NEW RELEASES

Adult Non-Fiction

  • Jodi Kantor's ground-breaking reporting has toppled media magnates, sparked reform worldwide and foretold many of the unsettling changes we see in the workplace today. But before all of this, Kantor was kicked off her college newspaper. Society expects perfection, but Kantor knows those first professional steps are often rocky. She also knows that younger generations today are facing new and frightening terrain, with political upheaval, skyrocketing costs of living and the unknowns of AI.Kantor casts aside platitudes and false hope to offer tangible help. Work is how we spend much of our time.
  • It's our engine of progress- how cancer therapies are invented, political campaigns won, thrilling art created and matched with an audience. Instead of letting cynicism take over, Kantor identifies two principles to help young people discover their life's work- craft and need. By pairing the two, they can navigate tough, sensitive choices- how to think about money. How much risk to take on. When to buck what others are saying.
How to Start: Discovering Your Life's Work (Self-help and Personal Development) Jodi Kantor $22.99
  • Harrison James is a survivor, award-winning activist and co-founder of the acclaimed #YourReferenceAintRelevant campaign. After being sexually abused by his stepmother between the ages of thirteen and sixteen, Harrison has become driven by his personal experiences and is dedicated to reforming Australia’s legal system for survivors. For years, he carried the weight of this secret in silence; but now, in his late twenties, his tireless activism has fuelled legislative reform across multiple Australian jurisdictions. He spotlights survivor-led initiatives, showcasing resilience and determination in pursuit of justice and healing.
  • His extraordinary journey has been a beacon of hope for countless individuals and his unwavering commitment inspires a safer world for all.
Transform Your Pain into Purpose How to find your voice and make a difference Harrison James $36.99
  • In July 1962, Marilyn Monroe was at a crossroads. At thirty-six years old and embroiled in legal battles with the studio of her current picture, Something’s Gotta Give, she was struggling with fame, age, and a studio system in which she no longer fit. When she sat down to give Richard Meryman an interview, she had a lot to say. Originally intended to be an interview about fame, over the course of four hours Marilyn talked about her entire life. Only a small portion of the interview was published in LIFE Magazine. When she died, just two days after the article was published, Meryman put the full transcript and the original tapes in his files, never to see the light of day.
  • Documenting this landmark interview was iconic photojournalist Allan Grant. His images of Marilyn would be her last formal photo shoot—in her home, in casual clothes, being the glorious, free spirit she was. Grant captured every emotion of the interview in these exquisite images, only eight of which were published alongside the LIFE interview excerpt. Most of the remainder of the images were stored in Allan’s safe, waiting to be rediscovered.
Marilyn The Last Interview Richard Meryman and Marilyn Monroe $85.00
  • Far from the spotlights of the Hollywood film sets and the flashbulbs of the press, Marilyn Monroe was a great reader and lover of books. And her association with writers did not stop at reading their words on the page. She was, of course, briefly married to one of America's best-known playwrights, Arthur Miller, and through him met a number of other writers who moved in his literary world. But she also met authors independently of Miller, many of whom were fans of her films and keen to meet her.Through her deep research, Crowther delves into Marilyn's personal collection of books, and recounts some of these meetings, like the time Monroe shared an apartment with Shelley Winters in West Hollywood, where they invited and entertained Dylan Thomas
  • and Christopher Isherwood for drinks (probably several drinks) after which Monroe arranged for Thomas to meet his childhood hero, Charlie Chaplin. Or when Life magazine arranged for Monroe to be interviewed by Dame Edith Sitwell at the Sunset Tower Hotel in the hope that Monroe would embarrass herself and Sitwell tear her to shreds. Their hopes were shattered when Sitwell was both charmed and blown away by Monroe's intelligence and they subsequently became friends later meeting in London and New York.
Marilyn and her Books (Biography: arts & entertainment) Gail Crowther $34.99
  • Twenty years after his father’s passing, Joe Reich stumbles upon a video interview that reveals astonishing truths his father never spoke about in life. In its haunting accounts, Reich learns that, only days after the German invasion of Poland in 1939, his father faced a firing squad – and survived. The horrors that followed left him utterly alone, yet anchored by a cryptic prophecy promising that he would reach old age in a distant land. Against all odds, he fulfilled that destiny. Drawing on extensive research and numerous consultations, Reich weaves a vivid portrait of his father: an extraordinary man, Holocaust survivor, and devoted family patriarch. More than a remarkable
  • survivor’s tale, this book explores the essential power of memory and the crucial lessons history imparts. Uplifting and profound, this is the story of conquering life’s darkest trials through resilience, hope and relentless determination.
We Should have Talked (True stories) Joe Reich $32.99
  • Why do some children grow up into happy lives, and others never make it?
    Brendan James Murray's childhood was one of stark contrasts: vivid imaginative adventures but also disadvantage, fear and the shadow of a school he spent months refusing to attend.
    When a silhouette on a freeway overpass forces him to confront the ghosts of his own childhood, he has a defining realisation about the extraordinary power of imagination to transform lives, and the degree to which it has been neglected.
    Childhood is a vital and deeply personal
  • investigation into how we can help children find their place in the world, drawn from Brendan's profound and unique perspective as a child, teacher and parent.
    This haunting, uplifting memoir is a must-read for everyone seeking to understand how the crucial and overlooked absence of a rich inner life in childhood echoes through all our adult years.
Childhood (Memoirs) Brendan James Murray $36.99
  • Every twenty-nine days, Emma Hardy becomes angry, monstrous and out of control. Then it passes, and she forgets about it. Until it cycles around again, of course. When a doctor diagnoses her with PMDD, premenstrual dysphoric disorder, she begins to question when a mood is just a mood, and when a mood becomes an illness.
    Searching for truth between the myths and taboos that surround menstruation, Hardy stumbles across crime scenes, feminist horrors and the history of hysterical illnesses. With unwavering honesty, Periodic Bitch offers a new understanding of our beliefs about female illnesses and the stories we tell.
Periodic Bitch (Memoirs) Emma Hardy $29.99
  • The ongoing battle for our attention is one of the biggest challenges we face.
    Overflowing inboxes, colleagues at your desk with endless questions, and most importantly, a digital world that is dominating your life with an infinite supply of stimuli designed to suck you in. How can you achieve your goals amid such chaos without losing yourself to distraction?
    In the international bestseller Focus On-Off, focus experts Mark Tigchelaar and Oscar de Bos show how attention works on a neurological level, describing the four ‘‘concentration leaks’’ that disrupt focus and offering accessible tips, tricks, and life hacks
  • to help plug them, including: the surprising benefits of fidgetingmulti-tasking and task-switching to your advantagehow and why to reduce your screen timea guide for getting to inbox zerothe important difference between targeted and loose attention, and how to switch between themand much more!

    Packed with insights and practical advice, Focus On-Off gives you the tools to master your focus, resist burnout, and get more done.
Focus Oscar de Bos and Mark Tigchelaar $36.99
  • Australia has many stories and statues ‘lest we forget’ our military past. But from Simpson’s donkey to Ben Roberts-Smith, our history is full of events that didn’t happen the way most people think they did.
    The first Anzac Day, for example, was far from being a solemn march – it was a celebration where people dressed as cavemen and dinosaurs, among other things. And is it true that British officers callously dispatched Australian soldiers to their deaths in the Dardanelles, as we’ve been told? Did we really hate the soldiers returning from Vietnam? Were the white-feather women of the First World War fact or fiction?
  • In his inimitable style, award-winning author and historian Mark Dapin sets the record straight, showing that the reality was often completely different from the myth – and that in celebrating the wrong people we often overlook the real heroes. With deep research and a keen sense of the absurd, Lest reclaims the truth about our military engagements.
Lest (Military history) Mark Dapin $24.99
  • In 2019, a London teenager, Zac Brettler, mysteriously fell to his death from a luxury apartment building on the banks of the Thames. When his grieving parents began their desperate quest to understand how their son had died, they made a terrible discovery: Zac had been leading a fantasy life, posing as the son of a wealthy Russian oligarch.
    In his inimitably gripping and forensic prose, Baillie Gifford Prize winner and New Yorker writer Patrick Radden Keefe follows Zac's parents on a dark journey to find out what brought Zac to the balcony that night - and how a teenager's world of make-believe drew him into the city's terrifying underworld.
London Falling (True crime) Patrick Radden Keefe $36.99
  • Since reaching wild success through OnlyFans, Blue-Eyed Kayla Jade has become a viral sensation on social media, breaking the taboos of full-service sex work to a rapt, largely female audience.
    Her memoir, Call Girl Confidential, charts the highs, lows and sexploits of her career, detailing her many adventures – including with those in the upper echelons of power – and juggling steely ambition with motherhood.
    Equal parts raw memoir, seductive romp and eye-opening tell-all, Call Girl Confidential challenges assumptions about sex work through the tales of a trailblazer who has
  • unapologetically claimed her worth, her pleasure and her future.
Call Girl Confidential (Erotic confessions & true stories) Blue-Eyed Kayla Jade $36.99
  • Sarah Wynn-Williams, a young diplomat from New Zealand, pitched for her dream job. She saw Facebook’s potential and knew it could change the world for the better. But, when she got there and rose to its top ranks, things turned out a little different.
    From wild schemes cooked up on private jets to risking prison abroad, Careless People exposes both the personal and political fallout when boundless power and a rotten culture take hold. In a gripping and often absurd narrative, Wynn-Williams rubs shoulders with Mark Zuckerberg, Sheryl Sandberg and world leaders, revealing what really goes on among the global elite – and the consequences this has for all of us.
  • Candid and entertaining, this is an intimate memoir set amid powerful forces. As all our lives are upended by technology and those who control it, Careless People will change how you see the world.
Careless People (Memoirs) Sarah Wynn-Williams $24.99
  • In a world where screens dominate childhood in both classrooms and bedrooms, many parents feel overwhelmed. Are devices stealing attention, empathy and imagination from our children? Or can they be part of a healthy, balanced life?
    Internationally acclaimed neuroscientist Dr Mark Williams and award-winning educator Gavin McCormack team up for this book. They draw on decades of cutting-edge brain research and real-world classroom experience to reveal how screen exposure is rewiring young minds.
    Packed with relatable stories, practical tools and science-backed strategies, this book
  • offers a roadmap for guiding children toward healthy tech habits, deeper focus and genuine human connection, without banning screens or battling over devices. In it you will:
     Understand the impact of technology and screens on children’s development. Learn how to reduce the risks of overexposure to screens.Gain tools to support mental health and wellbeing across the whole family.
Screen Smart Children (Family & relationships) Dr Mark Williams & Gavin McCormack $29.99
  • Coming of age has always been a time of angst and inner turmoil, especially for girls. But today girls have to contend with those worries in a world of AR filters, TikTok plastic surgeons, dating apps, hook up culture, online porn, modern sex-positivity, profit-driven online therapy apps, direct-to-door medication and even fully customisable AI girlfriends. All personalised by algorithms to play on their innermost fears and insecurities. It is an onslaught of advertising, it is on portable platforms designed to be maximally addictive, and it is far beyond what any previous generation of girls have ever faced.
    GIRLS® teases out and traces both
  • technological and cultural shifts in the last decade-from social media to shifting family structures, waning religious attachment and the collapse of communal spaces. And GIRLS® exposes the sinister and rapid intensification and ruthless commercialisation of the inner lives of girls and young women which leads to the loss of their authentic selves-a loss that corporations are all too ready to exploit.
    GIRLS® is a personal journey and intimate portrait of girls today, in all their mystery and torment: one that captures the soul of the most complex and misunderstood generation so far, and that empowers them to see their lives through a different lens.
Girls (Society & culture: general) Freya India $34.99
  • It was a warm October day when his life splintered down the middle. She was gone in a flash. Everything changed forever.For three months, in shock at this horror, he maintained a regime of late-night walks across the city. There came a time when he had walked enough, and so he stopped.Bring Back Yesterday is a love story, and the account of the author finding his footing again after the death of his wife, Helena.
Bring Back Yesterday (Memoirs) Bob Carr $32.99
  • Jet Li's story defies legend. Born into extreme hardship, he fought his way to become the youngest national martial arts champion in Chinese history at 12 years old, dominating opponents twice his size. He then became one of the first internationally renowned movie stars from China with films including Once Upon a Time in China, Hero and Fearless. These films redefined martial arts for the modern world, making him a household name.But behind the glory lay a deeper battle- a search for meaning beyond fame, fortune and physical skill. After a near-death encounter in the 2004 tsunami, Li turned inwards, deepening his study of Tibetan Buddhism and dedicating his life to philanthropy, though he was at the height of
  • his Hollywood career.For the very first time, Li shares the ten insights that have guided his life, in which anyone can find wisdom, guidance, and power, including-Life is movementThe secret to self-defenceSeparate the suffering from the painBe a grandson to the worldLearn from everyone.
Beyond Life and Death (Self-help & personal development) Jet Li $34.99
  • A poetic, roaming work of creativity and intellect
    Is it possible to live wondrously by fluorescent light?
    In The Ruin of Magic, award-winning writer Kate Holden follows in the footsteps of Katherine May, Maggie Nelson and Andre Aciman, crafting essays of intimate personal experience and sharply informed rumination on life in strange times.
    In gorgeous prose Holden meditates on her instinctive yearning for long-ago Europe versus the natural belonging she feels to the Australian landscape, and asks, What is a
  • home? The strongest shelter or the most lethal trap, a museum of ourselves or a showcase of fashions? What, then, does it mean to make ourselves at home in an Australia still finding its way amidst old and avoided truths? Is nostalgia a reasonable mourning of timeless lore lost or a dangerous fantasy? And what has happened to magic and beauty in the glare of modern life?
The Ruin of Magic (Literary essays) Kate Holden $36.99
  • The nursing profession is one historically filled with everyday heroes whose work often makes the difference between life and death. Yet Nursing Sisters Margaret Anderson and Vera Torney of the 2/13th Australian General Hospital felt far from heroic as they evacuated Singapore on the converted cargo ship Empire Star in 1942. After Japanese occupation, every nurse without exception had requested to stay and tend to their wounded patients, but instead were ordered to evacuate as part of a hastily contrived and ultimately perilous escape plan.
    The nurses were split among three ships: Wah Sui, Empire Star and the ill-fated Vyner
  • Brooke. On the Empire Star, the courageous and selfless actions of Sisters Anderson and Torney while under fire would deservedly earn them the highest civilian awards for bravery. On the Vyner Brooke, 21 Australian nurses survived the ship sinking only to be shot down in cold blood on Banka Island. Against the odds, there was a solitary survivor of that massacre: Sister Vivian Bullwinkel.
Sister Under Fire Colin Burgess $36.99
  • The term mental load has become more familiar in recent years, but the popular understanding of the concept often reduces it to managing a list of household chores and logistics. The reality is far more complex. Based on groundbreaking research from the University of Melbourne's Future of Work Lab, Professor Leah Ruppanner reveals the real toll of the mental load on women-especially mothers.
    The heart of the book is the Mental Load Audit, a powerful, practical tool to help you assess where you are spending your time and attention. Take the Mental Load Burnout Quiz to find out where you rate on the scale, then use Leah's research-backed battle plan
  • to reorient your life towards the things that matter most.
Drained (Society & culture: general) Leah Ruppanner $36.99
  • The brutal murder of Elizabeth Short—better known as the Black Dahlia—in 1947 has been in the public consciousness for nearly eighty years, yet no serious study of the crime has ever been published.
    Short has been mischaracterized as a wayward sex worker or vagabond, and—like the seductive femme fatales of film noir—responsible for and perhaps deserving of her fate. William J. Mann, however, is interested in the truth. His extensive research reveals her as a young woman with curiosity and drive, who leveraged what little agency postwar society gave her to explore the world, defying draconian postwar gender expectations to settle down, marry, and have
  • children. It’s time to reexamine the woman who became known as the Black Dahlia.
    Using a 21st-century lens, Mann connects Short’s story to the anxious era after World War II, when the nation was grappling with new ideas, new demographics, new technologies, and old fears dressed up as new ones. Only by situating the Black Dahlia case within this changing world can we understand the tragedy of this young woman, whose life and death offer surprising mirrors on today.
    Mann has strong opinions on who might’ve killed her, and even stronger ones on who did not. He spent five years sifting through
  • the evidence and has found unknown connections by cross-referencing police reports, District Attorney investigations, FBI files, court documents, military records, and more, using the deep, intense research skills that have become his trademark. He also spoke with the families of the original detectives, of Short’s friends, and even of suspects, and relied on advice from experienced physicians and homicide detectives.
Black Dahlia (True crime) William J. Mann $49.99
  • IT'S NOT YOUR FAULT YOU CAN'T STOP SCROLLING.
    Powerful tech titans have designed technology to harness your attention and addict your brain. This quest for profit has been at the cost of your time, attention and mental health.
    The good news is, help is on the way. Bestselling author, corporate lawyer and trusted researcher David Gillespie has written a practical guide on how to minimise your use of digital devices, reverse the brain rot, reclaim your focus and reconnect with your ambition, your interests and the people you love.
  • Packed with anecdotes the latest research, and clear advice on how to get our brains back, The Attention Recovery Plan is for anyone who has ever looked up from their phone and realised they've spent the last hour on autopilot - and regretted it.
    A BOOK FOR THOSE OF US PREPARED TO BUCK THE SYSTEM, DEFY THE ALGORITHM AND REWIRE TO THE JOYOUS CIRCUITRY OF REAL LIFE.
The Attention Recovery Plan (Self-help & personal development) David Gillespie $36.99
  • Patricia Cornwell is best known for her international bestselling thriller series about forensic pathologist Dr Kay Scarpetta. Every story comes from somewhere, and Scarpetta's began when Patricia Cornwell embedded herself in a morgue.In this achingly honest memoir, Cornwell excavates her own life, detailing her traumatic childhood being raised by neglectful parents, her father abandoning the young family on Christmas day, her mother being institutionalised twice, an abusive foster family, and developing a parental relationship with evangelist Billy Graham's wife Ruth. Cornwell depicts a harrowing hospitalisation and near-death car accident. She unflinchingly shares
  • overcoming obstacles that later gave her the ambition to become an award-winning police reporter. From there it was research in a medical examiner's office that would turn into a full-time job. She would become a forensic expert and worldwide publishing phenomenon.
True Crime (Memoirs) Patricia Cornwell $34.99
  • Ben Crowe is one of the world's most in-demand mindset coaches. In this book, he reveals nine simple-yet-profound perspective shifts that will change the way you see the world and yourself.
    Showing how these nine perspective shifts are relevant to every human being, Ben demonstrates how self-compassion, imagination and appreciation can turn adversity into possibility, remove pressure and help us find that elusive balance between confidence and happiness, achievement and fulfillment.
    Move from fearful to playful, from human doing to human being, and from fitting in to
  • truly belonging. Even small perspective shifts can lead to massive breakthroughs, creating the freedom to redefine what it means to live a life true to yourself. Because that's where the light gets in.
Where the Light Gets In (Self-help & personal development) Ben Crowe $35.99
  • How do we end up with different ideas and opinions? How can we talk about these ideas and opinions with each other even when we disagree?
    Such as:-When I read, see or hear something, how do I know if it's true or false?-What if I'm right and my friend's wrong? How do we stay friends?- Is it okay to change my mind?
    Dr Matt explains how to avoid confirmation bias and us-vs-them thinking, and how to stay calm and show respect to others in the heat of an argument, along with tips on how to debate. Included are some thought
  • experiments to do at home or in the classroom that will help kids speak their mind without losing their cool.
    Dr Matt Agnew is a popular author and commentator on TV and radio including appearances on The Morning Show, ABC News Breakfast, ABC Melbourne, Wave FM, Triple J and popular podcasts such as Dr Karl's Shirtload of Science.
The Kids' Guide to Speaking Your Mind Without Losing Your Cool (Children's / Teenage: general non-fiction) Dr Matt Agnew $26.99
  • Whether it's your mental health, an unfortunate rash, or a weird mole where the sun doesn't shine, there are certain subjects that are simply off-limits in polite company.
    The fact is though, everyone has weird thoughts from time to time, a rash is often just a rash, and a mole is normally nothing to worry about. But occasionally these bodily malfunctions can indicate something more alarming, so we shouldn't delay talking about them with a medical professional just so we don't have to have an awkward conversation.
    In This is Vital Information, Dr Karan dives into the weird and wonderful world of medical taboos and empowers readers with
  • the information they need to live longer and happier lives. Along the way, he explains why we all need to start talking openly with our friends, family and - most importantly - our doctors.
    Now, open up and say 'ah'...
This is Vital Information (Popular medicine & health) Dr Karan Rajan $36.99
  • This is the story of the Bandidos Motorcycle Club, penned by their National Presidente, Tony Vartiainen of Australasia and is a look at how the club started through to the future. It begins with the club's inception, featuring original members from over 40 years sharing their first-hand experiences. The story progresses to the tragic day at Milperra, which resulted in the deaths of seven individuals and led to one of Australia's longest-running trials. It discusses how the members dealt with the trial and the tragic death of the President Snotty in Parklea jail. With rare photographs of the club and its members, this book details how the organisation endured its
  • early challenges, particularly during the trials following Milperra. It illustrates their resilience as they rebuilt the club, persevering through adversity, from murdered presidents to attacks on their clubhouses. Today, they continue to fight for their right to ride together, maintaining an unbroken brotherhood founded on love, loyalty, and respect. Everything written in this book is authorised by the club and its Presidente Tony Vartiainen.
Bandidos (True stories) Tony Vartiainen $60.00
  • Across the world, women are facing backlash. Authoritarian states, online misogyny and climate breakdown are creating growing dangers for women, as their safety is being threatened and their freedoms are under attack.Today, feminism is trapped in a cycle of consumerism and sold to women as individual empowerment. The result is that women are struggling to build connections with one another and with the world around them.How can women defend their rights and freedoms in this dangerous world?
Feminism for a World on Fire (Feminism & feminist theory) Natasha Walter $34.99
  • For most of the twenty-first century, Australia’s national politics has been characterised by tumult and disruption: seven prime ministers; stagnation in key policy areas; dwindling support for the established parties; insurgencies on the left and right flanks; and declining public trust in government and the democratic system itself.The flux is occurring in the context of a global democratic winter, exemplified by the rise of strongman populists who foment and feed on public grievance. It is an era in which the power of leaders to make and unmake the world is vividly on display. Understanding those who govern us is an urgent task.In The Alchemy of Leadership, Paul Strangio examines the formative experiences,
  • personality traits, world views and leadership styles of prime ministers of the last quarter century. How much of the instability of the period has been due to these individual office holders? Why has political leadership been so confounding?
Seven Australian Prime Ministers in a Turbulent Twenty-first Century Paul Strangio $39.99
  • Across history, women were told to sit down, smile and stay quiet.
    Spoiler alert- they didn't. They spoke out, stood tall - and ruined the patriarchy's day. Because of them, women won.
    Journalist and human rights advocate Antoinette Lattouf takes us on a gripping journey through women who defied expectations and shattered cultural and legal barriers - usually while being cast aside and asked to calm down.
    In these pages you'll meet-
    - Australia's first female law graduate
  • - First Nations leaders who resisted colonisation- Pioneers in sport and science- The women behind the first sex discrimination class action- Those fighting against climate destruction.
    Some names you'll recognise, others you'll wish you'd known sooner.
    Threaded throughout is Lattouf's landmark victory - one woman, armed with ethical resolve, taking on Australia's most powerful media institution. In doing so, she sparked a global conversation on power, prejudice and the price of integrity in the press.
Women Who Win (Feminism & feminist theory) Antoinette Lattouf $36.99
  • You can't always be happy, but you can be joyful, anyway.
    After surviving a stage-four cancer diagnosis, Kate Bowler knew she was supposed to be grateful. Alive. Blessed. But she still ached for more connection, more surprise, less resentment on an ordinary day. So she went looking for joy. Not the toxic positivity kind. Not a five-step plan. But the type that sneaks in unexpectedly, seemingly out of nowhere.In Joyful, Anyway, Bowler takes us on a hilarious and tender journey through big questions and small delights. With wry wit and deep honesty, she explores how joy can surprise us even in the middle of pain,
  • boredom and longing.This is not a book about fixing your life. It is about how we can all find more and feel more, by making room for small extraordinary moments. For anyone who has ever felt stuck, who is aching for meaning, who feels undone by loss, who feels that joy is just out of reach, who wants, simply, to have more fun, Joyful, Anyway is a delicious, insightful tour through the questions that sit in the deepest part of our souls. It proves that for every time we ask- Is this it? Joy will answer- there is more.
Joyful, Anyway (Memoirs) Kate Bowler $34.99
  • In Ain't Nobody's Fool: The Life and Times of Dolly Parton, Martha Ackmann chronicles the life of an American Original. From her impoverished childhood in the Smoky Mountains to international stardom as a singer, songwriter, actress, businesswoman, and philanthropist, Dolly Parton has exceeded everyone's expectations except her own. During a time when the Beatles set the standard for contemporary music, Dolly appeared on a local country music television show that her high school classmates thought was pure cornpone. The day after her high school graduation, she boarded a bus for Nashville, but record executives turned her down. One said her voice sounded like a screech owl.
  • When Dolly finally got her foot in the door, her talent and focus catapulted her to the top of country charts, the pop world, and movie stardom. Yet her success came at a price. Shunned by many in Nashville who saw her ambition as a betrayal of her country music roots, Dolly became the target of death threats, lawsuits, and a judge who threatened to throw her in jail. She nearly collapsed on-stage and later succumbed to depression that pushed her to the brink, but she refused to be counted out and came back stronger than ever developing Dollywood, the amusement park that became the economic engine of East Tennessee, and founding the Imagination Library that provides free books to children
  • around the world. Her philanthropy to health organizations led to creation of the Moderna COVID vaccine. And, finally, she returned to her roots, recording bluegrass albums that became the most celebrated of her unparalleled 60-year career.
Ain't Nobody's Fool (Biography: arts & entertainment) Martha Ackman $36.99
  • The never-before-told true story of a brave young nurse who was the only Australian survivor of the sinking of the Titanic.Evelyn Marsden was a young girl with big dreams. Born in the dusty backblocks of South Australia, she was an accomplished horsewoman and a champion rower who, during family holidays by the Murray River,would challenge herself by rowing against the tide.But Evelyn wanted more than was expected for women of her time. Training in Adelaide as a nurse was her first step in expanding her horizons, but then an opportunity to travel as a stewardess on ocean liners camealong, and she grabbed it. Europe, Jamaica, Africa, the Mediterranean, New York ...
  • Evelyn immersed herself in it all, seeing wonders she'd only ever read about. And then, in her late twenties, she met a handsome ship's doctor, Dr William James. They fell in love, became engaged soon afterwards, and felt blessed a short time later when they were both promised positions on RMS Titanic's maiden voyage. However, scheduling complications meant Evelyn, alongside 2240 passengers and crew, boarded the world's largest and most luxurious ship alone.Then, just before midnight on 14 April 1912, the supposedly 'unsinkable' Titanic struck an iceberg and, as panic took hold, the best and worst of humanity revealed itself. Evelyn calmly helped distressed passengers until
  • she was finally ordered into a lifeboat, where she took the oars and helped row against the pull of the sinking ship. While saving herself and others, she was also desperately hoping she would find a way back to her beloved William.
The Titanic Story of Evelyn (Biography: general) Lisa Wilkinson $34.99
  • Deborah Lawrie didn't just break the glass ceiling - she flew right through it.

    They told her women couldn't fly commercial airliners.
    They told her women weren't welcome in the cockpit.
    They told her women couldn't work and have a family.
    She told them she'd see them in court.
    In an era when flight attendants were dismissed as 'trolley dollies' and smoking on
  • aeroplanes was practically mandatory, Deborah Lawrie broke barriers to become Australia's first female pilot for a major commercial airline, fighting against absurd gender discrimination and prejudice to pave the way for equal opportunity in a male-dominated industry.
    In this candid, cheeky, jaw-dropping memoir, she explains her journey from being a young girl in 1950s Australia who was determined to fly to taking Ansett Airlines to court in a landmark High Court battle - and winning. Now inducted into the Australian Aviation Hall of Fame, Deborah Lawrie is the world's longest flying female airline pilot. This is her true story.
Touching The Sky (Memoirs) Deborah Lawrie $35.99
  • Our children are true digital natives, growing up in a world where their friendships, learning and even identity are shaped online. But with this comes risks that parents never experienced themselves. In recent years, alarming new threats have emerged - sextortion, blackmail, deepfakes and image-based abuse - adding to the ongoing dangers of cyberbullying, grooming, pornography, sexting and problematic screen use.
    Written by internationally recognised cyber safety expert Susan McLean, Growing Up Digital tackles the urgent challenges now facing families. With compassion and authority, McLean offers a conversational,
  • easy-to-use handbook to give your children their 'digital armour'.
    Packed with real-life case studies, up-to-date resources, clear explanations of the law and trusted links for further support, this book empowers parents and educators to act with confidence. From teaching teens how to manage their digital reputation and social media, to opening conversations about the toughest of issues, this is a practical roadmap in a rapidly changing landscape.
Growing Up Digital (Advice on parenting) Susan McLean $34.99
  • Thirteen years ago, a shopfront psychic told me my vagina was cursed. She was a scam artist, but she was also right. The stories in this book follow the different forms this curse has taken and how it followed me as I travelled the world looking for love. They are personal and very specific about sex, dating, marriage and motherhood.  And how sometimes the things that alter our paths lead us to the right place. 
    What happens when a soothsayer tells Lally Katz her vagina is cursed? Has the truth been spoken?
    In My Cursed Vagina Lally shares the many forms this hex takes as she searches for
  • love, compulsively recording her life in real time as she goes. These are hilarious and heartbreaking tales of disastrous dates, hopeful sex, straight-talking friendships, a surprise marriage, the adventure of motherhood and the strange gifts of illness, by a woman who embraces everything life has to offer.
My Cursed Vagina (Autobiography: general) Lally Katz $34.99
  • 'Life is part chance, part circumstance, part choice. You don't get to choose everything that happens to you, but you always get to choose who you become in response.' Neale Daniher is in his thirteenth year of living with Motor Neurone Disease. His body is broken and he can no longer speak, but his mind is sharp and his capacity to give, unvanquished. With the terminal diagnosis came a choice: to retreat into the comfort of home and family, or to look for opportunity in the darkest of times. Neale - a thinker, a taskmaster, a competitor - chose to fight, not just for his life but for those who will be diagnosed in the future. His tireless work with FightMND has helped to mobilise millions of Australians to combat the cruel
  • killer he calls The Beast. Neale shares with us what he wishes to pass on to his six grandkids, to help them harness the power of choice and make good decisions. Lessons on choosing your attitude, being courageous and accepting responsibility sit beside advice on practising gratitude, valuing actions over words and making the world a better place - all leading towards getting the most out of ourselves and staying in the driver's seat of our own lives.
The Power of Choice (Self-help & personal development) Neale Daniher $39.99
Need2Read 2024