'They've let off an atom bomb today. Right here in W.A. Atom bombs worry the blazes out of me, and I want you at home.'In the sleepy and conservative 1950s the British began a series of nuclear tests in the Montebello archipelago off the west coast of Australia. Even today, few people know about the three huge atom bombs that were detonated there, but they lodged in the consciousness of the young Robert Drewe and would linger with him for years to come.In this moving sequel to The Shark Net, and with his characteristic frankness, humour and cinematic imagery, Drewe travels to the Montebellos to visit the territory that has held his imagination since childhood. He soon finds himself overtaken by memories and reflections on his own 'islomania'. In the aftermath of both man-made and natural events that have left a permanent mark on the Australian landscape and psyche – from nuclear tests and the mining boom to shark attacks along the coast – Drewe examines how comfortable and familiar terrain can quickly become a site of danger, and how regeneration and love can emerge from chaos and loss.

    Cindy Wockner was a journalist reporting the story of two surly drug smugglers. She was there from the beginning and would become a good friend of the two changed men. At 12.35 a.m. on 29 April 2015, Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran were led out in front of a firing squad. Strapped to wooden crosses, they looked straight down the barrels of their killers' rifles. On that day, the Indonesian government did not execute two drug smugglers, they executed a pastor and a painter.But who were Andrew and Myuran?In 2005, the lure of drugs, money, fast cars and a better life led them and seven other Australians into a smuggling plot to import heroin from Indonesia to Australia. Unbeknownst to them all, the Australian Federal Police knew of their plan and tipped off the Indonesian authorities. Charged with drug trafficking, Myuran and Andrew were found guilty and sentenced to death. Andrew was 21 years old. Myuran was 24.At the time, Cindy Wockner was the Indonesia correspondent for News Limited: for a decade she covered their story and she got to know Myuran, Andrew and their families. They let her into their lives and she watched them transform from angry, defiant young inmates into fully rehabilitated, good men.This is the intimate, and untold, story of Andrew and Myuran. It details their redemption inside Kerobokan prison and their passion for helping others - through Andrew's growing commitment to his faith and Myu's burgeoning artistic talent. It reveals the boys they were and the men they became, in a potent cautionary tale and a poignant reminder of what we all lose when we ignore the power of mercy. 'gripping' DAILY TELEGRAPH on Cindy Wockner and Madonna King's BALI 9

    The nation’s major policy challenges go unaddressed, our economic future is uncertain, and political corruption is becoming normalised. We can’t understand the current predicament of our democracy without recognising the central role of Murdoch’s national media monopoly. There is no longer a level playing field in Australian politics. We won’t see another progressive government in Canberra until we deal with this cancer in our democracy. Three more things must change for Labor to be returned to office. Labor must significantly broaden its political base; demolish the entire rationale for the conservative political project now that the Liberal Party has abandoned its position on debt, deficit, and government intervention in the economy; and put forward a clear plan dealing with the challenges ahead: recurring pandemics, demographic decline, technological disruption undermining economic competitiveness and employment, the rise of China, and the continued economic and environmental devastations of climate change. All four tasks are essential. All four will require great political courage.

    She must prove to Anders Sæterdal, her trapping partner who makes no secret of his disdain, that a woman is fit for the task. Over the course of a Svalbard winter, Wanny and Sæterdal will confront polar bears, traverse glaciers, withstand blizzards and the dangers of sea ice, and hike miles to trap Arctic fox, all in the frigid darkness of the four-month polar night. For Wanny, the darkness hides her own deceptions that, if exposed, speak to the untenable sacrifice of a 1930s woman longing to fulfil a dream. Alongside the raw, confronting nature of the trappers’ work, is the story of a young blue Arctic fox, itself a hunter, who must eke out a living and navigate the trappers’ world if it is to survive its first Arctic winter.

    Written for Americans, but equally amusing to anyone visiting the shores of the Great Southern Land, this book examines the relationship between Australia and the U.S., including how Australians view their American cousins. The author has plenty of experience of working and dealing with Americans. He is married to an American nurse and has lived his life within the massive cultural influence that America has shared with Australia since the Second World War. The author’s stories are brimming with empathy and jokes for his American audience. The book is written from the opinion of an Aussie Bloke and the easy-to-digest chapters are just long enough to leave the reader smiling and well informed.Topics include Blokes and Sheilas, Bloody Foster’s, Dangerous Creatures, Talking to Dogs, The GAFA, Speaking Strail-yun and Working for the Queen. Confused? You won’t be after reading this book!

    The result is a memoir that is at once intellectually provocative and deeply honest; the book that readers of Poppy, The Orchard and Stravinsky's Lunch have been waiting for.

    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

    Why then do we have creeping inequality in the land of the fair go? The answer lies in stagnant wage rises, gender pay inequity, insecure work and the lack of real opportunities for all while corporations are still consuming large profits and executives claim record bonuses. Sally McManus confronts these truths every day. In On Fairness, she explores the true cost of social injustice and argues for advancing Australia fair.

    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.

    Something she always thought of as a fairy tale. A fairy tale with a dark side, like the best of fairy tales...Occupied France, 1943. France's most shameful hour. In these dark times, Dominique starts an illicit affair with a distinguished publisher, a married man. He introduces her to the Resistance, and she comes to have a taste for the clandestine life - she has never felt more alive. Shortly after the war, to prove something to her lover, she writes an erotic novel about surrender, submission and shame. Never meant to be published, Story of O becomes a national scandal and success, the world's most famous erotic novel. But what is the story really about - Dominique, her lover, or the country and the wartime past it would rather forget?

    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 travels to the isolated town of Wittenoom and takes charge of its small hospital, a place where no previous doctor has managed to stay longer than an eye blink. Instead of settling into a quiet, solitary life, he discovers an asbestos mining corporation with no regard for the safety of its workers and no care for the truth.Thirty years later, Dr Lou Fitzgerald stumbles across the abandoned Wittenoom Hospital. She, too, is a fugitive from a medical career toppled by a single error. Here she discovers faded letters and barely used medical equipment, and, slowly the story of the hospital’s tragic past comes to her.Dustfall is the tale of the crashing consequences of medical error, the suffering caused by asbestos mining and the power of storytelling.

    Mrs Banerjee sets out to transfer the run-down theatre into Coronation Talkies, a thoroughly modern cinema showing Hollywood's latest love stories. Lydia Rushmore discovers the soothing effects of gin as she tries to fit into hill station society and please her complicated new husband.As World War II looms in Europe and British colonial power recedes, Chalaili becomes the setting for trickery, seduction and the unveiling of shocking secrets.

    Elizabeth and Mary Durack's (Kings In Grass Castles) closely intertwined creative lives were shaped by the pioneering past of their father and grandfather, who set up four vast cattle stations in north Queensland.Brenda Niall was given unprecedented access to private family letters, unpublished memoirs, diaries and family papers to write True North – a biography of the two sisters and a uniquely Australian story.

    The time before the First Fleet is usually treated as a preface to the main story, a brief interlude that starts 50,000 years before the present and ends as sails are seen on an eastern horizon. But in 1787 the peoples of Australia were not simply living in a timeless ‘Dreamtime’, following the seasons, and waiting for colonisation by Britain in 1788.In 1787, Nick Brodie uses the sailors, writers, scientists, and other visitors to our shores to reassess neglected chapters of Australia’s early history, and place Australia and its peoples into the great story of human history. He turns the narratives of ‘exploration’ and ‘discovery’ around to take a closer look at the Indigenous peoples, the broader regional scene, and what these encounters collectively tell. 1787 does not stand for a year—it stands for an idea. This is the sweeping story of Greater Australasia and its peoples, a long-overdue challenge to the myth that Australia’s story started in 1788.Dr Nick Brodie is an historian, archaeologist, and writer. Nick’s previous book Kin was published to critical acclaim in 2015.