Sentenced to transportation she has to grow up fast to survive prison, the long journey and then life as an assigned servant in Van Diemen's Land of the 1820s. She is sustained by real friendships with other prisoners, Sarah and Helen. Can anyone of them overcome the pitfalls of convict life to become pioneering settlers of modern day Tasmania?

    Before the age of 11 Maria was introduced to the world of prostitution by her mother who was in the sister hood of Kate Leigh and Tilly Devine.This story would of never have been told had it not been for another violent crime perpetrated on the now adult Maria many years later which led her to break the code of silence.Now 84 years of age Maria is an inspiring survivor who works every day of the year as a volunteer Community Care Counsellor helping others. Maria does motivational speaking on all aspects of her life, with the aim of inspiring people to take responsibility for their decisions and actions, no matter what unfortunate beginnings that anyone of us has endured.Daughter of the razor is a shocking story in itself - but it is an even greater story of survival. It is it is powerful and moving and tells of the triumph of the human spirit of a little girl in her rise out of depravity, sadism and debauchery. It is a story which has been an incredible lifetime in the making.Ralph James Solicitor Accredited Specialist--Criminal Law

    Isabella O'Shea is transported to New South Wales for wounding a member of the British aristocracy who raped her, so it is understandable that she loathes members of the upper class and the system that punished her; sentenced her to seven years transportation.Tiger Carstairs is rich, ambitious and English-so is it any wonder she is determined to hate her new master. Tiger dreams of making a new life beyond the aptly named Blue Mountains, so called because of the perpetual haze of blue surrounding them.Mystic Mountains is a story of courage and persistence-traits that were essential for the settlers who carved out a new life in a raw land where suffering and heartbreak were commonplace.Isabella and Tiger face tragedy and many hardships in their quest for a new life in this untamed land.Reviews:“Tricia McGill has written a sweeping love story of two people fighting for their places in an unfair world among the wild, untamed vistas of Australia. The strong plot reveals much about the early settlement days of the continent of Australia and is a history lesson in itself besides a sizzling romance. A job well done by Ms. McGill.” Lani Roberts 5 stars ***** Affaire de Coeur“Sometimes we in America forget that Australia is an equally young country, complete with tales of adventure about the settlement of the land. In this story of love adventure and hardship, we see a man and a woman work together to survive and overcome the harsh land that is Australia. A thoroughly enjoyable book, well-written and exciting.”Deborah Brent for Romantic Times book club **** four stars

    But ‘Mr Indestructible’ – who had become the first Australian to win the Rock of Roubaix earlier that year – got back on his bike.By 2013 Stuart O’Grady had competed in 17 Tours; secured Olympic and Commonwealth Games medals; been named Australian Cyclist of the Year, and Australian Male Road Cyclist of the Year; won the inaugural Tour Down Under; and earned an Order of Australia Medal in recognition of his contribution to the sport. But then came the worst time of his life, when he announced his retirement after such an impressive cycling career and revealed that he had used the performance enhancing drug EPO before the 1998 Tour de France – a Tour marred by widespread doping.In this up-front and honest autobiography Stuey reveals all. This is his story: as candid and down-to-earth as the man himself.

    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.

    To Dusty it's the chance she's been looking for: a spectacular case to revive her flagging career.

    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.

    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.

    Once hailed as The King, and widely acclaimed as one of the greatest footballers of his generation, Carey fell from the highest pinnacle of the game to the lowest of lows. From his brutal upbringing in Wagga Wagga to his early teen years where he discovered his love of, and talent for, football, Wayne's candid story of his early life reveals much about the man who has dominated headlines for more than a decade – first for his brilliance on the field, but more often for his troubled personal life.Covering the highs of his glory days at North Melbourne to his public downfall after his affair with his vice-captain's wife, Carey's memoir is extraordinarily honest. It is self-searching and searing in its examination of his own behaviour and its effects on those around him. His departure from North Melbourne marked the end of King Carey, and the beginning of a decline that was to see him bailed up in jail in both the US and Australia. His life became a train wreck, as he lurched from one disastrous incident to the next – from his serial infidelity to massive alcohol binges and a growing cocaine addiction – each played out on the front page of every newspaper in the country. This is the story of how a man can reach rock bottom, but begin to haul himself up again.The truth sets you free – but it can hurt. This is without doubt the most powerful sporting memoir ever published in Australia.

    When an old friend convinces her to give two adolescent boys a temporary home, she is torn between a growing love for these orphans and the grief in her past.After his marriage fell apart, Roman Taylor has focused on his career. An unexpected phone call sends him rushing to Abby's side where he is drawn into his estranged wife's new life - a life that could offer a future he thought he'd lost forever.Will they seize this second chance to have a family of their own? Or will fate once again destroy their dreams?Welcome to Bindarra Creek - A Town Reborn, a fictional town set on the western slopes of the New England tablelands. Take me Home is the first book in a eight book series by best-selling authors. With a community full of quirky characters, the books feature compelling romance, heart-warming family life, drama, and even suspense.

    When I was twenty-seven years old, my dream came true. I'll never forget that night at the Sydney 2000 Games – as I crossed the finish line, it was as if the whole of Australia was cheering for me. Sometimes I still wonder how it happened. When I was growing up, I felt no different to anyone else. I loved having fun with my brothers, sleeping over at nanna's and going horse riding with my dad. But I especially loved to run. With the help of my family, coaches and teachers, I became the best female 400-metre runner in the world. I hope you enjoy my story, and that it inspires you to chase after your dreams too!

    Now she thought she knew who her hidden benefactor was -- John Grant, whom she loved at her first sight of him. But her heart betrayed her into a torment of indecision...of clouded love.

    But behind the glamour of a public life is a private woman. And a survivor. A Bold Life is the tale of a Sandgate girl who chased her dream of being a cabaret star to New York, only to find herself stranded in a violent marriage to a dangerous drug addict. It's the journey of a unique and driven woman who built a remarkable 50-year career in one of the most fickle and male-dominated industries of all, and instigated some of the most iconic moments in Australian TV history along the way.Yet away from the spotlight Kerri-Anne has stared down a series of personal crises with grace and dignity, the latest in 2016 when a freak fall left John, her devoted husband of 33 years, a quadriplegic. On their long road to recovery Kerri-Anne found herself reflecting on a lifetime's memories, good and bad.Honest, fabulous, powerful and poignant, this is Kerri-Anne Kennerley's own extraordinary and inspiring story of A Bold Life.

    Y’know, it's not within the spirit of the game.’ Steve Smith was not to know it at Cape Town on 24 March 2018, but he was addressing his last press conference as captain of the Australian cricket team. By the next day morning he would be swept from office by a tsunami of public indignation involving even the prime minister. In a unique admission, Smith confessed to condoning a policy of sandpapering the cricket ball in a Test against South Africa. He, the instigator David Warner and their agent Cameron Bancroft returned home to disgrace and to lengthy bans. The crisis plunged Australian cricket into a bout of unprecedented soul searching, with Cricket Australia yielding to demands for reviews of the cricket team and of itself to restore confidence in their ‘culture’. In Crossing the Line, Gideon Haigh conducts his own cultural review – ‘less official and far cheaper but genuinely independent’. Studying the cricket team across a decade of radical change, he finds an accident waiting to happen, and a system struggling to cope with self-created challenges, on the field and in the boardroom. And he wonders: is there even any longer a spirit of the game to be within? Crossing the Line is the first instalment in Slattery Media Group’s Sports Shorts collection, a new series of sports essays published as small-format books. Sports Shorts has been created as a home for ambitious, lively and engaging writing and journalism on sport—work of a scale and scope not suited to the confines of day-to-day journalism. Every instalment will illuminate or entertain, all the while fitting into your back pocket on the way to the game.

    'Guilty' he pronounced five times. The third most senior Catholic cleric in the world had been found guilty of sex crimes against children, bringing shame to the Church on a scale never seen before in its history. Investigative journalist Lucie Morris-Marr was the first to break the story that Cardinal George Pell was being investigated by the police. In this riveting dispatch, she recounts how the cleric was trailed by a cloud of scandal as he rose to the most senior ranks of the church in Australia, all the way to his appointment by Pope Francis to the position of treasurer in the Vatican.Despite anger and accusations, it seemed nothing could stop George Pell. Yet in 2017 he was charged by detectives, returning to Australia to face trial.Take a front row seat in court with the author as she reveals the many intriguing developments in the secret legal proceedings which the media could not report at the time. Fallen reveals the full story of the brutal battle waged by the prince of the church as he fought to clear his name, including a ferocious bid to be freed from jail. The author also shares her own compelling personal journey investigating the biggest story of her career and the frequent attacks she endured from powerful Pell supporters. This book also charts how Pell's shocking conviction plunged the Vatican into an unprecedented global crisis after decades of clergy abuse cases. It is a vitally important story that will fascinate anyone interested in the failure of the Catholic Church to address the canker in its heart.