A traumatic, violent upbringing saw to that. But after serving a short sentence for theft as a teenager, she worked hard to break the cycle. Thirteen years later Angela was studying, teaching, providing a stable home for her son, and finally feeling like she'd got her life together. Then she got hit by a postie bike. Police realised that Angela still had ten months to go on the prison sentence she'd thought was in her distant past. However, Angela was a different prisoner the second time around: no longer a scared, damaged nineteen-year-old, she knew how to speak up for herself and her fellow prisoners against a system of power, privilege and cruelty that controls the lives of Australia's most vulnerable women and offers little hope for redemption. With unwavering courage, intelligence and humour, SNAKES AND LADDERS reveals an astonishing true story of falling through the cracks, and what it takes to climb back out again.

    The story follows her journey from 1978 to '89. She experiences a childhood surrounded by love, death, poverty, and beautiful nature. Vanessa discovers music to express her joy and grief. She puts her soul into the music notes melting her listeners’ hearts. Music brings her into the larger world and on a journey to a surprise discovery. Discover the Taiwanese culture in this heart touching and uplifting story.

    The victim of the crash is thrown into a coma and Jay keeps vigil by her side. As their lives, past and present intertwine; a story of love through time unfolds. An intricate drama including adoption, love, suspense, and plenty of questions, Someone Always Loved You is a novel that keeps the mind churning and the soul alive.

    So is its newest entrepreneur, Annie Fortenberry, who has inherited her grandmother’s B&B (and its eccentric handyman Erdle Thorney). Full Scoop There’s a whole lot of trouble going on in Beaumont, South Carolina. According to resident psychic-slash-astrologer, Destiny Moultrie, Mercury’s in retrograde, Venus is in the seventh house, and the combination has turned Cupid wacko! Chaos rules as tempers flare and lust runs rampant. Hot Stuff Cate Madigan isn’t asking for trouble. Her wacky Irish family is constantly playing matchmaker for her with men who leave much to be desired. All she wants is peace and quiet and a nice place to live while she saves her money from tending bar in a lively Boston pub.

    Unafraid of rejection or failure, Michael has taken on the most difficult and challenging cases of our times and despite the odds, won plenty. In Memoirs of a Radical Lawyer Michael dissects many of them, revealing his motivations, meticulous approach to forensic science, cross examination techniques, the political dimensions and emotional reactions with clarity, subtlety and charm. Interspersed with personal anecdotes and recollections, this insightful book is liberally laced with Michael's quirky brand of anarchic humour. Cases range from the Angry Brigade, the Bradford 12, the Birmingham Six, the Bloody Sunday Inquiry, Angela Cannings, Jill Dando, Ruth Ellis, Dodi Fayed, the 'Fertilizer' conspiracy, Iraqi hi-jackers, Stephen Lawrence, Fatmir Limaj (Leader of the Kosovan Liberation Army), the Marchioness Disaster, the Price sisters, the 'Ricin' trial, Risley prison riots, Tahira Tabassum, Judith Ward, Arthur Scargill and the miners to the Jean Charles de Menezes inquiry, and many more. Issues of public concern, human rights and innovative attempts to construct a democratic legal system are discussed in full, but Memoirs of a Radical Lawyer also unveils with honesty and wit a man who has put as much passion and energy into his life as his work, one of the great personalities of our time.

    164 pages

    Drawing from Scientific American's "Fact or Fiction" and "Strange But True" columns, we've selected fifty-eight of the most surprising, fascinating, useful, and just plain wacky topics confronted by our writers over the years.

    America, Mr. Universe, Mr. Olympia) as their gargantuan physique; whose daily lives are as rigidly defined and regulated by their obsession to mold the ideal body ... only their fellow muscle men know who they are and know the price they have paid to win their incredible bodies. Novelist Charles Gaines and photographer George Butler have spent the last two years trying to capture the essence of this strange, joyful, exotic world.

    You won't be able to put The Promise down! Have you ever found something you should have given back? A watch? A purse? How about a baby? When Saraya Mathews finds a baby boy on the streets of London, she knows she should hand him over to the authorities. But Saraya has spent her whole life searching for something meaningful and as soon as she holds him in her arms, something shifts inside her. This baby is meant to be hers. She knows it. But you can't keep what's not yours. Can you? REVIEWS: "An addictive short novel dealing with maternal love and ethical questions in unexpected ways. I read the whole thing in one sitting. Highly recommended." "You can't help but get sucked right in to the storyline. There is every emotion in this book and I felt it right along with the characters. I couldn't put it down. Every parent wants to protect their child, and this story is about the ultimate protection, the ultimate distance a parent can go for that protection. I simply love this book." "A truly compelling read. Had me gripped throughout with its powerful story full of raw emotion!!" "An amazing story full of raw emotions that have you gripped throughout the whole story making it difficult to put it down."

    Now a young teacher, she guards her heart carefully but finds herself pulled to mentor a child in need.Payton Runnells was 12 when his mother left. Now in foster care, he’s slow to trust anyone but senses that Josie might somehow understand the grief that grips him.As Josie and Payton lower their walls and forge a friendship, they begin to open themselves up to all life has to offer.

    It was the worst bloodbath to take place in more than a century in the heart of the supreme authority of the world's one billion Roman Catholics. Four hours later, the Vatican announced that the lance corporal, twenty-three-year-old Cédric Tornay, had shot the couple, then committed suicide in "a fit of madness" brought on by frutstration with the unit's discipline - a conclusion it reaffirmed after a nine-month internal inquiry.But as John Follain's hard-hitting exposé shows, the official report was a travesty, a tissue of suppositions, contradictions, and omissions. Based on an exhaustive three-year investigation - the first independent attempt to establish the truth - 'City of Secrets' reveals how the Vatican, the oldest and most secretive autocracy in the world, staged an elaborate plot to obstruct justice and hide the scandals it dares not confess. Echoing the pace and plotting of a highstakes thriller, Follain's true-life tale of intrigue moves from the guards' barracks and the pope's palace in Vatican City to Paris, Berlin, and the Swiss Alps, and features a fascinating cast: an old, suffering John Paul II; his chief bodyguard, formerly accused of spying for the Soviet bloc; a mysterious priest punished by the Vatican; and the powerful Opus Dei sect.Timely and explosive, 'City of Secrets' is the story of a still-unsolved crime committed on holy territory, and of a systematic attempt to hide the fatal failings of a security force charged with protecting one of the world's most influential leaders.

    Fearing her father's wrath, Coreen is sent to a relative's house--with her mother's consent--until she's able to delivery the baby. A cruel woman, Coreen's aunt emotionally and physically abuses her; relieved when the baby is born so she can finally leave her aunt's home, Coreen gives the baby up for adoption and in her haste, knows nothing about the child--even its own gender. Thirty years later, as an adult, Coreen Holmes Treadwll is married and the mother to two stepsons; now head of a social welfare agency and an expert on the welfare of women and girls, she is distressed at the prospect of appearing a friendly witness before a senate investigating committee. Fearful that her past will be exposed--something her family knows nothing about--Coreen must deal with her past head on, before it's too late.

    By focusing on individuals, Blaine Harden uncovers an Africa that endures behond the sum of its statistics.

    What she got was Alex, a seemingly happy and charming child suffering from Reactive Attachment Disorder, a problem often found in the children of schizophrenic parents. This is her shocking true story.

    Desperate pleas from her parents to return her safely went unanswered. There was no trace of the baby. For seventeen years, on her birthday, the Nurses lit candles and hoped and prayed. Living not far away from the Nurses, 17-year-old Miché Solomon had just started Matric. She had a boyfriend. She had devoted parents. She was thinking about the upcoming school dance and the dress her mother was going to make for her. She had no idea that a new girl at her school, who bore an uncanny resemblance to her, and a DNA test would shake her world to its foundations. Miché is now 22. This is her story - for the first time in her own words. Told with astonishing maturity, honesty and compassion, it is also a story of what it means to love and be loved, and of claiming your identity.