally addictive attraction' Saturday Age

    After her beloved John's death from cancer, Virginia was faced with addressing the chronic rising damp problem in the house they had shared and, over her first year as a young widow, her house had to dry from the inside out – and so did Virginia. The Young Widow's Book of Home Improvement is a wry and touching love story that plays with the parallels between our homes and ourselves.

    What happens next will become one of the most remarkable survival stories in history.The 19th century has just begun. The world is at war. England, ruled by a mad king, is exiling thousands of criminals to an old land that has become its newest dumping ground.One of those prisoners is William Buckley, barely 21, a former soldier sentenced to life for stealing two small pieces of cloth. He’s a giant for his times. But it’s not just his towering frame that sets him apart. It’s his desire for freedom that will make his story so unique - even in an era famous for outrageous acts of bravery and heroism.On a moonlit night Buckley escapes and disappears into the Australian bush. Discovered and adopted by an aboriginal tribe who regard him as a ghost, he is initiated into their rich and complex culture. Given up for dead by his white captors, he will not be seen again for more than 30 years until he emerges one day...carrying a spear, dressed in animal skins and having forgotten the English language.Buckley’s Chance is a profound journey into a turning point in history where cultures clash, bitter rivals go to war and the body count mounts.It’s also the story of a man who refuses to be held down.A man prepared to defy all odds and take a chance.Buckley’s chance.

    One private investigator. And a twisted obsession.When carefree musician Elizabeth ‘Elle’ Blackman discovers someone has been in her apartment just days before she set to go on tour, she makes the only sensible choice there is.Run…Right to the front door of Cunningham Security, where the owner is not only the man capable of keeping her safe but also the guy she’s crushed on for months. Though he’s denied the attraction between them since the day he met her, Levi Cunningham can no longer look away when Elle shows up on the doorstep of his firm, terrified for her safety. Less than twenty-four hours into it, he’s struggling to fight her pull. As Levi and his team work to solve Elle’s case, the relationship between them quickly goes from strictly business to deeply personal. And with the obsessed stalker’s attempts to get to Elle becoming more threatening, Levi knows his team needs to stay one step ahead. Because if they fail, he’ll lose the best thing that’s ever happened to him.OvercomeLexi Townsend’s life changed in a matter of moments. Her power was taken, and her bubbly personality was smothered by shame and guilt.Four years later, Lexi yearns to get back to the former version of herself. A stronger version. One who is no longer afraid to share her story, her body, and her trust. Then Cruz Cunningham comes into her life and proves he’s a man that’s deserving of her trust.

When multiple women in Windsor go missing, it launches Cruz and the Cunningham Security team into action. As Cruz digs deeper into the investigation, he’s torn between finding the missing women and protecting the woman he loves. Putting her faith in Cruz, Lexi never imagines that this case could destroy everything she’s worked so hard to overcome.DesperateIf it weren’t for bad luck, she’d have no luck at all.Ekko Rose is no stranger to struggle. Born to a single, addicted mother, she’s experienced more than her fair share of hardship. Ekko has dreams she’s desperate to fulfill, but when another stroke of bad luck leaves her homeless, her only option is to focus on survival. Dominick ‘Dom’ Moore has had his eyes on Ekko ever since he saved her life several months ago. He kept his distance then because she was attached to another man. Now, seeing her living out of her car, Dom resolves to help her get back on her feet.When Dom approaches Ekko, she wrestles with knowing her rightful place in the world and wanting to latch onto something better.Just as the pair fall hard for one another, Ekko’s streak of misfortune delivers one more blow. With their relationship thrown into a pit of despair and hopeless desire, Dom must crack the case he’s been trying to solve for weeks. Because if he can’t, Ekko might be lost to him forever.

    He was the Canon's son, younger than she was, and a gentleman - even though a rather dilettante drifter who had really done very little with his life. But Walter had a secret in his past that he asked Emmie to share with him - and she, in turn, told him of her harsh and cruel background that made her feel unworthy to be anyone's wife. In spite of everything the marriage worked. Walter became Station Master at the lazy, sundrenched little country station of Dymock. Emmie set about rearing her three children, all so different. As Walter and Emmie watched their children grow, marry, have children of their own, so three women began to dominate the family - Dorothy, who was proud, loyal, strong, and frequently extremely angry with the James family into which she had married, Kildie, illegitimate, manipulative, and causing constant strife and drama, and Holly, the third generation, whose loving spirit often held them all together. It was more than fifty years before Walter James's secret was revealed - a secret that nearly broke the family apart.