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How to Dress a Dummy
by Cassie LaneFor as long as she could remember, Cassie Lane yearned to be somebody else. Not only was she socially awkward, she was odd-looking and her dysfunctional family were the type of people who bonded over stealing their Christmas tree every year.Miraculously, at sixteen, Cassie's prayers were answered and she got boobs - big ones! Suddenly the centre of attention, she went from gawky bogan to international model, strutting catwalks from Milan to LA. But beneath the gloss she discovered a world of exploitation, where living off your looks can attract as much scorn as admiration. Her search for a version of herself she could actually like took her from Hollywood parties, to an island ashram, and reluctantly back into the spotlight as an AFL 'WAG', a position where one wrong step can get you labelled a 'slut', 'skank' and 'stripper'. In time the gawky bogan came full circle, and Cassie grew to understand that beauty is not about high cheekbones or a 24-inch waist. True beauty is found in the imperfect and vulnerable.How to Dress a Dummy casts an unwavering eye at the myriad ways in which women are taught that they're not enough. Smart, frank and very, very funny, Cassie's is a bold new feminist voice.
Love Wins
by Jim Obergefell Debbie CenziperIf you've ever thought to yourself "I can't possibly win against these odds", this is a story for you. This book will become a classic.' - ERIN BROCKOVICHLove Wins is the love story behind the David and Goliath battle that won the most important American civil rights victory in decades - and inspired the rest of the world.More than twenty years ago, Jim Obergefell and John Arthur fell in love in Cincinnati, Ohio, a place where gays were routinely picked up by police and fired from their jobs. In 2013 Jim and John - who was dying of the crippling neurodegenerative disease Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis - flew to Maryland, where same-sex marriage was legal, and exchanged vows on the tarmac. But back home, Ohio refused to recognise their union. John's death certificate would describe him as single and Jim would not only have to mourn his partner but also be denied acknowledgment of the life they had shared.Then they met lawyer Al Gerhardstein, who had spent nearly three decades advocating for civil rights, and who now saw an opening that had never been explored in the courtroom. Together Al and Jim began a long and gruelling battle against overwhelming odds, partnering with more than fifty lawyers and plaintiffs to make their case. In 2015 the Supreme Court ruled in their favour, making same-sex marriage the law of the land in a decision as groundbreaking as Roe v Wade.At its heart, Love Wins is the ultimate love story - about a man who goes to such lengths to fulfil a promise to the love of his life that he ends up changing the world. Part Erin Brockovich, part Philadelphia, this story will inspire readers for generations to come.
The Chosen Peoples: America, Israel, and the Ordeals of Divine Election
by Todd Gitlin Liel LeibovitzThe Chosen Peoples reveals the fascinating relationship between America and Israel through their shared conviction of divine destiny that binds them through history, hope, and conflict.Americans and Israelis have often thought that their nations were chosen, in perpetuity, to do God’s work. This belief in divine election is a potent, living force, one that has guided and shaped both peoples and nations throughout their history and continues to do so to this day. Through great adversity and despite serious challenges, Americans and Jews, leaders and followers, have repeatedly faced the world fortified by a sense that their nation has a providential destiny. As Todd Gitlin and Liel Leibovitz argue in this original and provocative book, what unites the two allies in a “special friendship” is less common strategic interests than this deep-seated and lasting theological belief that they were chosen by God. The United States and Israel each has understood itself as a nation placed on earth to deliver a singular message of enlightenment to a benighted world. Each has stumbled through history wrestling with this strange concept of chosenness, trying both to grasp the meaning of divine election and to bear the burden it placed them under. It was this idea that provided an indispensable justification when the Americans made a revolution against Britain, went to war with and expelled the Indians, expanded westward, built an overseas empire, and most recently waged war in Iraq. The equivalent idea gave rise to the Jewish people in the first place, sustained them in exodus and exile, and later animated the Zionist movement, inspiring the Israelis to vanquish their enemies and conquer the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. Everywhere you look in American and Israeli history, the idea of chosenness is there. The Chosen Peoples delivers a bold new take on both nations’ histories. It shows how deeply the idea of chosenness has affected not only their enthusiasts but also their antagonists. It digs deeply beneath the superficialities of headlines, the details of negotiations, the excuses and justifications that keep cropping up for both nations’ successes and failures. It shows how deeply ingrained is the idea of a chosen people in both nations’ histories—and yet how complicated that idea really is. And it offers interpretations of chosenness that both nations dearly need in confronting their present-day quandaries. Weaving together history, theology, and politics, The Chosen Peoples vividly retells the dramatic story of two nations bound together by a wild and sacred idea, takes unorthodox perspectives on some of our time’s most searing conflicts, and offers an unexpected conclusion: only by taking the idea of chosenness seriously, wrestling with its meaning, and assuming its responsibilities can both nations thrive.
Strays: A Novel
by Emily BittoOn her first day at a new school, Lily befriends one of the daughters of infamous avant-garde painter Evan Trentham. He and his wife are trying to escape the stifling conservatism of 1930s Australia by inviting other like-minded artists to live and work at their family home. Lily becomes infatuated with this wild, makeshift family and longs to truly be a part of it.As the years pass, Lily observes the way the lives of these artists come to reflect the same themes as their art: Faustian bargains and spectacular falls from grace. Yet it's not Evan, but his own daughters, who pay the price for his radicalism.The Strays is an engrossing story of ambition, sacrifice and compromised loyalties from an exciting new talent.'The Strays is like a gemstone: polished and multifaceted, reflecting illuminations back to the reader and holding rich colour in its depths.' - Kerryn Goldsworthy, chair of the 2015 Stella Prize judging panel
Life to the Limit
by Bev BrockAt 22, Bev Brock dived into shallow water and broke her neck. She was told she'd never walk freely again. A few months later she was out dancing in a neck brace, and playing basketball the day the brace cameoff. Bev Brock does not break easily. After enduring more than her fair share of ups and downs - including the heartbreaking public separation from racing-car legend Peter Brock, and the messy legal battle that left her flat broke - Bev continues to celebrate life with inimitable wit, warmth, honesty and optimism. Life to the Limit is her story, and a lesson in not just coping with crises but in turning adversity into triumph.
Esther the Wonder Pig
by Steve Jenkins Derek WalterIn the bestselling tradition of Marley and Me, a funny, heartwarming and inspiring true story of how one adorable little pig changed her owners' lives forever.When an old friend called animal lover Steve Jenkins and begged him to take in an adorable 'micro' piglet, he couldn't say no. Although he knew his partner Derek would be far from thrilled about him adopting yet another stray, the idea of owning a cute little piglet was impossible to resist. Little did he know, that decision would change his and Derek's lives forever.Esther turned out to be beyond adorable but there was nothing 'micro' about her, and Steve and Derek realised that they had signed on to raise a blooming full-sized pig. Within three years, tiny Esther tipped the scales at a whopping 270 kilograms. After some growing pains and a lot of pig-sized messes, Steve and Derek made another life-changing decision: they bought a farm and founded the Happily Ever Esther Farm Sanctuary, where they could care for Esther and other animals in need.Esther the Wonder Pig follows Steve and Derek's excellent adventure - from reluctant pig parents to two of the world's most successful and beloved animal rights activists, alongside the magnificent Esther, a social media star with millions of fans around the globe.
Sing Fox to Me
by Sarah KanakeIn 1986, fourteen-year-old twins Samson and Jonah travel from the Sunshine Coast to the wild backcountry of Tasmania to live on a mountain with a granddad they've never met. Clancy Fox is a beat-up old man obsessed with finding his long-missing daughter, River. He's convinced that she was taken by a Tasmanian tiger pack. The resentful, brooding Jonah and thoughtful, inquisitive Samson become entranced, in different ways, with the mountain. While Samson - who has Down syndrome - finds mystery and delight all around, Jonah develops a dark obsession as persistent as Clancy's desire to bring River home.
A Prescribed Life
by Tony Atkinson Lynn SmailesTony Atkinson spent his early days suspended in a cage outside the sixth-storey window of his family home in 1920s London, so perhaps he was always going to see the world differently. This is a gloriously entertaining memoir of a life fully lived in and around ridiculous, hilarious situations.There was the time Tony came between Winston Churchill and his bowel movements (an accident that required a parliamentary explanation); and when Tony and his friends rerouted the London bus network so they could race Stirling Moss around the city; and the high-society shenanigans he witnessed after becoming footman to Queen Elizabeth – all just tasters from this irresistibly charming memoir.Tony and the love of his life came to Australia as &‘ten-pound Poms&’ and although he eventually settled into a medical career, one would never really say he settled down. His speciality was anaesthesia, but his greatest gift may be for telling rousing tales. A Prescribed Life is a warm and engaging chronicle about love, medicine and royalty spanning almost a century of great change.
Fallen
by Rochelle Siemienowicz'Call me Eve. It's the name I call myself when I think back to that time when I was a young wife - so very young, so very hungry. I picked the fruit and ate and drank until I was drunk with freedom and covered injuice and guilt.'In this frank, compelling and beautifully written memoir, Rochelle Siemienowicz provides an intimate portrait of the last days of an open marriage.Raised as devout Seventh-day Adventists, who believe that the end of the world is near and that premarital sex is a terrible sin, Eve and her husband marry young. Rebelling against their upbringing, and in an attempt to overcome problems in their relationship, they enter an agreement that has its own strict rules. But when Eve holidays alone in her hometown of Perth during a hot West Australian summer, she finds her body and heart floating free.Fallen is a true tale of sex, love, religion and getting married too young - and about what it feels like when you can't keep the promises you once sincerely made.
Flying on Broken Wings
by Carrie BaileeCarrie Bailee fled Canada and came to Australia when she was twenty. Once here she was assisted by a number of Australian women, and was ultimately encouraged to apply for refugee status in order to stay in this country. So began her battle to be granted asylum in Australia. Carrie stood before the Refugee Review Tribunal and revealed the dark underbelly of child sexual abuse and organised crime rings in our privileged, first-world neighbourhoods.This is the story of one young woman&’s heroic journey to survive, escape and soar above her shocking childhood experiences, and her powerful struggle for freedom and a beautiful life in Australia.
Tanked
by Eamon EvansVikings were on mushrooms. Booze may have cost us Gallipoli. The Nazis loved meth, and the Stone Age was more like the &‘stoned age&’.We tend to see the past as a dull, sober place – as a time of stiff collars and straight-laced conformity, when people&’s bodies were as pure as their minds. We need to think again.It turns out that many of the great events in history wouldn&’t have happened if someone hadn&’t got smashed. From presidents and prime ministers, soldiers and scientists, to explorers, writers, musos and more, many of mankind&’s great movers and shakers might have been better off having a quiet lie-down. And there&’s no one better placed to shine a light on their secrets than the ever-witty – and occasionally coherent – Eamon Evans.Substance by substance and binge by binge, Tanked is your guide to all the trashy little moments that have helped change the course of our world.
Heart Healers
by James S ForresterOne Australian dies from heart disease every twelve minutes. But hundreds of thousands have lived thanks to the greatest medical breakthrough of our lives.World-renowned cardiologist Dr James Forrester tells the dramatic story of the misfits, mavericks and rebels who defied the accumulated scientific wisdom of the day to begin conquering heart disease. In The Heart Healers, he describes the risks these rebels took with their own lives and the lives of others to heal the most elemental of human organs.
Breaking the Mould
by Angela PipposAn extraordinary transformation is taking place in Australian sport; from suburban footy fields to stadium cage fights, sportswomen are breaking through the &‘grass ceiling&’ and competing for a fair go. Where recently horses received more media coverage than female athletes, women are now commanding attention with undeniable performances and fierce determination.Through personal tales from a lifetime in sport, as well as interviews with pioneering athletes and administrators, journalist Angela Pippos provides a fascinating insight into the seismic shift occurring in the games we play.Breaking the Mould is a timely, entertaining and compelling reminder of why we must level the playing field permanently, so that every woman has the opportunity to become her sporting best.
Adventures of a Wonky Eyed Boy
by Jason ByrneIt was a time when your brother persuaded you to eat the grease behind the cooker by telling you it was caramel, your house was blown up by lightning, your dad mixed up the toothpaste and the 'arse-cream', and you fell asleep on Sunday nights to the sound of one of the neighbours - who were all named Paddy - drunkenly singing 'Magic Moments' in the good front room. All of this while trying to stop your wonky eye from giving the game away.With illustrations by the award-winning Nicky Phelan, Jason Byrne's Adventures of a Wonky-eyed Boy is a unique memoir capturing the childhood adventures of an accident-prone youngster in suburban Ireland. It's like Angela's Ashes on amphetamines!
Joyful Strains
by Kent MacCarter Ali LemerJoyful Strains collects twenty-seven memoirs from writers describing their expatriation to Australia. These are stories about what they found, who they became and what they now think of Australia – stories that provide entertainment, perspective and cause to celebrate our increasingly diverse nation. This is an insightful, compelling and sometimes confronting collection for all Australians.Contributors include: Alice Pung, Danny Katz, Mark Dapin and Diane Armstrong, with an introduction from Arnold Zable.
Good News About What's Bad for You (And Vice Versa)
by Jeff WilserDrink whiskey, take more naps, throw out your multivitamins: The Good News About What&’sBad for You (and Vice Versa) provides all the latest research to justify indulging the vices you love and ditching the &‘healthy&’ habits you hate. Jeff Wilser sprints through scientific evidence on everything from the benefits of procrastination and playing video games to the downsides of practising yoga and eating kale.Humorous and life-affirming, this book is a slap in the face to the puritanical and a joyful endorsement for pleasure seekers. It&’s all the proof you need that the best way to live a life is with &‘everything in moderation&’.
Great Australian Urban Legends
by Eamon EvansSatanists in Perth. Panthers in Sydney. Inner Melbourne's secret morgue.Australia is stuffed full of stories that need to be taken with a big spoon of salt. Stories that we all know are silly, but that we also just can't help sharing. In Great Australian Urban Legends, Eamon Evans presents you with myths, misconceptions and bare-faced lies about real people and real places down under. These pages libel Captain Cook and slander Phar Lap. They will annoy the Wiggles and David Boon. They will reveal whether Harold Holt really died, if the bunyip ever lived, and which famous Australian now gets by as a ghost.
Error Australis: The Reality Recap of Australian History
by Ben PobjieWe're engrossed with reality TV these days, yet we so often neglect the greatest reality of all: the reality of our nation and how it came to be. In Error Australis, TV columnist, comedian and history buff Ben Pobjie recaps the history of Australia from its humble beginnings as a small patch of rapidly cooling rock to its modern-day status as one of the major powers of the sub-Asian super-Antarctic next-to-Africa region. As thrilling as it is to see Delta Goodrem's chair turn around, there's an argument that World War Two was even more exciting and, like any good recapper, Pobjie provides an immediate, visceral sense of what it was like to be there in the moment at our nation's defining events.It is only by looking at where we have been that we can understand who we are, what we stand for and why nothing seems to work. Error Australis is a scholarly and hilarious account of a young nation that has spent many years seeking its place in the world, and almost as many years not liking what it has found.
Romance Readers Guide to Life
by Sharon PywellA haunting, darkly funny and wildly original tale of love and sisterhood, The Romance Reader's Guide to Life weaves together shades of The Lovely Bones with a swashbuckling pirate tale.Growing up in the shadow of the Second World War, sisters Lilly and Neave could not be more different. Lilly is a beauty who runs through men like water, while Neave is a bookworm who would rather read about life than experience it. While Lilly is breaking hearts, Neave loses herself in an illicit copy of The Pirate Lover, a romance in which the heroine is as swashbuckling as the hero.When the menfolk return from war and take back their jobs, the sisters are expected to settle down and marry. Unwilling to give up their independence, Lilly and Neave decide to join forces to create a makeup empire. But just as the business is taking off, Lilly mysteriously disappears.Desperate to find her sister, Neave is forced to put her beloved books aside and take centre stage, something she has been running from her entire life. She must figure out what happened to Lilly - and if she's next. Who Neave turns to for help makes this one of the most original, entertaining, exciting and chilling novels you will read this year.
Zero and the One
by Ryan RubyA gripping and wildly original gothic twist on the classic tale of innocents abroad, the seductions of friendship and the power of dangerous ideas, The Zero and the One is impossible to put down.A shy, bookish scholarship student from a working class family, Owen Whiting has high hopes of Oxford, only to find himself adrift and out of place. But his life takes a dramatic turn when he meets Zachary Foedern, a visiting scholar from New York. Rich, brilliant and charismatic, Zach takes Owen under his wing, introducing him to a world Owen has only ever read about.From Oxford to the seedy underbelly of Berlin, they dare each other to transgress the boundaries of convention and morality, until Zach proposes the greatest transgression of all: a suicide pact. But when Zach's plans go horribly awry, Owen is left to pick up the pieces and navigate the boundaries between illusion and reality to preserve a hold on his once bright future.No one - least of all Owen - will foresee where that leads him ...
Green Bell
by Paula KeoghIt's 1972 in Canberra. Michael Dransfield is being treated for a drug addiction; Paula Keogh is delusional and grief-stricken. They meet in a psychiatric unit of the Canberra Hospital and instantly fall in love. Paula recovers a self that she thought was lost; Michael, a radical poet, is caught up in a rush of creative energy and writes poems that become The Second Month of Spring. Together, they plan for 'a wedding, marriage, kids - the whole trip'. But outside the hospital walls, madness, grief and drugs challenge their luminous dream. Can their love survive?The Green Bell is a lyrical and profoundly moving story about love and madness. It explores the ways that extreme experience can change us: expose our terrors and open us to ecstasy for the sake of a truer life, a reconciliation with who we are. Ultimately, the memoir reveals itself to be a hymn to life. A requiem for lost friends. A coming of age story that takes a lifetime.
A Flower Between the Crack
by Helen SageIt's every parent's nightmare. One ordinary evening, Helen's twenty-two-year-old daughter Jayne is involved in a catastrophic car accident. Lying in a coma, her young life in the balance, Helen begins penning tender letters to Jayne, trying to make sense of the tragedy. When Jayne finally wakes, she can't talk or walk. Her life, and the lives of her family, will never be the same again.A Flower Between the Cracks is an extraordinarily powerful account of a mother's love and a daughter's immeasurable courage. It is a story of hope and survival, laced with surprising humour. Never has a memoir spoken of the complexity of caring for a disabled loved one with such grace and candour. This is a book for all Australians - reminding us of the profound joys to be found in each day.
Be Mindful and Simplify Your Life (The Mindset)
by Kate JamesFull of insights and exercises that will help you feel more in the moment and in control, this is the perfect antidote to the stress and busyness of our times.Pep up your perspective, simplify your lifestyle, and sharpen your focus on what's most important to your health and happiness. Between these covers, you'll find tools that will help you savour the good times and roll with the punches when things don't go to plan.
Little Book of Hope
by Kate Stephens Ade DjajamihardjaAde Djajamihardja had the perfect home, the perfect partner, and was at the height of his dream career in film and television when, in a matter of seconds, his life was utterly transformed.Following a massive haemorrhage stroke, Ade was left paralysed, unable to move, eat or even read. Top of the world one moment, fighting for survival the next. But through it all, Ade's spirit never broke.This is the remarkable story of Ade and his wife, Kate, and how hope steered them through the darkest of days. Told with Ade's signature positivity, humour and empathy, The Little Book of Hope is full of fascinating insights and practical tools that will warm, inspire and guide anyone facing tough times.
Great Australian Scandals and Dust-ups
by Eamon EvansCANNIBALS! COKEHEADS! CROSS DRESSERS! CHEATS!Anyone who says there's no such thing as bad publicity has clearly never been an NRL player caught drinking his own urine. They've never been a politician found in bed with a prostitute, or a media mogul caught up in a street fight. From turkey slaps and Twitter wars to less-than-subtle toilet trysts, Australia has given us some great scandals over the years, and a few good dust ups as well.Great Australian Scandals & Dust-Ups Brings together the best, boldest and bawdiest stories to ever hit the headlines. You'll never look at fame the same way again.