Biographies & True Stories Books

During a 1952 electric storm off Wattamolla NSW a waterspout drew in the CSIRO Cloud Physics Dakota, atomising all those aboard, including the writer's father. Or did it? When his living body has disappeared, what to make of the uniformed man on the...

This book is not a guide. It won't give advice on birth, breastfeeding, or bonding. And it's not aimed solely at parents. Dangerous Ideas about Mothers is a book about motherhood as a cultural construct.Mothers are a topic on which almost everybody has...

A baby cries; a mother exits, leaving her family behind; a child finally begins to talk; a father stops breathing.Rozanna Lilley is a social anthropologist, autism researcher, and Oscar's mum. Oscar is on the autism spectrum, which means he has a...

Aileen Palmer poet, translator, political activist, adventurer was the daughter of two writers prominent in Australian literature in the first half of the twentieth century. Vance and Nettie Palmer were well known as...

Some plants have sustained empires and sparked wars. Some have ignited public outrage. Think tea, opium, tulips and thistles. Yes, thistles. In 1852 South Australia passed its Thistle Act, probably the first weed control legislation anywhere in the world...

Randolph Stow was one of the great Australian writers of his generation. His novel To the Islands - written in his early twenties after living on a remote Aboriginal mission - won the Miles Franklin Award for 1958. In later life, after...

In September 2013 just before the weatherturned even more intense a group of intrepid writers made their wayto three Australian desert settings to work with groups and individualswishing to write. Both Aboriginal people with a...

Written from the late years of an extraordinary life, Ann Moyal's biography is a spirited narrative of her career as an eminent historian of Australian science and technology, her three marriages, travelling the globe, the people she has encountered, and...

With deep roots in the Kimberley region, Olive Knight shares her story of growing up with the Gooniyandi and Walmatjarri peoples of north-western Australia. As the daughter of a half-caste father, she was nearly killed on the day of her birth, as was...

"From the skies over war-torn Europe to the opulent halls of English nobility, Edward Bagot's journey is a riveting testament to courage, heritage, and unwavering faith." Edward Bagot’s memoir offers a unique personal perspective on World War II,...

A heartbreaking account of enduring suffering and loss.When Cindy Gambino dropped her three boys off at their dad's on Father’s Day 2005 she had no idea she would never see them again. By day’s end, their bodies lay at the bottom of an icy dam, a tragedy...

A gripping look at teaching in the volatile world of juvenile detention.   Inside Juvie plunges readers into the eye-opening journey of Tommy, a former state schoolteacher now navigating the tumultuous world of juvenile detention. Transitioning...

In the early years of the Second World War, Australian women began lobbying to contribute to the nation’s wartime effort. From 1940, women were signing up to serve in the Royal Australian Nursing Service, and in 1941, an Auxiliary arm of the Royal...

In the turbulent years from 1922 to 1952, Australia witnessed a chilling toll as twenty-two dedicated police officers sacrificed their lives in the line of duty. Others fell with them.Emerging from the shadows of World War I, the nation, newly minted and...

Over one hundred and fifty years ago, on 1st August 1871, the Colony of New South Wales raised its first permanent Battery, known as the New South Wales Artillery. This battery complemented existing colonial volunteer batteries. The previous year, the...

This book is part Chickenhawk and part Exit Wounds … a powerful and timely contribution to a nation’s understanding of what we ask of our service men and women and the debt we owe … Matt Anderson PSM, Director, Australian War...

On 22nd April 1995, more than 4,000 Rwandans were massacred and thousands more injured in a place called Kibeho. Terry Pickard, a seasoned soldier and medic, was one of a 32-strong force of Australian UN peacekeepers present on that terrible Saturday...

So I Hit Him is an extremely powerful memoir that will shock many people, yet is intensely inspirational. Born in a former workhouse hospital in Manchester, England with multiple disabilities and not expected to survive, Michael was placed in care almost...

Chilling cases of murder and crime that have happened in the quiet streets of Australia’s suburbs   Emily Webb, co-host of the popular Australian True Crime podcast details chilling cases of murder and crime that have happened in the quiet streets...

Fiona Horne’s extraordinary journey through a metaphysical-laced material world has all the breathtaking twists, turns, perils, redemption and enlightenment of a fantasy novel merged with Siddhartha and Entertainment Weekly.It’s the late 70s and a 10...

Rock Chicks - The Hottest Female Rockers From The 1960S to Now profiles the hottest rocknroll women from Janis Joplin Suzi Quatro & Chrissie Hynde to Courtney Love and Pink. With perceptive biographies and in-depth music critiques author Alison...

One of Australia's most enduring and strangest mysteries, Swamp is a story of greed, deceit, the abuse of trustmdash;and murder. International journalist and acclaimed writer Richard Shears uncovers new evidence in the case of the mysterious...

The filthy back streets of London's East End in the Victorian era were home to every imaginable crime, vice and horror. Many thousands lived there without Christ and without hope, and no one seemed to care. But William Booth did care. In 1865 Booth...

In 1999, idealistic 23-year-old Registered Nurse Sharon Bown left her comfortable family life in Tasmania and joined the Royal Australian Air Force with the aim of providing humanitarian aid to the world. Through her 16-year military career she deployed...

They were the best of enemies – dedicated, skilled and deadly. In the night skies above wartime Germany an RAF navigator-air bomber from New Zealand and a Luftwaffe pilot seek out their targets, testing the gap between success and their own destruction...

Guilty as charged.If reading true crime is a guilty pleasure, this collection of stunning heists and unspeakable murders from the front pages of history will leave no doubt about the verdict.Three unsuspecting men's lives cut short at the hands of their...

A stunning, deluxe boxed set of composer Philip Glass’s most important and historic body of work, his collection of twenty Piano Etudes, along with a book of reflections by notable artists and musicians.Philip Glass is one of the most influential artists...

Part cookbook. Part manifesto. Created with big Bronx energy, Black Power Kitchen combines 75 mostly plant-based, layered-with-flavour recipes with immersive storytelling, diverse voices, and striking images and photographs that celebrate Black...

“The lowdown on what it’s like to be raised by a legend. Frequently funny and consistently intimate. . . . A great read.”  —BookPage“Those searching for a moving Father’s Day gift need look no further.” —Publishers WeeklyMen like John Wayne and John...

Jessamyn Stanley’s first book, Every Body Yoga, with 59,000 copies in print, taught us how to do yoga. Now, in Yoke, she tells us why. Writing about what she calls the yoga of the everyday – which is not just about poses but about applying the hard...

Author and illustrator Siobhán Gallagher’s humorous and heartfelt graphic memoir details her journey from being anxious and unhappy to learning to love herself as she is. I’m proud of the person I’ve become because I fought to become her. At the age of...

From the bestselling author of Quiet Girl in a Noisy World comes a gently humorous and poignant collection of comics about anxiety and depression – because sometimes even the simple things like getting out of bed every day feel like an uphill battle...

Be transported to the banks of the Seine, a corner boulangerie, or beneath the Eiffel Tower with these beautifully illustrated vignettes of life in the City of Light. What began as a way to fund travel became ten years of a letter subscription service...

The instant New York Times bestselling author of Bad Mormon and breakout star of The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City returns with a hilarious, illustrative, and deeply reflective book about life and love as a former Mormon, mother, and reality TV star...

Stan Grant is talking to his country in a new way. In his most poetic and inspiring work yet, he offers a means of moving beyond the binaries and embracing a path to peace and forgiveness, rooted in the Wiradjuri spiritual practice of Yindyamarra – deep...

Gina Chick, the inaugural winner of Alone Australia, tells the story of her extraordinary, indomitable life in one of the most powerful, moving memoirs you will ever read.From day one of her wildly unconventional childhood, Gina Chick blazed her own...

From the author of paper girl and the knives that made her comes unfold, a poetic, aching, and hopeful retelling of realizations made while on the journey to healing from both loss of love and loss of self.Through poetry and short essays, unfold shows...

A deliciously witty and inspiring memoir by One Tree Hill star Bethany Joy Lenz about her decade in a cult and her quest to break free. In the early 2000s, after years of hard work and determination to breakthrough as an actor, Bethany Joy Lenz...

“Martens’ work would be impressive in any era, but it is particularly timely today. It is wonderful to come upon an author who faces into the horrific absurdities of modern life without flinching, a stylist who delivers his most powerful satiric points...

This highly-anticipated second volume of poetry and short stories combines the forces of some of the most popular poets of current day.[Dis]Connected Volume 2 presents poems and short stories about connection wrapped up in a most unique exercise in...

Humanity exists in a hyper connected world, where our closest friends, loves and enemies lie but a keyboard stroke away. Few know this better than the poets who have risen to the top of their trade by sharing their emotion, opinion and art with millions...

My story is not just the story of my boxing career. In fact, boxing is only a very small part of it. I wrote my story to share my perspective of what it is like to be controlled by a need for perfection. I wanted to be a boxing world champion. I wanted...

Exploring Peter Finch’s life as an abandoned, unloved child is a key in understanding his brilliant mesmerising style of acting. In his youth in Australia, he conquered all the fields in acting well before his discovery after the war in 1947 by Sir...

“Delightful.” —Town & Country • “Extraordinary...Tomlinson’s book is a gem.” —Star Tribune (Minneapolis) • “Moving...Really broke me.” —The Washington Post • “This book wants to lick your face. Let it.” —Kirkus ReviewsPulitzer Prize finalist Tommy...