It's a Scorcher!

Tales of the Australian summer

William McInnes

$34.99

Paperback

Forthcoming
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English

Hachette Australia
14 October 2025

Memoirs; Fiction & Literature; Humour

Bestselling author and acclaimed actor William McInnes returns with a collection of hilarious and heartwarming stories about those magical, roastingly hot months that make an Australian summer.

There is something about long, hot summer days that stirs our emotions. It's all about holidays, festivals, family and Christmas; a time for swimming, a hit of backyard cricket or firing up the barbie. It's the deafening sound of cicadas, the ticking of a backyard sprinkler, the pain of a wayward bindi or the sting of sunburnt shoulders.

In this collection of nostalgic stories that will make you laugh and make you cry, William McInnes recalls moments in time and memories of summers past. He takes us back to the energy-sapping heat of Redcliffe in the 1960s and 70s, ruminates on budgie smugglers, remembers holiday road trips that went on forever and epic Boxing Day Tests that stopped fans in their tracks. This is a book about the Australia we are and the Australia we were - and the magic of those boiling-hot days when you wake up and know . . . it's going to be a scorcher!

Praise for the writing of William McInnes

'A mix of memoir, observation and discourse, delivered in the seemingly off-hand manner of a backyard semiotician' Saturday Age, Non-fiction Pick of the Week for Yeah, Nah!

'Warm and engaging . . . feels a little bit like home' Daily Telegraph

'If there is a quintessence of Australia at its best, William McInnes has distilled it' The Age

'Warm, nostalgic, funny and undeniably Australian' Sydney Morning Herald

By: William McInnes
Imprint: Hachette Australia
Country of Publication: Australia
Dimensions: Height: 234mm, Width: 153mm,
Weight: 300g
ISBN: 9780733652912
ISBN 10: 0733652913
Pages: 288
Publication Date: 14 October 2025
Audience: General/trade , ELT Advanced
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Forthcoming

William McInnes is one of Australia's most popular writers and actors. His books include the bestselling memoirs A Man's Got to Have a Hobby and That'd Be Right. In 2012 his book Worse Things Happen at Sea, co-written with his wife, Sarah Watt, was named the best non-fiction title in the ABIA and Indie Awards. Also an award-winning actor and best known for his leading roles in Blue Heelers, SeaChange, Total Control, NCIS Sydney and The Newsreader, William has won two Logies and two AFI/AACTA Awards for Best Actor in the film Unfinished Sky and Best Supporting Actor in The Newsreader. William grew up in Queensland and lives in Melbourne.