In March 1797, five British sailors and 12 Bengali seamen struggled ashore after their longboat broke apart in a storm. Their fellow-survivors from the wreck of the Sydney Cove were stranded more than 500 kilometres southeast in Bass Strait. To rescue their mates and to save themselves the 19 men must walk 700 kilometres north to Sydney.That remarkable walk is a story of endurance but also of unexpected Aboriginal help.From the Edge: Australia's Lost Histories recounts four such extraordinary and largely forgotten stories: the walk of shipwreck survivors; the founding of a 'new Singapore' in western Arnhem Land in the 1840s; Australia's largest industrial development project nestled amongst outstanding Indigenous rock art in the Pilbara; and the ever-changing story of James Cook's time in Cooktown in 1770.This new telling of the central drama of Australian history ;the encounter between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal Australians, may hold the key to... Views: 38
Kayla Johnson dreams of a man that will love and accept her the way she is. In the past her relationships have been less than desirable. They would start with promise only to fizzle out. She really wanted to experience love but she didn't want to settle for what she had been involved in before. Views: 38
Ally desperately wants "normal" for her half-sister Kayly, something she never had herself thanks to her liberated mom. First on her list of to-dos is contacting Kayly's dad, who promised he'd stay out of Kayly's life just as Ally's own dad once did. When Kat leaves the country on assignment, Ally drops in on the guy to introduce him to his baby daughter. But Kayly's dad doesn't live there--her half brother, Zach, does. And his shocking offer to help Ally find "normal" is nothing compared to what happens next. Views: 38
When armed conflict drives a wedge between Maori and Pakeha, not everyone can choose sides easily. For Isla McKinnon, the choices are bitter. Taken in by local Maori when her parents are brutally murdered, she has grown to womanhood and taken a Maori husband. In a thrilling tale of love and loss from the land wars - when simmering tensions between Maori and the encroaching Pakeha settlements exploded into bloody warfare - love and trust are put cruelly to the test. Separated from her husband and her family and restored to Auckland society, Isla must learn to survive in both worlds. Inevitably, she must decide between them, and lose part of her heart forever. Views: 38
A hilarious rollercoaster ride of life behind the curtains with Australia's funniest rising star of comedy With a foreword by Chrissie Swan Joel Creasey has known he wanted to be on the world's stage since he was in short pants, and nothing was going to get in his way. After his first stand-up performance at 16, he had to follow his dream – that is, to always have the spotlight on him. His breakout moment was appearing on I'm a Celebrity Get Me Out of Here, and now he's a comedy superstar, performing non-stop at sellout events in Australia and around the world. Even the late, great comedy superstar Joan Rivers was a fan, inviting him to open for her last Broadway show. Like Joel, Thirsty is acerbically funny, and full of his most personal, hilarious, joyous, heartbreaking, outrageous, ridiculous and scandalous stories. From what it's like to be growing up gay in suburban Australia, with parents who... Views: 37
*Selected as a 2017 Book of the Year in the Guardian, New Statesman and The Irish Times* 'A brave and frequently devastating novel whose themes of displacement and dehumanisation are all too timely' Paul Murray'The most astonishing and brilliant novel I have read in a long, long time' Hanya YanagiharaWhat happens when we attempt to exchange the life we are given for something better? Can we transform the possibilities we are born into? A State of Freedom prises open the central, defining events of our century – displacement and migration – but not as you imagine them. Five characters, in very different circumstances, from a domestic cook in Mumbai, to a vagrant and his dancing bear, and a girl who escapes terror in her home village for a new life in the city, find out the meanings of dislocation, and the desire for more. Set in contemporary India and moving between the reality of... Views: 37
An over-the-hill actor, a shy violinist, and a handsome chocolatier have their lives turned upside-down by a naughty terrier named Jellybean. It's actors, animals, and antics galore in this heartwarming tale of love and second chances. Views: 37
Robertson Davies first hit upon the notion of writing ghost stories when he joined the University of Toronto’s Massey College as a Master. Wishing to provide entertainment at the College’s Gaudy Night, the annual Christmas party, Professor Davies created a “spooky story,” which he read aloud to the gathering. That story, “Revelation from a Smoky Fire,” is the first in this wonderful, haunting collection. A tradition quickly became established and, for eighteen years, Davies delighted and amused the Gaudy Night guests with his tales of the supernatural. Here, gathered together in one volume, are those eighteen stories, just as Davies first read them. The ghosts of Ibsen and Dickens and sixteen horrid apparitions manifest themselves in this witty collection of tales. Views: 37
October, 1948. Former OSS agent Hal Schroeder gets an invitation to Washington D.C. from Frank Wisner, who heads the CIA's new covert opps division. Hal is whisked off to Wisner's Maryland shore retreat and introduced to a brace of Romanian royals, including the scarily beautiful Princess Stela Varadja, a direct descendant of Vlad Tepes Draculea. Then Frank Wisner pops the question. Would Hal consider parachuting into a remote mountain camp to meet with the leader of a group of Romanian anti-Communist guerillas? 'I had already survived two previous suicide missions and a third did not appeal. But I told Frank Wisner I would need a few days to think it over. I had some sightseeing to do.' As it turns out Hal Schroeder gets to do a lot more sightseeing than he bargained for. A journey that brings the American Spy Trilogy to a surprising, and emotional, conclusion. Views: 37
