Graeme Sparkes' father was deployed to Kaitaichi, Japan a few months after Hiroshima, aged just 18. A few months later, he had a psychotic episode and spent the next four months in a Japanese psychiatric hospital.This Australian memoir by Melbourne resident and TESOL teacher, Graeme Sparkes is in the same vein as Angela's Ashes. It details the challenges of growing up in the 50s and 60s with a father who had severe mental illness and a gambling addiction. Growing up with a father who was responsible for two sieges, one of them 18 hours, and a second for almost 24 hours when he convinced police he had petrol bombs in the house. Sparkes had to get a Freedom of Information order to access all of his late father's medical records, which were held at Veteran Affairs. What followed was a journey of discovery, grief and compassion, as the story of his father's mental illness, at a time when support groups and organisations like Beyond Blue did not exist. Views: 29
From New York Times Bestseller Jessica Beck, Donut Mystery #13! When Suzanne’s boyfriend, Jake, is shot in the line of duty, he comes to April Springs to recuperate. The only problem is the that the man Jake was trying to capture has a partner, a very bad man now intent on seeking revenge. Add another villain returning from Suzanne’s own past into the mix, and the donut shop owner’s normally tranquil world is suddenly turned upside down.** Views: 29
When Jonah Riley’s father dies unexpectedly, he, his grieving mother and ailing sister are forced to move from the country to Austin, Texas. Jonah finds work at an auspicious night spot called Southern Nights, where he earns a few extra bucks as a bouncer-turned-musician.There he meets fiery songstress Lacy Abernathy, who has no use for him or anyone else in the club when she’s not on stage. This is an entirely new experience for this ladies’ man. The opportunistic club owner latches onto this chemistry to fill her club, playing with their hearts and livelihoods for her own questionable motives.Enter music executive Graham Baxter, who offers them both a way out…by competing for a recording contract they both need. Now if only they can fight the intense chemistry that keeps them locked in battle, when they're not locked in each other's arms, that is!It's all the angst and the passion you desire, with several familiar faces from the beloved GROUPIE universe along the way! SOUTHERN ROCKER BOY is written from Jonah's point of view, and book one of an exciting new trilogy expected to release in its entirety by the end of 2014. Views: 29
Dispatched on a secret mission to Paris by the Prime Minister, the Right Honourable Benjamin Disraeli, the dashing Earl of Hawkshead is held up on the road out of Calais by an accident between a post chaise and a diligence. Stopping to assist the victims, he is accosted by a beautiful young waif called Baptista, who pleads with him to take her to Paris to escape the clutches of her cruel father the 'Preaching Peer', who aims to have her locked up forever in a Home of Penitence as punishment for the 'sins' of her wayward mother. Reluctantly his Lordship agrees to escort Baptista to Paris in search of her mother and soon she is caught up in his perilous adventures on a thrilling journey whose final destination is love. Views: 29
Passion, redemption, and a battered old suitcase full of secrets: the New York Times-bestselling author of A Hundred Summers returns with another engrossing tale of lost love and female ambition that crosses generations. Manhattan, 1964. Vivian Schuyler, newly graduated from Bryn Mawr College, has recently defied the privilege of her storied old Fifth Avenue family to do the unthinkable for a budding Kennedy-era socialite: break into the Mad Men world of razor-stylish Metropolitan magazine. But when she receives a bulky overseas parcel in the mail, the unexpected contents draw her inexorably back into her family's past, and the hushed-over crime passionnel of an aunt she never knew, whose existence has been wiped from the record of history. Berlin, 1914. Violet Schuyler Grant endures her marriage to the philandering and decades-older scientist Dr. Walter Grant for one reason: for all his faults, he provides the... Views: 29
Caffy's a tough but vulnerable young woman, feisty as they come. She works for Paula's Pots, an all-women team of decorators. When one day she sees through a window what all people in their profession dread - a dead body - the lives of the Pots are changed forever. Views: 29
