The warm, funny and insightful story of growing up a brown Muslim girl in suburban Australia by the nation's best-dressed counter-terrorism expert and MP. 'Anne Aly's ... influence will be felt for years to come ... It sinks in how significant she may be to public life as a healthy antidote to the pugnacious Right and the lameduck Left.' - The Good Weekend In 2016, Anne Aly was the first Australian Muslim woman, the first Egyptian-born woman and the first counter-terrorism expert to be elected to Federal Parliament. She was also most probably the first parliamentarian to have seen Zoolander 23 times. 'How the felafel did I get here?' she asked as she was sworn in with her hand on her father's copy of the Quran. It's a question the former professor has raised more than once since she arrived in Australia aged two bearing the name Azza Mahmoud Fawzy El Housseini Ali Al Serougi. The answer is a fascinating and moving story of growing up a brown Muslim girl in suburban Australia in... Views: 34
When Sasha moves from Russia with her mother, she's eager to start a new life. At her new school she joins a teen girls' volunteer group called CREW (Confident, Remarkable, Excellent, Welcoming). But she quickly learns that the group is a front for a gang and their true philosophy is to Con, Rip Off, Exploit, and Weaken the people they claim to help. Views: 34
"Ridiculously good" (The New York Times) author Thomas Pierce's debut novel is a funny, poignant love story that answers the question: What happens after we die? (Lots of stuff, it turns out).Jim Byrd died. Technically. For a few minutes. The diagnosis: heart attack at age thirty. Revived with no memory of any tunnels, lights, or angels, Jim wonders what—if anything—awaits us on the other side. Then a ghost shows up. Maybe. Jim and his new wife, Annie, find themselves tangling with holograms, psychics, messages from the beyond, and a machine that connects the living and the dead. As Jim and Annie journey through history and fumble through faith, they confront the specter of loss that looms for anyone who dares to fall in love. Funny, fiercely original, and gracefully moving, The Afterlives will haunt you. In a good way. Views: 34
