Abbey's Advocate
September 2021 • Selected Titles • Printable Version
Advocate - Australian Fiction
abbeys.com.au
In Moonland
Miles Allinson
$29.99
Paperback • 256 pages
ABBEY'S BOOKSELLER PICK ----- This is the new book from the award winning writer of Fever of Animals. There are three different stories – one taking place in present day Melbourne, the second set in India with the Bhagwan Rajneesh and third set in the not so distant future. The stories are linked: a man searches for answers in explaining his father’s suicide; the father joins the Bhagwan ashram searching for answers; and a daughter reaches out to her father. Allinson has a wonderful way of keeping the reader engaged but also making us work. There are no easy answers here — questions posed always seem just out of reach of being reconciled by the character asking them. Both political and personal, this makes Allinson a writer to keep an eye on. Greg Waldron
-----
'A parent's love for a child, you probably know this yourself, it's pretty bottomless. It goes down into the guts of the world. But a child's love for a parent is different. It goes up. It's more ethereal. It's not quite present on the earth.' 'A parent's love for a child, you probably know this yourself, it's pretty bottomless. It goes down into the guts of the world. But a child's love for a parent is different. It goes up. It's more ethereal. It's not quite present on the earth.' In present-day Melbourne, a man attempts to piece together the mystery of his father's apparent suicide as his young family slowly implodes. At the ashram of Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh, in 1976, a man searching for salvation must confront his capacity for violence and darkness. And in a not-too-distant future, a woman with a life-altering decision to make travels through a climate-ravaged landscape to visit her estranged father.
In Moonland is a portrait of three generations, each grappling with their own mortality. Spanning the wild idealism of the 70s through to the fragile hope of the future, it is a novel about the struggle for transcendence and the reverberating effects of family bonds. This long-awaited second outing from Miles Allinson, the multi-award-winning author of Fever of Animals, will affirm his reputation as one of Australia's most interesting contemporary fiction writers, and urge us to see our own political and environmental reality in a new light.
'A joy to read, with its relaxed authority of tone, its complex emotional depths, and its curious, daring beauty.' Helen Garner
'A story of our hearts, all broken, full, mystifying. Observant, sublime prose.' Tara June Winch, author of The Yield
'Wild, tender, fatalistically hilarious, and utterly enthralling. Allinson's complex insight and love for the people of this novel renders them as real as difficult kin and just as inescapable.' Josephine Rowe, author of Here Until August
The Things We See in the Light
Amal Awad
$29.99
Paperback • 364 pages
In the cafe, I watch as a woman takes a photo of her plate an impressive, glossy lime-coloured dessert with shards of chocolate perched on top. I want to feel that ease and confidence, too. Like this is my city again, and I know my way around it.' Eight years ago, Sahar pursued her happily ever after when she married Khaled and followed him to Jordan, leaving behind her family, her friends and a thriving cake business. But married life didn't go as planned and, haunted by secrets, Sahar has returned home to Sydney without telling her husband. With the help of her childhood friends, Sahar hits the reset button on her life. She takes a job at a local patisserie run by Maggie, a strong but kind manager who guides Sahar in sweets and life. But as she tentatively gets to know her colleagues, Sahar faces a whole new set of challenges. There's Kat and Inez, who are determined that Sahar try new experiences. Then there's Luke, a talented chocolatier and a bundle of contradictions. As Sahar embraces the new, she reinvents herself, trying things once forbidden to her. But just when she is finally starting to find her feet, her past finds its way back to her.
Happy Hour
Jacquie Byron
$32.99
Paperback • 352 pages
Growing older doesn't necessarily mean growing wiser.
Gin in one hand, paintbrush in the other, Franny Calderwood has turned her back on the world, or at least the world she used to love. Having lost her husband, Frank, in tragic circumstances three years earlier, 65-year-old Franny copes the only way she knows how: by removing herself completely from the life she had before. Franny lives a life of decadent seclusion, with only her two dogs, Whisky and Soda, a stuffed cat, cocktails and the memory of Frank for company.
Then the Salernos move in next door. The troubled but charming trio - beleaguered mother Sallyanne, angry teenager Dee and eccentric eight-year-old Josh - cannot help but pull Franny into the drama of their lives. But despite her fixation with independence, Franny's wisecracks and culinary experiments hide considerable trauma and pain, and when her eccentric behaviour has life-threatening consequences she faces a reckoning of sorts. Yes, Frank is dead, but did the woman he loved have to perish with him?
A story about one woman, two dogs and the family next door, Happy Hour is a hilarious and uplifting insight into grief, loss, true love and friendship.
'A timely and poignant story about the importance of loving and ultimately of living.' Noni Hazlehurst 'If you loved Ricky Gervais as Tony in the British black-comedy series After Life, you will adore the anti-social and frequently tipsie Franny in Happy Hour. Her story is a hilarious and poignant reminder that grief is a journey that should NEVER be travelled alone. Author Jacquie Byron has touchingly captured that sense of inescapable loneliness that follows the death of a life partner.' Mary Moody 'I found myself barracking for Franny all the way.' Susan Duncan
Gin in one hand, paintbrush in the other, Franny Calderwood has turned her back on the world, or at least the world she used to love. Having lost her husband, Frank, in tragic circumstances three years earlier, 65-year-old Franny copes the only way she knows how: by removing herself completely from the life she had before. Franny lives a life of decadent seclusion, with only her two dogs, Whisky and Soda, a stuffed cat, cocktails and the memory of Frank for company.
Then the Salernos move in next door. The troubled but charming trio - beleaguered mother Sallyanne, angry teenager Dee and eccentric eight-year-old Josh - cannot help but pull Franny into the drama of their lives. But despite her fixation with independence, Franny's wisecracks and culinary experiments hide considerable trauma and pain, and when her eccentric behaviour has life-threatening consequences she faces a reckoning of sorts. Yes, Frank is dead, but did the woman he loved have to perish with him?
A story about one woman, two dogs and the family next door, Happy Hour is a hilarious and uplifting insight into grief, loss, true love and friendship.
'A timely and poignant story about the importance of loving and ultimately of living.' Noni Hazlehurst 'If you loved Ricky Gervais as Tony in the British black-comedy series After Life, you will adore the anti-social and frequently tipsie Franny in Happy Hour. Her story is a hilarious and poignant reminder that grief is a journey that should NEVER be travelled alone. Author Jacquie Byron has touchingly captured that sense of inescapable loneliness that follows the death of a life partner.' Mary Moody 'I found myself barracking for Franny all the way.' Susan Duncan
All Our Shimmering Skies
Trent Dalton
$22.99
Paperback • 480 pages
The author of Boy Swallows Universe, Trent Dalton returns with All Our Shimmering Skies - the bestselling, critically acclaimed novel destined to become another Australian classic. 'A glinting, big-hearted miracle of a book' Richard Glover 'A work of shimmering originality and energy, with extraordinary characters and a clever, thrilling plot ... unputdownable' Sydney Morning Herald Darwin, 1942, and as Japanese bombs rain down, motherless Molly Hook, the gravedigger's daughter, turns once again to the sky for guidance. She carries a stone heart inside a duffel bag next to the map that leads to Longcoat Bob, the deep-country sorcerer who put a curse on her family. By her side are the most unlikely travelling companions: Greta, a razor-tongued actress, and Yukio, a fallen Japanese fighter pilot. Run, Molly, run, says the daytime sky. Run to the vine forests. Run to northern Australia's wild and magical monsoon lands. Run to friendship. Run to love. Run. Because the graverobber's coming, Molly, and the night-time sky is coming with him. So run, Molly, run.
All Our Shimmering Skies is a story about gifts that fall from the sky, curses we dig from the earth and the secrets we bury inside ourselves. It is an odyssey of true love and grave danger, of darkness and light, of bones and blue skies; a buoyant, beautiful and magical novel abrim with warmth, wit and wonder; and a love letter to Australia and the art of looking up.
'Dalton is an author of 19th-century expansiveness, one with a sense that intelligence, talent for characterisation and sheer narrative brio can still be the whole cloth of the writer's ambition ... it is storytelling manna, fallen straight from the Territorian skies.' The Australian 'Achingly beautiful and poetic in its melancholy, All Our Shimmering Skies is a majestic and riveting tale of curses and the true meaning of treasure.' Booklist, starred review 'As Australian as outback red dirt and as universal as the sky young Molly Hook's journey takes place beneath, All Our Shimmering Skies is an open-hearted wonder, by turns heartbreaking and full of hope, no less than an instant classic' Venero Armanno 'Australia has a new literary hero. Molly Hook - part Cordelia, part Jo March, part Pippi Longstocking - pulls us into a story and a landscape that is mythic, beguiling and almost hallucinatory in its beauty. And instantly recognisable as our own' Kristina Olsson 'This is storytelling at its absolute purest, a truly courageous expression of longing, hope and love ... against unimaginable odds' Asher Keddie 'All Our Shimmering Skies is the follow-up to Boy Swallows Universe we could have never imagined, but the one Dalton was destined to gift us. It's a story of heroes and villains, foxes and water buffalo, fighter planes and birds of prey, real magic and real love, epitaphs and aphorisms, lost treasure and lost life. It's a love letter to the nation. It's your favourite childhood adventure story dictated by Emily Dickinson, Walt Whitman and William Shakespeare, with a score by Franz Liszt. It's dead serious. It's completely ridiculous. It's all of these things and more' Booktopia
All Our Shimmering Skies is a story about gifts that fall from the sky, curses we dig from the earth and the secrets we bury inside ourselves. It is an odyssey of true love and grave danger, of darkness and light, of bones and blue skies; a buoyant, beautiful and magical novel abrim with warmth, wit and wonder; and a love letter to Australia and the art of looking up.
'Dalton is an author of 19th-century expansiveness, one with a sense that intelligence, talent for characterisation and sheer narrative brio can still be the whole cloth of the writer's ambition ... it is storytelling manna, fallen straight from the Territorian skies.' The Australian 'Achingly beautiful and poetic in its melancholy, All Our Shimmering Skies is a majestic and riveting tale of curses and the true meaning of treasure.' Booklist, starred review 'As Australian as outback red dirt and as universal as the sky young Molly Hook's journey takes place beneath, All Our Shimmering Skies is an open-hearted wonder, by turns heartbreaking and full of hope, no less than an instant classic' Venero Armanno 'Australia has a new literary hero. Molly Hook - part Cordelia, part Jo March, part Pippi Longstocking - pulls us into a story and a landscape that is mythic, beguiling and almost hallucinatory in its beauty. And instantly recognisable as our own' Kristina Olsson 'This is storytelling at its absolute purest, a truly courageous expression of longing, hope and love ... against unimaginable odds' Asher Keddie 'All Our Shimmering Skies is the follow-up to Boy Swallows Universe we could have never imagined, but the one Dalton was destined to gift us. It's a story of heroes and villains, foxes and water buffalo, fighter planes and birds of prey, real magic and real love, epitaphs and aphorisms, lost treasure and lost life. It's a love letter to the nation. It's your favourite childhood adventure story dictated by Emily Dickinson, Walt Whitman and William Shakespeare, with a score by Franz Liszt. It's dead serious. It's completely ridiculous. It's all of these things and more' Booktopia
The Unusual Abduction of Avery Conifer
Ilsa Evans
$29.99
Paperback • 400 pages
Two women abduct and hide out with their four-year-old granddaughter Avery, who they suspect is being harmed. They both love Avery ... shame they can't stand each other. A wise and witty novel for readers of Sophie Green and Brooke Davis. What would you do to protect a child?
Beth's daughter Cleo and Shirley's son Daniel used to be married. Now Cleo is in gaol for supposedly contravening a family violence order, and Daniel has full-time care of their four-year-old daughter, Avery.
When Shirley suspects that Daniel is harming Avery, she enlists Beth to abduct their own granddaughter, even though the two women can't stand each other. They are joined on the run across country Victoria by Winnie, Shirley's own 89-year-old tech-savvy mother, and Harthacnut, Beth's miniature schnauzer.
The abduction gives rise to crises both personal and social, as Shirley's large and interfering family - including her toxic son - struggle to come to terms with her actions, amid a whirl of police investigation and media excitement. This heartfelt, wise, witty and wholly original novel explores the lengths we may go to for those we love, and the unintended damage folded into daily life.
'fantastic, fresh and unexpected' - Cassie Hamer, author of After the Party 'combines controversy and compassion' - Olivia Wearne, author of The Grand Tour 'I loved this story of women's lives - many different ages and kinds of women - and its deep, compassionate understanding of ordinary life forced to become extraordinary. I laughed over and over as Evans' sharp wit brought her characters to vivid life ' - Pamela Hart, author of Digging Up Dirt
Beth's daughter Cleo and Shirley's son Daniel used to be married. Now Cleo is in gaol for supposedly contravening a family violence order, and Daniel has full-time care of their four-year-old daughter, Avery.
When Shirley suspects that Daniel is harming Avery, she enlists Beth to abduct their own granddaughter, even though the two women can't stand each other. They are joined on the run across country Victoria by Winnie, Shirley's own 89-year-old tech-savvy mother, and Harthacnut, Beth's miniature schnauzer.
The abduction gives rise to crises both personal and social, as Shirley's large and interfering family - including her toxic son - struggle to come to terms with her actions, amid a whirl of police investigation and media excitement. This heartfelt, wise, witty and wholly original novel explores the lengths we may go to for those we love, and the unintended damage folded into daily life.
'fantastic, fresh and unexpected' - Cassie Hamer, author of After the Party 'combines controversy and compassion' - Olivia Wearne, author of The Grand Tour 'I loved this story of women's lives - many different ages and kinds of women - and its deep, compassionate understanding of ordinary life forced to become extraordinary. I laughed over and over as Evans' sharp wit brought her characters to vivid life ' - Pamela Hart, author of Digging Up Dirt
Here in the After
Marion Frith
$32.99
Paperback • 320 pages
Two damaged people, one unlikely friendship and a way to find hope in the darkness.
Anna has survived the worst. So has Nat. Two broken souls, struggling to find a place in a world they no longer fit.
Anna, 62, is the victim of a terrorist attack in which eleven others were murdered. Nat, 35, is an Army veteran who fought in Afghanistan. They have so little in common. And so much.
A friendship stirs between them, tentative and unlikely, its foundation the violence they have seen and the memories that stalk them. Together, they begin to search for a way back home.
But when Nat's wife falls unexpectedly pregnant, terrible ghosts from his wartime past rise up and much more than a friendship is at stake.
Here in the After is a poignant and uplifting exploration of the legacy of trauma and the healing power of connection.
'Bold, unflinching and courageous, this book dives with sensitivity and compassion into the dark shadows of PTSD to uncover light and acceptance. Heartbreaking and devastating, but luminous, tender and hopeful. The last book I read that moved me so deeply was A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini.' Karen Viggers, author of The Orchardist's Daughter 'A moving meditation on the toll trauma takes on the body and mind, and the human connection that can be its balm.' Vanessa McCausland, author of The Lost Summers of Driftwood 'Powerful, insightful and ultimately hopeful, Here in the After is a compelling and poignant exploration of the price exacted by terror and warfare and the redemptive powers of an unlikely friendship.' Suzanne Leal, author of The Deceptions
Anna has survived the worst. So has Nat. Two broken souls, struggling to find a place in a world they no longer fit.
Anna, 62, is the victim of a terrorist attack in which eleven others were murdered. Nat, 35, is an Army veteran who fought in Afghanistan. They have so little in common. And so much.
A friendship stirs between them, tentative and unlikely, its foundation the violence they have seen and the memories that stalk them. Together, they begin to search for a way back home.
But when Nat's wife falls unexpectedly pregnant, terrible ghosts from his wartime past rise up and much more than a friendship is at stake.
Here in the After is a poignant and uplifting exploration of the legacy of trauma and the healing power of connection.
'Bold, unflinching and courageous, this book dives with sensitivity and compassion into the dark shadows of PTSD to uncover light and acceptance. Heartbreaking and devastating, but luminous, tender and hopeful. The last book I read that moved me so deeply was A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini.' Karen Viggers, author of The Orchardist's Daughter 'A moving meditation on the toll trauma takes on the body and mind, and the human connection that can be its balm.' Vanessa McCausland, author of The Lost Summers of Driftwood 'Powerful, insightful and ultimately hopeful, Here in the After is a compelling and poignant exploration of the price exacted by terror and warfare and the redemptive powers of an unlikely friendship.' Suzanne Leal, author of The Deceptions
A Room Made of Leaves
Kate Grenville
$32.99
Paperback • 336 pages
Kate Grenville's latest bestselling novel, now in a beautiful paperback edition What if Elizabeth Macarthur-wife of the notorious John Macarthur, wool baron in the earliest days of Sydney-had written a shockingly frank secret memoir? And what if novelist Kate Grenville had miraculously found and published it?
Marriage to a ruthless bully, the impulses of her heart, the search for power in a society that gave women none- this Elizabeth Macarthur manages her complicated life with spirit and passion, cunning and sly wit. Her memoir lets us hear-at last!
-what one of those seemingly demure women from history might really have thought.
A Room Made of Leaves is set in the past, but it's just as much about the present, where lies have the dangerous power to shape reality. This book is historical fiction turned inside out, a stunning sleight of hand by one of our most original writers.
Marriage to a ruthless bully, the impulses of her heart, the search for power in a society that gave women none- this Elizabeth Macarthur manages her complicated life with spirit and passion, cunning and sly wit. Her memoir lets us hear-at last!
-what one of those seemingly demure women from history might really have thought.
A Room Made of Leaves is set in the past, but it's just as much about the present, where lies have the dangerous power to shape reality. This book is historical fiction turned inside out, a stunning sleight of hand by one of our most original writers.
The Loudness of Unsaid Things
Hilde Hinton
$22.99
Paperback • 320 pages
ABBEY'S BOOKSELLER PICK ----- A gentle novel that interleaves two lives - that of young Susie, growing up in Melbourne and of Miss Kaye, moving into retirement from a career in caring for people with mental injuries. A life seen from two ends.
Susie's story is set in a sepia-tinged Melbourne, living with her mother who suffers mental illness, precociously exploring the city with her more cautious childhood playmate Geoffrey, and with a growing disconnect from her father following the death of his wife, Susie's mother.
A rebellious Susie moves to Sydney and spreads her wings and it is here where these two narratives intersect, with a devastating incident that is almost a black hole, no sound or light escaping. Like the title itself, the devastations here are in some ways all the more powerful for what is not said. Craig Kirchner
Susie's story is set in a sepia-tinged Melbourne, living with her mother who suffers mental illness, precociously exploring the city with her more cautious childhood playmate Geoffrey, and with a growing disconnect from her father following the death of his wife, Susie's mother.
A rebellious Susie moves to Sydney and spreads her wings and it is here where these two narratives intersect, with a devastating incident that is almost a black hole, no sound or light escaping. Like the title itself, the devastations here are in some ways all the more powerful for what is not said. Craig Kirchner
-----
An unforgettable story of loneliness, isolation and finding your way. Heart-wrenching, wise and wryly funny, this novel will make you kinder to those who are lost.
Miss Kaye works at The Institute. A place for the damaged, the outliers, the not-quite rights. Everyone has different strategies to deal with the residents. Some bark orders. Some negotiate tirelessly. Miss Kaye found that simply being herself was mostly the right thing to do.
Susie was seven when she realised she'd had her fill of character building. She'd lie between her Holly Hobbie sheets thinking how slowly birthdays come around, but how quickly change happened. One minute her Dad was saying that the family needed to move back to the city and then, SHAZAM, they were there. Her mum didn't move to the new house with them. And Susie hated going to see her mum at the mind hospital. She never knew who her mum would be. Or who would be there. As the years passed, there were so many things Susie wanted to say but never could.
Miss Kaye will teach Susie that the loudness of unsaid things can be music - and together they will learn that living can be more than surviving.
Corporal Hitler's Pistol
Tom Keneally
$32.99
Paperback • 352 pages
How did Corporal Hitler's Luger from the First World War end up being the weapon that killed an IRA turncoat in Kempsey, New South Wales, in 1933?
When an affluent Kempsey matron spots a young Aboriginal boy who bears an uncanny resemblance to her husband, not only does she scream for divorce, attempt to take control of the child's future and upend her comfortable life, but the whole town seems drawn into chaos.
A hero of the First World War has a fit at the cinema and is taken to a psychiatric ward in Sydney, his Irish farmhand is murdered, and a gay piano-playing veteran, quietly a friend to many in town, is implicated.
Corporal Hitler's Pistol speaks to the never-ending war that began with 'the war to end all wars'. Rural communities have always been a melting pot and many are happy to accept a diverse bunch ... as long as they don't overstep. Set in a town he knows very well, in this novel Tom Keneally tells a compelling story of the interactions and relationships between black and white Australians in early twentieth-century Australia.
When an affluent Kempsey matron spots a young Aboriginal boy who bears an uncanny resemblance to her husband, not only does she scream for divorce, attempt to take control of the child's future and upend her comfortable life, but the whole town seems drawn into chaos.
A hero of the First World War has a fit at the cinema and is taken to a psychiatric ward in Sydney, his Irish farmhand is murdered, and a gay piano-playing veteran, quietly a friend to many in town, is implicated.
Corporal Hitler's Pistol speaks to the never-ending war that began with 'the war to end all wars'. Rural communities have always been a melting pot and many are happy to accept a diverse bunch ... as long as they don't overstep. Set in a town he knows very well, in this novel Tom Keneally tells a compelling story of the interactions and relationships between black and white Australians in early twentieth-century Australia.
The Farmer's Friend
Fiona McArthur
$32.99
Paperback • 352 pages
The heartwarming new medical rural romance from the bestselling author of The Bush Telegraph.
They'd bought a stock and feed store called, of all things, The Farmer's Friend. Gracie could tell Jed thought it a great name. 'Farmers stick together. I like it.' Jed and Gracie's move to Featherwood brings big dreams and open hearts, despite the drought around them. The ready-made rural store even comes with an ancient homestead overlooking the river, albeit one requiring some TLC. Gracie is expecting, and they're eager to put down family roots in the tiny community.
Midwife Nell has fled her life in Sydney, hoping to start afresh on a small farm away from prying eyes and gossip. She strives to go unnoticed, but that proves near impossible when she meets charismatic Gracie and Jed, and the unpredictable, attractive Liam, who has as much emotional baggage as Nell does herself.
Jed's store becomes the meeting place for the town's colourful characters, people who'd do anything for their neighbours and friends. As Gracie's due date draws close, tensions rise between her and Jed when his impulsiveness strains their precarious financial situation. As a bushfire ravages the region, the whole town comes under threat, putting relationships and lives on the line.
Can quiet achievers, unexpected heroes, and a valley of part-time fire-fighters and farmers help Featherwood rise again?
By the bestselling author of The Bush Telegraph comes a moving and uplifting Australian drama about what it really means to be a community - and learning that best friends can also make the best family.
They'd bought a stock and feed store called, of all things, The Farmer's Friend. Gracie could tell Jed thought it a great name. 'Farmers stick together. I like it.' Jed and Gracie's move to Featherwood brings big dreams and open hearts, despite the drought around them. The ready-made rural store even comes with an ancient homestead overlooking the river, albeit one requiring some TLC. Gracie is expecting, and they're eager to put down family roots in the tiny community.
Midwife Nell has fled her life in Sydney, hoping to start afresh on a small farm away from prying eyes and gossip. She strives to go unnoticed, but that proves near impossible when she meets charismatic Gracie and Jed, and the unpredictable, attractive Liam, who has as much emotional baggage as Nell does herself.
Jed's store becomes the meeting place for the town's colourful characters, people who'd do anything for their neighbours and friends. As Gracie's due date draws close, tensions rise between her and Jed when his impulsiveness strains their precarious financial situation. As a bushfire ravages the region, the whole town comes under threat, putting relationships and lives on the line.
Can quiet achievers, unexpected heroes, and a valley of part-time fire-fighters and farmers help Featherwood rise again?
By the bestselling author of The Bush Telegraph comes a moving and uplifting Australian drama about what it really means to be a community - and learning that best friends can also make the best family.
Apples Never Fall
Liane Moriarty
$32.99
Paperback
From the outside, the Delaneys appear to be an enviably contented family. Even after all these years, former tennis coaches Joy and Stan are still winning tournaments, and now they've sold the family business they have all the time in the world to learn how to 'relax'. Their four adult children are busy living their own lives, and while it could be argued they never quite achieved their destinies, no-one ever says that out loud.
But now Joy Delaney has disappeared and her children are re-examining their parents' marriage and their family history with fresh, frightened eyes. Is her disappearance related to their mysterious house guest from last year? Or were things never as rosy as they seemed in the Delaney household?
The Coconut Children
Vivian Pham , Vivian Pham
$19.99
Paperback • 304 pages
From the winner of the SMH/Age Best Young Novelist of the Year and the Matt Richell Award for New Writer of the Year. Growing up can feel like a death sentence Life in the troubled neighbourhood of Cabramatta demands too much too young. But Sonny wouldn't really know.
Watching the world from her bedroom window, she exists only in second-hand romance novels and falls for any fast-food employee who happens to spare her a glance.
Everything changes with the return of Vince, a boy who became a legend after he was hauled away in handcuffs. Sonny and Vince used to be childhood friends. But with all that happened in-between, childhood seems so long ago. It will take two years of juvie, an inebriated grandmother and an unexpected discovery for them to meet again.
The Coconut Children is an urgent, moving and wise debut from a young and gifted storyteller.
Watching the world from her bedroom window, she exists only in second-hand romance novels and falls for any fast-food employee who happens to spare her a glance.
Everything changes with the return of Vince, a boy who became a legend after he was hauled away in handcuffs. Sonny and Vince used to be childhood friends. But with all that happened in-between, childhood seems so long ago. It will take two years of juvie, an inebriated grandmother and an unexpected discovery for them to meet again.
The Coconut Children is an urgent, moving and wise debut from a young and gifted storyteller.
The Banksia House Breakout
James Roxburgh
$32.99
Paperback • 336 pages
When Ruth Morris is moved into Banksia House by her workaholic son Michael, she is eighty-one years young, mourning her loss of independence, and missing her best friend Gladys terribly.
So when she learns Gladys is dying a state over in Brisbane, Ruth is determined to say goodbye. Enlisting the help of her fellow residents, Ruth makes a daring departure from Banksia House alongside renowned escape-artist Keith, and her formidable new friend Beryl.
The journey from Sydney is far from straightforward, featuring grimy hostels, hitchhiking, and a mild case of grand theft. This unlikely trio finds themselves on the trip of a lifetime, where new connections blossom amidst the chaos. But the clock is ticking and Gladys awaits - will they make it across the border in time?
In this joyous and captivating read, debut author James Roxburgh delivers a heartwarming tale that will have you cheering for Ruth from beginning to end.
So when she learns Gladys is dying a state over in Brisbane, Ruth is determined to say goodbye. Enlisting the help of her fellow residents, Ruth makes a daring departure from Banksia House alongside renowned escape-artist Keith, and her formidable new friend Beryl.
The journey from Sydney is far from straightforward, featuring grimy hostels, hitchhiking, and a mild case of grand theft. This unlikely trio finds themselves on the trip of a lifetime, where new connections blossom amidst the chaos. But the clock is ticking and Gladys awaits - will they make it across the border in time?
In this joyous and captivating read, debut author James Roxburgh delivers a heartwarming tale that will have you cheering for Ruth from beginning to end.
Modern Marriage
Filip Vukasin
$32.99
Paperback • 288 pages
Everything in Klara's life is perfect, from her boutique cosmetic clinic to her svelte physique, her modern home in Melbourne's coveted inner east to Dante, her adoring husband with movie-star good looks. If all goes to plan, she and Dante will soon have a perfect baby too.
Then one phone call shatters it all: Dante's in a coma, after being discovered unconscious in a gay sauna. Suddenly Klara's perfect life begins to spiral and her husband's secrets threaten to disrupt everything she thought she knew about love, marriage and family. From Australia's most exciting new author, Modern Marriage reveals what lies beneath the veneer of perfection.
Then one phone call shatters it all: Dante's in a coma, after being discovered unconscious in a gay sauna. Suddenly Klara's perfect life begins to spiral and her husband's secrets threaten to disrupt everything she thought she knew about love, marriage and family. From Australia's most exciting new author, Modern Marriage reveals what lies beneath the veneer of perfection.
Advocate - Fiction
abbeys.com.au
All About Ella
Meredith Appleyard
$29.99
Paperback • 384 pages
At 70, and widowed, Ella is about to find out that blood is not always thicker than water. A wise and warm-hearted story about aging, family and community for readers of Tricia Stringer and Liz Byrski. At 70, Ella's world is upended, leaving her at odds with her three adult children, whose attention is fixed more firmly on her money than her ongoing welfare. After an argument with her son Anthony, she flees his Adelaide home for Cutlers Bay, a seaside town on the Yorke Peninsula. There she befriends Angie, a 40-year-old drifter, and becomes an irritant to local cop Zach. He's keen to shift Ella off his turf, because Anthony phones daily, demanding his mother be sent home. And besides, Zach just doesn't trust Angie.
Ella warms to Cutlers Bay, and it warms to her. In a defiant act of self-determination, she buys an entirely unsuitable house on the outskirts of town, and Angie agrees to help make it habitable. Zach is drawn to the house on the clifftop, and finds himself revising his earlier opinions of Ella, and Angie.
A keenly observed story about aging and its inherent vulnerability, about community and chosen family, about how family stressors shape us all, about trust and loyalty, and about standing up for yourself.
Ella warms to Cutlers Bay, and it warms to her. In a defiant act of self-determination, she buys an entirely unsuitable house on the outskirts of town, and Angie agrees to help make it habitable. Zach is drawn to the house on the clifftop, and finds himself revising his earlier opinions of Ella, and Angie.
A keenly observed story about aging and its inherent vulnerability, about community and chosen family, about how family stressors shape us all, about trust and loyalty, and about standing up for yourself.
Hidden in Plain Sight
Jeffrey Archer
$19.99
Paperback • 336 pages
Hidden in Plain Sight is the second brilliant and captivating novel featuring William Warwick by the master storyteller and bestselling author of the Clifton Chronicles, Jeffrey Archer.
Do you want the good news or the bad?
William Warwick has been promoted to Detective Sergeant but his promotion has meant reassignment, along with the rest of his team, to the Drugs Squad in Southwark, where they are immediately tasked with apprehending a drug dealer known as 'Viper' who is operating a drugs factory out of South London.
Daunted by the task facing him and his team, Warwick catches a lucky break when he sees a known street-level dealer, who he recognizes from his school days. With the threat of prison looming Warwick convinces the dealer to turn informer and so begins the operation to capture 'Viper' and stop the production of huge quantities of drugs that are flooding London's streets.
Meanwhile, the wicked Miles Faulkner, in the midst of being divorced by his wife Christina, makes a mistake that could see him put behind bars . . .
With Jeffrey Archer's trademark twists and turns Hidden in Plain Sight is the extraordinary sequel to Nothing Ventured, the first novel featuring William Warwick.
Do you want the good news or the bad?
William Warwick has been promoted to Detective Sergeant but his promotion has meant reassignment, along with the rest of his team, to the Drugs Squad in Southwark, where they are immediately tasked with apprehending a drug dealer known as 'Viper' who is operating a drugs factory out of South London.
Daunted by the task facing him and his team, Warwick catches a lucky break when he sees a known street-level dealer, who he recognizes from his school days. With the threat of prison looming Warwick convinces the dealer to turn informer and so begins the operation to capture 'Viper' and stop the production of huge quantities of drugs that are flooding London's streets.
Meanwhile, the wicked Miles Faulkner, in the midst of being divorced by his wife Christina, makes a mistake that could see him put behind bars . . .
With Jeffrey Archer's trademark twists and turns Hidden in Plain Sight is the extraordinary sequel to Nothing Ventured, the first novel featuring William Warwick.
Trio
William Boyd
$19.99
Paperback • 296 pages
From the bestselling author comes a transporting new novel about the secret lives of a film crew in Brighton, 1968 A producer. A novelist. An actress.
It is summer in 1968, the year of the assassinations of Martin Luther King and Robert Kennedy. While the world is reeling our trio is involved in making a rackety Swingin' Sixties British movie in sunny Brighton. All are leading secret lives. As the film is shot, with its usual drastic ups and downs, so does our trio's private, secret world begin to take over their public one. Pressures build inexorably - someone's going to crack. Or maybe they all will.
From one of Britain's best loved writers comes an exhilarating, tender novel that asks the vital questions- what makes life worth living? And what do you do if you find it isn't?
It is summer in 1968, the year of the assassinations of Martin Luther King and Robert Kennedy. While the world is reeling our trio is involved in making a rackety Swingin' Sixties British movie in sunny Brighton. All are leading secret lives. As the film is shot, with its usual drastic ups and downs, so does our trio's private, secret world begin to take over their public one. Pressures build inexorably - someone's going to crack. Or maybe they all will.
From one of Britain's best loved writers comes an exhilarating, tender novel that asks the vital questions- what makes life worth living? And what do you do if you find it isn't?
Snow Country
Sebastian Faulks
$32.99
Paperback • 352 pages
The epic new love story from master storyteller Sebastian Faulks, and his most powerful novel since BIRDSONG
'A fine and profoundly intelligent novel, written by an author who balances big ideas with human emotion. Wistful, yearning and wise' ELIZABETH DAY
'Faulks's most poignant love story yet' ANTONY BEEVOR, author of Stalingrad
1914- Young Anton Heideck has arrived in Vienna, eager to make his name as a journalist. While working part-time as a private tutor, he encounters Delphine, a woman who mixes startling candour with deep reserve. Entranced by the light of first love, Anton feels himself blessed. Until his country declares war on hers.
1927- For Lena, life with a drunken mother in a small town has been impoverished and cold. She is convinced she can amount to nothing until a young lawyer, Rudolf Plischke, spirits her away to Vienna. But the capital proves unforgiving. Lena leaves her metropolitan dream behind to take a menial job at the snow-bound sanatorium, the Schloss Seeblick.
1933- Still struggling to come terms with the loss of so many friends on the Eastern Front, Anton, now an established writer, is commissioned by a magazine to visit the mysterious Schloss Seeblick. In this place of healing, on the banks of a silvery lake, where the depths of human suffering and the chances of redemption are explored, two people will see each other as if for the first time.
Sweeping across Europe as it recovers from one war and hides its face from the coming of another, SNOW COUNTRY is a landmark novel of exquisite yearnings, dreams of youth and the sanctity of hope. In elegant, shimmering prose, Sebastian Faulks has produced a work of timeless resonance.
'Overpowering and beautiful ... Ambitious, outrageous, poignant, sleep-disturbing' SIMON SCHAMA on Birdsong
'A fine and profoundly intelligent novel, written by an author who balances big ideas with human emotion. Wistful, yearning and wise' ELIZABETH DAY
'Faulks's most poignant love story yet' ANTONY BEEVOR, author of Stalingrad
1914- Young Anton Heideck has arrived in Vienna, eager to make his name as a journalist. While working part-time as a private tutor, he encounters Delphine, a woman who mixes startling candour with deep reserve. Entranced by the light of first love, Anton feels himself blessed. Until his country declares war on hers.
1927- For Lena, life with a drunken mother in a small town has been impoverished and cold. She is convinced she can amount to nothing until a young lawyer, Rudolf Plischke, spirits her away to Vienna. But the capital proves unforgiving. Lena leaves her metropolitan dream behind to take a menial job at the snow-bound sanatorium, the Schloss Seeblick.
1933- Still struggling to come terms with the loss of so many friends on the Eastern Front, Anton, now an established writer, is commissioned by a magazine to visit the mysterious Schloss Seeblick. In this place of healing, on the banks of a silvery lake, where the depths of human suffering and the chances of redemption are explored, two people will see each other as if for the first time.
Sweeping across Europe as it recovers from one war and hides its face from the coming of another, SNOW COUNTRY is a landmark novel of exquisite yearnings, dreams of youth and the sanctity of hope. In elegant, shimmering prose, Sebastian Faulks has produced a work of timeless resonance.
'Overpowering and beautiful ... Ambitious, outrageous, poignant, sleep-disturbing' SIMON SCHAMA on Birdsong
Return to Berlin
Ellen Feldman
$32.99
Paperback • 368 pages
For fans of The Light After the War, a young woman haunted by a heartbreaking secret finds hope and forgiveness in a city shattered by war.
Young Meike Mosbach and her brother escape Berlin just before the horror of Kristallnacht, leaving their parents and little sister to follow them to America. But their family never arrives.
Haunted by their loss, Meike becomes Millie and graduates from college to work as a magazine journalist while David enlists in the army to work in intelligence. After the war, they both return to a shattered Berlin, hoping against hope to find their family.
Postwar Berlin is a wild west where drunken soldiers brawl, spies ply their trade and 'werewolves' - unrepentant Nazis - scheme to rise again. Consumed with rage at her former country, Millie's job for the army rooting out Nazis from regaining a voice seems the perfect outlet. But her anger begins to thaw as she is faced with the daily reality of what the war has done to everyone, and the enigmatic Major Harry Sutton, who seems too eager to be fair to the Germans and far too perceptive about Millie.
In the rubble of postwar Berlin, Millie must come to terms with a devastating secret and find the courage to embrace love - and a new beginning.
Praise for Return to Berlin 'A gorgeous, shattering novel that could not be more timely about the dark damage of hatred and the persistence of love.' Caroline Leavitt, NYT bestselling author of Is This Tomorrow 'A beautiful, atmospheric novel that transports us to Occupied Berlin, a perfect setting in which to examine the contours of shame, as well as the possibilities of forgiveness.' Elizabeth J. Church, author of The Atomic Weight of Love and All the Beautiful Girls 'Ellen Feldman masters the two great challenges of the historical novel, mapping the human heart as expertly as she does another time and place. Her story sears, uplifts and compels. A terrific read, brilliantly written.' Kevin Baker, author of Dreamland and Paradise Alley 'Postwar Berlin springs vividly to life in this engrossing, emotionally powerful novel ... Beautifully written, rich with detail and a brilliantly drawn cast of characters, from a writer with an unrivaled grasp of history and the human heart.' Liza Gyllenhaal, author of Local Knowledge 'A deeply satisfying and truly adult novel.' Margot Livesey, author of The Flight of Gemma Hardy Praise for Paris Never Leaves You 'Masterful, magnificent. A passionate story of survival. This story will stay with me for a long time.' Heather Morris, author of The Tattooist of Auschwitz
Young Meike Mosbach and her brother escape Berlin just before the horror of Kristallnacht, leaving their parents and little sister to follow them to America. But their family never arrives.
Haunted by their loss, Meike becomes Millie and graduates from college to work as a magazine journalist while David enlists in the army to work in intelligence. After the war, they both return to a shattered Berlin, hoping against hope to find their family.
Postwar Berlin is a wild west where drunken soldiers brawl, spies ply their trade and 'werewolves' - unrepentant Nazis - scheme to rise again. Consumed with rage at her former country, Millie's job for the army rooting out Nazis from regaining a voice seems the perfect outlet. But her anger begins to thaw as she is faced with the daily reality of what the war has done to everyone, and the enigmatic Major Harry Sutton, who seems too eager to be fair to the Germans and far too perceptive about Millie.
In the rubble of postwar Berlin, Millie must come to terms with a devastating secret and find the courage to embrace love - and a new beginning.
Praise for Return to Berlin 'A gorgeous, shattering novel that could not be more timely about the dark damage of hatred and the persistence of love.' Caroline Leavitt, NYT bestselling author of Is This Tomorrow 'A beautiful, atmospheric novel that transports us to Occupied Berlin, a perfect setting in which to examine the contours of shame, as well as the possibilities of forgiveness.' Elizabeth J. Church, author of The Atomic Weight of Love and All the Beautiful Girls 'Ellen Feldman masters the two great challenges of the historical novel, mapping the human heart as expertly as she does another time and place. Her story sears, uplifts and compels. A terrific read, brilliantly written.' Kevin Baker, author of Dreamland and Paradise Alley 'Postwar Berlin springs vividly to life in this engrossing, emotionally powerful novel ... Beautifully written, rich with detail and a brilliantly drawn cast of characters, from a writer with an unrivaled grasp of history and the human heart.' Liza Gyllenhaal, author of Local Knowledge 'A deeply satisfying and truly adult novel.' Margot Livesey, author of The Flight of Gemma Hardy Praise for Paris Never Leaves You 'Masterful, magnificent. A passionate story of survival. This story will stay with me for a long time.' Heather Morris, author of The Tattooist of Auschwitz
The Lying Life of Adults
Elena Ferrante , Ann Goldstein
$22.99
Paperback • 336 pages
'Incendiary.' - Mail on Sunday 'The most intense writing about the experiences and interior life of a girl on the cusp of adulthood that I have ever read.' - Financial Times 'An astonishing, deeply moving tale.' - The Guardian 'Modern, urgent, truthful.' - The Telegraph Giovanna's pretty face has changed: it's turning into the face of an ugly, spiteful adolescent. But is she seeing things as they really are? Where must she look to find her true reflection and a life she can claim as her own?
Giovanna's search leads her to two kindred cities that fear and detest one another: the Naples of the heights, which assumes a mask of refinement, and the Naples of the depths, a place of excess and vulgarity. Adrift, she vacillates between these two cities, falling into one then climbing back to the other.
This powerful new novel set in a divided Naples by bestselling author Elena Ferrante is a singular portrayal of the transition from childhood to adolescence to adulthood.
Giovanna's search leads her to two kindred cities that fear and detest one another: the Naples of the heights, which assumes a mask of refinement, and the Naples of the depths, a place of excess and vulgarity. Adrift, she vacillates between these two cities, falling into one then climbing back to the other.
This powerful new novel set in a divided Naples by bestselling author Elena Ferrante is a singular portrayal of the transition from childhood to adolescence to adulthood.
Freight Dogs
Giles Foden
$32.99
Paperback • 400 pages
1996: in a Ugandan dive bar, the 'freight dogs' gather. An anarchic group of mercenary pilots from Texas, Russia, Kenya and Belgium who transport weapons between warring African nations, without allegiance.
And tonight they have a new recruit - Manu, a 19-year-old cowherd fleeing Congo's bloody war.
Taken in by this band of unlikely brothers, he's soon seeing his vast country from above and falling in love with flying.
But no matter how fast he flies, trouble follows closely behind. And when the past erupts back into this new life, Manu is forced to leave behind African skies for the chilly embrace of northern Europe.
Will Manu be able to reinvent himself yet again? And is Belgian volcanologist Anke Desseaux the answer to his problems - or simply another one of them?
From the writer of The Last King of Scotland comes an unforgettable story of survival - about how to live and love after trauma, set against a backdrop of world-shaking conflict.
And tonight they have a new recruit - Manu, a 19-year-old cowherd fleeing Congo's bloody war.
Taken in by this band of unlikely brothers, he's soon seeing his vast country from above and falling in love with flying.
But no matter how fast he flies, trouble follows closely behind. And when the past erupts back into this new life, Manu is forced to leave behind African skies for the chilly embrace of northern Europe.
Will Manu be able to reinvent himself yet again? And is Belgian volcanologist Anke Desseaux the answer to his problems - or simply another one of them?
From the writer of The Last King of Scotland comes an unforgettable story of survival - about how to live and love after trauma, set against a backdrop of world-shaking conflict.
Matrix
Lauren Groff
$32.99
Paperback • 288 pages
MEET THE INDOMITABLE MARIE DE FRANCE
Born from a long line of female warriors and crusaders, yet too coarse, too wild, too rough-hewn for 12th-century courtly life, Marie de France is cast from the royal court. To her dismay, she is sent to the muddy fields of Angleterre to take up her new duty as the prioress of an impoverished abbey.
The abbey is a dreadful place- its inhabitants are on the brink of starvation, beset by disease, stoic and stern, yet plagued with an unholy tendency to gossip. Marie cannot help but pine for the decadence and comfort of France; her secret lover Cecily, her queen Eleanor, and the very court that had spited her.
Yet Marie soon realises that, though she may be tied to a life of duty, she wields more power than she could have imagined. With the fearlessness that has always set her apart, she inspires her new sisterhood to awaken their spirits and finally claim what is theirs.
A dazzling work of literature, Matrix gathers currents of violence, sensuality and ecstasy in a mesmerising portrait of consuming passion and womanhood.
'Luminous, divine, her masterpiece' DAISY JOHNSON
'A thrillingly vivid, adventurous story about women and power that will blow readers' minds. Left me gasping.' EMMA DONOGHUE
'An audacious piece of storytelling, full of passion, wisdom and magic' SARAH WATERS
'How mesmerising can twelfth century nuns be, even in the hands of Lauren Groff? I had barely started it before I was bloody well blaspheming with delight. Matrix is a gorgeous, sensual, addictive read' SARA COLLINS
Born from a long line of female warriors and crusaders, yet too coarse, too wild, too rough-hewn for 12th-century courtly life, Marie de France is cast from the royal court. To her dismay, she is sent to the muddy fields of Angleterre to take up her new duty as the prioress of an impoverished abbey.
The abbey is a dreadful place- its inhabitants are on the brink of starvation, beset by disease, stoic and stern, yet plagued with an unholy tendency to gossip. Marie cannot help but pine for the decadence and comfort of France; her secret lover Cecily, her queen Eleanor, and the very court that had spited her.
Yet Marie soon realises that, though she may be tied to a life of duty, she wields more power than she could have imagined. With the fearlessness that has always set her apart, she inspires her new sisterhood to awaken their spirits and finally claim what is theirs.
A dazzling work of literature, Matrix gathers currents of violence, sensuality and ecstasy in a mesmerising portrait of consuming passion and womanhood.
'Luminous, divine, her masterpiece' DAISY JOHNSON
'A thrillingly vivid, adventurous story about women and power that will blow readers' minds. Left me gasping.' EMMA DONOGHUE
'An audacious piece of storytelling, full of passion, wisdom and magic' SARAH WATERS
'How mesmerising can twelfth century nuns be, even in the hands of Lauren Groff? I had barely started it before I was bloody well blaspheming with delight. Matrix is a gorgeous, sensual, addictive read' SARA COLLINS
More Than I Love My Life
David Grossman
$32.99
Paperback • 288 pages
From the winner of the International Booker Prize and one of the finest writers at work today, an epic and deeply moving novel about the legacy of war and trauma on three generations of women On a kibbutz in Israel in 2008, Gili, along with the entire community, is celebrating the 90th birthday of her grandmother Vera, the adored matriarch of a sprawling and tight-knit family. Onto the scene enters Nina- the iron-willed daughter who rejected Vera's care; and the absent mother who abandoned Gili when she was still a baby.
Nina's return to the family after years of silence precipitates the gripping, heart-wrenching story that unfolds, in which mother, daughter and grandmother are forced to confront the past head-on. Together with Rafael - father to Gili, lover to Nina and step-son to Vera - the three women embark on an epic journey to the desolate island of Goli Otok, formerly part of Yugoslavia. It was here, five decades earlier, that Vera was held and tortured as a political prisoner. And it is here that the three women will finally come to terms with the terrible moral dilemma that Vera faced, and that permanently altered the course of their lives.
More Than I Love My Life is a grand-scale and sweeping story about the power of love and loving with courage. A novel driven by faith in humanity even in our darkest moments, it asks us to confront our deepest held beliefs about a woman's duty to herself and to her children.
Nina's return to the family after years of silence precipitates the gripping, heart-wrenching story that unfolds, in which mother, daughter and grandmother are forced to confront the past head-on. Together with Rafael - father to Gili, lover to Nina and step-son to Vera - the three women embark on an epic journey to the desolate island of Goli Otok, formerly part of Yugoslavia. It was here, five decades earlier, that Vera was held and tortured as a political prisoner. And it is here that the three women will finally come to terms with the terrible moral dilemma that Vera faced, and that permanently altered the course of their lives.
More Than I Love My Life is a grand-scale and sweeping story about the power of love and loving with courage. A novel driven by faith in humanity even in our darkest moments, it asks us to confront our deepest held beliefs about a woman's duty to herself and to her children.
The Duchess
Wendy Holden
$29.99
Paperback • 352 pages
From the bestselling author of The Governess.
Arriving in 1928, Wallis was a divorced, penniless, middle-aged foreigner with average looks and no connections. Yet, just eight years later, a king renounced his throne for her. How did a woman from nowhere capture the heart of the world's most glamorous bachelor? Wendy Holden tells the amazing story.
Praise for Wendy Holden's The Governess:
'A beautifully woven and exquisitely detailed story' HEATHER MORRIS, author of The Tattooist of Auschwitz
'A great book for escaping into . . . I loved this!' KATIE FFORDE
'A brilliantly imagined and poignant novel [...] of sacrifice, deep affection, strained loyalties and divided English society in the post-Downton Abbey era' ELIZABETH BUCHAN
Arriving in 1928, Wallis was a divorced, penniless, middle-aged foreigner with average looks and no connections. Yet, just eight years later, a king renounced his throne for her. How did a woman from nowhere capture the heart of the world's most glamorous bachelor? Wendy Holden tells the amazing story.
Praise for Wendy Holden's The Governess:
'A beautifully woven and exquisitely detailed story' HEATHER MORRIS, author of The Tattooist of Auschwitz
'A great book for escaping into . . . I loved this!' KATIE FFORDE
'A brilliantly imagined and poignant novel [...] of sacrifice, deep affection, strained loyalties and divided English society in the post-Downton Abbey era' ELIZABETH BUCHAN
The Riviera House
Natasha Lester , Barrie Kreinik
$32.99
Paperback • 448 pages
From the New York Times bestselling author comes this extraordinary masterpiece of historical fiction that will have you wiping tears from your face Paris, 1939 While working at the Louvre, Eliane Dufort falls for talented painter Xavier. But when the Nazis occupy the city, Xavier leaves for England and Eliane must send her sisters to the country. Broken-hearted, she finds herself working with the mysterious Rose Valland on a dangerous secret mission for the French Resistance: to record all the priceless national treasures the Germans are stealing.
Present Day Desperate to escape her grief, Remy Lang arrives at a stunning private estate on the French Riviera. While working on her vintage fashion business, she discovers a catalogue of artworks stolen during World War II and is shocked to see a painting that hung on her childhood bedroom wall in Sydney. Who is her family, really? And does the Riviera house hold more secrets than Remy is ready to face?
Lush, engrossing and deeply moving, this is the story of the brave women who worked against the Nazis, told by the international bestselling author of The Paris Secret and The French Photographer.
'Lester's densely plotted new novel that leaves you almost as breathless as its colourful tapestry of lead characters' The Australian Women's Weekly (Guaranteed Great Read) 'Gripping from the first page, a compelling story of mystery and intrigue, and I couldn't put it down ... I loved the sumptuous French settings, the gorgeous art and fashions and fascinating true story of the Nazi theft of French artworks' TANIA BLANCHARD, author of The Girl from Munich 'The novel kept me up at night, turning the pages faster and faster' JANET SKESLIEN CHARLES, author of The Paris Library 'A vivid, nuanced and deeply moving depiction of women's courage in the face of unimaginable danger, sacrifice and loss. A superlative work of historical fiction - Natasha Lester's finest yet' CHRISTINE WELLS, author of Sisters of the Resistance 'A page-turning story of love, loss, and redemption... a must read' KRISTIN BECK, author of Courage My Love
Present Day Desperate to escape her grief, Remy Lang arrives at a stunning private estate on the French Riviera. While working on her vintage fashion business, she discovers a catalogue of artworks stolen during World War II and is shocked to see a painting that hung on her childhood bedroom wall in Sydney. Who is her family, really? And does the Riviera house hold more secrets than Remy is ready to face?
Lush, engrossing and deeply moving, this is the story of the brave women who worked against the Nazis, told by the international bestselling author of The Paris Secret and The French Photographer.
'Lester's densely plotted new novel that leaves you almost as breathless as its colourful tapestry of lead characters' The Australian Women's Weekly (Guaranteed Great Read) 'Gripping from the first page, a compelling story of mystery and intrigue, and I couldn't put it down ... I loved the sumptuous French settings, the gorgeous art and fashions and fascinating true story of the Nazi theft of French artworks' TANIA BLANCHARD, author of The Girl from Munich 'The novel kept me up at night, turning the pages faster and faster' JANET SKESLIEN CHARLES, author of The Paris Library 'A vivid, nuanced and deeply moving depiction of women's courage in the face of unimaginable danger, sacrifice and loss. A superlative work of historical fiction - Natasha Lester's finest yet' CHRISTINE WELLS, author of Sisters of the Resistance 'A page-turning story of love, loss, and redemption... a must read' KRISTIN BECK, author of Courage My Love
Tenderness
Alison MacLeod
$32.99
Paperback • 640 pages
The spellbinding story of Lady Chatterley's Lover, and the society that put it on trial; the story of a novel and its ripple effects across half a century, and about the transformative and triumphant power of fiction itself.
'Tenderness is a triumph and it will conquer your heart. Stunning, illuminating, but also, profoundly moving' ELIF SHAFAK
'A passionate, epic joy' MADELINE MILLER
'Powerful, moving, brilliant ... An utterly captivating read' ELIZABETH GILBERT
'As sublimely crafted as a novel could ever be. I'm in awe of Alison MacLeod's powers' ISABELLA TREE
D. H. Lawrence is dying. Exiled in the Mediterranean, he dreams of the past. There are the years early in his marriage during the war, where his desperation drives him to commit a terrible betrayal. And there is a woman in an Italian courtyard, her chestnut hair red with summer.
Jacqueline and her husband have already been marked out for greatness. Passing through New York, she slips into a hearing where a book, not a man, is brought to trial.
A young woman and a young man meet amid the restricted section of a famous library, and make love.
Scattered and blown by the winds of history, their stories are bound together, and brought before the jury. On both sides of the Atlantic, society is asking, and continues to ask: is it obscenity - or is it tenderness?
'Gorgeously written and meticulously conceived' DAVID LEAVITT
'Tenderness is a triumph and it will conquer your heart. Stunning, illuminating, but also, profoundly moving' ELIF SHAFAK
'A passionate, epic joy' MADELINE MILLER
'Powerful, moving, brilliant ... An utterly captivating read' ELIZABETH GILBERT
'As sublimely crafted as a novel could ever be. I'm in awe of Alison MacLeod's powers' ISABELLA TREE
D. H. Lawrence is dying. Exiled in the Mediterranean, he dreams of the past. There are the years early in his marriage during the war, where his desperation drives him to commit a terrible betrayal. And there is a woman in an Italian courtyard, her chestnut hair red with summer.
Jacqueline and her husband have already been marked out for greatness. Passing through New York, she slips into a hearing where a book, not a man, is brought to trial.
A young woman and a young man meet amid the restricted section of a famous library, and make love.
Scattered and blown by the winds of history, their stories are bound together, and brought before the jury. On both sides of the Atlantic, society is asking, and continues to ask: is it obscenity - or is it tenderness?
'Gorgeously written and meticulously conceived' DAVID LEAVITT
The Magician
Colm Toibin
$34.99
Paperback • 448 pages
ABBEY'S BOOKSELLER PICK ----- This exquisite new novel from Toibin tells the story of Thomas Mann and his unique family. Spanning Mann's life we see his love of Germany slowly dissipate as his country chooses a path that Mann just does not recognize despite his initial reluctance in denouncing the Nazi Party. What is fascinating in this book are some of the periphery characters such as his tortured son Klaus and his outspoken daughter Erika. We follow the peripatetic life of the Mann’s with Toibin's deft touch and acute observations this makes for a truly memorable read. Greg Waldron
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When the Great War breaks out in 1914 Thomas Mann, like so many of his fellow countrymen, is fired up with patriotism. He imagines the Germany of great literature and music, which had drawn him away from the stifling, conservative town of his childhood, might be a source of pride once again. But his flawed vision will form the beginning of a dark and complex relationship with his homeland, and see the start of great conflict within his own brilliant and troubled family.Colm Toibin's epic novel is the story of a man of intense contradictions. Although Thomas Mann becomes famous and admired, his inner life is hesitant, fearful and secretive. His blindness to impending disaster in the Great War will force him to rethink his relationship with Germany as Hitler comes to power. He has six children with his clever and fascinating wife, Katia, while his own secret desires appear threaded through his writing. He and Katia deal with exile bravely, doing everything possible to keep the family safe, yet they also suffer the terrible ravages of suicide among Thomas's siblings, and their own children.
In The Magician, Colm Toibin captures the profound personal conflict of a very public life, and through this life creates an intimate portrait of the twentieth century.
Praise for The Magician: 'This graceful novel is a moving and intimate portrait by one master of another . . . It is a stunning tribute to the great man, and a vital story for now.' - Anna Funder 'The Magician is a remarkable achievement. Mann himself, one feels certain, would approve.' - John Banville 'As with everything Colm Toibin sets his masterful hand to, The Magician is a great imaginative achievement - immensely readable, erudite, worldly and knowing, and fully realized.' - Richard Ford 'No living novelist dramatizes artistic creation as profoundly, as luminously, as Colm Toibin, or conveys so well the entanglement of imagination and desire.' - Garth Greenwell
Monogamy
Sue Miller
$19.99
Paperback • 352 pages
'Penetrating, intelligent, humane, funny too ... Smart and powerfully alive' Tessa Hadley 'Superb' Daily Mail 'A poignant page-turner, delving deep into our most intimate relationships' Evening Standard Annie is the great love of Graham's life. Here they are in late middle-age, the photographer and the bookseller, so mismatched and yet so well-matched. Theirs is a happy marriage of nearly thirty years - and even the happiest of marriages, Graham tells himself, have their secrets.
Then the unthinkable happens, and suddenly Annie is alone, stumbling in the dark. How much can we ever know the people who love us?
'With what exquisite truth Sue Miller writes ... I was completely wrapped up in the beautifully, and often so tenderly observed rollercoaster of grief. An invaluably moving book' Juliet Nicolson
Then the unthinkable happens, and suddenly Annie is alone, stumbling in the dark. How much can we ever know the people who love us?
'With what exquisite truth Sue Miller writes ... I was completely wrapped up in the beautifully, and often so tenderly observed rollercoaster of grief. An invaluably moving book' Juliet Nicolson
The Cat Who Saved Books
Sosuke Natsukawa , Louise Heal Kawai
$19.99
Paperback • 224 pages
ABBEY'S BOOKSELLER PICK ----- Rintaro Natsuki is a bit of a loner, an awkward teenager who has been raised by his grandfather - owner of Natsuki Books. When his grandfather passes away, it looks like the bookshop will have to close down, then one day a cat arrives in the shop and enlists Rintaro's help in the quest to save books. A charming, light read with touches of humour, magic realism and a delightful dose of whimsy. Boil up a cuppa and prepare to be charmed. Greg Waldron
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Their mission sends this odd couple on an amazing journey, where they enter different labyrinths to set books free. Through their travels, Tiger and Rintaro meet a man who locks up his books, an unwitting book torturer who cuts the pages of books into snippets to help people speed read, and a publisher who only wants to sell books like disposable products. Then, finally, there is a mission that Rintaro must complete alone . . .
An enthralling tale of books, first love, fantasy, and an unusual friendship with a talking cat, The Cat Who Saved Books by Sosuke Natsukawa, translated by Louise Heal Kawai, is a story for those for whom books are so much more than words on paper.
Mayflies
Andrew O'Hagan
$19.99
Paperback • 304 pages
ABBEY'S BOOKSELLER PICK ----- This is undoubtedly one of my favourite books of the year - it's joyous and heartrending and funny and compassionate - and it even made me appreciate lads being lads! James has little in the way of family life, and spends his time outside of school hanging around with friends, particularly the charismatic and lively Tully, who is a couple of years older. Tully is the centre of everything in his circle, but like most of the young men in their working class Scottish town, has followed his father into factory work - which in 1986 in Thatcher's Britain is increasingly threatened.
When Tully, James and a number of other friends decide to go to Manchester for a weekend music festival, it is to be the highlight of their youth; but also the moment when their friendships will change and their futures deviate from the expected paths. All of which is shown, when the later part of the novel unfolds, when decades later James gets a phonecall from Tully that he has been expecting - and dreading. An intensely moving celebration of male friendship in a society which places great value on mateship but not on men's emotions, and how anything is possible if your friends are there... Lindy Jones
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In the summer of 1986, in a small Scottish town, James and Tully ignite a brilliant friendship based on music, films and the rebel spirit. With school over and the locked world of their fathers before them, they rush towards the climax of their youth: a magical weekend in Manchester, the epicentre of everything that inspires them in working-class Britain. There, against the greatest soundtrack ever recorded, a vow is made: to go at life differently.
Thirty years on, half a life away, the phone rings. Tully has news.
Mayflies is a memorial to youth's euphorias and to everyday tragedy. A tender goodbye to an old union, it discovers the joy and the costs of love.
'An immensely engaging writer: wry and witty, and insightful.' - Sunday Times 'A vivid and meticulous writer.' - Observer
Beautiful World, Where Are You
Sally Rooney
$29.99
Paperback • 288 pages
Alice, a novelist, meets Felix, who works in a distribution warehouse, and asks him if he'd like to travel to Rome with her. In Dublin, her best friend Eileen is getting over a break-up, and slips back into flirting with Simon, a man she has known since childhood.
Alice, Felix, Eileen and Simon are still young-but life is catching up with them. They desire each other, they delude each other, they get together, they break apart. They have sex, they worry about sex, they worry about their friendships and the world they live in. Are they standing in the last lighted room before the darkness, bearing witness to something? Will they find a way to believe in a beautiful world?
Alice, Felix, Eileen and Simon are still young-but life is catching up with them. They desire each other, they delude each other, they get together, they break apart. They have sex, they worry about sex, they worry about their friendships and the world they live in. Are they standing in the last lighted room before the darkness, bearing witness to something? Will they find a way to believe in a beautiful world?
The Last Exiles
Ann Shin
$29.99
Paperback • 304 pages
A searing portrait of a young couple in Pyongyang and their fight for love and freedom.
Jin and Suja meet and fall in love while studying at university in Pyongyang. She is a young journalist from a prominent family, while he is from a small village of little means. When Jin returns home to find his family starving, their food rations all but gone, he makes a rash decision that will haunt him for the rest of his life.
Meanwhile, miles away, Suja has learned that Jin has disappeared. Risking everything, she sets out to find him, embarking on a dangerous journey that will test their love and will to survive. In this vivid and moving story, Ann Shin offers a rare glimpse at life inside the guarded walls of North Korea. Inspired by real stories of incredible bravery, The Last Exiles is a stunning debut about love, sacrifice and the price of liberty.
Jin and Suja meet and fall in love while studying at university in Pyongyang. She is a young journalist from a prominent family, while he is from a small village of little means. When Jin returns home to find his family starving, their food rations all but gone, he makes a rash decision that will haunt him for the rest of his life.
Meanwhile, miles away, Suja has learned that Jin has disappeared. Risking everything, she sets out to find him, embarking on a dangerous journey that will test their love and will to survive. In this vivid and moving story, Ann Shin offers a rare glimpse at life inside the guarded walls of North Korea. Inspired by real stories of incredible bravery, The Last Exiles is a stunning debut about love, sacrifice and the price of liberty.
The Country of Others
Leila Slimani
$29.99
Paperback • 336 pages
Alsace, 1944. Mathilde finds herself falling deeply in love with Amine Belhaj, a Moroccan soldier, billeted in her town, fighting for the French.
After the Liberation, Mathilde leaves France, following Amine to Morocco. But life here is unrecognizable to this brave and passionate young woman. Where she she once danced, bickered with her sister, her life is now that of a farmer's wife - with all the sacrifices and vexations that brings.
Suffocated by the heat, by her loneliness on the farm, by the mistrust she inspires as a foreigner and by the lack of money Mathilde grows restless. As Morocco's own struggle for independence grows daily, Mathilde and Amine find themselves caught in the crossfire . . .
This story of two nations at war, two cultures at loggerheads, and one family torn apart is as tenderly observed as it is devastatingly true.
After the Liberation, Mathilde leaves France, following Amine to Morocco. But life here is unrecognizable to this brave and passionate young woman. Where she she once danced, bickered with her sister, her life is now that of a farmer's wife - with all the sacrifices and vexations that brings.
Suffocated by the heat, by her loneliness on the farm, by the mistrust she inspires as a foreigner and by the lack of money Mathilde grows restless. As Morocco's own struggle for independence grows daily, Mathilde and Amine find themselves caught in the crossfire . . .
This story of two nations at war, two cultures at loggerheads, and one family torn apart is as tenderly observed as it is devastatingly true.
Harlem Shuffle
Colson Whitehead
$32.99
Paperback • 336 pages
'Ray Carney was only slightly bent when it came to being crooked...' To his customers and neighbors on 125th street, Carney is an upstanding salesman of reasonably-priced furniture, making a life for himself and his family. He and his wife Elizabeth are expecting their second child, and if her parents on Striver's Row don't approve of him or their cramped apartment across from the subway tracks, it's still home.
Few people know he descends from a line of uptown hoods and crooks, and that his fa ade of normalcy has more than a few cracks in it. Cracks that are getting bigger and bigger all the time.
See, cash is tight, especially with all those instalment plan sofas, so if his cousin Freddie occasionally drops off the odd ring or necklace at the furniture store, Ray doesn't see the need to ask where it comes from. He knows a discreet jeweller downtown who also doesn't ask questions.
Then Freddie falls in with a crew who plan to rob the Hotel Theresa - the 'Waldorf of Harlem' - and volunteers Ray's services as the fence. The heist doesn't go as planned; they rarely do, after all. Now Ray has to cater to a new clientele, one made up of shady cops on the take, vicious minions of the local crime lord, and numerous other Harlem lowlifes.
Thus begins the internal tussle between Ray the striver and Ray the crook. As Ray navigates this double life, he starts to see the truth about who actually pulls the strings in Harlem. Can Ray avoid getting killed, save his cousin, and grab his share of the big score, all while maintaining his reputation as the go-to source for all your quality home furniture needs?
HARLEM SHUFFLE is driven by an ingeniously intricate plot that plays out in a beautifully recreated Harlem of the early 1960s. It's a family saga masquerading as a crime novel, a hilarious morality play, a social novel about race and power, and ultimately a love letter to Harlem.
Few people know he descends from a line of uptown hoods and crooks, and that his fa ade of normalcy has more than a few cracks in it. Cracks that are getting bigger and bigger all the time.
See, cash is tight, especially with all those instalment plan sofas, so if his cousin Freddie occasionally drops off the odd ring or necklace at the furniture store, Ray doesn't see the need to ask where it comes from. He knows a discreet jeweller downtown who also doesn't ask questions.
Then Freddie falls in with a crew who plan to rob the Hotel Theresa - the 'Waldorf of Harlem' - and volunteers Ray's services as the fence. The heist doesn't go as planned; they rarely do, after all. Now Ray has to cater to a new clientele, one made up of shady cops on the take, vicious minions of the local crime lord, and numerous other Harlem lowlifes.
Thus begins the internal tussle between Ray the striver and Ray the crook. As Ray navigates this double life, he starts to see the truth about who actually pulls the strings in Harlem. Can Ray avoid getting killed, save his cousin, and grab his share of the big score, all while maintaining his reputation as the go-to source for all your quality home furniture needs?
HARLEM SHUFFLE is driven by an ingeniously intricate plot that plays out in a beautifully recreated Harlem of the early 1960s. It's a family saga masquerading as a crime novel, a hilarious morality play, a social novel about race and power, and ultimately a love letter to Harlem.
Advocate - Historical Fiction
abbeys.com.au
The Women of Troy
Pat Barker
$32.99
Paperback • 320 pages
Sequel to critically acclaimed bestseller The Silence of the Girls, an extraordinary retelling of one of our greatest classical myths from one of best writers of war fiction
Troy has fallen and the Greek victors are primed to return home, loaded with spoils. All they need is a good wind to lift their sails.
But the wind does not come. The gods are offended – the body of Priam lies desecrated, unburied – and so the victors remain in uneasy limbo, camped in the shadow of the city they destroyed. The coalition that held them together begins to fray, as old feuds resurface and new suspicions fester.
Largely unnoticed by her squabbling captors, erstwhile queen Briseis remains in the Greek encampment. She forges alliances where she can – with young, rebellious Amina, with defiant, aged Hecuba, with Calchus, the disgraced priest – and she begins to see the path to revenge...
A Marriage of Lions
Elizabeth Chadwick
$32.99
Paperback • 528 pages
An auspicious match, an invitation to war.
'Picking up an Elizabeth Chadwick novel you know you are in for a sumptuous ride' Daily Telegraph * England, 1238 Raised at the court of King Henry III as a chamber lady to the queen, young Joanna of Swanscombe's life changes forever when she comes into an inheritance far above all expectations, including her own.
Now a wealthy heiress, Joanna's arranged marriage to the King's charming, tournament-loving half-brother William de Valence immediately stokes the flames of political unrest as more established courtiers object to the privileges bestowed on newcomers.
As Joanna and William strive to build a life together, England descends into a bitter civil war. In mortal danger, William is forced to run for his life, and Joanna is left with only her wit and courage to outfox their enemies and prevent them from destroying her husband, her family, and their fortunes.
Praise for Elizabeth Chadwick 'An author who makes history come gloriously alive' The Times 'Stunning . . . Her characters are beguiling, and the story is intriguing' Barbara Erskine 'Meticulous research and strong storytelling' Woman & Home
'Picking up an Elizabeth Chadwick novel you know you are in for a sumptuous ride' Daily Telegraph * England, 1238 Raised at the court of King Henry III as a chamber lady to the queen, young Joanna of Swanscombe's life changes forever when she comes into an inheritance far above all expectations, including her own.
Now a wealthy heiress, Joanna's arranged marriage to the King's charming, tournament-loving half-brother William de Valence immediately stokes the flames of political unrest as more established courtiers object to the privileges bestowed on newcomers.
As Joanna and William strive to build a life together, England descends into a bitter civil war. In mortal danger, William is forced to run for his life, and Joanna is left with only her wit and courage to outfox their enemies and prevent them from destroying her husband, her family, and their fortunes.
Praise for Elizabeth Chadwick 'An author who makes history come gloriously alive' The Times 'Stunning . . . Her characters are beguiling, and the story is intriguing' Barbara Erskine 'Meticulous research and strong storytelling' Woman & Home
Gulliver's Wife
Lauren Chater
$19.99
Paperback • 416 pages
Birth. Death. Wonder ... One woman's journey to the edge of love and loyalty from the bestselling author of The Lace Weaver London, 1702. When her husband is lost at sea, Mary Burton Gulliver, midwife and herbalist, is forced to rebuild her life without him. But three years later when Lemuel Gulliver is brought home, fevered and communicating only in riddles, her ordered world is turned upside down.
In a climate of desperate poverty and violence, Mary is caught in a crossfire of suspicion and fear driven by her husband's outlandish claims, and it is up to her to navigate a passage to safety for herself and her daughter, and the vulnerable women in her care.
When a fellow sailor, a dangerous man with nothing to lose, appears to hold sway over her husband, Mary's world descends deeper into chaos, and she must set out on her own journey to discover the truth of Gulliver's travels . . . and the landscape of her own heart.
Praise for Gulliver's Wife 'An absolutely gripping read, with a powerful and ultimately hopeful story to tell' Booktopia 'Gulliver's Wife is utterly spellbinding. Lauren Chater is a master of story-weaving and exquisite detail. I adored this book.' Melissa Ashley, bestselling author of The Birdman's Wife 'Lauren Chater's Mary Gulliver is an extraordinary character - a performer of everyday miracles, a woman of quiet strength and compassion in a world where nothing can be relied on, least of all her flamboyant fantasist of a husband. Set in a fictional past, this superbly written story of love, loss, motherhood, and letting go is highly relevant to the issues we face today. Do not miss it.' Meg Keneally, author of Fled 'Bold, evocative and brave - Gulliver's Wife is a revelation in story-telling. I am in awe of Lauren Chater's talent. Gulliver's Wife had my heart from the opening line and didn't let go until long after I finished the final page. An exquisitely told tale of love, loss and the magic of life.' Tess Woods, author of Love and Other Battles 'An imaginative tour-de-force!' Bestselling author Kate Forsyth 'The most impressive aspect of this novel is the finely tuned and nuanced treatment of the relationship between a mother and her rebellious teenage daughter.' Sydney Morning Herald 'A heartfelt tale of female solidarity.' Daily Telegraph
In a climate of desperate poverty and violence, Mary is caught in a crossfire of suspicion and fear driven by her husband's outlandish claims, and it is up to her to navigate a passage to safety for herself and her daughter, and the vulnerable women in her care.
When a fellow sailor, a dangerous man with nothing to lose, appears to hold sway over her husband, Mary's world descends deeper into chaos, and she must set out on her own journey to discover the truth of Gulliver's travels . . . and the landscape of her own heart.
Praise for Gulliver's Wife 'An absolutely gripping read, with a powerful and ultimately hopeful story to tell' Booktopia 'Gulliver's Wife is utterly spellbinding. Lauren Chater is a master of story-weaving and exquisite detail. I adored this book.' Melissa Ashley, bestselling author of The Birdman's Wife 'Lauren Chater's Mary Gulliver is an extraordinary character - a performer of everyday miracles, a woman of quiet strength and compassion in a world where nothing can be relied on, least of all her flamboyant fantasist of a husband. Set in a fictional past, this superbly written story of love, loss, motherhood, and letting go is highly relevant to the issues we face today. Do not miss it.' Meg Keneally, author of Fled 'Bold, evocative and brave - Gulliver's Wife is a revelation in story-telling. I am in awe of Lauren Chater's talent. Gulliver's Wife had my heart from the opening line and didn't let go until long after I finished the final page. An exquisitely told tale of love, loss and the magic of life.' Tess Woods, author of Love and Other Battles 'An imaginative tour-de-force!' Bestselling author Kate Forsyth 'The most impressive aspect of this novel is the finely tuned and nuanced treatment of the relationship between a mother and her rebellious teenage daughter.' Sydney Morning Herald 'A heartfelt tale of female solidarity.' Daily Telegraph
Sea Change
Alix Nathan
$29.99
Paperback • 256 pages
'I'll be back soon, my love. Tonight, I hope.' The last Eve saw of her mother was a wave from the basket of a rising balloon. A wilful, lonely orphan in the house of her erratic artist guardian, Eve struggles to retain the image of her missing mother and the father she never knew. In a London beset by pageantry, incipient riot and the fear of Napoleonic invasion, Eve must grow into a young woman with no one to guide her through its perils.
Far away, in a Norfolk fishing village, the Rev Snead preaches hellfire and damnation to his impoverished parishioners and oppressed wife. Snead illustrates his sermons with the example of a mute woman pulled from the sea, over whom he keeps a very close watch indeed.
Far away, in a Norfolk fishing village, the Rev Snead preaches hellfire and damnation to his impoverished parishioners and oppressed wife. Snead illustrates his sermons with the example of a mute woman pulled from the sea, over whom he keeps a very close watch indeed.
The New Kingdom
Wilbur Smith , Mark Chadbourn
$39.99
Hardback • 432 pages
A brand-new Egyptian novel from the master of adventure fiction, Wilbur Smith.
In the heart of Egypt Under the watchful eye of the gods A new power is rising In the city of Lahun, Hui lives an enchanted life. The favoured son of a doting father, and ruler-in-waiting of the great city, his fate is set. But behind the beautiful facades a sinister evil is plotting. Craving power and embittered by jealousy, Hui's stepmother, the great sorceress Isetnofret, and Hui's own brother Qen, orchestrate the downfall of Hui's father, condemning Hui and seizing power in the city.
Cast out and alone, Hui finds himself a captive of a skilled and powerful army of outlaws, the Hyksos. Determined to seek vengeance for the death of his father and rescue his sister, Ipwet, Hui swears his allegiance to these enemies of Egypt. Through them he learns the art of war, learning how to fight and becoming an envied charioteer.
But soon Hui finds himself in an even greater battle - one for the very heart of Egypt itself. As the pieces fall into place and the Gods themselves join the fray, Hui finds himself fighting alongside the Egyptian General Tanus and renowned Mage, Taita. Now Hui must choose his path - will he be a hero in the old world, or a master in a new kingdom?
In the heart of Egypt Under the watchful eye of the gods A new power is rising In the city of Lahun, Hui lives an enchanted life. The favoured son of a doting father, and ruler-in-waiting of the great city, his fate is set. But behind the beautiful facades a sinister evil is plotting. Craving power and embittered by jealousy, Hui's stepmother, the great sorceress Isetnofret, and Hui's own brother Qen, orchestrate the downfall of Hui's father, condemning Hui and seizing power in the city.
Cast out and alone, Hui finds himself a captive of a skilled and powerful army of outlaws, the Hyksos. Determined to seek vengeance for the death of his father and rescue his sister, Ipwet, Hui swears his allegiance to these enemies of Egypt. Through them he learns the art of war, learning how to fight and becoming an envied charioteer.
But soon Hui finds himself in an even greater battle - one for the very heart of Egypt itself. As the pieces fall into place and the Gods themselves join the fray, Hui finds himself fighting alongside the Egyptian General Tanus and renowned Mage, Taita. Now Hui must choose his path - will he be a hero in the old world, or a master in a new kingdom?
The Silence of Scheherazade
Defne Suman , Betsy Goeksel
$32.99
Paperback • 512 pages
Set in the ancient city of Smyrna, this historical novel follows the intertwining fates of four families as their peaceful city is ripped apart by the dissolution of the Ottoman Empire.
At the heart of the Ottoman Empire, in the ancient city of Smyrna, a devastating moment determines the fates of four families.
On an orange-tinted evening in September 1905, Scheherazade is born to an opium-dazed mother in the ancient city of Smyrna. At the very same moment, a dashing Indian spy arrives in the harbour with a secret mission from the British Empire. He sails in to golden-hued spires and minarets, scents of fig and sycamore, and the cries of street hawkers selling their wares. When he leaves, seventeen years later, it will be to the heavy smell of kerosene and smoke as the city, and its people, are engulfed in flames.
But let us not rush, for much will happen between then and now. Birth, death, romance and grief are all to come as these peaceful, cosmopolitan streets are used as bargaining chips in the wake of the First World War.
Told through the intertwining fates of a Levantine, a Greek, a Turkish and an Armenian family, this unforgettable novel reveals a city, and a culture, now lost to time.
'This rich tale of love and loss gives voice to the silenced, and adds music to their histories' Maureen Freely, Chair, English PEN
'A must-read' Ayse Arman, Hurriyet
A symphony of literature' Acik Radyo
'Defne Suman is a story-teller. She tells the story of how love, emotions and identities are influenced by socio-political events of a lifetime' Cumhuriyet Newspaper
'A wonderfully braided story of family secrets set in the magical city of Smyrna, told in luminous prose' Lou Ureneck, author of Smyrna, September 1922
Advocate - Australian Biography
abbeys.com.au
Lies, Damned Lies: A personal exploration of the impact of colonisation
Claire G. Coleman
$32.99
Paperback • 288 pages
A deeply personal exploration of Australia's colonisation past, present and future by one of Australia's finest contemporary authors This is a difficult piece to write. It cuts closer to the bone than most of what I have written; closer to my bones, through my blood and flesh to the bones of truth and country; there is truth here, not disguised but in the open and that truth hurts.
In Lies, Damned Lies acclaimed author Claire G. Coleman, a proud Noongar woman, takes the reader on a journey through the past, present and future of Australia, lensed through her own experience. Beautifully written, this literary work blends the personal with the political, offering readers an insight into the stark reality of the ongoing trauma of Australia's violent colonisation.
Colonisation in Australia is not over. Colonisation is a process, not an event - and the after-effects will continue while there are still people to remember it.
Praise for Claire G. Coleman 'An urgent examination of oneself and one's country. Written with a booming cadence that demands to be read aloud, again and again.' - Tara June Winch, Miles Franklin Award winning author of The Yield 'You may think you're woke, but Coleman never sleeps.' - Dr Tyson Yunkaporta, bestselling author of Sand Talk 'Coleman is unflinching.' - Sydney Review of Books on Terra Nullius 'Coleman stuns with this imaginative, astounding debut about colonisation.' - Publishers Weekly on Terra Nullius 'A powerful, sobering piece of writing that makes us face an Australia we try to forget, but should always remember.' - Adelaide Review on Terra Nullius
In Lies, Damned Lies acclaimed author Claire G. Coleman, a proud Noongar woman, takes the reader on a journey through the past, present and future of Australia, lensed through her own experience. Beautifully written, this literary work blends the personal with the political, offering readers an insight into the stark reality of the ongoing trauma of Australia's violent colonisation.
Colonisation in Australia is not over. Colonisation is a process, not an event - and the after-effects will continue while there are still people to remember it.
Praise for Claire G. Coleman 'An urgent examination of oneself and one's country. Written with a booming cadence that demands to be read aloud, again and again.' - Tara June Winch, Miles Franklin Award winning author of The Yield 'You may think you're woke, but Coleman never sleeps.' - Dr Tyson Yunkaporta, bestselling author of Sand Talk 'Coleman is unflinching.' - Sydney Review of Books on Terra Nullius 'Coleman stuns with this imaginative, astounding debut about colonisation.' - Publishers Weekly on Terra Nullius 'A powerful, sobering piece of writing that makes us face an Australia we try to forget, but should always remember.' - Adelaide Review on Terra Nullius
My Friend Fox
Heidi Everett
$27.99
Hardback • 192 pages
'Tender, wise, and deeply true.' - Andrew Denton 'Blazingly beautiful and devastating. I wept but felt less alone as a human. I want everyone to read this book!' - Favel Parrett, author of Past the Shallows and There Was Still Love The fox sits on the outer waiting for me to discover him because at the moment, I am on the outer too. He watches me. Can you see him? He's clever at hiding.
Just like fox, Heidi has lived on the outer. The 'official record' of her life has been her mental health record: Primary diagnosis - Schizoaffective; Comorbidity - Major depression, juvenile autism, and not her own memories. This is the living, breathing version of Heidi's mental health file that psych wards, doctors, mental health staff or rehab workers know little about or worse, use as evidence of diagnoses. This is Heidi's account of what happened, shadowed by the story of a fox who knows he'll never belong.
Part parable, part memoir, My Friend Fox is a story that might be familiar to some - searching everywhere to finally feel at home. With fox as her guide, Heidi comes to know how to live authentically, and venture into a future of her own making.
A literary memoir about the the wonder, the humour, and the realities that exist beyond what is printed in a mental health file. Alongside Heidi's beautifully lyrical words are her exquisite line drawings, making My Friend Fox a book to be read, treasured, and gifted.
Praise for My Friend Fox 'a thoroughly real and stunningly evocative retelling of her life.' - Books + Publishing 'My Friend Fox is a beautiful memoir about experiencing diverse mental health. Heidi Everett is generous and gentle in sharing her story in order to demand a better mental health system for all.' - Carly Findlay, author of Say Hello and editor of Growing Up Disabled in Australia 'With breathtakingly original prose, Heidi Everett gently guides the reader through the complexities of living with mental illness. Humorous, heartfelt and humane, My Friend Fox is a deeply moving and essential read.' - Fiona Murphy, author of The Shape of Sound 'A raw and harrowing glimpse into life lived on the precipice, My Friend Fox boldly rips the facade from our sanitised perception of mental health treatment. And yet it is also tender and beautiful, with wisps of fable sprouting through the cracks; radiant art hewn from the darkness of the abyss.' - Bram Presser, author of The Book of Dirt 'If ever there was an authentic voice for survival from mental distress, then this is it. As painful as Heidi Everett's story is, it is told in the most inventive and magical way. Her use of language and imagery is that of poet who constantly surprises and startles. Creativity and imagination are the soul food that nourish Heidi back to sanity. As does her dog Tigger, her inseparable companion with whom she shares her life and struggles. This is a most wonderful book from a most wonderful writer.' - Sandy Jeffs, author of Flying with Paper Wings'This book is a story of reclamation, resilience and resistance. Heidi reclaims her story from the mental health industry that has defined her based on diagnoses and rewrites it as her own, rich, important experience which holds lessons for us all. My Friend Fox is an evocative and emotive memoir from an outstandingly talented writer. A must read for anyone who has ever felt on the outer.' - Jax Jacki Brown, disability activist and writer
Just like fox, Heidi has lived on the outer. The 'official record' of her life has been her mental health record: Primary diagnosis - Schizoaffective; Comorbidity - Major depression, juvenile autism, and not her own memories. This is the living, breathing version of Heidi's mental health file that psych wards, doctors, mental health staff or rehab workers know little about or worse, use as evidence of diagnoses. This is Heidi's account of what happened, shadowed by the story of a fox who knows he'll never belong.
Part parable, part memoir, My Friend Fox is a story that might be familiar to some - searching everywhere to finally feel at home. With fox as her guide, Heidi comes to know how to live authentically, and venture into a future of her own making.
A literary memoir about the the wonder, the humour, and the realities that exist beyond what is printed in a mental health file. Alongside Heidi's beautifully lyrical words are her exquisite line drawings, making My Friend Fox a book to be read, treasured, and gifted.
Praise for My Friend Fox 'a thoroughly real and stunningly evocative retelling of her life.' - Books + Publishing 'My Friend Fox is a beautiful memoir about experiencing diverse mental health. Heidi Everett is generous and gentle in sharing her story in order to demand a better mental health system for all.' - Carly Findlay, author of Say Hello and editor of Growing Up Disabled in Australia 'With breathtakingly original prose, Heidi Everett gently guides the reader through the complexities of living with mental illness. Humorous, heartfelt and humane, My Friend Fox is a deeply moving and essential read.' - Fiona Murphy, author of The Shape of Sound 'A raw and harrowing glimpse into life lived on the precipice, My Friend Fox boldly rips the facade from our sanitised perception of mental health treatment. And yet it is also tender and beautiful, with wisps of fable sprouting through the cracks; radiant art hewn from the darkness of the abyss.' - Bram Presser, author of The Book of Dirt 'If ever there was an authentic voice for survival from mental distress, then this is it. As painful as Heidi Everett's story is, it is told in the most inventive and magical way. Her use of language and imagery is that of poet who constantly surprises and startles. Creativity and imagination are the soul food that nourish Heidi back to sanity. As does her dog Tigger, her inseparable companion with whom she shares her life and struggles. This is a most wonderful book from a most wonderful writer.' - Sandy Jeffs, author of Flying with Paper Wings'This book is a story of reclamation, resilience and resistance. Heidi reclaims her story from the mental health industry that has defined her based on diagnoses and rewrites it as her own, rich, important experience which holds lessons for us all. My Friend Fox is an evocative and emotive memoir from an outstandingly talented writer. A must read for anyone who has ever felt on the outer.' - Jax Jacki Brown, disability activist and writer
UGLY: A Bikie's Life
Phil 'Ugly' Mawson , Pauly Fenech , Jordan King-Lacroix
$34.99
Paperback • 320 pages
Living by his own rules has always been the way of Phil 'Ugly' Mawson. A fighter, a protector, a figurehead, a jailbird, a son, husband and father, who started a brotherhood and has stood by it ever since.
'We were about to get into it when the other soldiers pulled us apart. I didn't care about squaring off against a Major, I was going home. I didn't really even know what I was saying, I was just seeing red - I'll start my own army when I get home.'
And that's exactly what I ended up doing.
A boxer, a soldier, a bikie, a killer, he has played many roles in his life. After a yearlong stint in Vietnam, he returned to Australia feeling let down by the military and society at large. Seeking brotherhood and belonging, he found what he was looking for when he founded the first Australian chapter of the Gypsy Jokers motorcycle club.
In his own words, Ugly explores the ups and downs of a life lived on the fringe and spent chasing the freedom of the open road.
The Boy From Long Gully: Australia's unsung hero from the early 1900s Heroic Age of Antarctic Exploration
Wilson McOrist
$29.99
Paperback • 260 pages
In 1914, Richard Richards abandons his comfortable life as a science teacher in Australia, to join a support party for Ernest Shackleton, in a very unfamiliar place; the Antarctic. Due to unforeseen circumstances Richards and a number of his companions become stranded in the Antarctic. However, despite his comparative youth, and inexperience in polar conditions, Richards adapts and survives, unlike some of his companions. He becomes more than an integral member of the team; he takes over a leadership role. He demonstrates what humans can do to stay alive, against near-impossible odds.
The Boy from Long Gully provides the reader with a thrilling insight into the mind-blowing and harrowing ordeal of twenty-two-year-old Richards. It is an utterly riveting story, one of the most amazing tales from a bygone era; the so-called Heroic Age in the Antarctic. Richard Richards is awarded the Albert Medal in 1923, for his heroism and gallantry in saving life in the Antarctic, the only Australian ever to be so honoured. However, with the Australian public today he is almost unknown. He is an unsung hero, but he ranks alongside Douglas Mawson in any yardstick of famous Australians from the early 1900s 'Heroic Age of Antarctic Exploration'.
The Boy from Long Gully provides the reader with a thrilling insight into the mind-blowing and harrowing ordeal of twenty-two-year-old Richards. It is an utterly riveting story, one of the most amazing tales from a bygone era; the so-called Heroic Age in the Antarctic. Richard Richards is awarded the Albert Medal in 1923, for his heroism and gallantry in saving life in the Antarctic, the only Australian ever to be so honoured. However, with the Australian public today he is almost unknown. He is an unsung hero, but he ranks alongside Douglas Mawson in any yardstick of famous Australians from the early 1900s 'Heroic Age of Antarctic Exploration'.
Daring to Fly: The TV star on facing fear and finding joy on a deadline
Lisa Millar
$32.99
Paperback • 320 pages
The utterly inspirational story behind one of our country's most superb journalists. To have played even the tiniest of roles in helping to ignite Lisa's early fire for journalism gives me more joy than she will ever know. - LISA WILKINSON Lisa Millar has spent her whole life showing up, getting things done and making things happen. As a child growing up in country Queensland, she dreamed of a big life. Working as a foreign correspondent gave her that, but it also meant confronting the worst that humanity can bring. Three decades as a journalist witnessing tragedy had a cost. And an ever-escalating fear of flying threatened to rob her of her ability to work at all.
For that young girl from small-town Kilkivan, who had to push herself to keep going, push herself to conquer fear, push herself to tell important stories, finally came the realisation that sometimes all we really need is what we already have. And she shows us that we are all stronger and more resilient than we give ourselves credit for if we just dare to let ourselves fly.
For that young girl from small-town Kilkivan, who had to push herself to keep going, push herself to conquer fear, push herself to tell important stories, finally came the realisation that sometimes all we really need is what we already have. And she shows us that we are all stronger and more resilient than we give ourselves credit for if we just dare to let ourselves fly.
My Body Keeps Your Secrets
Lucia Osborne-Crowley
$29.99
Paperback • 320 pages
It occurred to me that the thing that made me the sickest, the thing that made me suffer most, was the fact that I felt so compelled to hide what had been done to me. Because I believed it was all my fault.
Lucia Osborne-Crowley didn't tell a soul when she was raped aged fifteen. Then, eighteen months after she was attacked, her body began to turn on her - and what followed were sudden bouts of searing, unbearable pain that saw her in and out of hospital for the next ten years.
At twenty-five, Lucia for the first time told the truth about her rape. This disclosure triggered an endless series of appointments with doctors, trauma specialists and therapists. Meanwhile, Lucia threw herself into researching the shadowy intricacies of abuse, trauma and shame.
In My Body Keeps Your Secrets, Lucia shares the voices of women and trans and non-binary people around the world, as well as her own deeply moving testimony. She writes of vulnerability, acceptance and the reclaiming of our selves, all in defiance of a world where atrocities are committed and survivors are repeatedly told to carry the weight of that shame.
Widely researched and boldly argued, this book reveals the secrets our bodies bury deep within them, the way trauma can rewrite our biology, and how our complicated relationships with sex affect our connection with others. Crafted in a daring and immersive literary form, My Body Keeps Your Secrets is a necessary, elegant and empathetic work that further establishes Lucia's credentials as a key intersectional feminist thinker for a new generation.
'Brave, unflinching and infuriating, the stories Lucia has collated are ones that desperately need to be heard' Osman Faruqi, award-winning journalist 'Lucia Osborne-Crowley knows the natural range of the human body is so much greater than we have imagined. She has lived it. This book is a clever catalogue of the ways our bodies endure and the work they do in making sure we do, too. Osborne-Crowley writes with an elegant precision about this most urgent of subjects. Like the human body, this book contains a warning: if we do not attend to its revelations, there may well be pain. Bold, sharp and compassionate, this work announces Osborne-Crowley as a writer with great purpose.' Rick Morton, author of One Hundred Years of Dirt and My Year of Living Vulnerably 'It is both thrilling and terrifying when a body refuses to remain silent anymore. My Body Keeps Your Secrets is a beautiful and deeply moving book, and one that is vitally important: we have so much still to learn about the somatic nature of assault and trauma. Lucia Osborne-Crowley has written an insightful and moving witness statement for women who live with the consequences of assault and abuse, and for the world that has refused to see. Our bodies hold our traumas, and Osborne-Crowley refuses to keep the silence anymore.' Virginia Trioli, journalist, author, radio and television presenter
Lucia Osborne-Crowley didn't tell a soul when she was raped aged fifteen. Then, eighteen months after she was attacked, her body began to turn on her - and what followed were sudden bouts of searing, unbearable pain that saw her in and out of hospital for the next ten years.
At twenty-five, Lucia for the first time told the truth about her rape. This disclosure triggered an endless series of appointments with doctors, trauma specialists and therapists. Meanwhile, Lucia threw herself into researching the shadowy intricacies of abuse, trauma and shame.
In My Body Keeps Your Secrets, Lucia shares the voices of women and trans and non-binary people around the world, as well as her own deeply moving testimony. She writes of vulnerability, acceptance and the reclaiming of our selves, all in defiance of a world where atrocities are committed and survivors are repeatedly told to carry the weight of that shame.
Widely researched and boldly argued, this book reveals the secrets our bodies bury deep within them, the way trauma can rewrite our biology, and how our complicated relationships with sex affect our connection with others. Crafted in a daring and immersive literary form, My Body Keeps Your Secrets is a necessary, elegant and empathetic work that further establishes Lucia's credentials as a key intersectional feminist thinker for a new generation.
'Brave, unflinching and infuriating, the stories Lucia has collated are ones that desperately need to be heard' Osman Faruqi, award-winning journalist 'Lucia Osborne-Crowley knows the natural range of the human body is so much greater than we have imagined. She has lived it. This book is a clever catalogue of the ways our bodies endure and the work they do in making sure we do, too. Osborne-Crowley writes with an elegant precision about this most urgent of subjects. Like the human body, this book contains a warning: if we do not attend to its revelations, there may well be pain. Bold, sharp and compassionate, this work announces Osborne-Crowley as a writer with great purpose.' Rick Morton, author of One Hundred Years of Dirt and My Year of Living Vulnerably 'It is both thrilling and terrifying when a body refuses to remain silent anymore. My Body Keeps Your Secrets is a beautiful and deeply moving book, and one that is vitally important: we have so much still to learn about the somatic nature of assault and trauma. Lucia Osborne-Crowley has written an insightful and moving witness statement for women who live with the consequences of assault and abuse, and for the world that has refused to see. Our bodies hold our traumas, and Osborne-Crowley refuses to keep the silence anymore.' Virginia Trioli, journalist, author, radio and television presenter
Lowitja: The authorised biography of Lowitja O'Donoghue
Stuart Rintoul
$34.99
Paperback • 392 pages
'I am sometimes identified as one of the success stories of the policies of removal of Aboriginal children. But for much of my childhood I was deeply unhappy. I feel I had been deprived of love and the ability to love in return. Like Lily, my mother, I felt totally powerless. And I think this is where the seeds of my commitment to human rights and social justice were sown.' – Lowitja O'Donoghue
Lowitja O'Donoghue is a truly great Australian. She is arguably our nation's most recognised Indigenous woman. A powerful and unrelenting advocate for her people, an inspiration for many, a former Australian of the Year, she sat opposite Prime Minister Paul Keating in the first negotiations between an Australian government and Aboriginal people and changed the course of the nation.
But when Lowitja was born in 1932 to an Aboriginal mother and a white father in the harsh and uncompromising landscape of Central Australia the expectations for her life could not have been more different. At the age of two, she was handed over to the missionaries of the Colebrook Home for Half-Caste Children and cut off completely from her people and her culture. She would not see her mother again for another thirty years and would have no memory of her father.
In 2001 a bitter controversy arose over whether Lowitja was 'stolen' as a child. In search of a past she did not remember, Lowitja went back to Central Australia accompanied by journalist Stuart Rintoul. This ground-breaking and long-awaited biography completes that journey into Lowitja's life and the challenging history of her times. It is a remarkable work about an extraordinary woman.
'A remarkable Australian leader. A leader whose unfailing instinct for enlargement marks her out as unique.' – Paul Keating, Prime Minister of Australia 1991-96
'If there is one woman that you would identify as being someone that inspires you, that terrifies you, that is a symbol of possibility, it would be Lowitja. The dignity, I think, is the thing that you remember the most.' – Linda Burney, first Aboriginal woman to be elected to the House of Representatives
'The greatest Aboriginal leader of the modern era . . . the rock who steadied us in the storm. Resolute, scolding, warm and generous, courageous, steely, gracious and fair. She held the hardest leadership brief in the nation and performed it bravely and with distinction.' – Noel Pearson, Aboriginal leader
'She changed the course of Australian history. She literally seized the day.' – Robert Tickner, Minister for Aboriginal Affairs 1990-96
The Accidental Prime Minister
Annika Smethurst
$39.99
Hardback • 352 pages
'Critics have repeatedly underestimated Morrison's political skill and overplayed the impact of his missteps. But Morrison seems to understand, more than most, what gets through to mainstream Australians and what they ignore.' Nine months after the spill that catapulted Scott Morrison to the top job, he won the 2019 election, surprising politicians and pundits throughout the nation. Yet, little was really known about the former marketing man whose hard-nosed political instincts and 'daggy dad' persona took him all the way to Kirribilli House.
A devout Christian family man on one hand, ambitious and poll-obsessed on the other, the seemingly blunder-prone Morrison has surpassed expectations of his tenure and voter popularity more than once, making him one of Australia's most underestimated modern political figures.
In this first biography of the thirtieth prime minister of Australia, multi-award-winning political journalist Annika Smethurst examines the fundamental question about Morrison: is his success a case of being in the right place at the right time, or is he one of the most strategic and shrewd political operators to ever hold the office?
'A penetrating study of relentless ambition and making ordinary the new political norm - none of it edifying, all of it essential reading' Laura Tingle
A devout Christian family man on one hand, ambitious and poll-obsessed on the other, the seemingly blunder-prone Morrison has surpassed expectations of his tenure and voter popularity more than once, making him one of Australia's most underestimated modern political figures.
In this first biography of the thirtieth prime minister of Australia, multi-award-winning political journalist Annika Smethurst examines the fundamental question about Morrison: is his success a case of being in the right place at the right time, or is he one of the most strategic and shrewd political operators to ever hold the office?
'A penetrating study of relentless ambition and making ordinary the new political norm - none of it edifying, all of it essential reading' Laura Tingle
Advocate - Biography
abbeys.com.au
Orwell: A Man Of Our Time
Richard Bradford
$29.99
Paperback • 304 pages
One of the most enduringly popular and controversial writers of the twentieth century, George Orwell's work is as relevant today as it was in his own lifetime. Possibly, in the age of Brexit and populism, even more so. He foresaw 'Fake News' in Nineteen Eighty Four's 'Doublethink', the creation of the EU and predicted that post-Imperial xenophobia would cause Britain to leave it.
Separate from his career as a political theorist and novelist, Orwell's life is fascinating in its own right. Disillusioned with his family's upper middle-class complacency, Orwell grew to despise the class system that spawned him, despite being unable to fully detach from it. In truth, he reserved as much suspicion and distaste for the 'proles' as he did pity.
Orwell: A Man of Our Time offers a vivid portrait of the man behind the writings, placing both him and his work at the centre of the current political landscape.
Separate from his career as a political theorist and novelist, Orwell's life is fascinating in its own right. Disillusioned with his family's upper middle-class complacency, Orwell grew to despise the class system that spawned him, despite being unable to fully detach from it. In truth, he reserved as much suspicion and distaste for the 'proles' as he did pity.
Orwell: A Man of Our Time offers a vivid portrait of the man behind the writings, placing both him and his work at the centre of the current political landscape.
Four Friends: Promising Lives Cut Short
William D. Cohan
$32.99
Paperback • 400 pages
In his masterful pieces for Vanity Fair and in his bestselling books, William D. Cohan has proved to be one of the most meticulous and intrepid journalists covering the world of Wall Street and high finance. In his new book, Four Friends, he brings all of his brilliant reportorial skills to a subject much closer to home: four friends of his who died young. All attended Andover, the most elite of American boarding schools, before spinning out into very different orbits. Using interviews from wives, colleagues, and friends, Cohan brings these men to life on the page.
Jack Berman, child of Holocaust survivors, uses his Andover pedigree to achieve the American dream only to be cut down in an unimaginable act of violence. Will Daniel, Harry Truman's grandson and son of the managing editor of The New York Times, tries desperately to escape the burdens of a family legacy he's ultimately trapped by. Harry Bull builds the life of a successful Chicago lawyer and heir to his family's fortune...before taking a devastating risk on a beautiful summer day. And the life and death of John F. Kennedy, Jr.
-a story we think we know-is told here with surprising new details that cast it in an entirely different light.
Four Friends is an inspiring account of promising lives cut short written with compassion and honesty. It captures not only the fragility of life but also its magisterial and pivotal moments.
Jack Berman, child of Holocaust survivors, uses his Andover pedigree to achieve the American dream only to be cut down in an unimaginable act of violence. Will Daniel, Harry Truman's grandson and son of the managing editor of The New York Times, tries desperately to escape the burdens of a family legacy he's ultimately trapped by. Harry Bull builds the life of a successful Chicago lawyer and heir to his family's fortune...before taking a devastating risk on a beautiful summer day. And the life and death of John F. Kennedy, Jr.
-a story we think we know-is told here with surprising new details that cast it in an entirely different light.
Four Friends is an inspiring account of promising lives cut short written with compassion and honesty. It captures not only the fragility of life but also its magisterial and pivotal moments.
Olive, Mabel and Me: Life and Adventures with Two Very Good Dogs
Andrew Cotter
$24.99
Paperback • 256 pages
Having reached over 50 million views online, Labradors Olive and Mabel became the focus of a delightful book by sports commentator Andrew Cotter. A treat for dog lovers everywhere, and the perfect antidote to our times, now available in a smaller format.
When Andrew Cotter turned his brilliant sports commentary skills from Wimbledon, the Olympics and the US Masters to lockdown contests and life online involving his two Labradors, Olive and Mabel, the result was an internet sensation. The series of videos has been viewed well over fifty million times on social media, giving comfort to locked-down dog owners and spectacle-deprived sports fans all over the world.
In Olive, Mabel & Me, Andrew tells the truth about his two canine celebrities. This is the full story of their rise to stardom, revealing more about how all three of them find peace and happiness away from the hectic world of the media, most often in the mountains. And also just how much Olive dislikes the cat next door.
Above all, though, this is a book about the love we all have for our dogs, the companionship and pure joy we get from sharing our lives with them. And the love and affection they give back to us, which is in no way related to us providing a near-constant supply of food and walks. Beautifully written, touching and laugh-out-loud funny, Olive, Mabel & Me is a treat for dog lovers everywhere.
When Andrew Cotter turned his brilliant sports commentary skills from Wimbledon, the Olympics and the US Masters to lockdown contests and life online involving his two Labradors, Olive and Mabel, the result was an internet sensation. The series of videos has been viewed well over fifty million times on social media, giving comfort to locked-down dog owners and spectacle-deprived sports fans all over the world.
In Olive, Mabel & Me, Andrew tells the truth about his two canine celebrities. This is the full story of their rise to stardom, revealing more about how all three of them find peace and happiness away from the hectic world of the media, most often in the mountains. And also just how much Olive dislikes the cat next door.
Above all, though, this is a book about the love we all have for our dogs, the companionship and pure joy we get from sharing our lives with them. And the love and affection they give back to us, which is in no way related to us providing a near-constant supply of food and walks. Beautifully written, touching and laugh-out-loud funny, Olive, Mabel & Me is a treat for dog lovers everywhere.
Lily's Promise: How I Survived Auschwitz and Found the Strength to Live
Lily Ebert , Dov Forman
$34.99
Paperback • 320 pages
A heart-wrenching and ultimately life-affirming Holocaust survivor story that demonstrates the power of love to see us through the darkest of times.
When Holocaust survivor Lily Ebert was liberated in 1945, a Jewish-American soldier gave her a banknote on which he'd written 'Good luck and happiness'. And when her great-grandson, Dov, decided to use social media to track down the family of the GI, 96-year-old Lily found herself making headlines round the world. Lily had promised herself that if she survived Auschwitz she would tell everyone the truth about the camp. Now was her chance.
In Lily's Promise she writes movingly about her happy childhood in Hungary, the death of her mother and two youngest siblings on their arrival at Auschwitz in 1944 and her determination to keep her two other sisters safe. She describes the inhumanity of the camp and the small acts of defiance that gave her strength. From there she and her sisters became slave labour in a munitions factory, and then faced a death march that they barely survived.
Lily lost so much, but she built a new life for herself and her family, first in Israel and then in London. It wasn't easy; the pain of her past was always with her, but this extraordinary woman found the strength to speak out in the hope that such evil would never happen again.
When Holocaust survivor Lily Ebert was liberated in 1945, a Jewish-American soldier gave her a banknote on which he'd written 'Good luck and happiness'. And when her great-grandson, Dov, decided to use social media to track down the family of the GI, 96-year-old Lily found herself making headlines round the world. Lily had promised herself that if she survived Auschwitz she would tell everyone the truth about the camp. Now was her chance.
In Lily's Promise she writes movingly about her happy childhood in Hungary, the death of her mother and two youngest siblings on their arrival at Auschwitz in 1944 and her determination to keep her two other sisters safe. She describes the inhumanity of the camp and the small acts of defiance that gave her strength. From there she and her sisters became slave labour in a munitions factory, and then faced a death march that they barely survived.
Lily lost so much, but she built a new life for herself and her family, first in Israel and then in London. It wasn't easy; the pain of her past was always with her, but this extraordinary woman found the strength to speak out in the hope that such evil would never happen again.
Love and Deception: Philby in Beirut
James Hanning
$32.99
Paperback • 304 pages
Love & Deception is the extraordinary story of how Eleanor, an able, cultured American living in the espionage hot spot of 1950s Beirut, fell in love with the kindest, most sensitive of men. Unknown to her, that man, a Lebanon-based journalist, Kim Philby, was under suspicion by the British and US intelligence services of having secretly signed up to help the Russians fight fascism in the 1930s, and of remaining in their pay at the height of the Cold War. Despite his mysterious past, Eleanor adored and married Philby, who later begged her to defy his difficulties. As the net closed in on Philby, he manoeuvred to save himself, but would their love survive?
The outline of Philby's story is familiar to many, but Love & Deception breaks remarkable new ground - even for spy buffs. Through in-depth research, Hanning produces an eye-opening tale of friendship, politics, love, and loyalty.
The outline of Philby's story is familiar to many, but Love & Deception breaks remarkable new ground - even for spy buffs. Through in-depth research, Hanning produces an eye-opening tale of friendship, politics, love, and loyalty.
The Nazis Knew My Name: A remarkable story of survival and courage in Auschwitz
Magda Hellinger , Maya Lee , David Brewster
$32.99
Paperback • 304 pages
The extraordinarily moving memoir by Australian Slovakian Holocaust survivor Magda Hellinger, who saved an untold number of lives at Auschwitz through everyday acts of courage, kindness and ingenuity.
In March 1942, twenty-five-year-old kindergarten teacher Magda Hellinger and nearly a thousand other young Slovakian women were deported to Poland on the second transportation of Jewish people sent to the Auschwitz concentration camp. The women were told they'd be working at a shoe factory.
At Auschwitz the SS soon discovered that by putting Jewish prisoners in charge of the day-to-day running of the accommodation blocks, camp administration and workforces, they could both reduce the number of guards required and deflect the distrust of the prisoner population away from themselves. Magda was one such prisoner selected for leadership and over three years served in many prisoner leader roles, from room leader, to block leader - at one time in charge of the notorious Experimental Block 10 where reproductive experiments were performed on hundreds of women - and eventually camp leader, responsible for 30,000 women.
She found herself constantly walking a dangerously fine line: using every possible opportunity to save lives while avoiding suspicion by the SS, and risking torture or execution. Through her bold intelligence, sheer audacity, inner strength and shrewd survival instincts, she was able to rise above the horror and cruelty of the camps and build pivotal relationships with the women under her watch, and even some of Auschwitz's most notorious Nazi senior officers including the Commandant, Josef Kramer.
Based on Magda's personal account and completed by her daughter Maya's extensive research, including testimonies from fellow Auschwitz survivors, this awe-inspiring tale offers us incredible insight into human nature, the power of resilience, and the goodness that can shine through even in the most horrific of conditions.
'A poignantly illuminating Holocaust memoir.' Kirkus Reviews 'This is an excellent read for those interested in a more detailed history of the Holocaust. The rare and fascinating personal accounts of infamous SS guards and personnel help to make The Nazis Knew My Name unputdownable, while Magda's enduring choice to save who she could will hopefully inspire kindness and selflessness in another generation.' Glam Adelaide
In March 1942, twenty-five-year-old kindergarten teacher Magda Hellinger and nearly a thousand other young Slovakian women were deported to Poland on the second transportation of Jewish people sent to the Auschwitz concentration camp. The women were told they'd be working at a shoe factory.
At Auschwitz the SS soon discovered that by putting Jewish prisoners in charge of the day-to-day running of the accommodation blocks, camp administration and workforces, they could both reduce the number of guards required and deflect the distrust of the prisoner population away from themselves. Magda was one such prisoner selected for leadership and over three years served in many prisoner leader roles, from room leader, to block leader - at one time in charge of the notorious Experimental Block 10 where reproductive experiments were performed on hundreds of women - and eventually camp leader, responsible for 30,000 women.
She found herself constantly walking a dangerously fine line: using every possible opportunity to save lives while avoiding suspicion by the SS, and risking torture or execution. Through her bold intelligence, sheer audacity, inner strength and shrewd survival instincts, she was able to rise above the horror and cruelty of the camps and build pivotal relationships with the women under her watch, and even some of Auschwitz's most notorious Nazi senior officers including the Commandant, Josef Kramer.
Based on Magda's personal account and completed by her daughter Maya's extensive research, including testimonies from fellow Auschwitz survivors, this awe-inspiring tale offers us incredible insight into human nature, the power of resilience, and the goodness that can shine through even in the most horrific of conditions.
'A poignantly illuminating Holocaust memoir.' Kirkus Reviews 'This is an excellent read for those interested in a more detailed history of the Holocaust. The rare and fascinating personal accounts of infamous SS guards and personnel help to make The Nazis Knew My Name unputdownable, while Magda's enduring choice to save who she could will hopefully inspire kindness and selflessness in another generation.' Glam Adelaide
The Fran Lebowitz Reader
Fran Lebowitz
$45
Hardback • 336 pages
Acerbic, wisecracking and hilarious, this is the definitive essay collection from New York legend and satirist, Fran Lebowitz, star of Martin Scorsese's hit Netflix series, Pretend It's a City.
'The gold standard for intelligence, efficiency and humour. Now and forever' DAVID SEDARIS 'She's inexhaustible - her personality, her knowledge, her brilliance, most of all her humour' MARTIN SCORSESE 'The rare example of a legend living up to her own mythology. She really is THAT funny' HADLEY FREEMAN Lebowitz turns her trademark caustic wit to the vicissitudes of life - from children ('rarely in the position to lend one a truly interesting sum of money') to landlords ('it is the solemn duty of every landlord to maintain an adequate supply of roaches'). And her attitude to work is the perfect antidote to our exhausting culture of self-betterment ('3.40pm. I consider getting out of bed. I reject the notion as being unduly vigorous. I read and smoke a bit more').
'Great people talk about ideas, average people talk about things and small people talk about wine' 'Think before you speak. Read before you think' 'All God's children are not beautiful. Most of God's children are, in fact, barely presentable' 'There is no such thing as inner peace. There is only nervousness and death' 'The opposite of talking isn't listening. The opposite of talking is waiting'
'The gold standard for intelligence, efficiency and humour. Now and forever' DAVID SEDARIS 'She's inexhaustible - her personality, her knowledge, her brilliance, most of all her humour' MARTIN SCORSESE 'The rare example of a legend living up to her own mythology. She really is THAT funny' HADLEY FREEMAN Lebowitz turns her trademark caustic wit to the vicissitudes of life - from children ('rarely in the position to lend one a truly interesting sum of money') to landlords ('it is the solemn duty of every landlord to maintain an adequate supply of roaches'). And her attitude to work is the perfect antidote to our exhausting culture of self-betterment ('3.40pm. I consider getting out of bed. I reject the notion as being unduly vigorous. I read and smoke a bit more').
'Great people talk about ideas, average people talk about things and small people talk about wine' 'Think before you speak. Read before you think' 'All God's children are not beautiful. Most of God's children are, in fact, barely presentable' 'There is no such thing as inner peace. There is only nervousness and death' 'The opposite of talking isn't listening. The opposite of talking is waiting'
The Complete Memoirs: Expanded Edition
Pablo Neruda , Hardie St Martin , Adrian Nathan West
$39.99
Hardback • 496 pages
Southern Chile was an open frontier when the beloved poet Pablo Neruda was born there in 1904. A motherless, pensive child in the wild, he began writing poems long before quitting the countryside for Santiago, where he spent his bohemian student years. From there, his memoir follows his travels as a globetrotting Chilean consul-including a stint in Spain during its civil war, and in Mexico, where he attracted attention for aiding a man suspected of conspiring to assassinate Leon Trotsky-and his short-lived service as a Chilean senator. Neruda, a communist, was driven from his senate seat in 1948, and a warrant was issued for his arrest. After a year in hiding, he escaped on horseback over the Andes, then to Europe and Asia. The memoirs conclude shortly after the coup in 1972 that overthrew his close friend Salvador Allende, Chile's first democratically elected president, as Neruda himself battled cancer.
Now expanded to include newly discovered material, The Complete Memoirs is the definitive edition of Neruda's classic memoir-a moving, revealing record of his life as a poet, a patriot, and one of the twentieth century's true men of conscience.
Now expanded to include newly discovered material, The Complete Memoirs is the definitive edition of Neruda's classic memoir-a moving, revealing record of his life as a poet, a patriot, and one of the twentieth century's true men of conscience.
Advocate - History
abbeys.com.au
Innovation: A History of England Volume VI
Peter Ackroyd
$36.99
Paperback • 512 pages
'Ackroyd makes history accessible to the layman' - Ian Thomson, Independent Innovation brings Peter Ackroyd's History of England to a triumphant close. In it, Ackroyd takes readers from the end of the Boer War and the accession of Edward VII to the end of the twentieth century, when his great-granddaughter Elizabeth II had been on the throne for almost five decades.
A century of enormous change, encompassing two world wars, four monarchs (Edward VII, George V, George VI and the Queen), the decline of the aristocracy and the rise of the Labour Party, women's suffrage, the birth of the NHS, the march of suburbia and the clearance of the slums. It was a period that saw the work of the Bloomsbury Group and T. S. Eliot, of Kingsley Amis and Philip Larkin, of the end of the post-war slump to the technicolour explosion of the 1960s, to free love and punk rock and from Thatcher to Blair.
A vividly readable, richly peopled tour de force, it is Peter Ackroyd writing at his considerable best.
A century of enormous change, encompassing two world wars, four monarchs (Edward VII, George V, George VI and the Queen), the decline of the aristocracy and the rise of the Labour Party, women's suffrage, the birth of the NHS, the march of suburbia and the clearance of the slums. It was a period that saw the work of the Bloomsbury Group and T. S. Eliot, of Kingsley Amis and Philip Larkin, of the end of the post-war slump to the technicolour explosion of the 1960s, to free love and punk rock and from Thatcher to Blair.
A vividly readable, richly peopled tour de force, it is Peter Ackroyd writing at his considerable best.
Currowan: A story of a fire and a community during Australia's worst summer
Bronwyn Adcock
$32.99
Paperback • 304 pages
An insider's account of surviving one of Australia's worst bushfires, and how we live with fire in a climate-changed world The gripping, deeply moving account of a terrifying fire - among the most ferocious Australia has ever seen The Currowan fire - ignited by a lightning strike in a remote forest and growing to engulf the New South Wales South Coast - was one of the most terrifying episodes of Australia's Black Summer. It burnt for seventy-four days, consuming nearly 5000 square kilometres of land, destroying well over 500 homes and leaving many people shattered.
Bronwyn Adcock fled the inferno with her children. Her husband, fighting at the front, rang with a plea for help before his phone went dead, leaving her to fear- will he make it out alive? In Currowan, Bronwyn tells her story and those of many others - what they saw, thought and felt as they battled a blaze of never-before-seen intensity. In the aftermath, there were questions- why were resources so few that many faced the flames alone? Why was there back-burning on a day of extreme fire danger? Why weren't we better prepared?
Currowan is a portrait of tragedy, survival and the power of community. Set against the backdrop of a nation in the grip of an intensifying crisis, this immersive account of a region facing disaster is a powerful glimpse into a new, more dangerous world - and how we build resilience.
Bronwyn Adcock fled the inferno with her children. Her husband, fighting at the front, rang with a plea for help before his phone went dead, leaving her to fear- will he make it out alive? In Currowan, Bronwyn tells her story and those of many others - what they saw, thought and felt as they battled a blaze of never-before-seen intensity. In the aftermath, there were questions- why were resources so few that many faced the flames alone? Why was there back-burning on a day of extreme fire danger? Why weren't we better prepared?
Currowan is a portrait of tragedy, survival and the power of community. Set against the backdrop of a nation in the grip of an intensifying crisis, this immersive account of a region facing disaster is a powerful glimpse into a new, more dangerous world - and how we build resilience.
The Dressmakers of Auschwitz: The True Story of the Women Who Sewed to Survive
Lucy Adlington
$34.99
Paperback • 400 pages
'Lucy Adlington tells of the horrors of the Nazi occupation and the concentration camps from a fascinating and original angle. She introduces us to a little known aspect of the period, highlighting the role of clothes in the grimmest of societies imaginable and giving an insight into the women who stayed alive by stitching' - Alexandra Shulman, author of Clothes...and other things that matter 'An utterly absorbing, important and unique historical read' - Judy Batalion, NY Times bestselling author of The Light of Our Days: The Untold Story of Women Resistance Fighters in Hitler's Ghettos The powerful chronicle of the women who used their sewing skills to survive the Holocaust, stitching beautiful clothes at an extraordinary fashion workshop created within one of the most notorious WWII death camps.
At the height of the Holocaust twenty-five young inmates of the infamous Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp - mainly Jewish women and girls - were selected to design, cut, and sew beautiful fashions for elite Nazi women in a dedicated salon. It was work that they hoped would spare them from the gas chambers.
This fashion workshop - called the Upper Tailoring Studio - was established by Hedwig Hoss, the camp commandant's wife, and patronized by the wives of SS guards and officers. Here, the dressmakers produced high-quality garments for SS social functions in Auschwitz, and for ladies from Nazi Berlin's upper crust.
Drawing on diverse sources - including interviews with the last surviving seamstress - The Dressmakers of Auschwitz follows the fates of these brave women. Their bonds of family and friendship not only helped them endure persecution, but also to play their part in camp resistance. Weaving the dressmakers' remarkable experiences within the context of Nazi policies for plunder and exploitation, historian Lucy Adlington exposes the greed, cruelty, and hypocrisy of the Third Reich and offers a fresh look at a little-known chapter of World War II and the Holocaust.
At the height of the Holocaust twenty-five young inmates of the infamous Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp - mainly Jewish women and girls - were selected to design, cut, and sew beautiful fashions for elite Nazi women in a dedicated salon. It was work that they hoped would spare them from the gas chambers.
This fashion workshop - called the Upper Tailoring Studio - was established by Hedwig Hoss, the camp commandant's wife, and patronized by the wives of SS guards and officers. Here, the dressmakers produced high-quality garments for SS social functions in Auschwitz, and for ladies from Nazi Berlin's upper crust.
Drawing on diverse sources - including interviews with the last surviving seamstress - The Dressmakers of Auschwitz follows the fates of these brave women. Their bonds of family and friendship not only helped them endure persecution, but also to play their part in camp resistance. Weaving the dressmakers' remarkable experiences within the context of Nazi policies for plunder and exploitation, historian Lucy Adlington exposes the greed, cruelty, and hypocrisy of the Third Reich and offers a fresh look at a little-known chapter of World War II and the Holocaust.
How Iceland Changed the World: The Big History of a Small Island
Egill Bjarnason
$24.99
Paperback • 288 pages
'How Iceland Changed the World is not only surprising and informative. It is amusing and evocatively animates a place that I have been fascinated with for most of my life. Well worth the read!' - Jane Smiley, Pulitzer Prize-winning author The history of Iceland began 1,200 years ago, when a frustrated Viking captain and his useless navigator ran aground in the middle of the North Atlantic. Suddenly, the island was no longer just a layover for the Arctic tern. Instead, it became a nation whose diplomats and musicians, sailors and soldiers, volcanoes and flowers, quietly altered the globe forever. How Iceland Changed the World takes readers on a tour of history, showing them how Iceland played a pivotal role in events as diverse as the French Revolution, the Moon Landing, and the foundation of Israel. Again and again, one humble nation has found itself at the frontline of historic events, shaping the world as we know it - How Iceland Changed the World paints a lively picture of just how it all happened. 'Egill Bjarnason has written a delightful reminder that, when it comes to countries, size doesn't always matter. His writing is a pleasure to read, reminiscent of Bill Bryson or Louis Theroux. He has made sure we will never take Iceland for granted again.' - A.J. Jacobs, New York Times bestselling author of Thanks a Thousand and The Year of Living Biblically 'Egill Bjarnason places Iceland at the center of everything, and his narrative not only entertains but enlightens, uncovering unexpected connections.' - Andri Snaer, author of On Time and Water 'Icelander Egill Bjarnason takes us on a high-speed, rough-and-tumble ride through 1,000-plus years of history-from the discovery of America to Tolkien's muse, from the French Revolution to the NASA moonwalk, from Israel's birth to the first woman president-all to display his home island's mind-opening legacy.' - Nancy Marie Brown, author of The Real Valkyrie and The Far Traveler 'I always assumed the history of Iceland had, by law or fate, to match the tone of an October morning: dark, gray, and uninviting to most mankind. This book challenges that assumption, and about time. Our past, much like the present, can be a little fun.' - Jon Gnarr, former mayor of Reykjavik and author of The Pirate and The Outlaw
Night of the Assassins: The Untold Story of Hitler's Plot to Kill FDR, Churchill, and Stalin
Howard Blum
$32.99
Paperback • 400 pages
A truly thrilling expose of the previously unknown Nazi assassination plot that could have changed history. - Edward Jay Epstein, New York Times bestselling author of The Assassination Chronicles The New York Times bestselling author returns with a tale as riveting and suspenseful as any thriller: the true story of the Nazi plot to kill the leaders of the United States, Great Britain, and the U.S.S.R. during World War II. The mission: to kill the three most important and heavily guarded men in the world. The assassins: a specially trained team headed by the killer known as The Most Dangerous Man in Europe. The stakes: nothing less than the future of the Western world. The year is 1943 and the three Allied leaders-Franklin D. Roosevelt, Winston Churchill, and Joseph Stalin-are meeting for the first time at a top-secret conference in Tehran. But the Nazis have learned about the meeting and Hitler sees it as his last chance to turn the tide. Although the war is undoubtedly lost, the Germans believe that perhaps a new set of Allied leaders might be willing to make a more reasonable peace in its aftermath. And so a plan is devised-code name Operation Long Jump-to assassinate FDR, Churchill, and Stalin. Immediately, a highly trained, hand-picked team of Nazi commandos is assembled, trained, armed with special weapons, and parachuted into Iran. They have six days to complete the daring assignment before the statesmen will return home. With no margin for error and little time to spare, Mike Reilly, the head of FDR's Secret Service detail-a man from a Montana silver mining town who describes himself as an Irish cop with more muscle than brains -must overcome his suspicions and instincts to work with a Soviet agent from the NKVD (the precursor to the KGB) to save the three most powerful men in the world. Filled with eight pages of black-and-white photographs, Night of the Assassins is a suspenseful true-life tale about an impossible mission, a ticking clock, and one man who stepped up to the challenge and prevented a world catastrophe.
The Battle for Shaggy Ridge
Phillip Bradley
$32.99
Paperback • 328 pages
The extraordinary story of the Australian campaign against the Japanese in New Guinea's Finisterre mountains in 1943-44
'You climb and climb . . . This is the field of battle . . . tonight some of us will be dead . . . You'll never forget Shaggy Ridge.' - Shawn O'Leary From the killing ground of Kaiapit to the treacherous heights of the Finisterre Range, for four months in 1943-44 the Australian army fought to drive the Japanese from their mountain strongholds. The most formidable position was the fortress-like Shaggy Ridge, its steep sides rising sharply to a knife-edge crest where battle was joined on a one-man front.
Based on the accounts of over a hundred Australians, Americans and Japanese who served on, around and over the ridge, The Battle for Shaggy Ridge tells the story of this extraordinary struggle for control of the Ramu Valley in New Guinea.
The Good Germans: Resisting the Nazis, 1933-1945
Catrine Clay
$22.99
Paperback • 416 pages
After 1933, as the brutal terror regime took hold, most of the two-thirds of Germans who had never voted for the Nazis - some 20 million people - tried to keep their heads down and protect their families.
They moved to the country, or pretended to support the regime to avoid being denounced by neighbours, and tried to work out what was really happening in the Reich, surrounded as they were by Nazi propaganda and fake news. They lived in constant fear. Yet many ordinary Germans found the courage to resist. Catrine Clay argues that it was a much greater number than was ever formally recorded. Her ground-breaking book focuses on six very different characters. They are not seen in isolation but as part of their families. Each experiences the momentous events of Nazi history as they unfold in their own small lives - Good Germans all.
They moved to the country, or pretended to support the regime to avoid being denounced by neighbours, and tried to work out what was really happening in the Reich, surrounded as they were by Nazi propaganda and fake news. They lived in constant fear. Yet many ordinary Germans found the courage to resist. Catrine Clay argues that it was a much greater number than was ever formally recorded. Her ground-breaking book focuses on six very different characters. They are not seen in isolation but as part of their families. Each experiences the momentous events of Nazi history as they unfold in their own small lives - Good Germans all.
Lily's Promise: How I Survived Auschwitz and Found the Strength to Live
Lily Ebert , Dov Forman
$34.99
Paperback • 320 pages
A heart-wrenching and ultimately life-affirming Holocaust survivor story that demonstrates the power of love to see us through the darkest of times.
When Holocaust survivor Lily Ebert was liberated in 1945, a Jewish-American soldier gave her a banknote on which he'd written 'Good luck and happiness'. And when her great-grandson, Dov, decided to use social media to track down the family of the GI, 96-year-old Lily found herself making headlines round the world. Lily had promised herself that if she survived Auschwitz she would tell everyone the truth about the camp. Now was her chance.
In Lily's Promise she writes movingly about her happy childhood in Hungary, the death of her mother and two youngest siblings on their arrival at Auschwitz in 1944 and her determination to keep her two other sisters safe. She describes the inhumanity of the camp and the small acts of defiance that gave her strength. From there she and her sisters became slave labour in a munitions factory, and then faced a death march that they barely survived.
Lily lost so much, but she built a new life for herself and her family, first in Israel and then in London. It wasn't easy; the pain of her past was always with her, but this extraordinary woman found the strength to speak out in the hope that such evil would never happen again.
When Holocaust survivor Lily Ebert was liberated in 1945, a Jewish-American soldier gave her a banknote on which he'd written 'Good luck and happiness'. And when her great-grandson, Dov, decided to use social media to track down the family of the GI, 96-year-old Lily found herself making headlines round the world. Lily had promised herself that if she survived Auschwitz she would tell everyone the truth about the camp. Now was her chance.
In Lily's Promise she writes movingly about her happy childhood in Hungary, the death of her mother and two youngest siblings on their arrival at Auschwitz in 1944 and her determination to keep her two other sisters safe. She describes the inhumanity of the camp and the small acts of defiance that gave her strength. From there she and her sisters became slave labour in a munitions factory, and then faced a death march that they barely survived.
Lily lost so much, but she built a new life for herself and her family, first in Israel and then in London. It wasn't easy; the pain of her past was always with her, but this extraordinary woman found the strength to speak out in the hope that such evil would never happen again.
Behind the Enigma: The Authorised History of GCHQ, Britain's Secret Cyber-Intelligence Agency
John Ferris
$24.99
Paperback • 848 pages
You know about MI5. You know about MI6. Now discover the untold stories behind Britain's most secretive intelligence agency, in the first ever authorised history of GCHQ.
For a hundred years, GCHQ - Government Communications Headquarters - has been at the forefront of innovation in national security and British secret statecraft. Famed for its codebreaking achievements during the Second World War, and essential to the Allied victory, GCHQ also held a critical role in both the Falklands War and Cold War. Today, amidst the growing threats of terrorism and online crime, GCHQ continues to be the UK's leading intelligence, security and cyber agency, and a powerful tool of the British state.
Based on unprecedented access to classified archives, Behind the Enigma is the first book to authoritatively tell the entire history of this most unique and enigmatic of organisations - and peer into its future at the heart of the nation's security.
For a hundred years, GCHQ - Government Communications Headquarters - has been at the forefront of innovation in national security and British secret statecraft. Famed for its codebreaking achievements during the Second World War, and essential to the Allied victory, GCHQ also held a critical role in both the Falklands War and Cold War. Today, amidst the growing threats of terrorism and online crime, GCHQ continues to be the UK's leading intelligence, security and cyber agency, and a powerful tool of the British state.
Based on unprecedented access to classified archives, Behind the Enigma is the first book to authoritatively tell the entire history of this most unique and enigmatic of organisations - and peer into its future at the heart of the nation's security.
The Howe Dynasty: The Untold Story of a Military Family and the Women Behind Britain's Wars for America
Julie Flavell
$57.95
Hardback • 480 pages
In December 1774, Benjamin Franklin met Caroline Howe, the sister of British Admiral Richard and General William Howe, in a London drawing room for half a dozen Games of Chess . As Julie Flavell reveals, the games concealed a matter of the utmost diplomatic urgency, a last-ditch attempt to forestall the outbreak of war.
Aware that the Howes, both the men and the women, have seemed impenetrable to historians, Flavell investigated the letters of Caroline Howe, which have been overlooked for centuries. Using these revelatory documents, Flavell provides a compelling reinterpretation of England's famous family across four wars, centring on their enigmatic roles in the American Revolution. The Howe Dynasty interweaves action-packed stories of North American military campaigns-including the Battles of Bunker Hill and Long Island-with parlour-room intrigues back in England, creating a riveting narrative that brings alive the influence of these extraordinary women in both peacetime and war.
Aware that the Howes, both the men and the women, have seemed impenetrable to historians, Flavell investigated the letters of Caroline Howe, which have been overlooked for centuries. Using these revelatory documents, Flavell provides a compelling reinterpretation of England's famous family across four wars, centring on their enigmatic roles in the American Revolution. The Howe Dynasty interweaves action-packed stories of North American military campaigns-including the Battles of Bunker Hill and Long Island-with parlour-room intrigues back in England, creating a riveting narrative that brings alive the influence of these extraordinary women in both peacetime and war.
Valkyrie: The Women of the Viking World
Johanna Katrin Fridriksdottir
$26.99
Paperback • 272 pages
LONGLISTED FOR THE 2020 CUNDILL HISTORY PRIZE Valkyries: the female supernatural beings that choose who dies and who lives on the battlefield. They protect some, but guide spears, arrows and sword blades into the bodies of others. Viking myths about valkyries attempt to elevate the banality of war - to make the pain and suffering, the lost limbs and deformities, the piles of lifeless bodies of young men, glorious and worthwhile. Rather than their death being futile, it is their destiny and good fortune, determined by divine beings. The women in these stories take full part in the power struggles and upheavals in their communities, for better or worse.
Drawing on the latest historical and archaeological evidence, Valkyrie introduces readers to the dramatic and fascinating texts recorded in medieval Iceland, a culture able to imagine women in all kinds of roles carrying power, not just in this world, but pulling the strings in the other-world, too. In the process, this fascinating book uncovers the reality behind the myths and legends to reveal the dynamic, diverse lives of Viking women.
Drawing on the latest historical and archaeological evidence, Valkyrie introduces readers to the dramatic and fascinating texts recorded in medieval Iceland, a culture able to imagine women in all kinds of roles carrying power, not just in this world, but pulling the strings in the other-world, too. In the process, this fascinating book uncovers the reality behind the myths and legends to reveal the dynamic, diverse lives of Viking women.
Hitler's First Hundred Days: When Germans Embraced the Third Reich
Peter Fritzsche
$56.95
Hardback • 432 pages
The story of how Germans came to embrace the Third Reich.
Germany in early 1933 was a country ravaged by years of economic depression and increasingly polarized between the extremes of left and right. Over the spring of that year, Germany was transformed from a republic, albeit a seriously faltering one, into a one-party dictatorship. In Hitler's First Hundred Days, award-winning historian Peter Fritzsche examines the pivotal moments during this fateful period in which the Nazis apparently won over the majority of Germans to join them in their project to construct the Third Reich. Fritzsche scrutinizes the events of the period - the elections and mass arrests, the bonfires and gunfire, the patriotic rallies and anti-Jewish boycotts - to understand both the terrifying power that the National Socialists came to exert over ordinary Germans and the powerful appeal of the new era that they promised.
Germany in early 1933 was a country ravaged by years of economic depression and increasingly polarized between the extremes of left and right. Over the spring of that year, Germany was transformed from a republic, albeit a seriously faltering one, into a one-party dictatorship. In Hitler's First Hundred Days, award-winning historian Peter Fritzsche examines the pivotal moments during this fateful period in which the Nazis apparently won over the majority of Germans to join them in their project to construct the Third Reich. Fritzsche scrutinizes the events of the period - the elections and mass arrests, the bonfires and gunfire, the patriotic rallies and anti-Jewish boycotts - to understand both the terrifying power that the National Socialists came to exert over ordinary Germans and the powerful appeal of the new era that they promised.
Wings Over Water: The Story of the World's Greatest Air Race and the Birth of the Spitfire
Jonathan Glancey
$22.99
Paperback • 352 pages
Announced in 1912, the Schneider Trophy was a series of glamorous air contests, popularly known as races, that captivated both sides of the Atlantic. While there were many other aviation competitions, the Schneider proved to be, after a rocky start, by far the most memorable attracting a hugely popular and glamorous following whether Trophy races were held in Monaco, the Venice Lido, the Solent or Chesapeake Bay.
The Schneider Trophy was a focus not just of remarkable aircraft, derring-do pilots and swooning public attention, but also of fierce rivalries between the competitors: Britain, France, Italy and the United States. It gripped the imaginations of pioneering manufacturers and two of the world's finest aircraft designers - Reginald Mitchell and Mario Castoldi - who worked feverishly hard to outdo one another. Perhaps inevitably, the dynamism of rival engineering and politics led to the most potent military fighters of World War Two with Reginald Mitchell's record-breaking Supermarine seaplanes morphing, one way or another, into the Spitfire.
Wings Over Water not only tells the story of the Schneider Trophy afresh but also examines the backdrop and legacy of these legendary air races, which became a driver and celebration of speed and engineering prowess for both sea and ground-based aircraft. It is an exhilarating tale of raw adventure, public excitement, engineering genius and the fortunes of flying boats and seaplanes.
The Schneider Trophy was a focus not just of remarkable aircraft, derring-do pilots and swooning public attention, but also of fierce rivalries between the competitors: Britain, France, Italy and the United States. It gripped the imaginations of pioneering manufacturers and two of the world's finest aircraft designers - Reginald Mitchell and Mario Castoldi - who worked feverishly hard to outdo one another. Perhaps inevitably, the dynamism of rival engineering and politics led to the most potent military fighters of World War Two with Reginald Mitchell's record-breaking Supermarine seaplanes morphing, one way or another, into the Spitfire.
Wings Over Water not only tells the story of the Schneider Trophy afresh but also examines the backdrop and legacy of these legendary air races, which became a driver and celebration of speed and engineering prowess for both sea and ground-based aircraft. It is an exhilarating tale of raw adventure, public excitement, engineering genius and the fortunes of flying boats and seaplanes.
Marked for Death
James Hamilton-Paterson
$22.99
Paperback • 368 pages
An account of aerial combat in World War I, revealing the terrible risks run by the men who fought and died in the world's first air war.
A compelling and fascinating account of aerial combat in World War I, revealing the terrible risks run by the men who fought and died in the world's first air war.
Little more than ten years after the first powered flight, aircraft were pressed into service in World War I. Yet the romantic image of gallant 'aces' belies the horrible reality of air warfare: of flimsy aircraft, of unprotected pilots with no parachutes; of burning 19-year-olds falling screaming to their deaths; of pilots freezing and disorientated as they flew across enemy lines.
In this unforgettable book, bestselling author James Hamilton-Paterson reveals the brutal truths of wartime aviation and shows how those four years of fighting in the air would change the nature of warfare forever.
'For its mix of clear-eyed history, myth-busting and gobsmacking derring-do it's hard to beat James Hamilton Patterson's Marked for Death' Nick Curtis, Book of the Year in the Evening Standard
A compelling and fascinating account of aerial combat in World War I, revealing the terrible risks run by the men who fought and died in the world's first air war.
Little more than ten years after the first powered flight, aircraft were pressed into service in World War I. Yet the romantic image of gallant 'aces' belies the horrible reality of air warfare: of flimsy aircraft, of unprotected pilots with no parachutes; of burning 19-year-olds falling screaming to their deaths; of pilots freezing and disorientated as they flew across enemy lines.
In this unforgettable book, bestselling author James Hamilton-Paterson reveals the brutal truths of wartime aviation and shows how those four years of fighting in the air would change the nature of warfare forever.
'For its mix of clear-eyed history, myth-busting and gobsmacking derring-do it's hard to beat James Hamilton Patterson's Marked for Death' Nick Curtis, Book of the Year in the Evening Standard
Shadow State: Murder, Mayhem and Russia's Remaking of the West
Luke Harding
$22.99
Paperback • 368 pages
From the AWARD-WINNING JOURNALIST and #1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLING AUTHOR of COLLUSION 'Luke Harding is one of the best reporters in the world.' - Robert Saviano '[Collusion is] a superb piece of work ... essential reading for anyone who cares for his country.' - John Le Carre The operatives come in disguise. They pose as tourists, journalists and businessmen. Utterly ruthless, sometimes bungling and always ambitious, they roam from Salisbury to Helsinki, Ukraine to the Central African Republican, London to Washington. SHADOW STATE is a riveting and alarming investigation into those spies and the way Russia has used them to wage an increasingly bold war in the UK and beyond.
The Kremlin has attempted to reshape politics in their own mould; the future of Western democracy is at stake as a result.
The Kremlin has attempted to reshape politics in their own mould; the future of Western democracy is at stake as a result.
The Wrens of World War II: Bletchley's Secret Source
Peter Hore
$29.99
Paperback • 240 pages
The World War II codebreaking station at Bletchley is well known and its activities documented in detail. Its decryption capabilities were vital to the war effort, significantly aiding Allied victory. But where did the messages being deciphered come from in the first place?
This is the extraordinary untold story of the Y service, a secret even more closely guarded than Bletchley Park. The Y service was the code for the chain of wireless intercept stations around Britain and all over the world. Hundreds of wireless operators, many of them who were civilians, listened to German, Italian and Japanese radio networks and meticulously logged everything they heard. Some messages were then used tactically but most were sent on to Station X - Bletchley Park - where they were deciphered, translated and consolidated to build a comprehensive overview of the enemy's movements and intentions.
Peter Hore delves into the fascinating history of the Y service, with particular reference to the girls of the Women's Royal Naval Service: Wrens who escaped from Singapore to Colombo as the war raged, only to be torpedoed in the Atlantic on their way back to Britain; the woman who had a devastatingly true premonition that disaster would strike on her way to Gibraltar; the Australian who went from being captain of the English Women's Cricket team to a WWII Wren to the head of Abbotleigh girls school in Sydney; how the Y service helped to hunt the German battleship Bismarck in the North Atlantic, and how it helped to torpedo a Japanese cruiser in the Indian Ocean. Together, these incredible stories build a picture of World War II as it has never been viewed before.
This is the extraordinary untold story of the Y service, a secret even more closely guarded than Bletchley Park. The Y service was the code for the chain of wireless intercept stations around Britain and all over the world. Hundreds of wireless operators, many of them who were civilians, listened to German, Italian and Japanese radio networks and meticulously logged everything they heard. Some messages were then used tactically but most were sent on to Station X - Bletchley Park - where they were deciphered, translated and consolidated to build a comprehensive overview of the enemy's movements and intentions.
Peter Hore delves into the fascinating history of the Y service, with particular reference to the girls of the Women's Royal Naval Service: Wrens who escaped from Singapore to Colombo as the war raged, only to be torpedoed in the Atlantic on their way back to Britain; the woman who had a devastatingly true premonition that disaster would strike on her way to Gibraltar; the Australian who went from being captain of the English Women's Cricket team to a WWII Wren to the head of Abbotleigh girls school in Sydney; how the Y service helped to hunt the German battleship Bismarck in the North Atlantic, and how it helped to torpedo a Japanese cruiser in the Indian Ocean. Together, these incredible stories build a picture of World War II as it has never been viewed before.
Why the Germans Do it Better: Notes from a Grown-Up Country
John Kampfner
$22.99
Paperback • 320 pages
THE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER
BOOK OF THE YEAR IN GUARDIAN, ECONOMIST & NEW STATESMAN
'Excellent and provocative... a passionate, timely book.' - Sunday Times
'A fine new book... thoughtful, deeply reported and impeccably even-handed.' - The Times
Emerging from a collection of city states 150 years ago, no other country has had as turbulent a history as Germany or enjoyed so much prosperity in such a short time frame. Today, as much of the world succumbs to authoritarianism and democracy is undermined from its heart, Germany stands as a bulwark for decency and stability.
Mixing personal journey and anecdote with compelling empirical evidence, this is a critical and entertaining exploration of the country many in the West still love to hate. Raising important questions for our post-Brexit landscape, Kampfner asks why, despite its faults, Germany has become a model for others to emulate, while Britain fails to tackle contemporary challenges. Part memoir, part history, part travelogue, Why the Germans Do It Better is a rich and witty portrait of an eternally fascinating country.
BOOK OF THE YEAR IN GUARDIAN, ECONOMIST & NEW STATESMAN
'Excellent and provocative... a passionate, timely book.' - Sunday Times
'A fine new book... thoughtful, deeply reported and impeccably even-handed.' - The Times
Emerging from a collection of city states 150 years ago, no other country has had as turbulent a history as Germany or enjoyed so much prosperity in such a short time frame. Today, as much of the world succumbs to authoritarianism and democracy is undermined from its heart, Germany stands as a bulwark for decency and stability.
Mixing personal journey and anecdote with compelling empirical evidence, this is a critical and entertaining exploration of the country many in the West still love to hate. Raising important questions for our post-Brexit landscape, Kampfner asks why, despite its faults, Germany has become a model for others to emulate, while Britain fails to tackle contemporary challenges. Part memoir, part history, part travelogue, Why the Germans Do It Better is a rich and witty portrait of an eternally fascinating country.
Kings of Shanghai
Jonathan Kaufman
$24.99
Paperback • 384 pages
'A masterpiece of research, The Last Kings of Shanghai is a vivid and fascinating story of wealth, family intrigue, and political strategy on the world stage from colonialism to communism to globalized capitalism' Susannah Heschel, Eli Black Professor of Jewish Studies, Dartmouth College An epic, multigenerational story of two rival dynasties who flourished in Shanghai and Hong Kong as twentieth-century China surged into the modern era Shanghai, 1936. The Cathay Hotel, located on the city's famous waterfront, is one of the most glamorous in the world. Built by Victor Sassoon - billionaire playboy and scion of the Sassoon dynasty - the hotel hosts a who's who of global celebrities: Noel Coward has written a draft of Private Lives in his suite, Charlie Chaplin entertained his wife-to-be, and the American socialite Wallis Simpson reportedly posed for 'glamour' photographs. A few miles away, Mao and the nascent Communist party have been plotting revolution before being forced to flee the city.
By the 1930s, the Sassoons had been doing business in China for a century, rivaled in wealth and influence by only one other dynasty - the Kadoories. These two Jewish families, both originally from Baghdad, stood astride Chinese business and politics for more than one hundred and seventy five years, profiting from the Opium Wars; surviving Japanese occupation; courting Chiang Kai-shek; and nearly losing everything as the Communists swept into power. In Kings of Shanghai, Jonathan Kaufman tells the remarkable history of how these families ignited an economic boom and opened China to the world, but remained blind to the country's deep inequality and to the political turmoil on their doorsteps. In a story stretching from Baghdad to Hong Kong to Shanghai to London, Kaufman enters the lives and minds of these ambitious men and women to forge a tale of opium smuggling, family rivalry, political intrigue and survival.
By the 1930s, the Sassoons had been doing business in China for a century, rivaled in wealth and influence by only one other dynasty - the Kadoories. These two Jewish families, both originally from Baghdad, stood astride Chinese business and politics for more than one hundred and seventy five years, profiting from the Opium Wars; surviving Japanese occupation; courting Chiang Kai-shek; and nearly losing everything as the Communists swept into power. In Kings of Shanghai, Jonathan Kaufman tells the remarkable history of how these families ignited an economic boom and opened China to the world, but remained blind to the country's deep inequality and to the political turmoil on their doorsteps. In a story stretching from Baghdad to Hong Kong to Shanghai to London, Kaufman enters the lives and minds of these ambitious men and women to forge a tale of opium smuggling, family rivalry, political intrigue and survival.
Soviet Seasons
Arseniy Kotov , Damon Murray , Stephen Sorrell
$49.99
Hardback • 240 pages
In Soviet Seasons Kotov's photographs reveal unfamiliar aspects of the post-Soviet terrain. From snow-blanketed Siberia in winter, to the mountains of the Caucasus in summer, these images show how a once powerful, utopian landscape has been affected by the weight of nature itself.
This uniquely broad perspective could only be achieved by a photographer such as Kotov. Singularly dedicated to exploring every corner of his country, Kotov often hitch-hikes across vast distances. On these journeys he chronicles not only the architectural achievements of the Soviet empire, but also its overlooked or simply undocumented constructions.
Arseniy Kotov: 'In this book I reveal the beauty and diversity of this vast region, showing both cities and nature at different times of the year. I have travelled widely across Russia and its neighbouring countries, where I captured the landscape of post-Soviet cities and witnessed the seasonal changes.'
This uniquely broad perspective could only be achieved by a photographer such as Kotov. Singularly dedicated to exploring every corner of his country, Kotov often hitch-hikes across vast distances. On these journeys he chronicles not only the architectural achievements of the Soviet empire, but also its overlooked or simply undocumented constructions.
Arseniy Kotov: 'In this book I reveal the beauty and diversity of this vast region, showing both cities and nature at different times of the year. I have travelled widely across Russia and its neighbouring countries, where I captured the landscape of post-Soviet cities and witnessed the seasonal changes.'
Imperial Tragedy: From Constantine's Empire to the Destruction of Roman Italy AD 363-568
Michael Kulikowski
$24.99
Paperback • 432 pages
For centuries, Rome was one of the world's largest imperial powers, its influence spread across Europe, North Africa, and the Middle-East, its military force successfully fighting off attacks by the Parthians, Germans, Persians and Goths. Then came the definitive split, the Vandal sack of Rome, and the crumbling of the West from Empire into kingdoms first nominally under Imperial rule and then, one by one, beyond it.
Imperial Tragedy tells the story of Rome's gradual collapse. Full of palace intrigue, religious conflicts and military history, as well as details of the shifts in social, religious and political structures, Imperial Tragedy contests the idea that Rome fell due to external invasions. Instead, it focuses on how the choices and conditions of those living within the empire led to its fall. For it was not a single catastrophic moment that broke the Empire but a creeping process; by the time people understood that Rome had fallen, the west of the Empire had long since broken the Imperial yoke.
Imperial Tragedy tells the story of Rome's gradual collapse. Full of palace intrigue, religious conflicts and military history, as well as details of the shifts in social, religious and political structures, Imperial Tragedy contests the idea that Rome fell due to external invasions. Instead, it focuses on how the choices and conditions of those living within the empire led to its fall. For it was not a single catastrophic moment that broke the Empire but a creeping process; by the time people understood that Rome had fallen, the west of the Empire had long since broken the Imperial yoke.
What Is History, Now?
Suzannah Lipscomb , Helen Carr
$32.99
Paperback • 304 pages
'THE history book for now. This is why and how historians do what they do. And why they need to' Dan Snow 'What is History, Now? demonstrates how our constructs of the past are woven into our modern world and culture, and offers us an illuminating handbook to understanding this dynamic and shape-shifting subject. A thought-provoking, insightful and necessary re-examination of the subject' Hallie Rubenhold, author of The Five 'The importance of history is becoming more evident every day, and this humane book is an essential navigation tool. Urgent and utterly compelling' Sathnam Sanghera, author of Empireland 'Important and exciting' Kate Williams, author of Rival Queens Inspired by the influential text WHAT IS HISTORY? authored by Helen Carr's great-grandfather, E.H. Carr, and published on the 60th anniversary of that book, this is a groundbreaking new collection addressing the burning issue of how we interpret history today. What stories are told, and by whom, who should be celebrated, and what rewritten, are questions that have been asked recently not just within the history world, but by all of us. Featuring a diverse mix of writers, both bestselling names and emerging voices, this is the history book we need NOW. WHAT IS HISTORY, NOW? covers topics such as the history of racism and anti-racism, queer history, the history of faith, the history of disability, environmental history, escaping imperial nostalgia, hearing women's voices and 'rewriting' the past. The list of contributors includes: Justin Bengry, Leila K Blackbird, Emily Brand, Gus Casely-Hayford, Sarah Churchwell, Caroline Dodds Pennock, Peter Frankopan, Bettany Hughes, Dan Hicks, Onyeka Nubia, Islam Issa, Maya Jasanoff, Rana Mitter, Charlotte Riley, Miri Rubin, Simon Schama, Alex von Tunzelmann and Jaipreet Virdi.
Traitor King: The Scandalous Exile of the Duke and Duchess of Windsor: THE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER
Andrew Lownie
$32.99
Paperback • 352 pages
Traitor King, by Sunday Times bestselling author Andrew Lownie, looks at the years following the abdication of Edward VIII when the former king was kept in exile, feuding with his family over status for his wife, Wallis Simpson, and denied any real job.
Drawing on extensive research into hitherto unused archives and Freedom of Information requests, it makes the case that the Duke and Duchess of Windsor were not the naive dupes of the Germans but actively intrigued against Britain in both war and peace.
It reveals:
- The story behind the German attempts to recruit the Duke as a British Petain in the summer of 1940.
- The efforts, by Churchill in particular, to prevent post-war publication of the captured German documents which detailed the Duke's Nazi intrigues. - the reasons why the Duke, as Governor of the Bahamas, tried to shut down the investigation into the 1943 murder of his close friend Harry Oakes.
- The full extent of the feud with the British Royal Family, based on his betrayals going back to his dishonesty about his true financial position at the time of the Abdication.
- That far from a love story, Wallis felt trapped in a marriage she had never wanted with a pathetic and suffocating husband, one of the reasons she took several lovers, including the gay playboy Jimmy Donahue.
Traitor King tells the story of a royal exiled with his wife, turning his back on duty, his family and using his position for financial gain.
The Dream of Europe
Geert Mak , Liz Waters
$35
Paperback • 512 pages
The long-awaited sequel to Geert Mak's landmark In Europe 'Mak is the history teacher everyone should have had' Financial Times 'A powerful, humane and serious mind' Guardian 'Mak is a truly cosmopolitan chronicler' Independent How did the great European dream turn sour? And where do we go from here?
From the author of the internationally acclaimed In Europe, a stunning history of our present, examining the first two decades of this most fragile and fraught new millennium.
The great European project was built out of a common desire for peace, prosperity and freedom; a wish for a united Europe striving towards a common goal. The EU was to set an example- an arena for close cooperation, tackling crucial shared concerns from climate change to organized crime, promoting open borders and social security.
But the first two turbulent decades of this century have been times of rapid and profound change. From the shores of Lampedusa to Putin's Moscow, the continent threatens to tear itself apart. What's happened to Europe's optimism and euphoria? How has it given way to nostalgia, frustration and fear, the fragile European dream in danger of turning into a nightmare?
In The Dream of Europe, Geert Mak, one of Europe's best-loved commentators, charts the seismic events that have shaped people's lives over the past twenty years. Mak's monumental book In Europe defined the continent on the verge of a new millennium. The Dream of Europe brings us up to the present day, through the rocky expansion of the EU, the aftermath of 9/11 and terrorist attacks across Europe, the 2008 financial crash and the euro crisis, the tragedy of the migrant crisis in the Mediterranean, the rise of right-wing populism and Brexit.
Like no other, Mak blends history, politics and culture with the stories and experiences of the many Europeans he meets on his travels. He brings this continent to life, and asks what role does Europe play now, and how might we face our challenges together, in the spirit of solidarity and connection.
Praise for In Europe- 'Fascinating... a splendidly panoramic picture of our common European home' Literary Review 'Every page sparkles with insight' Herald 'Spectacular and beautifully crafted' Sunday Times
From the author of the internationally acclaimed In Europe, a stunning history of our present, examining the first two decades of this most fragile and fraught new millennium.
The great European project was built out of a common desire for peace, prosperity and freedom; a wish for a united Europe striving towards a common goal. The EU was to set an example- an arena for close cooperation, tackling crucial shared concerns from climate change to organized crime, promoting open borders and social security.
But the first two turbulent decades of this century have been times of rapid and profound change. From the shores of Lampedusa to Putin's Moscow, the continent threatens to tear itself apart. What's happened to Europe's optimism and euphoria? How has it given way to nostalgia, frustration and fear, the fragile European dream in danger of turning into a nightmare?
In The Dream of Europe, Geert Mak, one of Europe's best-loved commentators, charts the seismic events that have shaped people's lives over the past twenty years. Mak's monumental book In Europe defined the continent on the verge of a new millennium. The Dream of Europe brings us up to the present day, through the rocky expansion of the EU, the aftermath of 9/11 and terrorist attacks across Europe, the 2008 financial crash and the euro crisis, the tragedy of the migrant crisis in the Mediterranean, the rise of right-wing populism and Brexit.
Like no other, Mak blends history, politics and culture with the stories and experiences of the many Europeans he meets on his travels. He brings this continent to life, and asks what role does Europe play now, and how might we face our challenges together, in the spirit of solidarity and connection.
Praise for In Europe- 'Fascinating... a splendidly panoramic picture of our common European home' Literary Review 'Every page sparkles with insight' Herald 'Spectacular and beautifully crafted' Sunday Times
Mortals: How the fear of death shaped human society
Rachel Menzies , Ross Menzies
$34.99
Paperback
'Spoiler alert: if you read this book, you will die. But, as well as being fascinating, this book can also help you die a better death, and live a better life.' JULIAN MORROW, comedian, ABC presenter, member of The Chaser team 'A death-defying book from two leaders in the field.' PROFESSOR DAVID VEALE, King's College London The ground-breaking book that uncovers how our fear of death is the hidden driver of most of humankind's endeavours.
The human mind can grapple with the future, visualising and calculating solutions to complex problems, giving us tremendous advantages over other species throughout our evolution. However, this capability comes with a curse. By five to ten years of age, all humans know where they are heading: to the grave.
In Mortals, Rachel Menzies and Ross Menzies, both acclaimed psychologists whose life's work has focused on death anxiety, examine all the major human responses to death across history. From the development of religious systems denying the finality of death, to 'immortality projects' involving enduring art, architecture and literature, some of the consequences of our fear of death have been glorious while others have been destructive, leading to global conflicts and genocide.
Looking forward, Mortals hypothesises that worse could be to come-our unconscious dread of death has led to rampant consumerism and overpopulation, driving the global warming and pandemic crises that now threaten our very existence. In a terrible irony, Homo sapiens may ultimately be destroyed by our knowledge of our own mortality.
'A fascinating tour of our species' attempts across millennia to come to terms with mortality. Mortals offers a stunning glimpse into what our fear of death means for our future. A must-read.' PROFESSOR THOMAS HEIDENREICH, Esslingen University
The human mind can grapple with the future, visualising and calculating solutions to complex problems, giving us tremendous advantages over other species throughout our evolution. However, this capability comes with a curse. By five to ten years of age, all humans know where they are heading: to the grave.
In Mortals, Rachel Menzies and Ross Menzies, both acclaimed psychologists whose life's work has focused on death anxiety, examine all the major human responses to death across history. From the development of religious systems denying the finality of death, to 'immortality projects' involving enduring art, architecture and literature, some of the consequences of our fear of death have been glorious while others have been destructive, leading to global conflicts and genocide.
Looking forward, Mortals hypothesises that worse could be to come-our unconscious dread of death has led to rampant consumerism and overpopulation, driving the global warming and pandemic crises that now threaten our very existence. In a terrible irony, Homo sapiens may ultimately be destroyed by our knowledge of our own mortality.
'A fascinating tour of our species' attempts across millennia to come to terms with mortality. Mortals offers a stunning glimpse into what our fear of death means for our future. A must-read.' PROFESSOR THOMAS HEIDENREICH, Esslingen University
We Shall Be Masters: Russian Pivots to East Asia from Peter the Great to Putin
Chris Miller
$49.95
Hardback • 384 pages
An illuminating account of Russia's attempts?and failures?to achieve great power status in Asia.
Since Peter the Great, Russian leaders have been lured by opportunity to the East. Under the tsars, Russians colonized Alaska, California, and Hawaii. The Trans-Siberian Railway linked Moscow to Vladivostok. And Stalin looked to Asia as a sphere of influence, hospitable to the spread of Soviet Communism. In Asia and the Pacific lay territory, markets, security, and glory.
But all these expansionist dreams amounted to little. In We Shall Be Masters, Chris Miller explores why, arguing that Russia's ambitions have repeatedly outstripped its capacity. With the core of the nation concentrated thousands of miles away in the European borderlands, Russia's would-be pioneers have always struggled to project power into Asia and to maintain public and elite interest in their far-flung pursuits. Even when the wider population professed faith in Asia's promise, few Russians were willing to pay the steep price. Among leaders, too, dreams of empire have always been tempered by fears of cost. Most of Russia's pivots to Asia have therefore been halfhearted and fleeting.
Today the Kremlin talks up the importance of ?strategic partnership? with Xi Jinping's China, and Vladimir Putin's government is at pains to emphasize Russian activities across Eurasia. But while distance is covered with relative ease in the age of air travel and digital communication, the East remains far off in the ways that matter most. Miller finds that Russia's Asian dreams are still restrained by the country's firm rooting in Europe.
Since Peter the Great, Russian leaders have been lured by opportunity to the East. Under the tsars, Russians colonized Alaska, California, and Hawaii. The Trans-Siberian Railway linked Moscow to Vladivostok. And Stalin looked to Asia as a sphere of influence, hospitable to the spread of Soviet Communism. In Asia and the Pacific lay territory, markets, security, and glory.
But all these expansionist dreams amounted to little. In We Shall Be Masters, Chris Miller explores why, arguing that Russia's ambitions have repeatedly outstripped its capacity. With the core of the nation concentrated thousands of miles away in the European borderlands, Russia's would-be pioneers have always struggled to project power into Asia and to maintain public and elite interest in their far-flung pursuits. Even when the wider population professed faith in Asia's promise, few Russians were willing to pay the steep price. Among leaders, too, dreams of empire have always been tempered by fears of cost. Most of Russia's pivots to Asia have therefore been halfhearted and fleeting.
Today the Kremlin talks up the importance of ?strategic partnership? with Xi Jinping's China, and Vladimir Putin's government is at pains to emphasize Russian activities across Eurasia. But while distance is covered with relative ease in the age of air travel and digital communication, the East remains far off in the ways that matter most. Miller finds that Russia's Asian dreams are still restrained by the country's firm rooting in Europe.
Lancaster: The Forging of a Very British Legend
John Nichol
$22.99
Paperback • 464 pages
'The epic story of an iconic aircraft and the breathtaking courage of those who flew her' Andy McNab, bestselling author of Bravo Two Zero 'Compelling, thrilling and rooted in quite extraordinary human drama' James Holland, author of Normandy 44 From John Nichol, the Sunday Times bestselling author of Spitfire, comes a passionate and profoundly moving tribute to the Lancaster bomber, its heroic crews and the men and women who kept her airborne during the country's greatest hour of need.
'The Avro Lancaster is an aviation icon; revered, romanticised, loved. Without her, and the bravery of those who flew her, the freedom we enjoy today would not exist.' Sir Arthur Harris, the controversial chief of Royal Air Force Bomber Command, described the Lancaster as his 'shining sword' and the 'greatest single factor in winning the war'. RAF bomber squadrons carried out offensive operations from the first day of the Second World War until the very last, more than five and a half years later. They flew nearly 300,000 sorties and dropped around a million tons of explosives, as well as life-saving supplies. Over 10,000 of their aircraft never returned. Of the 7,377 Lancasters built during the conflict, more than half were lost to enemy action or training accidents.
The human cost was staggering. Of the 125,000 men who served in Bomber Command, over 55,000 were killed and another 8,400 were wounded. Some 10,000 survived being shot down, only to become prisoners of war. In simple, brutal terms, Harris's aircrew had only a 40 per cent chance of surviving the war unscathed.
Former RAF Tornado Navigator, Gulf War veteran and bestselling author John Nichol now tells the inspiring and moving story of this legendary aircraft that took the fight deep into the heart of Nazi Germany.
'The Avro Lancaster is an aviation icon; revered, romanticised, loved. Without her, and the bravery of those who flew her, the freedom we enjoy today would not exist.' Sir Arthur Harris, the controversial chief of Royal Air Force Bomber Command, described the Lancaster as his 'shining sword' and the 'greatest single factor in winning the war'. RAF bomber squadrons carried out offensive operations from the first day of the Second World War until the very last, more than five and a half years later. They flew nearly 300,000 sorties and dropped around a million tons of explosives, as well as life-saving supplies. Over 10,000 of their aircraft never returned. Of the 7,377 Lancasters built during the conflict, more than half were lost to enemy action or training accidents.
The human cost was staggering. Of the 125,000 men who served in Bomber Command, over 55,000 were killed and another 8,400 were wounded. Some 10,000 survived being shot down, only to become prisoners of war. In simple, brutal terms, Harris's aircrew had only a 40 per cent chance of surviving the war unscathed.
Former RAF Tornado Navigator, Gulf War veteran and bestselling author John Nichol now tells the inspiring and moving story of this legendary aircraft that took the fight deep into the heart of Nazi Germany.
Last Best Hope: America in Crisis and Renewal
George Packer
$32.99
Paperback • 240 pages
A short, sharp nonfiction modern classic on the political and societal state of America - how America got into this mess, and how it might get out of it - by one of the world's greatest nonfiction writers Acclaimed National Book Award-winning author George Packer diagnoses America's descent into a failed state, and envisions a path toward overcoming injustices, paralyses, and divides How, in a few decades, did the United States transform from a broadly prosperous middle-class country, with relatively healthy institutions and competent leaders, to a nation defined by discredited elites, hollowed-out institutions, and blatant inequalities-feared and pitied by our friends, mocked and sabotaged by our adversaries, first in the world in Covid cases and deaths, and led in recent years by an incompetent authoritarian bigot? Last Best Hope is a bracing account of our current crisis and of how a new era of civic revitalization may bring it to an end.
Combining reportage with historical narrative, autobiography, and political analysis, Packer depicts and assesses the four inadequate narratives that dominate American public life- Libertarian America, which imagines a nation of individuals responsible for their own fate, and serves the interests of corporations and the wealthy; Cosmopolitan America, the ideology of Silicon Valley and the professional elite,which celebrates globalization and leaves many American communities behind; Diverse America, which defines citizens as members of large identity groups that have inflicted or suffered oppression; and White America, a shallow nationalism that fears the contamination of non-whites and treachery of coastal elites, and poses the greatest threat to democracy in our lifetime.
At a time when many fear that the American experiment in self-government may collapse, or, in Abraham Lincoln's words, die by suicide , Packer shows that none of these narratives can sustain American democracy. To point a better way forward, he looks back at previous eras of crisis to discover the resources for invigorating self-government. Combining trenchant social analysis with a vibrant and stinging essayistic voice and a deep knowledge of America's past and present, Last Best Hope is an essential contribution to the literature of national self-examination the times demand.
Combining reportage with historical narrative, autobiography, and political analysis, Packer depicts and assesses the four inadequate narratives that dominate American public life- Libertarian America, which imagines a nation of individuals responsible for their own fate, and serves the interests of corporations and the wealthy; Cosmopolitan America, the ideology of Silicon Valley and the professional elite,which celebrates globalization and leaves many American communities behind; Diverse America, which defines citizens as members of large identity groups that have inflicted or suffered oppression; and White America, a shallow nationalism that fears the contamination of non-whites and treachery of coastal elites, and poses the greatest threat to democracy in our lifetime.
At a time when many fear that the American experiment in self-government may collapse, or, in Abraham Lincoln's words, die by suicide , Packer shows that none of these narratives can sustain American democracy. To point a better way forward, he looks back at previous eras of crisis to discover the resources for invigorating self-government. Combining trenchant social analysis with a vibrant and stinging essayistic voice and a deep knowledge of America's past and present, Last Best Hope is an essential contribution to the literature of national self-examination the times demand.
The White Ship: Conquest, Anarchy and the Wrecking of Henry I's Dream
Charles Spencer
$24.99
Paperback • 352 pages
THE #2 SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER 'As gripping as any thriller. History doesn't get any better than this' BILL BRYSON 'A brilliant read ... Game of Thrones but in the real world' ANTHONY HOROWITZ PICKED AS A BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR 2020 BY THE DAILY TELEGRAPH, THE GUARDIAN, THE DAILY MAIL AND THE DAILY EXPRESS.
The sinking of the White Ship in 1120 is one of the greatest disasters England has ever suffered. In one catastrophic night, the king's heir and the flower of Anglo-Norman society were drowned and the future of the crown was thrown violently off course.
In a riveting narrative, Charles Spencer follows the story from the Norman Conquest through to the decades that would become known as the Anarchy: a civil war of untold violence that saw families turn in on each other with English and Norman barons, rebellious Welsh princes and the Scottish king all playing a part in a desperate game of thrones. All because of the loss of one vessel - the White Ship - the medieval Titanic.
'Highly enjoyable' Simon Heffer 'Brilliant' Dan Jones 'Fascinating' Tom Bower The #2 Sunday Times bestseller on Sunday 18 June 2021
The sinking of the White Ship in 1120 is one of the greatest disasters England has ever suffered. In one catastrophic night, the king's heir and the flower of Anglo-Norman society were drowned and the future of the crown was thrown violently off course.
In a riveting narrative, Charles Spencer follows the story from the Norman Conquest through to the decades that would become known as the Anarchy: a civil war of untold violence that saw families turn in on each other with English and Norman barons, rebellious Welsh princes and the Scottish king all playing a part in a desperate game of thrones. All because of the loss of one vessel - the White Ship - the medieval Titanic.
'Highly enjoyable' Simon Heffer 'Brilliant' Dan Jones 'Fascinating' Tom Bower The #2 Sunday Times bestseller on Sunday 18 June 2021
A Brief History of Motion: From the Wheel to the Car to What Comes Next
Tom Standage
$29.99
Paperback • 272 pages
'Sparkled with anecdotes, insights and surprises. It is great fun - and utterly timely' Sunday Times 'Standage writes with a masterly clarity' New York Times 'The product of deep research, great intelligence and burnished prose . . . It is rare that I encounter a non-fiction author whose prose is so elegant that it is worth reading for itself. Standage is a writer of this class' Wall Street Journal Beginning around 3,500 BC with the wheel, and moving through the eras of horsepower, trains and bicycles, Tom Standage puts the rise of the car - and the future of urban transport - into a broader historical context.
Our society has been shaped by the car in innumerable ways, many of which are so familiar that we no longer notice them. Why does red mean stop and green mean go? Why do some countries drive on the left, and some on the right? How did cars, introduced only a little over a century ago, change the way the world was administered, laid out and policed, along with experiences like eating and shopping? And what might travel in a post-car world look like?
As social transformations from ride-sharing to the global pandemic force us to critically re-examine our relationship with personal transportation, A Brief History of Motion is an essential contribution to our understanding of how the modern world came to be.
Our society has been shaped by the car in innumerable ways, many of which are so familiar that we no longer notice them. Why does red mean stop and green mean go? Why do some countries drive on the left, and some on the right? How did cars, introduced only a little over a century ago, change the way the world was administered, laid out and policed, along with experiences like eating and shopping? And what might travel in a post-car world look like?
As social transformations from ride-sharing to the global pandemic force us to critically re-examine our relationship with personal transportation, A Brief History of Motion is an essential contribution to our understanding of how the modern world came to be.
The Petticoat Parade: Madam Monnier and the Roe Street Brothels
Leigh Straw
$32.99
Paperback • 224 pages
The Petticoat Parade, a true crime biography and social history of Josie de Bray's life is the latest book from award-winning author, Leigh Straw.
Josie de Bray, aka Madam Monnier, aka Marie Louise Monnier, was a brothel madam who owned most of Roe Street, Perth from WWI up to the 1940s. A returned soldier tried to shoot her dead in her brothel in 1917 and her 'bungalow' was at the centre of underworld violence in the 1920s. She returned to France before WWII to visit family and was bombed repeatedly out of homes there and captured by the Germans. She was a prisoner of war and one story has her in a concentration camp. She survived, returned to Perth in 1947 and took up business again in Roe Street, having made a fortune from the rent collected from her brothels while she was a prisoner of war, up until her death in 1953.
Josie de Bray, aka Madam Monnier, aka Marie Louise Monnier, was a brothel madam who owned most of Roe Street, Perth from WWI up to the 1940s. A returned soldier tried to shoot her dead in her brothel in 1917 and her 'bungalow' was at the centre of underworld violence in the 1920s. She returned to France before WWII to visit family and was bombed repeatedly out of homes there and captured by the Germans. She was a prisoner of war and one story has her in a concentration camp. She survived, returned to Perth in 1947 and took up business again in Roe Street, having made a fortune from the rent collected from her brothels while she was a prisoner of war, up until her death in 1953.
Palace of Palms: Tropical Dreams and the Making of Kew
Kate Teltscher
$19.99
Paperback • 400 pages
A glorious green adventure story.' Ann Treneman, The Times 'Books of the Year' 'The most enthralling historical book I've read this year.' Claire Tomalin, New Statesman 'Books of the year' Daringly innovative when it opened in 1848, the Palm House in Kew Gardens remains one of the most beautiful glass buildings in the world today.
Seemingly weightless, vast and yet light, the Palm House floats free from architectural convention, at once monumental and ethereal. From a distance, the crowns of the palms within are silhouetted in the central dome; close to, banana leaves thrust themselves against the glass. To enter it is to enter a tropical fantasy. The body is assaulted by heat, light and the smell of damp vegetation.
In Palace of Palms, Kate Teltscher tells the extraordinary story of its creation and of the Victorians' obsession with the palms that filled it. It is a story of breathtaking ambition, of scientific discovery and, crucially, of the remarkable men whose vision it was. The Palm House was commissioned by the charismatic first Director of Kew, Sir William Hooker, designed by the audacious Irish engineer, Richard Turner, and managed by Kew's forthright curator, John Smith, who battled with boilers and floods to ensure the survival of the rare and wondrous plants it housed.
Seemingly weightless, vast and yet light, the Palm House floats free from architectural convention, at once monumental and ethereal. From a distance, the crowns of the palms within are silhouetted in the central dome; close to, banana leaves thrust themselves against the glass. To enter it is to enter a tropical fantasy. The body is assaulted by heat, light and the smell of damp vegetation.
In Palace of Palms, Kate Teltscher tells the extraordinary story of its creation and of the Victorians' obsession with the palms that filled it. It is a story of breathtaking ambition, of scientific discovery and, crucially, of the remarkable men whose vision it was. The Palm House was commissioned by the charismatic first Director of Kew, Sir William Hooker, designed by the audacious Irish engineer, Richard Turner, and managed by Kew's forthright curator, John Smith, who battled with boilers and floods to ensure the survival of the rare and wondrous plants it housed.
Palaces of Revolution: Life, Death and Art at the Stuart Court
Simon Thurley
$54.99
Hardback • 368 pages
The story of the Stuart dynasty is a breathless soap opera played out in just a hundred years in an array of buildings that span Europe from Scotland, via Denmark, Holland and Spain to England. Life in the court of the House of Stuart has been shrouded in mystery: the first half of the century overshadowed by the fall and execution of Charles I, the second half in the complete collapse of the House itself. Lost to time is the extraordinary contribution the Stuarts made to the fabric of sovereignty.
Every palace they built, painting they commissioned, or artwork they acquired was a direct reflection of the lives that they led and the way that they thought. Palaces of Revolution explores this rich history in graphic detail, giving a unique insight into the lives of this famous dynasty. It takes us from Royston and Newmarket, where James I appropriated most of the town centre as a sort of rough-and-ready royal housing estate, to the steamy Turkish baths at Whitehall where Charles II seduced his mistresses. We see the intimate private lives of the monarchs, presented through the buildings in which they lived and the objects they commissioned, creating an entirely new narrative of the Stuart century.
Palaces of Revolution traces this extraordinary period across the places and palaces on which the action played out, giving us a thrilling new history of this remarkable dynasty.
Every palace they built, painting they commissioned, or artwork they acquired was a direct reflection of the lives that they led and the way that they thought. Palaces of Revolution explores this rich history in graphic detail, giving a unique insight into the lives of this famous dynasty. It takes us from Royston and Newmarket, where James I appropriated most of the town centre as a sort of rough-and-ready royal housing estate, to the steamy Turkish baths at Whitehall where Charles II seduced his mistresses. We see the intimate private lives of the monarchs, presented through the buildings in which they lived and the objects they commissioned, creating an entirely new narrative of the Stuart century.
Palaces of Revolution traces this extraordinary period across the places and palaces on which the action played out, giving us a thrilling new history of this remarkable dynasty.
The Nile: History's Greatest River
Terje Tvedt
$60
Hardback • 400 pages
[A] vivid travelogue. New Statesman Has much to offer if treated as a compendium to dip into judiciously. The Spectator Essential reading. All About History The greatest river in the world has a long and fascinating history. Professor Terje Tvedt, one of the world's leading experts on the history of waterways, travels upstream along the river's mouth to its sources. The result is a travelogue through 5000 years and 11 countries, from the Mediterranean to Central Africa. This is the fascinating story of the immense economic, political and mythical significance of the river. Brimming with accounts of central characters in the struggle for the Nile - from Caesar and Cleopatra, to Churchill and Mussolini, and on to the political leaders of today, The Nile is also the story of water as it nourished a civilization.
China and Japan: Facing History
Ezra F. Vogel
$41.95
Paperback • 536 pages
A Financial Times Summer Books Selection Elegantly written?with a confidence that comes from decades of deep research on the topic, illustrating how influence and power have waxed and waned between the two countries. -Rana Mitter, Financial Times Vogel uses the powerful lens of the past to frame contemporary Chinese-Japanese relations?
[He] suggests that over the centuries???across both the imperial and the modern eras???friction has always dominated their relations. -Sheila A. Smith, Foreign Affairs Will become required reading. -Alexis Dudden, Times Literary Supplement China and Japan have cultural and political connections that stretch back fifteen hundred years, but today their relationship is strained. China's military buildup deeply worries Japan, while Japan's brutal occupation of China in World War II remains an open wound. In recent years both countries have insisted that the other side must openly address this contentious history before relations can improve. But what actually happened?
Boldly tackling the most contentious chapters in this long and tangled relationship, Ezra Vogel uses the tools of a master historian to examine key turning points in Sino?
Japanese history. Pivoting from past to present, he argues that for the sake of a stable world order, these two Asian giants must reset their relationship, starting with their common interests in scientific research and environmental protection.
[He] suggests that over the centuries???across both the imperial and the modern eras???friction has always dominated their relations. -Sheila A. Smith, Foreign Affairs Will become required reading. -Alexis Dudden, Times Literary Supplement China and Japan have cultural and political connections that stretch back fifteen hundred years, but today their relationship is strained. China's military buildup deeply worries Japan, while Japan's brutal occupation of China in World War II remains an open wound. In recent years both countries have insisted that the other side must openly address this contentious history before relations can improve. But what actually happened?
Boldly tackling the most contentious chapters in this long and tangled relationship, Ezra Vogel uses the tools of a master historian to examine key turning points in Sino?
Japanese history. Pivoting from past to present, he argues that for the sake of a stable world order, these two Asian giants must reset their relationship, starting with their common interests in scientific research and environmental protection.
Rogue Forces
Mark Willacy
$35
Paperback • 416 pages
Rogue Forces is the explosive first insiders' story of how some of Australia's revered SAS soldiers crossed the line in Afghanistan, descending from elite warriors to unlawful killers.
Mark Willacy, who won a Gold Walkley for exposing SAS war crimes, has penetrated the SAS code of silence to reveal one of the darkest chapters in our country's military history.
Willacy's devastating award-winning Four Corners program, 'Killing Fields' captured on film for the first time a war crime perpetrated by an Australian: the killing of a terrified, unarmed Afghan man in a field by an SAS soldier. It caused shockwaves around the world and resulted in an Australian Federal Police war crimes investigation. It also sparked a new line of investigation by the Brereton inquiry, the independent Australian Defence Force inquiry into war crimes in Afghanistan. It was a game changer.
But for Willacy, it was just the beginning of a much bigger story. More SAS soldiers came forward with undeniable evidence and eyewitness testimony of other unlawful killings, and exposed a culture of brutality and impunity.
Rogue Forces takes you out on the patrols where the killings happened. The result is a gripping character-driven story that embeds you on the front line in the thick of the action as those soldiers share for the first time what they witnessed. Willacy also confronts those accused about their sides of the story.
At its heart, Rogue Forces is a story about the true heroes who had the courage to come forward and expose the truth.
This is their story. A story that had to be told.
Mark Willacy, who won a Gold Walkley for exposing SAS war crimes, has penetrated the SAS code of silence to reveal one of the darkest chapters in our country's military history.
Willacy's devastating award-winning Four Corners program, 'Killing Fields' captured on film for the first time a war crime perpetrated by an Australian: the killing of a terrified, unarmed Afghan man in a field by an SAS soldier. It caused shockwaves around the world and resulted in an Australian Federal Police war crimes investigation. It also sparked a new line of investigation by the Brereton inquiry, the independent Australian Defence Force inquiry into war crimes in Afghanistan. It was a game changer.
But for Willacy, it was just the beginning of a much bigger story. More SAS soldiers came forward with undeniable evidence and eyewitness testimony of other unlawful killings, and exposed a culture of brutality and impunity.
Rogue Forces takes you out on the patrols where the killings happened. The result is a gripping character-driven story that embeds you on the front line in the thick of the action as those soldiers share for the first time what they witnessed. Willacy also confronts those accused about their sides of the story.
At its heart, Rogue Forces is a story about the true heroes who had the courage to come forward and expose the truth.
This is their story. A story that had to be told.
See more books in this category by clicking the underlined links shown just above.
The Secret Life of the Savoy: and the D'Oyly Carte family
Olivia Williams
$22.99
Paperback • 352 pages
'A real triumph, beautifully written, with many wonderful stories of the Savoy.' Lady Anne Glenconner, author of Lady in Waiting 'An elegantly crafted, yet spritely and sparkling book, perfectly befitting its subject.' - Ophelia Field, author of The Favourite In three generations, the D'Oyly Carte family pioneered the luxury hotel and the modern theatre, propelled Gilbert and Sullivan to lasting stardom, made Oscar Wilde a transatlantic celebrity, inspired a P. G. Wodehouse series, and popularised early jazz, electric lights and Art Deco.
Following the history of the iconic Savoy Hotel through three generations of the D'Oyly Carte family, The Secret Life of the Savoy revives an extroardinary cultural legacy.
For The Gondoliers-themed birthday dinner, the hotel obligingly flooded the courtyard to conjure the Grand Canal of Venice. Dinner was served on a silk-lined floating gondola, real swans were swimming in the water, and as a final flourish, a baby elephant borrowed from London Zoo pulled a five-foot high birthday cake.
Following the history of the iconic Savoy Hotel through three generations of the D'Oyly Carte family, The Secret Life of the Savoy revives an extroardinary cultural legacy.
For The Gondoliers-themed birthday dinner, the hotel obligingly flooded the courtyard to conjure the Grand Canal of Venice. Dinner was served on a silk-lined floating gondola, real swans were swimming in the water, and as a final flourish, a baby elephant borrowed from London Zoo pulled a five-foot high birthday cake.
Advocate - Science
abbeys.com.au
Wounded Country: The Murray-Darling Basin - a Contested History
Quentin Beresford
$34.99
Paperback • 432 pages
Like many Australians, I looked on with horror as images of a million dead fish swamped the media and consumed the news cycle. I resolved to dig deeper.
The Murray-Darling Basin is under threat. This vast and spectacular geographical region, covering one million square kilometres from central Queensland to South Australia, has been exploited for nearly 200 years. Soil erosion, sand drifts, dust storms, salinity, algal blooms, threatened native flora and fauna, the drying out of internationally recognised wetlands and steadily worsening droughts have repeatedly brought large parts of the Basin to its knees.
In Wounded Country, award-winning author Quentin Beresford investigates the complex history of Australia's largest and most important river system. Waves of farmers exploited the region's potential, with little consideration for the environmental consequences. Dispossession and marginalisation denied local First Nations people their lands and European settlers the Indigenous cultural knowledge to manage the Basin sustainably. Instead, we've had 'nation-building' irrigation schemes and agricultural enterprises promoted by politicians focused on short-term profits and a development-at-all-costs approach. Expert advice and warnings about long-term environmental effects have been continually sidelined.
We're now at a point of reckoning. How can we save the once mighty Murray-Darling?
'One of the most important books to emerge in recent decades concerning both Australia's dangerous environmental mismanagement and the indivisible plunder of Indigenous society.' - Charles Massy
The Murray-Darling Basin is under threat. This vast and spectacular geographical region, covering one million square kilometres from central Queensland to South Australia, has been exploited for nearly 200 years. Soil erosion, sand drifts, dust storms, salinity, algal blooms, threatened native flora and fauna, the drying out of internationally recognised wetlands and steadily worsening droughts have repeatedly brought large parts of the Basin to its knees.
In Wounded Country, award-winning author Quentin Beresford investigates the complex history of Australia's largest and most important river system. Waves of farmers exploited the region's potential, with little consideration for the environmental consequences. Dispossession and marginalisation denied local First Nations people their lands and European settlers the Indigenous cultural knowledge to manage the Basin sustainably. Instead, we've had 'nation-building' irrigation schemes and agricultural enterprises promoted by politicians focused on short-term profits and a development-at-all-costs approach. Expert advice and warnings about long-term environmental effects have been continually sidelined.
We're now at a point of reckoning. How can we save the once mighty Murray-Darling?
'One of the most important books to emerge in recent decades concerning both Australia's dangerous environmental mismanagement and the indivisible plunder of Indigenous society.' - Charles Massy
The Art of More: how mathematics created civilisation
Michael Brooks
$32.99
Paperback • 320 pages
Bestselling science writer Michael Brooks takes us on a fascinating journey through the history of civilisation, as he explains why maths is fundamental to our understanding of the world.
Bestselling science writer Michael Brooks takes us on a fascinating journey through the history of civilisation, as he explains why maths is fundamental to our understanding of the world.
1, 2, 3 ... ? The human brain isn't wired for maths; beyond the number 3, it just sees 'more'. So why bother learning it at all?
You might remember studying geometry, calculus, and algebra at school, but you probably didn't realise - or weren't taught - that these are the roots of art, architecture, government, and almost every other aspect of our civilisation. The mathematics of triangles enabled explorers to travel far across the seas and astronomers to map the heavens. Calculus won the Allies the Second World War and halted the HIV epidemic. And the mysterious Pi is one of the essential building blocks of the 21st century.
From ancient Egyptian priests to the Apollo astronauts, and Babylonian tax collectors to the MIT professor who invented juggling robots, join Michael Brooks and his extraordinarily eccentric cast of characters in discovering how maths shaped the world.
'The Art of More brings to life in accessible, lively terms how maths helps us navigate pandemics, space travel, and encrypted apps ... Why isn't school maths taught like this?' -David Rowan, founding editor-in-chief of WIRED UK and author of Non-Bullshit Innovation 'Michael Brooks has a rare gift for making science come to life, and in this book he is at his best, fusing mathematics with storytelling as he takes us on an exhilarating sweep through human history.' -Dan Jones, New York Times bestselling historian 'If you've ever wondered what the maths you did at school was for, and what it has done for us, you'll find the answer here. Michael Brooks' enthusiasm for the beauty and utility of the subject shines from every page.' -Ian Stewart, author of What's the Use?
Bestselling science writer Michael Brooks takes us on a fascinating journey through the history of civilisation, as he explains why maths is fundamental to our understanding of the world.
1, 2, 3 ... ? The human brain isn't wired for maths; beyond the number 3, it just sees 'more'. So why bother learning it at all?
You might remember studying geometry, calculus, and algebra at school, but you probably didn't realise - or weren't taught - that these are the roots of art, architecture, government, and almost every other aspect of our civilisation. The mathematics of triangles enabled explorers to travel far across the seas and astronomers to map the heavens. Calculus won the Allies the Second World War and halted the HIV epidemic. And the mysterious Pi is one of the essential building blocks of the 21st century.
From ancient Egyptian priests to the Apollo astronauts, and Babylonian tax collectors to the MIT professor who invented juggling robots, join Michael Brooks and his extraordinarily eccentric cast of characters in discovering how maths shaped the world.
'The Art of More brings to life in accessible, lively terms how maths helps us navigate pandemics, space travel, and encrypted apps ... Why isn't school maths taught like this?' -David Rowan, founding editor-in-chief of WIRED UK and author of Non-Bullshit Innovation 'Michael Brooks has a rare gift for making science come to life, and in this book he is at his best, fusing mathematics with storytelling as he takes us on an exhilarating sweep through human history.' -Dan Jones, New York Times bestselling historian 'If you've ever wondered what the maths you did at school was for, and what it has done for us, you'll find the answer here. Michael Brooks' enthusiasm for the beauty and utility of the subject shines from every page.' -Ian Stewart, author of What's the Use?
Reimagining Time: A Light-Speed Tour of Einstein's Theory of Relativity
Tanya Bub , Jeffrey Bub
$39.95
Paperback • 192 pages
A quirky, funny, and accessible blend of science and art that delves into the heart of Einstein's theory of relativity It was a link to his 1905 paper-an early attempt at explaining his revolutionary ideas on space, time, and matter-that drew Tanya Bub into Albert Einstein's imaginative vision of the world. What particularly struck her was how Einstein interwove words and math to create clear visuals illustrating his theories. As an artist, she naturally started doodling as she worked her way through his concepts, creating drawings that intuitively demonstrated Einstein's core principles.
In Reimagining Time Tanya Bub teams up with her father, the distinguished physicist Jeffrey Bub, to create a quirky and accessible take on one of science's most revolutionary discoveries. Blending original art and text, they guide readers through Einstein's theory of special relativity to expose truths about our universe: time is relative, lengths get shorter with motion, energy and mass are interchangeable, and the Universe has a speed limit.
In Reimagining Time Tanya Bub teams up with her father, the distinguished physicist Jeffrey Bub, to create a quirky and accessible take on one of science's most revolutionary discoveries. Blending original art and text, they guide readers through Einstein's theory of special relativity to expose truths about our universe: time is relative, lengths get shorter with motion, energy and mass are interchangeable, and the Universe has a speed limit.
What's Eating the Universe?: And Other Cosmic Questions
Paul Davies
$35
Hardback • 192 pages
The story of the universe in thirty cosmological conundrums In the constellation of Eridanus there lurks a cosmic mystery. It's as if something has taken a huge bite out of the universe, leaving a super-void. What could be the culprit? A super massive black hole? Another, bigger universe? Or an expanding vacuum bubble, destined to envelop and annihilate everything in existence?
Scientists now understand the history of our universe better than the history of our own planet, but they continue to uncover startling new riddles-the hole in the universe being just one. In this electrifying book, award-winning physicist Paul Davies walks us through the puzzles and paradoxes that have preoccupied cosmologists from ancient Greece to the present day. Laying bare the audacious research that has led us to mind-bending solutions, Davies reveals how we might begin to approach the greatest outstanding enigmas of all.
Scientists now understand the history of our universe better than the history of our own planet, but they continue to uncover startling new riddles-the hole in the universe being just one. In this electrifying book, award-winning physicist Paul Davies walks us through the puzzles and paradoxes that have preoccupied cosmologists from ancient Greece to the present day. Laying bare the audacious research that has led us to mind-bending solutions, Davies reveals how we might begin to approach the greatest outstanding enigmas of all.
Asteroids: How Love, Fear, and Greed Will Determine Our Future in Space
Martin Elvis
$41.95
Hardback • 312 pages
Human travel into space is an enormously expensive and unforgiving endeavor. So why go? In this accessible and authoritative book, astrophysicist Martin Elvis argues that the answer is the asteroid exploration, for motives of love, fear, and greed.
Elvis's personal motivation is one of scientific love-asteroid investigations may teach us about the composition of the solar system and the origins of life. A more compelling reason may be fear-of a large asteroid hitting our planet.
Finally, Elvis maintains, we should consider greed: asteroids likely hold vast riches, such as large platinum deposits, and mining them could provide both a new industry and a funding source for bolder space exploration. Elvis explains how each motive can be satisfied, and how they help one another. From the origins of life, to space billiards, and space sports, Elvis looks at how asteroids may be used in the not-so-distant future.
Elvis's personal motivation is one of scientific love-asteroid investigations may teach us about the composition of the solar system and the origins of life. A more compelling reason may be fear-of a large asteroid hitting our planet.
Finally, Elvis maintains, we should consider greed: asteroids likely hold vast riches, such as large platinum deposits, and mining them could provide both a new industry and a funding source for bolder space exploration. Elvis explains how each motive can be satisfied, and how they help one another. From the origins of life, to space billiards, and space sports, Elvis looks at how asteroids may be used in the not-so-distant future.
A (Very) Short History of Life On Earth: 4.6 Billion Years in 12 Chapters
Henry Gee
$34.99
Paperback • 320 pages
For billions of years, Earth was an inhospitably alien place - covered with churning seas, slowly crafting its landscape by way of incessant volcanic eruptions, the atmosphere in a constant state of chemical flux. And yet, despite facing literally every conceivable setback that living organisms could encounter, life has been extinguished and picked itself up to evolve again. Life has learned and adapted and continued through the billions of years that followed. It has weathered fire and ice. Slimes begat sponges, who through billions of years of complex evolution and adaptation grew a backbone, braved the unknown of pitiless shores, and sought an existence beyond the sea.
From that first foray to the spread of early hominids who later became Homo sapiens, life has persisted, undaunted. A (Very) Short History of Life is an enlightening story of survival, of persistence, illuminating the delicate balance within which life has always existed, and continues to exist today. It is our planet like you've never seen it before.
Life teems through Henry Gee's lyrical prose - colossal supercontinents drift, collide, and coalesce, fashioning the face of the planet as we know it today. Creatures are engagingly personified, from 'gregarious' bacteria populating the seas to duelling dinosaurs in the Triassic period to magnificent mammals with the future in their (newly evolved) grasp. Those long extinct, almost alien early life forms are resurrected in evocative detail. Life's evolutionary steps - from the development of a digestive system to the awe of creatures taking to the skies in flight - are conveyed with an alluring, up-close intimacy.
From that first foray to the spread of early hominids who later became Homo sapiens, life has persisted, undaunted. A (Very) Short History of Life is an enlightening story of survival, of persistence, illuminating the delicate balance within which life has always existed, and continues to exist today. It is our planet like you've never seen it before.
Life teems through Henry Gee's lyrical prose - colossal supercontinents drift, collide, and coalesce, fashioning the face of the planet as we know it today. Creatures are engagingly personified, from 'gregarious' bacteria populating the seas to duelling dinosaurs in the Triassic period to magnificent mammals with the future in their (newly evolved) grasp. Those long extinct, almost alien early life forms are resurrected in evocative detail. Life's evolutionary steps - from the development of a digestive system to the awe of creatures taking to the skies in flight - are conveyed with an alluring, up-close intimacy.
Other Minds: The Octopus and the Evolution of Intelligent Life
Peter Godfrey-Smith
$19.99
Paperback • 272 pages
What if intelligent life on Earth evolved not once, but twice? The octopus is the closest we will come to meeting an intelligent alien. What can we learn from the encounter? In Other Minds, Peter Godfrey-Smith, a distinguished philosopher of science and a skilled scuba diver, tells a bold new story of how nature became aware of itself - a story that largely occurs in the ocean, where animals first appeared.
Tracking the mind's fitful development from unruly clumps of seaborne cells to the first evolved nervous systems in ancient relatives of jellyfish, he explores the incredible evolutionary journey of the cephalopods, which began as inconspicuous molluscs who would later abandon their shells to rise above the ocean floor, searching for prey and acquiring the greater intelligence needed to do so - a journey completely independent from the route that mammals and birds would later take.
But what kind of intelligence do cephalopods possess? How did the octopus, a solitary creature with little social life, become so smart? What is it like to have eight tentacles that are so packed with neurons that they virtually 'think for themselves'? By tracing the question of inner life back to its roots and comparing human beings with our most remarkable animal relatives, Godfrey-Smith casts crucial new light on the octopus mind - and on our own.
Tracking the mind's fitful development from unruly clumps of seaborne cells to the first evolved nervous systems in ancient relatives of jellyfish, he explores the incredible evolutionary journey of the cephalopods, which began as inconspicuous molluscs who would later abandon their shells to rise above the ocean floor, searching for prey and acquiring the greater intelligence needed to do so - a journey completely independent from the route that mammals and birds would later take.
But what kind of intelligence do cephalopods possess? How did the octopus, a solitary creature with little social life, become so smart? What is it like to have eight tentacles that are so packed with neurons that they virtually 'think for themselves'? By tracing the question of inner life back to its roots and comparing human beings with our most remarkable animal relatives, Godfrey-Smith casts crucial new light on the octopus mind - and on our own.
Sold Down the River: How Robber Barons and Wall Street Traders Cornered Australia's Water Market
Scott Hamilton , Stuart Kells
$34.99
Paperback • 304 pages
Two insiders expose the shocking and shameful betrayal of Australia's regional heartland so international bankers and traders could make a quick buck.
The Murray-Darling Basin is Australia's greatest environmental asset. The story of water in Australia is written into its ancient rivers, creeks and wetlands. It's home to more than forty Indigenous nations, and it covers an area bigger than France. It is the beating heart of our regions and sustains 40 per cent of our food production.
In 2012 Australia signed up to the Murray-Darling Basin Plan, a scheme designed to create a market for the Basin's water and to safeguard the environment.
But the Plan has gone horribly wrong. It has sold our farmers and rural communities down the river. It has contributed to appalling environmental damage on the planet's driest inhabited continent. It has allowed a ruthless market to form, exploited by traders who buy and sell water as if it were a currency like Bitcoin.
Scott Hamilton and Stuart Kells, both experts in public policy, have interviewed irrigators, farmers, Traditional Custodians and water traders to tell this disastrous story. In doing so, they bring to light how we have failed to protect our most precious natural resource.
You can't understand Australia without understanding water. Sold Down the River is compulsory reading for all of us.
The Murray-Darling Basin is Australia's greatest environmental asset. The story of water in Australia is written into its ancient rivers, creeks and wetlands. It's home to more than forty Indigenous nations, and it covers an area bigger than France. It is the beating heart of our regions and sustains 40 per cent of our food production.
In 2012 Australia signed up to the Murray-Darling Basin Plan, a scheme designed to create a market for the Basin's water and to safeguard the environment.
But the Plan has gone horribly wrong. It has sold our farmers and rural communities down the river. It has contributed to appalling environmental damage on the planet's driest inhabited continent. It has allowed a ruthless market to form, exploited by traders who buy and sell water as if it were a currency like Bitcoin.
Scott Hamilton and Stuart Kells, both experts in public policy, have interviewed irrigators, farmers, Traditional Custodians and water traders to tell this disastrous story. In doing so, they bring to light how we have failed to protect our most precious natural resource.
You can't understand Australia without understanding water. Sold Down the River is compulsory reading for all of us.
The Dawn of Language: The story of how we came to talk
Sverker Johansson , Frank Perry
$32.99
Paperback • 432 pages
A model of popular-science writing STEVEN POOLE Who was the first speaker and what was their first message?
An erudite, tightly woven and beautifully written account of one of humanity's greatest mysteries - the origins of language.
Drawing on evidence from many fields, including archaeology, anthropology, neurology and linguistics, Sverker Johansson weaves these disparate threads together to show how our human ancestors evolved into language users. The Dawn of Language provides a fascinating survey of how grammar came into being and the differences or similarities between languages spoken around the world, before exploring how language eventually emerged in the very remote human past.
Our intellectual and physiological changes through the process of evolution both have a bearing on our ability to acquire language. But to what extent is the evolution of language dependent on genes, or on environment? How has language evolved further, and how is it changing now, in the process of globalisation? And which aspects of language ensure that robots are not yet intelligent enough to reconstruct how language has evolved?
Johansson's far-reaching, authoritative and research-based approach to language is brought to life through dozens of astonishing examples, both human and animal, in a fascinatingly erudite and entertaining volume for anyone who has ever contemplated not just why we speak the way we do, but why we speak at all.
Translated from the Swedish by Frank Perry
An erudite, tightly woven and beautifully written account of one of humanity's greatest mysteries - the origins of language.
Drawing on evidence from many fields, including archaeology, anthropology, neurology and linguistics, Sverker Johansson weaves these disparate threads together to show how our human ancestors evolved into language users. The Dawn of Language provides a fascinating survey of how grammar came into being and the differences or similarities between languages spoken around the world, before exploring how language eventually emerged in the very remote human past.
Our intellectual and physiological changes through the process of evolution both have a bearing on our ability to acquire language. But to what extent is the evolution of language dependent on genes, or on environment? How has language evolved further, and how is it changing now, in the process of globalisation? And which aspects of language ensure that robots are not yet intelligent enough to reconstruct how language has evolved?
Johansson's far-reaching, authoritative and research-based approach to language is brought to life through dozens of astonishing examples, both human and animal, in a fascinatingly erudite and entertaining volume for anyone who has ever contemplated not just why we speak the way we do, but why we speak at all.
Translated from the Swedish by Frank Perry
Our Sunburnt Country
Anika Molesworth
$34.99
Paperback
Anika Molesworth fell in love with her family's farm, a sheep station near Broken Hill, at an early age. She formed a bond with the land as though it were a member of her family. When the Millennium Drought hit, though, bringing with it heatwaves and duststorms, the future she'd always imagined for herself began to seem impossible.
As she learned more about the causes of - and the solutions to - the extreme weather that was killing her land and her livelihood, Anika became fired up and determined to speak out. Talking to farmers and food producers all around the world, she soon realised that there was a way forward that could be both practical and sustainable - if only we can build up the courage to take it.
Beautifully written and full of hope, Our Sunburnt Country shows that there is a way to protect our land, our food and our future, and it is within our grasp.
Praise for Our Sunburnt Country: 'In Australia our climate debate can be depressing. In the hands of Anika Molesworth it is uplifting and full of hope.' - Craig Reucassel 'Anika Molesworth invites us to imagine a better future. Read this book and be inspired.' - Michael E. Mann 'In a hope-filled, personal tale framed by her family farm in a sun-baked landscape, Anika Molesworth weaves philosophy, science and a poet's eye into a heartwarming tale of how to help heal the planet.' - Matthew Evans 'This is an important, accessible and evocative book written by a farmer and scientist in that most vital of spaces: the future of our Earth. This book can be part of the solution.' - Charles Massy 'A personal journey spurred by climate change in the west of NSW, learning what can be done and why it is worth doing.' - Ross Garnaut
As she learned more about the causes of - and the solutions to - the extreme weather that was killing her land and her livelihood, Anika became fired up and determined to speak out. Talking to farmers and food producers all around the world, she soon realised that there was a way forward that could be both practical and sustainable - if only we can build up the courage to take it.
Beautifully written and full of hope, Our Sunburnt Country shows that there is a way to protect our land, our food and our future, and it is within our grasp.
Praise for Our Sunburnt Country: 'In Australia our climate debate can be depressing. In the hands of Anika Molesworth it is uplifting and full of hope.' - Craig Reucassel 'Anika Molesworth invites us to imagine a better future. Read this book and be inspired.' - Michael E. Mann 'In a hope-filled, personal tale framed by her family farm in a sun-baked landscape, Anika Molesworth weaves philosophy, science and a poet's eye into a heartwarming tale of how to help heal the planet.' - Matthew Evans 'This is an important, accessible and evocative book written by a farmer and scientist in that most vital of spaces: the future of our Earth. This book can be part of the solution.' - Charles Massy 'A personal journey spurred by climate change in the west of NSW, learning what can be done and why it is worth doing.' - Ross Garnaut
The Brumby Wars: The battle for the soul of Australia
Anthony Sharwood
$32.99
Paperback • 304 pages
It's not just a war over horses. It's a battle for the soul of Australia.
This is a book about the intense culture war raging around Australia's wild horses, known as brumbies. It pits a vision of the legendary Man from Snowy River and the iconic ANZAC Light Horse against the spectre of ecosystems destroyed by feral pests. The debate involves powerful politicians and media commentators, and stars an animal mythologised in Australian poetry and prose. But in essence, this is about us. The Brumby Wars is about Australians at war with each other over their vision of an ideal Australia.
To ecologists and people who ski, walk and fish in the High Country and other areas where the brumbies proliferate, they are a feral menace which must be removed to save delicate alpine landscapes. To the descendants of cattle families and many Australians in urban and regional areas, brumbies are untouchable, a symbol of wildness and freedom.
Something has to give. But what? The land or the horses? This war is set to escalate dramatically before we have an answer. Featuring interviews with characters from all sides of the debate, The Brumby Wars is the riveting account of a major national issue and the very human passions it inspires. It is also a journey, a quest to understand what makes us tick in our increasingly polarised country.
Praise for Anthony Sharwood's From Snow to Ash 'Makes for inspirational reading' West Australian 'A distinctive, charming narrative ... a thinking, caring man's trek' Canberra Times 'A joyous read with personality in spades ... A book for the adventurer in us all' Australian Geographic
This is a book about the intense culture war raging around Australia's wild horses, known as brumbies. It pits a vision of the legendary Man from Snowy River and the iconic ANZAC Light Horse against the spectre of ecosystems destroyed by feral pests. The debate involves powerful politicians and media commentators, and stars an animal mythologised in Australian poetry and prose. But in essence, this is about us. The Brumby Wars is about Australians at war with each other over their vision of an ideal Australia.
To ecologists and people who ski, walk and fish in the High Country and other areas where the brumbies proliferate, they are a feral menace which must be removed to save delicate alpine landscapes. To the descendants of cattle families and many Australians in urban and regional areas, brumbies are untouchable, a symbol of wildness and freedom.
Something has to give. But what? The land or the horses? This war is set to escalate dramatically before we have an answer. Featuring interviews with characters from all sides of the debate, The Brumby Wars is the riveting account of a major national issue and the very human passions it inspires. It is also a journey, a quest to understand what makes us tick in our increasingly polarised country.
Praise for Anthony Sharwood's From Snow to Ash 'Makes for inspirational reading' West Australian 'A distinctive, charming narrative ... a thinking, caring man's trek' Canberra Times 'A joyous read with personality in spades ... A book for the adventurer in us all' Australian Geographic
See more for ANIMALS & SOCIETY
Nature Is Never Silent
Madlen Ziege
$29.99
Paperback • 240 pages
For readers of Entangled Life and The Hidden Life of Trees, a fascinating journey into the world of plants and animals, and the ways they communicate with each other.
For readers of Entangled Life and The Hidden Life of Trees, a fascinating journey into the world of plants and animals, and the ways they communicate with each other.
In forests, fields, and even gardens, there is a constant exchange of information going on. Animals and plants must communicate with one another to survive, but they also tell lies, set traps, talk to themselves, and speak to each other in a variety of unexpected ways.
Here, behavioural biologist Madlen Ziege reveals the fascinating world of nonhuman communication. In charming, humorous, and accessible prose, she shows how nature's language can help us to understand our own place in the natural world a little better.
'It's always amazing how talkative nature is - very enlightening and entertaining!' -Peter Wohlleben, author of The Hidden Life of Trees 'In accessible language Ziege reports on fascinatingly clever chemical communication among bacteria; tells how wild rabbits coordinate and how badgers warn their enemies ... Mushrooms set traps, fish lie, and fox and fir tree say goodnight. Illuminating brain food.' -O news 'In the forest and in your own garden, things are ... anything but quiet and calm, as Madlen Ziege, in a light and entertaining way, and using astonishing scientific knowledge, shows us.' -Kronen Zeitung
For readers of Entangled Life and The Hidden Life of Trees, a fascinating journey into the world of plants and animals, and the ways they communicate with each other.
In forests, fields, and even gardens, there is a constant exchange of information going on. Animals and plants must communicate with one another to survive, but they also tell lies, set traps, talk to themselves, and speak to each other in a variety of unexpected ways.
Here, behavioural biologist Madlen Ziege reveals the fascinating world of nonhuman communication. In charming, humorous, and accessible prose, she shows how nature's language can help us to understand our own place in the natural world a little better.
'It's always amazing how talkative nature is - very enlightening and entertaining!' -Peter Wohlleben, author of The Hidden Life of Trees 'In accessible language Ziege reports on fascinatingly clever chemical communication among bacteria; tells how wild rabbits coordinate and how badgers warn their enemies ... Mushrooms set traps, fish lie, and fox and fir tree say goodnight. Illuminating brain food.' -O news 'In the forest and in your own garden, things are ... anything but quiet and calm, as Madlen Ziege, in a light and entertaining way, and using astonishing scientific knowledge, shows us.' -Kronen Zeitung
Advocate - Today's World
abbeys.com.au
The A, B & C of Democracy: Or Cats in the Sack
Luca Belgiorno-Nettis , Kyle Redman
$24.99
Paperback • 112 pages
A handbook for building a better democracy.
This is a learner's guide to a better democracy. Sounds ambitious? It is. The catalyst for publishing this book is obvious. There's no need to regurgitate the public's disaffection with politics. Mired in the tawdry mechanics of political campaigning, and incapable of climbing out of cyclical electioneering contests, representative democracies are stuck in a rut.
As Dawn Nakagawa, Vice President of the Berggruen Institute, writes, 'Democratic reform is hard. We are very attached to our constitutions and institutions, even to the point of romanticising it all.' This handbook is an introduction to minipublics - otherwise known as citizens' juries or assemblies - interspersed with a few travel anecdotes to share the momentum behind the basic methodology of deliberative democracy.
As the world accelerates into its digital future - with new modes of working, connecting and living - our parliaments remain relics from a primordial, ideological and adversarial age. Meanwhile urgent political challenges are stumbling to half-solutions in slow-motion. Collaboration amongst us humans in the Anthropocene is no longer just a nice-to-have.
This is a learner's guide to a better democracy. Sounds ambitious? It is. The catalyst for publishing this book is obvious. There's no need to regurgitate the public's disaffection with politics. Mired in the tawdry mechanics of political campaigning, and incapable of climbing out of cyclical electioneering contests, representative democracies are stuck in a rut.
As Dawn Nakagawa, Vice President of the Berggruen Institute, writes, 'Democratic reform is hard. We are very attached to our constitutions and institutions, even to the point of romanticising it all.' This handbook is an introduction to minipublics - otherwise known as citizens' juries or assemblies - interspersed with a few travel anecdotes to share the momentum behind the basic methodology of deliberative democracy.
As the world accelerates into its digital future - with new modes of working, connecting and living - our parliaments remain relics from a primordial, ideological and adversarial age. Meanwhile urgent political challenges are stumbling to half-solutions in slow-motion. Collaboration amongst us humans in the Anthropocene is no longer just a nice-to-have.
Top Blokes: The Larrikin Myth, Class and Power: Quarterly Essay 83
Lech Blaine
$24.99
Paperback • 128 pages
Who can be a larrikin and how is it used politically?
The figure of the larrikin goes deep in Australian culture. But who can be a larrikin, and what are its political uses?
This brilliant essay looks at Australian politics through the prisms of class, egalitarianism and masculinity. Lech Blaine examines some top blokes, with particular focus on Scott Morrison and Anthony Albanese, but stretching back to Bob Hawke and Kerry Packer. He shows how Morrison brought a cohort of voters over to the Coalition side, flipping what was once working-class Labor culture.
Blaine weaves his own experiences through the essay as he explores the persona of the Aussie larrikin. What are its hidden contradictions - can a larrikin be female, or Indigenous, say? - and how has it been transformed by an age of affluence and image?
The figure of the larrikin goes deep in Australian culture. But who can be a larrikin, and what are its political uses?
This brilliant essay looks at Australian politics through the prisms of class, egalitarianism and masculinity. Lech Blaine examines some top blokes, with particular focus on Scott Morrison and Anthony Albanese, but stretching back to Bob Hawke and Kerry Packer. He shows how Morrison brought a cohort of voters over to the Coalition side, flipping what was once working-class Labor culture.
Blaine weaves his own experiences through the essay as he explores the persona of the Aussie larrikin. What are its hidden contradictions - can a larrikin be female, or Indigenous, say? - and how has it been transformed by an age of affluence and image?
Why you should give a f*ck about farming: Because you eat
Gabrielle Chan
$34.99
Paperback • 320 pages
There is no farmers and others. If you eat or wear clothes, the decisions you make influence farming.
There is no farmers and others. If you eat or wear clothes, the decisions you make influence farming.
'Eaters will be the ultimate arbiter of where and how food is grown and how the land is cared for ... We all have a stake in the future of food and farming. I am going to show you why.' Farming sits at the intersection of the world's biggest challenges around climate change, soil, water, energy, natural disasters and zoonotic diseases. Yet Australia has no national food policy. No national agriculture strategy. Our water policy is close to the Hunger Games. People with means can shop at farmers' markets and order brunch, by the provenance of their eggs, bacon, butter, tomatoes and greens. But do they really understand the trade-offs required to grow it?
In this book Gabrielle Chan examines the past, present and future of farming with her characteristically forensic eye. She lays out how our nation, its leaders, farmers and eaters can usher in new ways for us to work and live on our unique and precious land. We must forge a new social contract if we are to grow healthy food on a thriving landscape, while mitigating climate and biodiversity loss.
This important book will change your thinking about food, farming and how you eat.
There is no farmers and others. If you eat or wear clothes, the decisions you make influence farming.
'Eaters will be the ultimate arbiter of where and how food is grown and how the land is cared for ... We all have a stake in the future of food and farming. I am going to show you why.' Farming sits at the intersection of the world's biggest challenges around climate change, soil, water, energy, natural disasters and zoonotic diseases. Yet Australia has no national food policy. No national agriculture strategy. Our water policy is close to the Hunger Games. People with means can shop at farmers' markets and order brunch, by the provenance of their eggs, bacon, butter, tomatoes and greens. But do they really understand the trade-offs required to grow it?
In this book Gabrielle Chan examines the past, present and future of farming with her characteristically forensic eye. She lays out how our nation, its leaders, farmers and eaters can usher in new ways for us to work and live on our unique and precious land. We must forge a new social contract if we are to grow healthy food on a thriving landscape, while mitigating climate and biodiversity loss.
This important book will change your thinking about food, farming and how you eat.
Title Fight: How the Yindjibarndi battled and defeated a mining giant
Paul Cleary
$32.99
Paperback • 320 pages
A David-and-Goliath story set in the ancient landscape of the Pilbara In the space of just fifteen years, Andrew 'Twiggy' Forrest's Fortescue Metals Group has built a global iron-ore giant generating $19 billion in revenue a year. But in its rush to develop, FMG has damaged and destroyed ancient Aboriginal heritage and brokered patently unfair agreements with the traditional owners of the land. When FMG has met resistance, it has used 'tough and savage' litigation to secure a lucrative outcome.
But this strategy came unstuck when FMG encountered a few hundred Yindjibarndi people and their leader, Michael Woodley, who left school in Grade Six and was from then on immersed in his traditional culture. Woodley has led his community in an epic, thirteen-year battle against FMG, all on a shoestring budget.
Clear-eyed and humane, Title Fight reveals the Wild West of iron-ore mining in the Pilbara. It tells the story of how a small group of Indigenous Australians fought tenaciously to defend their spiritual connection to country. And, at a moment of national reckoning with our colonial and ancient past, with our relationship to the land, it asks some critical questions- Who does the land belong to? Who gets to choose what it's used for? And whose side are we on?
But this strategy came unstuck when FMG encountered a few hundred Yindjibarndi people and their leader, Michael Woodley, who left school in Grade Six and was from then on immersed in his traditional culture. Woodley has led his community in an epic, thirteen-year battle against FMG, all on a shoestring budget.
Clear-eyed and humane, Title Fight reveals the Wild West of iron-ore mining in the Pilbara. It tells the story of how a small group of Indigenous Australians fought tenaciously to defend their spiritual connection to country. And, at a moment of national reckoning with our colonial and ancient past, with our relationship to the land, it asks some critical questions- Who does the land belong to? Who gets to choose what it's used for? And whose side are we on?
The CSIRO Gut Care Guide
Michael Conlon , Pennie Taylor , Dr Cuong Tran , Megan Rebuli
$39.99
Paperback • 224 pages
We know that the gut – in particular, our gut microbiome – plays a crucial role in our wellbeing, helping to maintain the health of our immune system, brain and metabolism.
Eating the right types of foods, especially those high in dietary fibre and resistant starch, can support a healthy population of gut microbes and benefit our overall health.
In this follow-up to the bestselling Healthy Gut Diet, leading CSIRO research scientists and dieticians share the latest findings on gut health, including:
- the essential role of fibre in creating a diverse and resilient gut microbiome;
- how the gut barrier and microbiome changes as we travel through life;
- the influence of gut microbes on the rest of our body, including our mood;
- and the potential benefits of probiotics, prebiotics and fermented foods.
Also included are go-to lists of good fibre choices for your pantry, fridge and freezer; simple tips and sample meal plans; and 60 delicious fibre-fuelled recipes, including Banana nut granola, Crispy chilli eggs, Golden fish tacos and Sumac chicken with tahini yoghurt - all designed to deliver a range of different fibres and nutrients to boost your gut health.
The Weirdest People in the World: How the West Became Psychologically Peculiar and Particularly Prosperous
Joseph Henrich
$35
Paperback • 704 pages
An exhilarating account of how psychology, culture and institutions co-evolved to produce the Western mind Do you identify yourself by your profession or achievements, rather than your family network? Do you cultivate your unique attributes and personal goals? If so, perhaps you are WEIRD- raised in a society that is Western, Educated, Industrialized, Rich and Democratic. Unlike most who have ever lived, WEIRD people are highly individualistic, nonconformist, analytical and control-oriented. Joseph Henrich, who developed the game-changing concept of WEIRD, draws on leading-edge research in anthropology, psychology, economics and evolutionary biology to explore how changing family structures, marriage practices and religious beliefs since the Middle Ages shaped the Western mind, laying the foundations for the world we know today.
The Utopians: Six Attempts to Build the Perfect Society
Anna Neima
$49.99
Hardback • 320 pages
'Neima's book, impeccably researched and beautifully written, will be an inspiration for anyone looking to an alternative future today.' - Stella Tillyard, author of Aristocrats and The Great Level 'Deeply interesting and a pleasure to read, The Utopians illuminates the history of social dreaming at a time when it has never been more needed.' - Alison Light, author of A Radical Romance, Common People and Mrs. Woolf and the Servants The Utopians is the remarkable story of six experimental communities - Santiniketan-Sriniketan in India, Dartington Hall in England, Atarashiki Mura in Japan, the Institute for the Harmonious Development of Man in France, the Bruderhof in Germany and Trabuco College in America - that sprang up in the aftermath of the First World War.
Each was led by charismatic figures who dreamed of a new way of living. Rabindranath Tagore, Dorothy and Leonard Elmhirst, Mushanokoji Saneatsu, G. I. Gurdjieff, Eberhard and Emmy Arnold and Gerald Heard all struggled to turn ambitious ideals into reality. They - and their fellow communards - left their jobs, their homes and their social circles. They faced mockery and persecution, penury, hunger and discomfort, and their own doubts about whether their efforts to change society would ever make a difference.
Anna Neima's absorbing and vivid account of these collectives, from creation to collapse, reveals them to be full of eccentric characters, outlandish lifestyles and unchecked idealism. They were dramatic, fractious places where high ideals collided with the need to feed the chickens, clean the toilets, bring up squabbling children and grow the grain for the daily bread.
These communities were small in scale and dismissed in their time. Yet, a century later, their influence still resonates in realms as disparate as progressive education, environmentalism, medical research and mindfulness training. They provided, and continue to provide, a rich store of inspiration for those who aspire to improve the world. Without them, the post-war world would have been a poorer place.
Each was led by charismatic figures who dreamed of a new way of living. Rabindranath Tagore, Dorothy and Leonard Elmhirst, Mushanokoji Saneatsu, G. I. Gurdjieff, Eberhard and Emmy Arnold and Gerald Heard all struggled to turn ambitious ideals into reality. They - and their fellow communards - left their jobs, their homes and their social circles. They faced mockery and persecution, penury, hunger and discomfort, and their own doubts about whether their efforts to change society would ever make a difference.
Anna Neima's absorbing and vivid account of these collectives, from creation to collapse, reveals them to be full of eccentric characters, outlandish lifestyles and unchecked idealism. They were dramatic, fractious places where high ideals collided with the need to feed the chickens, clean the toilets, bring up squabbling children and grow the grain for the daily bread.
These communities were small in scale and dismissed in their time. Yet, a century later, their influence still resonates in realms as disparate as progressive education, environmentalism, medical research and mindfulness training. They provided, and continue to provide, a rich store of inspiration for those who aspire to improve the world. Without them, the post-war world would have been a poorer place.
Broken: Children, Parents and Family Courts
Camilla Nelson , Catharine Lumby
$32.99
Paperback • 288 pages
A devastating account of how Australia's family courts fail children, families and victims of domestic abuse 'What happens to kids in our family law system should be a national scandal - and yet, so few people know about it. This book finally lifts the lid on this broken system, and shows how this once-great institution now regularly orders children to see or live with dangerous parents, and bankrupts the victim-parents trying to protect them. An urgent call to action.'- Jess Hill, author of See What You Made Me Do The family courts intimately affect the lives of those who come before them. Judges can decide where you are allowed to live and work, which school your child can attend and whether you are even permitted to see your child. Lawyers can interrogate every aspect of your personal life during cross-examination, and argue whether or not you are fit to be a parent.
Broken explores the complexities and failures of Australia's family courts through the stories of children and parents whose lives have been shattered by them. Camilla Nelson and Catharine Lumby take the reader into the back rooms of the system to show what it feels like to be caught up in spirals of abusive litigation. They reveal how the courts have been politicised by Pauline Hanson and men's rights groups, and how those they are meant to protect most - children - are silenced or treated as property.
Exploring the legal culture, gender politics and financial incentives that drive the system, Broken reveals how the family courts - despite the high ideals on which they were founded - have turned into the worst possible place for children and families devastated by domestic abuse.
Broken explores the complexities and failures of Australia's family courts through the stories of children and parents whose lives have been shattered by them. Camilla Nelson and Catharine Lumby take the reader into the back rooms of the system to show what it feels like to be caught up in spirals of abusive litigation. They reveal how the courts have been politicised by Pauline Hanson and men's rights groups, and how those they are meant to protect most - children - are silenced or treated as property.
Exploring the legal culture, gender politics and financial incentives that drive the system, Broken reveals how the family courts - despite the high ideals on which they were founded - have turned into the worst possible place for children and families devastated by domestic abuse.
On Freedom: Four Songs of Care and Constraint
Maggie Nelson
$35
Paperback • 336 pages
An expansive, exhilarating work of nonfiction on freedom, by one of the most significant writers of our day *A GUARDIAN 'BOOKS OF 2021' PICK* 'One of the most electrifying writers at work in America today, among the sharpest and most supple thinkers of her generation' - Olivia Laing So often deployed as a jingoistic, even menacing rallying cry, or limited by a focus on passing moments of liberation, the rhetoric of freedom both rouses and repels. Does it remain key to our autonomy, justice, and well-being, or is freedom's long star turn coming to a close? Does a continued obsession with the term enliven and emancipate, or reflect a deepening nihilism (or both)? On Freedom examines such questions by tracing the concept's complexities in four distinct realms- art, sex, drugs, and climate.
Drawing on a vast range of material, from critical theory to pop culture to the intimacies and plain exchanges of daily life, Nelson explores how we might think, experience, or talk about freedom in ways responsive to the conditions of our day. Her abiding interest lies in ongoing practices of freedom by which we negotiate our interrelation with-indeed, our inseparability from-others, with all the care and constraint that relation entails, while accepting difference and conflict as integral to our communion.
For Nelson, thinking publicly through the knots in our culture-from recent art world debates to the turbulent legacies of sexual liberation, from the painful paradoxes of addiction to the lure of despair in the face of the climate crisis-is itself a practice of freedom, a means of forging fortitude, courage, and company. On Freedom is an invigorating, essential book for challenging times.
Drawing on a vast range of material, from critical theory to pop culture to the intimacies and plain exchanges of daily life, Nelson explores how we might think, experience, or talk about freedom in ways responsive to the conditions of our day. Her abiding interest lies in ongoing practices of freedom by which we negotiate our interrelation with-indeed, our inseparability from-others, with all the care and constraint that relation entails, while accepting difference and conflict as integral to our communion.
For Nelson, thinking publicly through the knots in our culture-from recent art world debates to the turbulent legacies of sexual liberation, from the painful paradoxes of addiction to the lure of despair in the face of the climate crisis-is itself a practice of freedom, a means of forging fortitude, courage, and company. On Freedom is an invigorating, essential book for challenging times.
Big Panda and Tiny Dragon: The beautifully illustrated and comforting story of friendship as seen on ITV News
James Norbury
$29.99
Paperback • 128 pages
The charming, illustrated story of two friends, who travel through the seasons sharing the lessons they learn on their way; the perfect gift to uplift and inspire your loved ones 'We're lost again,' said Big Panda 'When I'm lost,' said Tiny Dragon, 'I find it helps to go back to the beginning and try to remember why I started.' This is the uplifting, beautifully illustrated story of two beloved friends as they journey through the seasons of the year together, into the wild, exploring the thoughts and emotions, hardships and happiness that connect us all.
Writer and artist James Norbury began illustrating the adventures of Big Panda and Tiny Dragon, inspired by Buddhist philosophy and spirituality, to share the ideas that have helped him through the most difficult times, in the hope they can help others too.
Writer and artist James Norbury began illustrating the adventures of Big Panda and Tiny Dragon, inspired by Buddhist philosophy and spirituality, to share the ideas that have helped him through the most difficult times, in the hope they can help others too.
The Spiritual Path
Gregory David Roberts
$24.99
Paperback • 224 pages
The author of the international bestseller Shantaram takes us on a gripping personal journey of wonder and insight into science, belief, faith and devotion. Drawing on sacred traditions, rigorous logic and the six-year instruction of his spiritual teacher, Roberts describes the step-by-step process he followed in search of spiritual connection - a process that anyone, of any belief or none, can benefit from in their own lives. This gripping personal account of the 'Leap Of Faith' is a compellingly fresh addition to such enduring, spiritually inspiring works as Zen and The Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, The Road Less Travelled and The Celestine Prophecy. As Roberts writes, 'The Spiritual Path is a book on spiritual matters that my younger self wanted desperately: one that offers more answers than questions, and helps to reset the spiritual compass.'
Chance
Andrew Rule
$34.99
Paperback
'If you want to bet on numbers, go to a casino. If you want theatre, go to the races.' - Les Carlyon All his life, Andrew Rule has watched racing's heroes and villains, dreamers and schemers.
In Chance, he distils the daring, the desperation and danger of the track, peeling back some of racing's most famous and infamous moments, its celebrations and its secrets, the grittiness behind the glitz.
There are stories of those who set the odds and those who take them, betting plunges planned more carefully than bank robberies, of tricky trainers, reckless jockeys and bold bookmakers.
Tough and sometimes tender, dark and sometimes funny, Chance transcends the industry they call the sport of kings.
In Chance, he distils the daring, the desperation and danger of the track, peeling back some of racing's most famous and infamous moments, its celebrations and its secrets, the grittiness behind the glitz.
There are stories of those who set the odds and those who take them, betting plunges planned more carefully than bank robberies, of tricky trainers, reckless jockeys and bold bookmakers.
Tough and sometimes tender, dark and sometimes funny, Chance transcends the industry they call the sport of kings.
Puff Piece
John Safran
$34.99
Paperback • 320 pages
Wild, hilarious and thought-provoking, Puff Piece is a probing look into Big Tobacco and the vaping industry, and how words can be literally a matter of life and death.
The folks that bring you Marlboro - Philip Morris - are wheezing, slowly dying. Cigarettes are out of favour with everyone, from world governments and investors to, increasingly, smokers. So, what's their plan? Prepare to be dazzled. Or, at the very least, befuddled.
Philip Morris has announced they will shut down as a cigarette company, and relaunch as a health enterprise, dedicated to convincing the one billion smokers of the world to quit.
The ever-curious John Safran leaves his apartment to find out what on God's green earth is going on. As he starts digging away he discovers a company up to brand new shenanigans, wangling their way into unexpected places, desperately trying to keep their tobacco business alive by brandishing a mysterious new doohickey called an IQOS.
And not only that, now they're upending language itself, changing the meaning of words. Will they slip past bans by convincing governments they don't sell 'cigarettes' but rather 'HeatSticks', and that these don't emit 'smoke' but 'aerosol'? Can John get the real story out of them without his life catching fire?
The folks that bring you Marlboro - Philip Morris - are wheezing, slowly dying. Cigarettes are out of favour with everyone, from world governments and investors to, increasingly, smokers. So, what's their plan? Prepare to be dazzled. Or, at the very least, befuddled.
Philip Morris has announced they will shut down as a cigarette company, and relaunch as a health enterprise, dedicated to convincing the one billion smokers of the world to quit.
The ever-curious John Safran leaves his apartment to find out what on God's green earth is going on. As he starts digging away he discovers a company up to brand new shenanigans, wangling their way into unexpected places, desperately trying to keep their tobacco business alive by brandishing a mysterious new doohickey called an IQOS.
And not only that, now they're upending language itself, changing the meaning of words. Will they slip past bans by convincing governments they don't sell 'cigarettes' but rather 'HeatSticks', and that these don't emit 'smoke' but 'aerosol'? Can John get the real story out of them without his life catching fire?
Recovery: How we can create a better, brighter future after a crisis
Andrew Wear
$29.99
Paperback • 304 pages
In times of crisis lies opportunity. Recovery shows us how we can build back better after COVID-19.
In crisis lies opportunity. Let's build back better.
Humanity has recovered from many crises in the past- war, depression, pandemic, natural disaster. Often, we've bounced back to create a better future. The Spanish flu was followed by the economic prosperity of the Roaring Twenties. After World War II, the German economy grew to become the world's most advanced. US social and economic policies responding to the Great Depression paved the way for twentieth-century prosperity. As we emerge from the COVID-19 health and economic crisis, what can we learn from other recoveries? Through interviews with experts, policymakers and community leaders, Andrew Wear examines past recoveries, exploring what went well, what we should do differently and what the lessons might be for the recovery ahead of us. With governments prepared to lead, listen to experts and involve communities in decision-making, not only is a successful recovery possible - we can also choose to reconsider things we thought were fixed. We have an opportunity to create a better future, so let's use it.
In crisis lies opportunity. Let's build back better.
Humanity has recovered from many crises in the past- war, depression, pandemic, natural disaster. Often, we've bounced back to create a better future. The Spanish flu was followed by the economic prosperity of the Roaring Twenties. After World War II, the German economy grew to become the world's most advanced. US social and economic policies responding to the Great Depression paved the way for twentieth-century prosperity. As we emerge from the COVID-19 health and economic crisis, what can we learn from other recoveries? Through interviews with experts, policymakers and community leaders, Andrew Wear examines past recoveries, exploring what went well, what we should do differently and what the lessons might be for the recovery ahead of us. With governments prepared to lead, listen to experts and involve communities in decision-making, not only is a successful recovery possible - we can also choose to reconsider things we thought were fixed. We have an opportunity to create a better future, so let's use it.
Advocate - Economics & Business
abbeys.com.au
The New Hustle: Don't work harder, just work better
Emma Isaacs
$34.99
Paperback
What if we've been served a big, fat lie about what it takes to be successful at work?
Pro-hustlers will tell you living in a work-more, sleep-less world is how we get ahead. But on the back of the pandemic, entrepreneur and Business Chicks founder Emma Isaacs believes the hustle is now dead. Moreover, traditional ways of working - long commutes, unproductive meetings and outdated systems of bureaucracy - actually don't work at all.
Emma believes we don't have to work harder; we just need to work better. In fact, we can slash our hours, take shortcuts and still get more done - without feeling depleted. By becoming more intentional and reimagining the way we work, we can rewrite the old work rules and reinvigorate our lives.
The New Hustle condenses Emma's wisdom into 77 anti-rules for maximum dip-in-and-out efficiency. Drawing inspiration from her team, the member of Business Chicks and the many entrepreneurs and leaders who have graced the Business Chicks stage - from Elizabeth Gilbert to Simon Sinek - she guides us towards embracing radical flexibility, making quick decisions and working smarter, from the emails we craft to the talent we recruit . . . and say no to the things that don't matter, so we can say yes to the things that do.
Written with humour, insight and a serving of tough love, The New Hustle is your go-to for more productive, creative and meaningful work by one of Australia's most unconventional and effective entrepreneurs: a bestselling author, mum of six - and a woman determined to start an anti-hustle revolution.
Praise for The New Hustle 'For anyone who's committed to becoming their best self at work and in life.' - Marie Forleo 'Refreshingly original. Makes so much bloody sense!' - Lisa Wilkinson Praise for Emma Isaccs 'Emma has an inexhaustible joie de vivre, and she delivers an intelligent guide for a new way of working.' - Diane von Furstenberg 'Emma Isaacs is a delight. She is kind, and she is smart, and she is grounded, and she is brave and she is funny.' - Elizabeth Gilbert
Pro-hustlers will tell you living in a work-more, sleep-less world is how we get ahead. But on the back of the pandemic, entrepreneur and Business Chicks founder Emma Isaacs believes the hustle is now dead. Moreover, traditional ways of working - long commutes, unproductive meetings and outdated systems of bureaucracy - actually don't work at all.
Emma believes we don't have to work harder; we just need to work better. In fact, we can slash our hours, take shortcuts and still get more done - without feeling depleted. By becoming more intentional and reimagining the way we work, we can rewrite the old work rules and reinvigorate our lives.
The New Hustle condenses Emma's wisdom into 77 anti-rules for maximum dip-in-and-out efficiency. Drawing inspiration from her team, the member of Business Chicks and the many entrepreneurs and leaders who have graced the Business Chicks stage - from Elizabeth Gilbert to Simon Sinek - she guides us towards embracing radical flexibility, making quick decisions and working smarter, from the emails we craft to the talent we recruit . . . and say no to the things that don't matter, so we can say yes to the things that do.
Written with humour, insight and a serving of tough love, The New Hustle is your go-to for more productive, creative and meaningful work by one of Australia's most unconventional and effective entrepreneurs: a bestselling author, mum of six - and a woman determined to start an anti-hustle revolution.
Praise for The New Hustle 'For anyone who's committed to becoming their best self at work and in life.' - Marie Forleo 'Refreshingly original. Makes so much bloody sense!' - Lisa Wilkinson Praise for Emma Isaccs 'Emma has an inexhaustible joie de vivre, and she delivers an intelligent guide for a new way of working.' - Diane von Furstenberg 'Emma Isaacs is a delight. She is kind, and she is smart, and she is grounded, and she is brave and she is funny.' - Elizabeth Gilbert
Radical Uncertainty: Decision-making for an unknowable future
Mervyn King , John Kay
$22.99
Paperback • 560 pages
'A brilliant new book' Daily Telegraph 'Well written . . . and often entertaining' The Times 'A sparkling analysis' Prospect When uncertainty is all around us, and the facts are not clear, how can we make good decisions?
We do not know what the future will hold, particularly in the midst of a crisis, but we must make decisions anyway. We regularly crave certainties which cannot exist and invent knowledge we cannot have, forgetting that humans are successful because we have adapted to an environment that we understand only imperfectly. Throughout history we have developed a variety of ways of coping with the radical uncertainty that defines our lives.
This incisive and eye-opening book draws on biography, history, mathematics, economics and philosophy to highlight the most successful - and most short-sighted - methods of dealing with an unknowable future. Ultimately, the authors argue, the prevalent method of our age falls short, giving us a false understanding of our power to make predictions, leading to many of the problems we experience today.
Tightly argued, provocative and written with wit and flair, Radical Uncertainty is at once an exploration of the limits of numbers and a celebration of human instinct and wisdom.
We do not know what the future will hold, particularly in the midst of a crisis, but we must make decisions anyway. We regularly crave certainties which cannot exist and invent knowledge we cannot have, forgetting that humans are successful because we have adapted to an environment that we understand only imperfectly. Throughout history we have developed a variety of ways of coping with the radical uncertainty that defines our lives.
This incisive and eye-opening book draws on biography, history, mathematics, economics and philosophy to highlight the most successful - and most short-sighted - methods of dealing with an unknowable future. Ultimately, the authors argue, the prevalent method of our age falls short, giving us a false understanding of our power to make predictions, leading to many of the problems we experience today.
Tightly argued, provocative and written with wit and flair, Radical Uncertainty is at once an exploration of the limits of numbers and a celebration of human instinct and wisdom.
Get Started Investing: It's easier than you think to invest in shares
Alec Renehan , Bryce Leske
$32.99
Paperback • 360 pages
Does the stock market seem too complicated? Do you think that investing is only for those with more money? Do you want to start investing but don't know where to begin? This is the guide to investing you've been waiting for.
Investing in the stock market has never been more accessible. Alec and Bryce show why the stock market has been the most powerful money-making machine that has ever existed and how you can access it with just a few spare dollars. They break down the jargon and give you all the information you need to build the confidence to get started today. They explain how to use online investment platforms, managed funds and exchange-traded funds, what to invest in and what to avoid, how to keep it simple, and why the biggest risk is not investing.
Get Started Investing draws on advice from over 150 expert investors from around the world, and stories from everyday small investors just like you. Whether you're in school, building your career or nearing retirement, Alec and Bryce will help to make your money work for you.
'I'm a massive fan of these two blokes. They cut through the jargon to help anyone switch from being a saver to an investor. Saving to invest is how real wealth is built.' DAVID KOCH, TV presenter 'I wish I'd read this book 15 years ago! A perfect start for any beginner who is thinking about investing. It's a must-read for anyone who's scared of the stock market, like I was.' USMAN KHAWAJA, Test cricketer
Investing in the stock market has never been more accessible. Alec and Bryce show why the stock market has been the most powerful money-making machine that has ever existed and how you can access it with just a few spare dollars. They break down the jargon and give you all the information you need to build the confidence to get started today. They explain how to use online investment platforms, managed funds and exchange-traded funds, what to invest in and what to avoid, how to keep it simple, and why the biggest risk is not investing.
Get Started Investing draws on advice from over 150 expert investors from around the world, and stories from everyday small investors just like you. Whether you're in school, building your career or nearing retirement, Alec and Bryce will help to make your money work for you.
'I'm a massive fan of these two blokes. They cut through the jargon to help anyone switch from being a saver to an investor. Saving to invest is how real wealth is built.' DAVID KOCH, TV presenter 'I wish I'd read this book 15 years ago! A perfect start for any beginner who is thinking about investing. It's a must-read for anyone who's scared of the stock market, like I was.' USMAN KHAWAJA, Test cricketer
Shutdown: How Covid Shook the World's Economy
Adam Tooze
$35
Paperback • 320 pages
From the author of Crashed comes a short, high-speed history of how Covid-19 ravaged the global economy, and where it leaves us now
When the news first began to trickle out of China about a new virus in December 2019, risk-averse financial markets were alert to its potential for disruption. Yet they could never have predicted the total economic collapse that would follow in COVID-19's wake, as stock markets fell faster and harder than at any time since 1929, currencies across the world plunged, investors panicked, and even gold was sold.
In a matter of weeks, the world's economy was brought to an abrupt halt by governments trying to contain a spiralling public health catastrophe. Flights were grounded; supply chains broken; industries from tourism to oil to hospitality collapsed overnight, leaving hundreds of millions of people unemployed. Central banks responded with unprecedented interventions, just to keep their economies on life-support. For the first time since the second world war, the entire global economic system contracted.
This book tells the story of that shutdown. We do not yet know how this story ends, or what new world we will find on the other side. In this fast-paced, compelling and at times shocking analysis, Adam Tooze surveys the wreckage, and looks at where we might be headed next.
When the news first began to trickle out of China about a new virus in December 2019, risk-averse financial markets were alert to its potential for disruption. Yet they could never have predicted the total economic collapse that would follow in COVID-19's wake, as stock markets fell faster and harder than at any time since 1929, currencies across the world plunged, investors panicked, and even gold was sold.
In a matter of weeks, the world's economy was brought to an abrupt halt by governments trying to contain a spiralling public health catastrophe. Flights were grounded; supply chains broken; industries from tourism to oil to hospitality collapsed overnight, leaving hundreds of millions of people unemployed. Central banks responded with unprecedented interventions, just to keep their economies on life-support. For the first time since the second world war, the entire global economic system contracted.
This book tells the story of that shutdown. We do not yet know how this story ends, or what new world we will find on the other side. In this fast-paced, compelling and at times shocking analysis, Adam Tooze surveys the wreckage, and looks at where we might be headed next.
Advocate - Politics
abbeys.com.au
The Precipice: Neoliberalism, the Pandemic and the Urgent Need for Radical Change
Noam Chomsky , C. J. Polychroniou
$12.99
Paperback • 192 pages
An incredible, absorbing new collection of interviews on contemporary society from Noam Chomsky - 'the world's greatest public intellectual' Observer In this powerful collection of interviews, Noam Chomsky exposes the problems of our world today, as we stand in this period of monumental change, preparing for a more hopeful tomorrow. He sheds light into the phenomenon of right-wing populism, and exposes the catastrophic nature and impact of authoritarian policies on people, the environment and the planet as a whole. He captures the dynamics of the brutal class warfare launched by the masters of capital to maintain and even enhance the features of a dog-eat-dog society. And he celebrates the recent unprecedented mobilizations of millions of people internationally against neoliberal capitalism, racism and police violence.
How to Stop Fascism: History, Ideology, Resistance
Paul Mason
$45
Hardback • 256 pages
How can we stop the spread of fascism? The bestselling author of PostCapitalism offers a guide to resisting the far right The far right is on the rise across the world. From Modi's India to Bolsonaro's Brazil and Erdogan's Turkey, fascism is not a horror that we have left in the past; it is a recurring nightmare that is happening again - and we need to find a better way to fight it.
In How to Stop Fascism, Paul Mason offers a radical, hopeful blueprint for resisting and defeating the new far right. The book is both a chilling portrait of contemporary fascism, and a compelling history of the fascist phenomenon- its psychological roots, political theories and genocidal logic. Fascism, Mason powerfully argues, is a symptom of capitalist failure, one that has haunted us throughout the twentieth century and into the twenty-first.
History shows us the conditions that breed fascism, and how it can be successfully overcome. But it is up to us in the present to challenge it, and time is running out. From the ashes of Covid-19, we have an opportunity to create a fairer, more equal society. To do so, we must ask ourselves- what kind of world do we want to live in? And what are we going to do about it?
In How to Stop Fascism, Paul Mason offers a radical, hopeful blueprint for resisting and defeating the new far right. The book is both a chilling portrait of contemporary fascism, and a compelling history of the fascist phenomenon- its psychological roots, political theories and genocidal logic. Fascism, Mason powerfully argues, is a symptom of capitalist failure, one that has haunted us throughout the twentieth century and into the twenty-first.
History shows us the conditions that breed fascism, and how it can be successfully overcome. But it is up to us in the present to challenge it, and time is running out. From the ashes of Covid-19, we have an opportunity to create a fairer, more equal society. To do so, we must ask ourselves- what kind of world do we want to live in? And what are we going to do about it?
The Accidental Prime Minister
Annika Smethurst
$39.99
Hardback • 352 pages
'Critics have repeatedly underestimated Morrison's political skill and overplayed the impact of his missteps. But Morrison seems to understand, more than most, what gets through to mainstream Australians and what they ignore.' Nine months after the spill that catapulted Scott Morrison to the top job, he won the 2019 election, surprising politicians and pundits throughout the nation. Yet, little was really known about the former marketing man whose hard-nosed political instincts and 'daggy dad' persona took him all the way to Kirribilli House.
A devout Christian family man on one hand, ambitious and poll-obsessed on the other, the seemingly blunder-prone Morrison has surpassed expectations of his tenure and voter popularity more than once, making him one of Australia's most underestimated modern political figures.
In this first biography of the thirtieth prime minister of Australia, multi-award-winning political journalist Annika Smethurst examines the fundamental question about Morrison: is his success a case of being in the right place at the right time, or is he one of the most strategic and shrewd political operators to ever hold the office?
'A penetrating study of relentless ambition and making ordinary the new political norm - none of it edifying, all of it essential reading' Laura Tingle
A devout Christian family man on one hand, ambitious and poll-obsessed on the other, the seemingly blunder-prone Morrison has surpassed expectations of his tenure and voter popularity more than once, making him one of Australia's most underestimated modern political figures.
In this first biography of the thirtieth prime minister of Australia, multi-award-winning political journalist Annika Smethurst examines the fundamental question about Morrison: is his success a case of being in the right place at the right time, or is he one of the most strategic and shrewd political operators to ever hold the office?
'A penetrating study of relentless ambition and making ordinary the new political norm - none of it edifying, all of it essential reading' Laura Tingle
The Precariat: The New Dangerous Class
Guy Standing
$29.99
Paperback • 256 pages
This book presents the new Precariat - the rapidly growing number of people facing lives of insecurity, on zero hours contracts, moving in and out of jobs that give little meaning to their lives. The delivery driver who brings your packages, the uber driver who gets you to work, the security guard at the mall, the carer looking after our elderly...these are The Precariat.
Guy Standing investigates this new and growing group, finding a frustrated and angry new underclass who are often ignored by politicians and economists. The rise of zero hours contracts, encouraged by fat cat corporations as risk-free employment, and by silicon valley as a way of outsourcing costs and responsibility, has been exacerbated by the COVID pandemic. At the same time, in its experience of lockdown, the western world is realizing the true value of these nurses, carers and key workers.
The answer? The return of income security and meaningful work - the principles 20th century capitalism was built on. By making the fears and desires of the Precariat central to economic thinking, Standing shows how concepts like Basic Income are not just desirable but inevitable, and plots the way to a better future.
Guy Standing investigates this new and growing group, finding a frustrated and angry new underclass who are often ignored by politicians and economists. The rise of zero hours contracts, encouraged by fat cat corporations as risk-free employment, and by silicon valley as a way of outsourcing costs and responsibility, has been exacerbated by the COVID pandemic. At the same time, in its experience of lockdown, the western world is realizing the true value of these nurses, carers and key workers.
The answer? The return of income security and meaningful work - the principles 20th century capitalism was built on. By making the fears and desires of the Precariat central to economic thinking, Standing shows how concepts like Basic Income are not just desirable but inevitable, and plots the way to a better future.
Advocate - Philosophy
abbeys.com.au
Philosophy as a Way of Life: History, Dimensions, Directions
Matthew Sharpe , Michael Ure , Matthew Sharpe
$46.99
Paperback • 424 pages
In this first ever introduction to philosophy as a way of life in the Western tradition, Matthew Sharpe and Michael Ure take us through the history of the idea from Socrates and Plato, via the medievals, Renaissance and Enlightenment thinkers, to Schopenhauer and Nietzsche, Foucault and Hadot. They examine the kinds of practical exercises each thinker recommended to transform their philosophy into manners of living.
Philosophy as a Way of Life also examines the recent resurgence of thinking about philosophy as a practical, lived reality and why this ancient tradition still has so much relevance and power in the contemporary world.
Philosophy as a Way of Life also examines the recent resurgence of thinking about philosophy as a practical, lived reality and why this ancient tradition still has so much relevance and power in the contemporary world.
What Makes Us Human?: 130 answers to the big question
Jeremy Vine , Phil Jones
$29.99
Paperback • 304 pages
A dazzling insight into what gives meaning to our life and to us as a species.
What makes us human? From Professor Brian Cox on the particles of dust that make us, to Caitlin Moran on the joy of Friday nights, and A C Grayling on how we express ourselves through culture: this illuminating book shares over 100 mind-expanding answers to that question.
We all want to understand our place in the universe and find a sense of purpose in the life. This book will help the reader navigate that journey with the help of leading names from the worlds of literature, history, philosophy, politics, sport, comedy and popular culture.
Originally broadcast as a popular feature on the Jeremy Vine Show, What Makes Us Human? includes short essays from: Andrew Marr, Carlo Rovelli, Justin Welby, Marian Keyes, Alain de Botton, Robert Webb, Richard Dawkins, Stephen Fry, and many more.
What makes us human? From Professor Brian Cox on the particles of dust that make us, to Caitlin Moran on the joy of Friday nights, and A C Grayling on how we express ourselves through culture: this illuminating book shares over 100 mind-expanding answers to that question.
We all want to understand our place in the universe and find a sense of purpose in the life. This book will help the reader navigate that journey with the help of leading names from the worlds of literature, history, philosophy, politics, sport, comedy and popular culture.
Originally broadcast as a popular feature on the Jeremy Vine Show, What Makes Us Human? includes short essays from: Andrew Marr, Carlo Rovelli, Justin Welby, Marian Keyes, Alain de Botton, Robert Webb, Richard Dawkins, Stephen Fry, and many more.
Advocate - Religion
abbeys.com.au
A Culture of Ambiguity: An Alternative History of Islam
Thomas Bauer , Hinrich Biesterfeldt , Tricia Tunstall
$57.95
Paperback • 336 pages
In the Western imagination, Islamic cultures are dominated by dogmatic religious norms that permit no nuance. Those fighting such stereotypes have countered with a portrait of Islam's medieval ?
Golden Age,? marked by rationality, tolerance, and even proto-secularism. How can we understand Islamic history, culture, and thought beyond this dichotomy?
In this magisterial cultural and intellectual history, Thomas Bauer reconsiders classical and modern Islam by tracing differing attitudes toward ambiguity. Over a span of many centuries, he explores the tension between one strand that aspires to annihilate all uncertainties and establish absolute, uncontestable truths and another, competing tendency that looks for ways to live with ambiguity and accept complexity. Bauer ranges across cultural and linguistic ambiguities, considering premodern Islamic textual and cultural forms from law to Quranic exegesis to literary genres alongside attitudes toward religious minorities and foreigners. He emphasizes the relative absence of conflict between religious and secular discourses in classical Islamic culture, which stands in striking contrast to both present-day fundamentalism and much of European history. Bauer shows how Islam's encounter with the modern West and its demand for certainty helped bring about both Islamicist and secular liberal ideologies that in their own ways rejected ambiguity?and therefore also their own cultural traditions.
Awarded the prestigious Leibniz Prize, A Culture of Ambiguity not only reframes a vast range of Islamic history but also offers an interdisciplinary model for investigating the tolerance of ambiguity across cultures and eras.
Golden Age,? marked by rationality, tolerance, and even proto-secularism. How can we understand Islamic history, culture, and thought beyond this dichotomy?
In this magisterial cultural and intellectual history, Thomas Bauer reconsiders classical and modern Islam by tracing differing attitudes toward ambiguity. Over a span of many centuries, he explores the tension between one strand that aspires to annihilate all uncertainties and establish absolute, uncontestable truths and another, competing tendency that looks for ways to live with ambiguity and accept complexity. Bauer ranges across cultural and linguistic ambiguities, considering premodern Islamic textual and cultural forms from law to Quranic exegesis to literary genres alongside attitudes toward religious minorities and foreigners. He emphasizes the relative absence of conflict between religious and secular discourses in classical Islamic culture, which stands in striking contrast to both present-day fundamentalism and much of European history. Bauer shows how Islam's encounter with the modern West and its demand for certainty helped bring about both Islamicist and secular liberal ideologies that in their own ways rejected ambiguity?and therefore also their own cultural traditions.
Awarded the prestigious Leibniz Prize, A Culture of Ambiguity not only reframes a vast range of Islamic history but also offers an interdisciplinary model for investigating the tolerance of ambiguity across cultures and eras.
The Celtic Myths That Shape the Way We Think
Mark Williams
$39.99
Hardback • 304 pages
How do myths that were deeply embedded in the customs and beliefs of their original culture find themselves retold and reinterpreted across the world, centuries or even millennia later? Focusing on ten myths that have had the greatest cultural impact and are the most relevant to our lives today, Mark Williams reveals the lasting influence of Celtic mythology, from medieval literature to the modern fantasy genre. Ten chapters recount the myths and explore the lasting influence of legendary figures including King Arthur, the Celtic figure who paradoxically became the archetypal English national hero; Cu Chulainn, the hero of the Tain, Ireland's great medieval epic, who became a symbol of the reborn Irish nation; the Irish and Scottish hero Finn, who as 'Fingal' caught the imagination of Napoleon, Goethe and Mendelssohn; and the Welsh mythical figure Blodeuwedd, magically created from flowers of the oak, who inspired Yeats.
Williams also explores the contentious use of mythic imagery in nationalist ideology, and how characters and concepts from Celtic legends have been relevant to past and present discussions on national identity. His elegantly written retellings capture the beauty of the original myths while also delving deeper into the history of their meanings, offering the reader an intelligent and engaging take on these powerful stories. Beautiful illustrations of the artworks these myths have inspired over the centuries are presented in a colour-plates section and in black-and-white within the text.
Mark Williams' mythological expertise and captivating writing style makes this book essential reading for anyone who appreciates the myths that have shaped our artistic and literary canons and continue to inspire today.
With 77 illustrations
Williams also explores the contentious use of mythic imagery in nationalist ideology, and how characters and concepts from Celtic legends have been relevant to past and present discussions on national identity. His elegantly written retellings capture the beauty of the original myths while also delving deeper into the history of their meanings, offering the reader an intelligent and engaging take on these powerful stories. Beautiful illustrations of the artworks these myths have inspired over the centuries are presented in a colour-plates section and in black-and-white within the text.
Mark Williams' mythological expertise and captivating writing style makes this book essential reading for anyone who appreciates the myths that have shaped our artistic and literary canons and continue to inspire today.
With 77 illustrations
Advocate - Poetry & Writing
abbeys.com.au
Atlas of Imagined Places: from Lilliput to Gotham City
Matt Brown , Rhys Davies
$49.99
Hardback • 168 pages
From Stephen King's Salem's Lot to superhero Wakanda, from Lilliput of Gulliver's Travels to Springfield in The Simpsons, a wondrous atlas of imagined places around the world. Locations from film, tv, literature, myths, comics and video games are plotted in a series of beautiful vintage-looking maps.
The maps feature fictional buildings, towns, cities and countries plus mountains and rivers, oceans and seas. Ever wondered where the Bates Motel was based? Or Bedford Falls in It's a Wonderful Life? The authors have taken years to research the likely geography of thousands of popular culture locations that have become almost real to us. Sometimes these are easy to work out but other times a bit of detective work is needed and the authors have been those detectives. By looking at the maps, you'll find that the revolution at Animal Farm happened next to Winnie the Pooh's home.
Each location has an an extended index entry plus coordinates so you can find it on the maps. Illuminating essays accompanying the maps give a great insight into the stories behind the imaginary places, from Harry Potter's wizardry to Stone Age Bedrock in the Flintstones.
A stunning map collection of invented geography and topography drawn from the world's imagination. Fascinating, beautiful and an essential book for any popular culture fan and map enthusiast.
The maps feature fictional buildings, towns, cities and countries plus mountains and rivers, oceans and seas. Ever wondered where the Bates Motel was based? Or Bedford Falls in It's a Wonderful Life? The authors have taken years to research the likely geography of thousands of popular culture locations that have become almost real to us. Sometimes these are easy to work out but other times a bit of detective work is needed and the authors have been those detectives. By looking at the maps, you'll find that the revolution at Animal Farm happened next to Winnie the Pooh's home.
Each location has an an extended index entry plus coordinates so you can find it on the maps. Illuminating essays accompanying the maps give a great insight into the stories behind the imaginary places, from Harry Potter's wizardry to Stone Age Bedrock in the Flintstones.
A stunning map collection of invented geography and topography drawn from the world's imagination. Fascinating, beautiful and an essential book for any popular culture fan and map enthusiast.
The Bookshop Book
Jen Campbell
$19.99
Paperback • 288 pages
Every bookshop has a story We're not talking about rooms that are just full of books.
We're talking about bookshops in barns, disused factories, converted churches and underground car parks. Bookshops on boats, on buses, and in old run-down train stations. Fold-out bookshops, undercover bookshops, this-is-the-best-place-I've-ever-been-to-bookshops.
Meet Sarah and her Book Barge sailing across the sea to France; meet Sebastien, in Mongolia, who sells books to herders of the Altai mountains; meet the bookshop in Canada that's invented the world's first antiquarian book vending machine.
And that's just the beginning.
From the oldest bookshop in the world, to the smallest you could imagine, The Bookshop Book examines the history of books, talks to authors about their favourite places, and looks at over three hundred weirdly wonderful bookshops across six continents (sadly, we've yet to build a bookshop down in the South Pole).
The Bookshop Book is a love letter to bookshops all around the world.
'A good bookshop is not just about selling books from shelves, but reaching out into the world and making a difference' David Almond (The Bookshop Book includes interviews and quotes from David Almond, Ian Rankin, Tracy Chevalier, Audrey Niffenegger, Jacqueline Wilson, Jeanette Winterson and many, many others.)
We're talking about bookshops in barns, disused factories, converted churches and underground car parks. Bookshops on boats, on buses, and in old run-down train stations. Fold-out bookshops, undercover bookshops, this-is-the-best-place-I've-ever-been-to-bookshops.
Meet Sarah and her Book Barge sailing across the sea to France; meet Sebastien, in Mongolia, who sells books to herders of the Altai mountains; meet the bookshop in Canada that's invented the world's first antiquarian book vending machine.
And that's just the beginning.
From the oldest bookshop in the world, to the smallest you could imagine, The Bookshop Book examines the history of books, talks to authors about their favourite places, and looks at over three hundred weirdly wonderful bookshops across six continents (sadly, we've yet to build a bookshop down in the South Pole).
The Bookshop Book is a love letter to bookshops all around the world.
'A good bookshop is not just about selling books from shelves, but reaching out into the world and making a difference' David Almond (The Bookshop Book includes interviews and quotes from David Almond, Ian Rankin, Tracy Chevalier, Audrey Niffenegger, Jacqueline Wilson, Jeanette Winterson and many, many others.)
Guinness World Records 2022
Guinness World Records
$44.99
Hardback • 256 pages
Global pandemics and lockdowns haven't stopped record breakers from achieving spectacular things: indeed, they've given many people the chance to focus on their ambitions and attain goals beyond their expectations.
As ever, Guinness World Records is there to document and ratify these remarkable accomplishments, and our fully updated 2022 edition is a celebration of the tenacity and determination of the human race. The changing pace of the last year has also given us the opportunity to take stock of our planet and explore the current state of the environment, as seen through our unique record-breaking lens.
So, join us as we take a deep dive into GWR 2022...
- Understand the challenges being faced by our planet because of climate change and find out what's being done to reverse the decline and build a better future.
- Venture into the natural world for thrilling encounters with the most extreme plants and animals.
- Meet the people breaking records with their incredible bodies and exceptional minds.
- Discover the stats, facts and figures behind the world's most popular videogames, movies, TV shows and media channels. -
Celebrate the greatest sporting achievements, the most daring adventurers and the latest technological developments.
Plus, we've reached out to some of the young people who refuse to let their age be a barrier to success. What are they doing to change their world? What inspires them to be best? And what can you learn from them if you want to get your own name in the record books? Find out in Guinness World Records 2022.
As ever, Guinness World Records is there to document and ratify these remarkable accomplishments, and our fully updated 2022 edition is a celebration of the tenacity and determination of the human race. The changing pace of the last year has also given us the opportunity to take stock of our planet and explore the current state of the environment, as seen through our unique record-breaking lens.
So, join us as we take a deep dive into GWR 2022...
- Understand the challenges being faced by our planet because of climate change and find out what's being done to reverse the decline and build a better future.
- Venture into the natural world for thrilling encounters with the most extreme plants and animals.
- Meet the people breaking records with their incredible bodies and exceptional minds.
- Discover the stats, facts and figures behind the world's most popular videogames, movies, TV shows and media channels. -
Celebrate the greatest sporting achievements, the most daring adventurers and the latest technological developments.
Plus, we've reached out to some of the young people who refuse to let their age be a barrier to success. What are they doing to change their world? What inspires them to be best? And what can you learn from them if you want to get your own name in the record books? Find out in Guinness World Records 2022.
Burning the Books: RADIO 4 BOOK OF THE WEEK: A History of Knowledge Under Attack
Richard Ovenden
$22.99
Paperback • 320 pages
An unforgettable 3,000-year-old journey - from Mesopotamian clay tablets trying to predict the future, to Tudor book-hunters and Nazi bonfires, and on into the dangers of our increasingly digital existence, Burning the Books shows how the preservation of knowledge is vital for the survival of civilization itself.
'A wonderful book, full of good stories and burning with passion' SUNDAY TIMES, BOOKS OF THE YEAR 'Compelling, fascinating and rewarding' LITERARY REVIEW 'When books burn, it is more than just words under attack . . . this extraordinary book should stir us to thinking and to action' FINANCIAL TIMES 'A tale of ingenuity and deep courage' GUARDIAN 'A stark warning - the truth itself is under attack' THE TIMES, BOOKS OF THE YEAR
'A wonderful book, full of good stories and burning with passion' SUNDAY TIMES, BOOKS OF THE YEAR 'Compelling, fascinating and rewarding' LITERARY REVIEW 'When books burn, it is more than just words under attack . . . this extraordinary book should stir us to thinking and to action' FINANCIAL TIMES 'A tale of ingenuity and deep courage' GUARDIAN 'A stark warning - the truth itself is under attack' THE TIMES, BOOKS OF THE YEAR
Humble Pie and Cold Turkey: English Expressions and Their Origins
Caroline Taggart
$26.99
Hardback • 192 pages
'Caroline Taggart has carved out a niche for herself in user-friendly, wittily written factual books.' - Yorkshire Post In this highly entertaining book, language enthusiast and Sunday Times best-selling author Caroline Taggart browses through thousands of years of history to shed light on why we use the words and phrases we do. Arranged by themes including food, the household, childhood, romance and more, this intriguing book looks at the origins of our language from their historical context. For example, did you know that:
If you rest on your laurels, you're imitating a complacent Roman general? If you eavesdrop, you're likely to get wet? If you're taken aback, you should, strictly speaking, be a sailing ship? If you're galvanized into action, you're behaving like Frankenstein's monster?
From blue-blooded (an invention of aristocratic Spaniards) to limelight (a way of lighting Victorian theatres), passing an exam with flying colours (another image from sailing ships) to winning hands down (from horse racing), Humble Pie and Cold Turkey will answer questions you may never have thought to ask. Including why turkeys need to be cold and how pies came to be humble.
If you rest on your laurels, you're imitating a complacent Roman general? If you eavesdrop, you're likely to get wet? If you're taken aback, you should, strictly speaking, be a sailing ship? If you're galvanized into action, you're behaving like Frankenstein's monster?
From blue-blooded (an invention of aristocratic Spaniards) to limelight (a way of lighting Victorian theatres), passing an exam with flying colours (another image from sailing ships) to winning hands down (from horse racing), Humble Pie and Cold Turkey will answer questions you may never have thought to ask. Including why turkeys need to be cold and how pies came to be humble.
The Annotated Mrs. Dalloway
Merve Emre , Virginia Woolf
$57.95
Hardback • 320 pages
Mrs. Dalloway said she would buy the flowers herself. So begins Virginia Woolf's beloved fourth novel. First published in 1925, Mrs. Dalloway has long been considered Woolf's masterpiece. A pivotal work of literary modernism, its simple plot-centred on an upper-class Londoner preparing to give a party-is complicated by Woolf's satire of the English social system.
For decades, Woolf's rapturous style and vision of individual consciousness have challenged and inspired readers, novelists and scholars alike. In this annotated volume based on the original British edition, acclaimed essayist and Oxford don Merve Emre mines Woolf's diaries and notes on writing to take us into the making of Mrs. Dalloway, revealing the novel's artistry and astonishing originality. Alongside her generous commentary, Emre offers hundreds of illustrations and little-seen photographs from Woolf's life. The result is not only an essential volume for students and Woolf devotees but an incomparable gift to all lovers of literature.
For decades, Woolf's rapturous style and vision of individual consciousness have challenged and inspired readers, novelists and scholars alike. In this annotated volume based on the original British edition, acclaimed essayist and Oxford don Merve Emre mines Woolf's diaries and notes on writing to take us into the making of Mrs. Dalloway, revealing the novel's artistry and astonishing originality. Alongside her generous commentary, Emre offers hundreds of illustrations and little-seen photographs from Woolf's life. The result is not only an essential volume for students and Woolf devotees but an incomparable gift to all lovers of literature.
Advocate - Performing Arts
abbeys.com.au
Apropos of Nothing: Autobiography
Woody Allen
$39.95
Paperback • 400 pages
The enormously entertaining memoir by One of the Great Artists of Our Time - Now a New York Times, USA Today, Los Angeles Times, and Publishers Weekly Bestseller.
In this candid and often hilarious memoir, the celebrated director, comedian, writer, and actor offers a comprehensive, personal look at his tumultuous life. Beginning with his Brooklyn childhood and his stint as a writer for the Sid Caesar variety show in the early days of television, working alongside comedy greats, Allen tells of his difficult early days doing standup before he achieved recognition and success. With his unique storytelling pizzazz, he recounts his departure into moviemaking, with such slapstick comedies as Take the Money and Run, and revisits his entire, sixty-year-long, and enormously productive career as a writer and director, from his classics Annie Hall, Manhattan, and Hannah and Her Sisters to his most recent films, including Midnight in Paris. Along the way, he discusses his marriages, his romances and famous friendships, his jazz playing, and his books and plays. We learn about his demons, his mistakes, his successes, and those he loved, worked with, and learned from in equal measure.
This is the hugely entertaining, deeply honest, rich and brilliant self-portrait of a celebrated artist who is ranked among the greatest filmmakers of our time.
In this candid and often hilarious memoir, the celebrated director, comedian, writer, and actor offers a comprehensive, personal look at his tumultuous life. Beginning with his Brooklyn childhood and his stint as a writer for the Sid Caesar variety show in the early days of television, working alongside comedy greats, Allen tells of his difficult early days doing standup before he achieved recognition and success. With his unique storytelling pizzazz, he recounts his departure into moviemaking, with such slapstick comedies as Take the Money and Run, and revisits his entire, sixty-year-long, and enormously productive career as a writer and director, from his classics Annie Hall, Manhattan, and Hannah and Her Sisters to his most recent films, including Midnight in Paris. Along the way, he discusses his marriages, his romances and famous friendships, his jazz playing, and his books and plays. We learn about his demons, his mistakes, his successes, and those he loved, worked with, and learned from in equal measure.
This is the hugely entertaining, deeply honest, rich and brilliant self-portrait of a celebrated artist who is ranked among the greatest filmmakers of our time.
Paul McCartney: The Stories Behind 50 Classic Songs, 1970-2020
Mike Evans
$49.99
Hardback • 192 pages
Paul McCartney's songwriting output as a member of the Beatles, mainly with his co-writer John Lennon, has been exhaustively documented over the years. Now, taking 50 key songs from his five-decade career since the break-up of the Fab Four, Paul McCartney: The Stories Behind 50 Classic Songs takes an in-depth look at the post-Sixties work of one of popular music's most versatile and prolific composers and performers.
Paul McCartney has been a genuine pop idol, a cutting-edge experimenter, and in later years recognized as an international musical treasure. The 50 selections from his vast songwriting catalogue highlighted in Paul McCartney: The Stories Behind 50 Classic Songs mark half a century of musical creativity by a true icon of popular music.
Each song includes full session details, personnel lists and chart data and is described in detail, from original inspiration to the final release. Quotes from session musicians and studio personnel - and star guests such as Stevie Wonder, Elvis Costello and Kanye West - bring the making of every song to life, alongside a wealth of related photographs in and out of the studio.
Paul McCartney has been a genuine pop idol, a cutting-edge experimenter, and in later years recognized as an international musical treasure. The 50 selections from his vast songwriting catalogue highlighted in Paul McCartney: The Stories Behind 50 Classic Songs mark half a century of musical creativity by a true icon of popular music.
Each song includes full session details, personnel lists and chart data and is described in detail, from original inspiration to the final release. Quotes from session musicians and studio personnel - and star guests such as Stevie Wonder, Elvis Costello and Kanye West - bring the making of every song to life, alongside a wealth of related photographs in and out of the studio.
This Much is True: 'There's never been a memoir so packed with eye-popping, hilarious and candid stories' DAILY MAIL
Miriam Margolyes
$49.99
Hardback • 336 pages
'There is no one on earth quite so wonderful' STEPHEN FRY BAFTA-winning actor, voice of everything from Monkey to the Cadbury's Caramel Rabbit, creator of a myriad of unforgettable characters from Lady Whiteadder to Professor Sprout, MIRIAM MARGOLYES, OBE, is the nation's favourite (and naughtiest) treasure. Now, at the age of 80, she has finally decided to tell her extraordinary life story - and it's well worth the wait.
Find out how being conceived in an air-raid gave her curly hair; what pranks led to her being known as the naughtiest girl Oxford High School ever had; how she ended up posing nude for Augustus John as a teenager; why Bob Monkhouse was the best (male) kiss she's ever had; and what happened next after Warren Beatty asked 'Do you fuck?' From declaring her love to Vanessa Redgrave to being told to be quiet by the Queen, this book is packed with brilliant, hilarious stories. With a cast list stretching from Scorsese to Streisand, a cross-dressing Leonardo di Caprio to Isaiah Berlin, This Much Is True is as warm and honest, as full of life and surprises, as its inimitable author.
Find out how being conceived in an air-raid gave her curly hair; what pranks led to her being known as the naughtiest girl Oxford High School ever had; how she ended up posing nude for Augustus John as a teenager; why Bob Monkhouse was the best (male) kiss she's ever had; and what happened next after Warren Beatty asked 'Do you fuck?' From declaring her love to Vanessa Redgrave to being told to be quiet by the Queen, this book is packed with brilliant, hilarious stories. With a cast list stretching from Scorsese to Streisand, a cross-dressing Leonardo di Caprio to Isaiah Berlin, This Much Is True is as warm and honest, as full of life and surprises, as its inimitable author.
You Are Beautiful and You Are Alone: The Biography of Nico
Jennifer Otter Bickerdike
$39.99
Hardback • 512 pages
'What I have in common with Nico is the understanding of her furious frustration at not being recognised.' - Marianne Faithfull Over the course of her life, Nico was an ever-evolving myth, an enigma that escaped definition. Though she is remembered for contributions to The Velvet Underground & Nico, her artistry and influence are often overlooked, whilst fellow Velvets Lou Reed and John Cale are hailed as icons.
Defying the sexist casting of Nico's life as the tragedy of a beautiful woman losing her looks, youth and fame, You Are Beautiful and You Are Alone cements her legacy as one of the most vital artists of her time, inspiring a generation of luminaries including Henry Rollins, Bjork, Morrissey and Iggy Pop.
Containing over a hundred new interviews and rare archival material, this is the Nico biography we have been waiting for.
Defying the sexist casting of Nico's life as the tragedy of a beautiful woman losing her looks, youth and fame, You Are Beautiful and You Are Alone cements her legacy as one of the most vital artists of her time, inspiring a generation of luminaries including Henry Rollins, Bjork, Morrissey and Iggy Pop.
Containing over a hundred new interviews and rare archival material, this is the Nico biography we have been waiting for.
Advocate - Visual Arts & Design
abbeys.com.au
The Seas and the Mobility of Islamic Art
Radha Dalal , Sean Roberts , Jochen Sokoly
$103.95
Hardback • 336 pages
The seas have long served as both connective tissue for and barriers between intellectual, social, and artistic traditions. Nowhere is this dual role more evident than within the visual and material cultures of the Islamic world. This remarkable new book brings together an international group of scholars and curators whose contributions address seafaring mobility's profound effect on Islamic art. Their case studies range across the globe and span a period from Islam's 1st century to today. Contributors examine the roles of importation and migration, travel, diplomacy, and gift giving in driving artistic innovation and changing the social, political, and religious institutions of an increasingly diverse Islamic world. Taken together, these chapters embody a distinctive big-picture approach, pulling an exceptional diversity of voices and topics into productive dialogue.
The Italian Renaissance Altarpiece: Between Icon and Narrative
David Ekserdjian
$124.95
Hardback • 496 pages
The altarpiece is one of the most distinctive and remarkable art forms of the Renaissance period. It is difficult to imagine an artist of the time-whether painter or sculptor, major or minor-who did not produce at least one. Though many have been displaced or dismembered, a substantial proportion of these works still survive. Despite the volume of material available, no serious attempt has ever been made to examine the whole subject in depth until now. The Italian Renaissance Altarpiece is the first comprehensive study of the genre to examine its content and subject matter in real detail, from the origins of the altarpiece in the 13th century to the time of Caravaggio in the early 1600s. It discusses major developments in the history of these objects throughout Italy, covers the three key categories of Renaissance altarpiece- immagini (icons), historie (narratives), and misteri (mysteries)-and is illustrated with 250 beautiful reproductions of the artworks.
Advocate - Food & Garden
abbeys.com.au
Together: Memorable Meals Made Easy
Jamie Oliver
$49.99
$39.99
Hardback • 408 pages
Welcome family and friends back around the table with Jamie's 2021 cookbook Getting together and sharing a meal with loved ones has never felt so important. Each chapter of Together features a meal, from seasonal feasts to curry nights, with a simple, achievable menu that can be mostly prepped ahead. Jamie's aim - whether following the full meal or picking individual recipes - is to keep you out of the kitchen to enjoy eating with your guests. Together takes the stress out of cooking by teaching you hacks to get organised, get ahead. Inspirational but practical, Together is about comfort, celebration, creating new memories and, above all, the sharing of mouthwatering food.
From Seeds to Leaves
Robin Stewart
$24.99
Paperback • 176 pages
Discover how to grow Australian plants from seed with an acclaimed gardening book - now in a new format If you have an interest in the power of seeds to transform the earth, or in planting Australian native trees and shrubs on a small scale or large, From Seeds to Leaves is the book for you. It describes how to- -collect your own fruit and nuts -extract, store and germinate the seeds in the right way and in the best season -use smoke to germinate seed normally difficult to grow plant out, water, mulch, protect, fertilise and prune your plants for best results. As well, there are sections on botanical names and identifying plants by flower and seed, and an ABC of information about Australian species. Procedures are set out in easy table form and there are lists of plants for a variety of special purposes.
Joshua Weissman: An Unapologetic Cookbook
Joshua Weissman
$39.99
Hardback • 264 pages
A Weissman once said...
...can we please stop with the barrage of 2.3 second meals that only need 1 ingredient? I get it...we're busy. But let's refocus on the fact that beautifully crafted burgers don't grow on trees.
Ironically this sounds a lot like he's trying to convince you to cook, but he's really not. Is this selling the cookbook? The point is that the food in this book is an invitation that speaks for itself. Great cooking does, and should, take time. Now is the time to double down and get your head in the cooking game. Or you know, don't. Maybe get someone else to cook this stuff for you...that works too.
How can you know if something is your favorite if 50 to 80 percent of the stuff you've been eating was made by someone else? Butter, condiments, cheese, pickles, patties, and buns. For a superior and potentially even life-changing experience, you can (and should, to be honest) make these from scratch. Create the building blocks necessary to make the greatest meal of your life.
While you're at it, give it the Joshua Weissman-or your own-twist. As Joshua would say, If you don't like blue cheese, then don't use blue cheese. From simple staples to to gourmet to deep-fried, you are the master of your own kitchen, and you'll make it all, on your terms.
With no regrets, excuses, or apologies, Joshua Weissman will instruct you how with his irreverent humor, a little bit of light razzing, and over 100 perfectly delectable recipes.
If you love to host and entertain; if you like a good project; if you crave control of your food; if fast food or the frozen aisle or the super-fast-super-easy cookbook keeps letting your tastebuds down; then Joshua Weissman- An Unapologetic Cookbook is your ideal kitchen companion.
...can we please stop with the barrage of 2.3 second meals that only need 1 ingredient? I get it...we're busy. But let's refocus on the fact that beautifully crafted burgers don't grow on trees.
Ironically this sounds a lot like he's trying to convince you to cook, but he's really not. Is this selling the cookbook? The point is that the food in this book is an invitation that speaks for itself. Great cooking does, and should, take time. Now is the time to double down and get your head in the cooking game. Or you know, don't. Maybe get someone else to cook this stuff for you...that works too.
How can you know if something is your favorite if 50 to 80 percent of the stuff you've been eating was made by someone else? Butter, condiments, cheese, pickles, patties, and buns. For a superior and potentially even life-changing experience, you can (and should, to be honest) make these from scratch. Create the building blocks necessary to make the greatest meal of your life.
While you're at it, give it the Joshua Weissman-or your own-twist. As Joshua would say, If you don't like blue cheese, then don't use blue cheese. From simple staples to to gourmet to deep-fried, you are the master of your own kitchen, and you'll make it all, on your terms.
With no regrets, excuses, or apologies, Joshua Weissman will instruct you how with his irreverent humor, a little bit of light razzing, and over 100 perfectly delectable recipes.
If you love to host and entertain; if you like a good project; if you crave control of your food; if fast food or the frozen aisle or the super-fast-super-easy cookbook keeps letting your tastebuds down; then Joshua Weissman- An Unapologetic Cookbook is your ideal kitchen companion.
Yates Garden Guide
Yates
$45
Paperback • 528 pages
Our bestselling practical gardening book fully revised and updated.
This new edition of the ever-popular Yates Garden Guide has been fully revised and updated to help today's gardeners tame big backyards, create stylish retreats, tend productive and decorative plantings, and get the most out of smaller spaces.
With chapters on planning gardens, choosing feature plants and growing trees, shrubs, fruit, vegetables, flowers, indoor plants and lawns, the new Yates Garden Guide provides details on more than 1000 exotic and native plants, advice on soils, climate, planting, feeding and maintaining gardens, guides on what to sow and grow throughout the year, and comprehensive problem-solving charts to help you identify and deal with all kinds of pests and diseases.
Sections on water-saving gardens, community gardens, keeping chooks, encouraging beneficial birds and insects, growing native plants, establishing kitchen gardens, and keeping healthy indoor plants have been expanded and updated to cater for modern living arrangements - in apartments and smaller spaces - and to reflect increasing interest in homegrown produce and environmentally friendly gardening.
Full of comprehensive, reliable and practical gardening advice for experienced green thumbs and keen beginners alike, Yates Garden Guide is the essential companion for every gardener.
This new edition of the ever-popular Yates Garden Guide has been fully revised and updated to help today's gardeners tame big backyards, create stylish retreats, tend productive and decorative plantings, and get the most out of smaller spaces.
With chapters on planning gardens, choosing feature plants and growing trees, shrubs, fruit, vegetables, flowers, indoor plants and lawns, the new Yates Garden Guide provides details on more than 1000 exotic and native plants, advice on soils, climate, planting, feeding and maintaining gardens, guides on what to sow and grow throughout the year, and comprehensive problem-solving charts to help you identify and deal with all kinds of pests and diseases.
Sections on water-saving gardens, community gardens, keeping chooks, encouraging beneficial birds and insects, growing native plants, establishing kitchen gardens, and keeping healthy indoor plants have been expanded and updated to cater for modern living arrangements - in apartments and smaller spaces - and to reflect increasing interest in homegrown produce and environmentally friendly gardening.
Full of comprehensive, reliable and practical gardening advice for experienced green thumbs and keen beginners alike, Yates Garden Guide is the essential companion for every gardener.
Advocate - Travel
abbeys.com.au
The Running Book: A Journey through Memory, Landscape and History
John Connell
$19.99
Paperback • 176 pages
It is summer, the hay and silage have not yet been made on John Connell's farm, so he has time to indulge his other great passion: running. John sets off on a marathon run of 42.2 kilometres through his native Longford, the scene of his award-winning book The Cow Book.
As he runs across woodlands, fields and tiny roads, he tells the story of his life and contemplates Ireland's history, old and new. He also remembers other great runs he has done, from Australia to Canada, and tells the stories of some of his running heroes, such as Haile Gebrselassie.
Part memoir, part essay, The Running Book explores what it is to be alive and what movement can do for a person. It is deeply intimate and wide-ranging, local and global: Connell is as likely to write about colonialism and the effect of British imperialism in Ireland and its former colonies as he is about life on his family farm in Ballinalee, County Longford. Told in 42 chapters, each another kilometre in the 42.2k race, the whole book is 42,000 words long and it captures what it is to undertake a marathon moment by moment, in body and mind. Above all, The Running Book is a book about the nature of happiness and how for one man it came through the feet.
As he runs across woodlands, fields and tiny roads, he tells the story of his life and contemplates Ireland's history, old and new. He also remembers other great runs he has done, from Australia to Canada, and tells the stories of some of his running heroes, such as Haile Gebrselassie.
Part memoir, part essay, The Running Book explores what it is to be alive and what movement can do for a person. It is deeply intimate and wide-ranging, local and global: Connell is as likely to write about colonialism and the effect of British imperialism in Ireland and its former colonies as he is about life on his family farm in Ballinalee, County Longford. Told in 42 chapters, each another kilometre in the 42.2k race, the whole book is 42,000 words long and it captures what it is to undertake a marathon moment by moment, in body and mind. Above all, The Running Book is a book about the nature of happiness and how for one man it came through the feet.
The Museum of Whales You Will Never See: Travels Among the Collectors of Iceland
A. Kendra Greene
$22.99
Paperback • 272 pages
Welcome to Iceland, a very small nation with a very large number (two hundred and sixty five) of (mostly) very small museums.
Founded in the backyards of houses, begun as jokes or bets or memorials to lost friends, these museums tell the story of an enchanted island where bridges arrived only at the beginning of the 20th century, and waterproof shoes only with the second world war. A nation formerly dirt poor, then staggeringly rich, and now building its way to affluence once again. A nation where, in the remote and wild places, you might encounter still a shore laddie, a sorcerer or a ghost.
From Reykjavik's renowned Phallological Museum to a house of stones on the eastern coast; from the curious monsters which roam the remote shores of Bildudalur to a museum of whales which proves impossible to find, here is an enchanted story of obsession, curation, and the peculiar magic of this isolated island.
Founded in the backyards of houses, begun as jokes or bets or memorials to lost friends, these museums tell the story of an enchanted island where bridges arrived only at the beginning of the 20th century, and waterproof shoes only with the second world war. A nation formerly dirt poor, then staggeringly rich, and now building its way to affluence once again. A nation where, in the remote and wild places, you might encounter still a shore laddie, a sorcerer or a ghost.
From Reykjavik's renowned Phallological Museum to a house of stones on the eastern coast; from the curious monsters which roam the remote shores of Bildudalur to a museum of whales which proves impossible to find, here is an enchanted story of obsession, curation, and the peculiar magic of this isolated island.
The Modern Explorers: Epic Journeys to the Ends of the World
Robin Hanbury-Tenison
$21.99
Paperback • 288 pages
Exploration has never been more popular and any idea that there is nowhere left to explore is instantly disproved by the contemporary explorers who are showcased here. Most of the accounts are written by the explorers themselves, and they all vividly describe challenging and extraordinary expeditions to some of the remotest parts of the world, in extremes of temperature and aridity, often alone and on the edge of danger. Some of these explorers are very experienced and are already celebrated worldwide, others are young and less well known and just starting to make their mark; all are driven by ambition, aspiration and passion.
With 25 illustrations
With 25 illustrations
The Bondi to Manly Walk: The Definitive Guidebook
Tara Wells
$34.99
Paperback • 224 pages
The Bondi to Manly Walk is the definitive guide to Sydney's stunning coastline.
A spectacular 80-kilometre track – Sydney's best multi-day walk – connects the iconic beaches of Bondi and Manly, and will have you winding through secluded bays, protected bushland and the glittering harbour city along the way. A must-have for visitors, the guidebook will equally surprise and delight the most familiar Sydneysiders, combining fascinating local and natural histories with clear instructions.
Covering every bay, beach and headland between Bondi and Manly, day walkers can also choose from 12 highlighted short walks, including:Bronte to Bondi, The Rocks and Sydney Harbour Bridge, Hermitage Foreshore Walk near Rose Bay, South Head at Watsons Bay, The Spit to Manly Walk and Manly's North Head.
Easy-to-use, The Bondi to Manly Walk contains track notes and maps for casual day walkers and multi-day hikers. With accommodation and detailed itineraries for those wanting the challenge of inn-to-inn style hiking, as well as notes for families and dog walkers, it truly has something for everyone.
Advocate - Children's
abbeys.com.au
The Hawthorne Legacy
Jennifer Lynn Barnes
$16.99
Paperback • 400 pages
Intrigue, riches, and romance abound in this thrilling sequel to the New York Times bestselling The Inheritance Games Intrigue, riches, and romance abound in this thrilling sequel to the New York Times bestselling The Inheritance Games, perfect for fans of Karen McManus and Holly Jackson.
The Inheritance Games ended with a bombshell, and now heiress Avery Grambs has to pick up the pieces and find the man who might hold the answers to all of her questions - including why Tobias Hawthorne left his entire fortune to Avery, a virtual stranger, rather than to his own daughters or grandsons.
As the mystery grows and the plot thickens, Grayson and Jameson, the enigmatic and magnetic Hawthorne grandsons, continue to pull Avery in different directions. And there are threats lurking around every corner, as adversaries emerge who will stop at nothing to see Avery out of the picture - by any means necessary.
With nonstop action, aspirational jet-setting, family intrigue, swoonworthy romance, and billions of dollars hanging in the balance, The Hawthorne Legacy will thrill Jennifer Lynn Barnes fans and new readers alike.
The Inheritance Games ended with a bombshell, and now heiress Avery Grambs has to pick up the pieces and find the man who might hold the answers to all of her questions - including why Tobias Hawthorne left his entire fortune to Avery, a virtual stranger, rather than to his own daughters or grandsons.
As the mystery grows and the plot thickens, Grayson and Jameson, the enigmatic and magnetic Hawthorne grandsons, continue to pull Avery in different directions. And there are threats lurking around every corner, as adversaries emerge who will stop at nothing to see Avery out of the picture - by any means necessary.
With nonstop action, aspirational jet-setting, family intrigue, swoonworthy romance, and billions of dollars hanging in the balance, The Hawthorne Legacy will thrill Jennifer Lynn Barnes fans and new readers alike.
The Curse of the Vampire Robot
Graeme Base
$24.99
Hardback • 32 pages
Classic vampire mythology meets nerdy computer-speak in a rhyming tale of adventure, bravery and compassion from master storyteller Graeme Base.
Deep in the Scottish Highlands, Many years from now ...
Gertie Gif, a lowly cleaning droid from the village of Loch Lan, sets out on an heroic quest to liberate her fellow robo-folk from the curse of a legendary, battery-draining laptop who lives in the castle on the hill.
Will Gertie and her little software-wolf companion succeed in cleaning out the vampire's corrupted heart?
Or will the Curse of Voltoid remain forever hanging over the valley?
Classic vampire mythology meets nerdy computer-speak in a rhyming tale of adventure, bravery and compassion from master storyteller Graeme Base.
Deep in the Scottish Highlands, Many years from now ...
Gertie Gif, a lowly cleaning droid from the village of Loch Lan, sets out on an heroic quest to liberate her fellow robo-folk from the curse of a legendary, battery-draining laptop who lives in the castle on the hill.
Will Gertie and her little software-wolf companion succeed in cleaning out the vampire's corrupted heart?
Or will the Curse of Voltoid remain forever hanging over the valley?
Classic vampire mythology meets nerdy computer-speak in a rhyming tale of adventure, bravery and compassion from master storyteller Graeme Base.
Spinning Weird (#17 WeirDo)
Anh Do , Jules Faber
$15.99
Paperback • 160 pages
LET'S GO, LIONS!
Weir and his basketball team REALLY want to WIN! But Bella and Henry's ALLEY-OOP is more of an ALLY-OOPS! Toby's DUNK is more of a CLUNK! And Weir's free throw is more of an OH NO!
Can their new teacher Miss Carroll help out?!
It won't be easy... but it will be FUNNY!
Weir and his basketball team REALLY want to WIN! But Bella and Henry's ALLEY-OOP is more of an ALLY-OOPS! Toby's DUNK is more of a CLUNK! And Weir's free throw is more of an OH NO!
Can their new teacher Miss Carroll help out?!
It won't be easy... but it will be FUNNY!
The Silk Roads: The Extraordinary History that created your World - Illustrated Edition
Peter Frankopan , Neil Packer
$19.99
Paperback • 128 pages
'Spellbinding ... a pitch-perfect treasure' LoveReading4Kids Set your sails east with this stunningly original new history of the world.
Peter Frankopan, number one bestselling author and historian, explores the connections made by people, trade, disease, war, religion, adventure, science and technology in this extraordinary book about how the east married the west with a remarkable voyage at its heart - the journey along the Silk Roads.
From ancient world laws laid down by King Hammurabi and the mighty Persian empire, to terrifying huns, the rise of Europe, two world wars and politics today, The Silk Roads illustrated edition moves through time and history sewing together the threads from different peoples, empires and continents into a phenomenal history of the globe.
With stories from each and every corner of society, Frankopan's magnificent brand new text based on his literary triumph The Silk Roads, sumptuously illustrated by Neil Packer, is a must-have world history.
'An extraordinarily vivid book on an often-neglected corner of history' Inis Reading Guide 'Not just children, but people of any age will find this book an absorbing read' New York Journal of Books 'Peter Frankopan's text is pitched at exactly the right level for children to read and for adults to share with them. The illustrations of Neil Packer are completely captivating ... this is a perfect marriage and a book to treasure' Armadillo magazine 'Studded with stylish, evocative illustrations from Neil Packer ... this is an ambitious account that nevertheless tackles big themes in a friendly, accessible way' History Revealed magazine
Peter Frankopan, number one bestselling author and historian, explores the connections made by people, trade, disease, war, religion, adventure, science and technology in this extraordinary book about how the east married the west with a remarkable voyage at its heart - the journey along the Silk Roads.
From ancient world laws laid down by King Hammurabi and the mighty Persian empire, to terrifying huns, the rise of Europe, two world wars and politics today, The Silk Roads illustrated edition moves through time and history sewing together the threads from different peoples, empires and continents into a phenomenal history of the globe.
With stories from each and every corner of society, Frankopan's magnificent brand new text based on his literary triumph The Silk Roads, sumptuously illustrated by Neil Packer, is a must-have world history.
'An extraordinarily vivid book on an often-neglected corner of history' Inis Reading Guide 'Not just children, but people of any age will find this book an absorbing read' New York Journal of Books 'Peter Frankopan's text is pitched at exactly the right level for children to read and for adults to share with them. The illustrations of Neil Packer are completely captivating ... this is a perfect marriage and a book to treasure' Armadillo magazine 'Studded with stylish, evocative illustrations from Neil Packer ... this is an ambitious account that nevertheless tackles big themes in a friendly, accessible way' History Revealed magazine
The Gumnut Tales Collection (May Gibbs)
$29.99
Hardback
On all the big Gumtrees there are Gumnut Babies. Some people see them and some don't; but they see everybody and everything. Possibly, that's how their eyes have grown so big. This beautiful boxset contains five original books from May Gibbs that were first published 100 years ago. These little books are the perfect size for little hands, with intriguing text revealing secrets of the Australian bush to capture attention and inspire imagination. Discover the secret worlds of the Gumnut Babies, Gum-Blossom Babies, Flannel Flower Babies, Boronia Babies and Wattle Babies.
See more in our KID'S BOOKS TREASURE TROVE
See more Gumnut Bush Babies books from MAY GIBBS
Mamie and Wag (May Gibbs)
May Gibbs
$19.99
Hardback • 32 pages
Before Snugglepot and Cuddlepie in the Australian bush, iconic Australian author and illustrator May Gibbs wrote a story of a lost little girl and her dog. Mamie and Wag was originally published in the UK as About Us, and has never before been released in Australia! When Mamie gets separated from her little dog Wag, she is determined to reunite with him. But before she can, Mamie must make her way through the mysterious Chimney Pot Land. Meanwhile, poor little Wag is on his own adventure while looking for his beloved Mamie.
Always
Morris Gleitzman
$19.99
Paperback • 240 pages
The much-anticipated final journey in the story of Felix, hero of Morris Gleitzman's multi-award-winning Once, Then, Now, After, Soon and Maybe.
It's fifteen years since readers were first introduced to Felix in Once and across six celebrated books, our brave young hero has survived many unforgettable and emotional journeys. Now comes the seventh and final part of Felix's story, bringing to a powerful climax a series that countless young readers around the world will remember – Always.
It's fifteen years since readers were first introduced to Felix in Once and across six celebrated books, our brave young hero has survived many unforgettable and emotional journeys. Now comes the seventh and final part of Felix's story, bringing to a powerful climax a series that countless young readers around the world will remember – Always.
See more for KIDS' BOOKS TREASURE TROVE
See more in stock for MORRIS GLEITZMAN
Maxine
Bob Graham
$27.99
Hardback • 40 pages
ABBEY'S BOOKSELLER PICK ----- Maxine is born into the superhero Thunderbolt-Lightning family. She gets her own cape (loving knitted by Grandma) and her own leather boots (carefully crafted by Grandad). She already has the mask. Her older brother Max gives her his precious veterinary textbook… Maxine grows quickly, as befits a superhero, and starts school four years early. There she sees other ways of being, other paths to take - and with determination, and a loving family, she will find what she needs. As always with Bob Graham's picture books, there is a reassuring message, sweetness without saccharine, young characters discovering the world and dogs. Those familiar with his books will also see the occasional visual reference to past characters. A real treat! Lindy
-----
Max has a new baby sister - Maxine! Max is there for her first words, her first steps and ... her first flight! But as Maxine grows up and starts school, she doesn't feel like she quite fits in. In fact, she's not sure if she feels comfortable in her superhero guise at all. Can Maxine convince her family that not all superheroes wear capes? With a strong, incredibly smart girl at its centre, this is a book to inspire any child to dream big and be exactly who, and how, they want to be.
Julia and the Shark
Kiran Millwood Hargrave , Tom de Freston
$19.99
Hardback • 224 pages
ABBEY'S BOOKSELLER PICK ----- Julia's Dad has taken a job for the summer, automating a lighthouse at the tip of Shetland. Her Mum, a marine biologist, has a grant to work on the slow-growing and elusive Greenland shark, a species older than trees. It's not the summer Julia wanted, but at nearly eleven, she doesn't have much say in it. Dad is busy, and Mum shifts between excitement at tracking the shark and despair that no-one believes in her research. As Julia navigates the new school, making a friend and the loneliness no-one else notices, her Mum becomes increasingly more erratic - and Julia feels she is the only one who can help. A moving and poignant book about a child unknowingly but instinctively dealing with her mother's mental illness (with a happier ending than the topic suggests). To complement the rich and lyrical writing are stunningly beautiful and evocative illustrations by Tom de Freston; the whole book is a beautifully bound package, with tipped in pages, gorgeous endpapers and foiling on the cover - all in all, a special book to grace the shelves of any thoughtful reader aged 9-12. Lindy
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'Tom de Freston's stunning illustrations perfectly complement the poetry of Kiran Millwood Hargrave's story' Cressida Cowell 'A truly beautiful book, with text and illustrations in perfect harmony. A book to treasure!' Jacqueline Wilson 'Julia and the Shark is deep, beautiful and true. The art shines and the writing soars - a classic from cover to cover' Eoin Colfer 'A rich, immersive and wondrous journey, through deep darkness to hope and light' Sophie Anderson, author of The House with Chicken Legs The shark was beneath my bed, growing large as the room, large as the lighthouse, rising from unfathomable depths until it ripped the whole island from its roots. The bed was a boat, the shark a tide, and it pulled me so far out to sea I was only a speck, a spot, a mote, a dying star in an unending sky...
Julia has followed her mum and dad to live on a remote island for the summer - her dad, for work; her mother, on a determined mission to find the elusive Greenland shark. But when her mother's obsession threatens to submerge them all, Julia finds herself on an adventure with dark depths and a lighthouse full of hope...
A beautiful, lyrical, uplifting story about a mother, a daughter, and love - with timely themes of the importance of science and the environment.
There's a Ghost in this House
Oliver Jeffers
$29.99
Hardback • 44 pages
A captivating new picture book with interactive transparent pages, from world-renowned artist Oliver Jeffers. Hello, come in. Maybe you can help me?
A young girl lives in a haunted house, but has never seen a ghost. Are they white with holes for eyes? Are they hard to see? She'd love to know! Step inside and turn the transparent pages to help her on an entertaining ghost hunt, from behind the sofa, right up to the attic. With lots of friendly ghost surprises and incredible mixed media illustrations, this unique and funny book will entertain young readers over and over again!
A young girl lives in a haunted house, but has never seen a ghost. Are they white with holes for eyes? Are they hard to see? She'd love to know! Step inside and turn the transparent pages to help her on an entertaining ghost hunt, from behind the sofa, right up to the attic. With lots of friendly ghost surprises and incredible mixed media illustrations, this unique and funny book will entertain young readers over and over again!
The Song of Lewis Carmichael
Sofie Laguna , Marc McBride
$16.99
Paperback • 192 pages
Matthew stood on the snowy peak and stared out at the world spread before him. Every picture in his books had been limited by the size of the page, contained within frames. Here, there was no frame. Here, the picture didn't end. Beyond those icy plains, the sea, and beyond the sea, a land that floated on the ice, drifting northwards. Matthew put the binoculars to his eyes and saw valleys and cliffs and rivers all made of snow. Everywhere was white.
Matthew has dreamed and read and thought about the North Pole for as long as he can remember. And he has done it secretly. It is a place that cannot be tarnished by the world in which he lives - a world in which he struggles to find answers and make friends, while everything seems to come easily to other children.
But one day, a crow called Lewis Carmichael lands at Matthew's window - a crow who believes in Matthew in the most simple and ordinary ways. Soon, the unexpected voyage of a lifetime begins, and it will change everything...
An unforgettable adventure story from award-winning children's book author Sofie Laguna, with enchanting illustrations by Marc McBride.
Matthew has dreamed and read and thought about the North Pole for as long as he can remember. And he has done it secretly. It is a place that cannot be tarnished by the world in which he lives - a world in which he struggles to find answers and make friends, while everything seems to come easily to other children.
But one day, a crow called Lewis Carmichael lands at Matthew's window - a crow who believes in Matthew in the most simple and ordinary ways. Soon, the unexpected voyage of a lifetime begins, and it will change everything...
An unforgettable adventure story from award-winning children's book author Sofie Laguna, with enchanting illustrations by Marc McBride.
Drover
Neridah McMullin , Sarah Anthony
$26.99
Hardback • 32 pages
The true story of an important pioneering woman in Australian history.
Courageous, clever and daring, Drover is one of a kind. Travelling through the heart of the outback, Drover delivers a mob of cattle. Searing heat, dust and flies, hardship and danger: these are just part of the job. But there's no place Drover would rather be.
The truly remarkable story of legendary drover Edna Jessop is celebrated through stunning oil illustrations and evocative text.
Courageous, clever and daring, Drover is one of a kind. Travelling through the heart of the outback, Drover delivers a mob of cattle. Searing heat, dust and flies, hardship and danger: these are just part of the job. But there's no place Drover would rather be.
The truly remarkable story of legendary drover Edna Jessop is celebrated through stunning oil illustrations and evocative text.
The What on Earth Institute of Wonder
Lisa Nicol
$16.99
Paperback • 288 pages
A mind-boggling expedition into the secrets of the Animal Kingdom with only an invisible map of the human heart as a guide. (Unless, of course, you count the talking parrot.) What on Earth could possibly go wrong...?
Sal has always had an affinity with animals - especially the lost kind. But when two rare and endangered creatures appear out of nowhere, life takes a detour into strange and uncharted territory...
One elephant, one kakapo, one unlicensed teenage driver, one boy waiting for the world to end and a twelve-year-old girl with a very special gift.
Sal has always had an affinity with animals - especially the lost kind. But when two rare and endangered creatures appear out of nowhere, life takes a detour into strange and uncharted territory...
One elephant, one kakapo, one unlicensed teenage driver, one boy waiting for the world to end and a twelve-year-old girl with a very special gift.
Let's Eat Weeds!: a kids' guide to foraging
Annie Raser-Rowland , Adam Grubb , Evie Barrow
$24.99
Hardback • 72 pages
ABBEY'S BOOKSELLER PICK ----- This fabulous book contains fifteen wild food plants (aka weeds) which kids can find for themselves. It is designed to give them 'agency to interact with the outside world and learn skills to meaningfully add to their diet' to quote from the authors (who are behind the letseatweeds website). First and foremost, the emphasis is on safety and taking care! This is reiterated time and time again, along with careful-ometer readings and exhortations to check with your adult if you're not sure - so if the instructions are read properly, there should be no trouble. Each weed is illustrated with drawings, and the occasional photograph to clarify an identification. Readers are told what to look for, where and when to look, how to harvest and how to use it. Simple recipes are included! Millions of people round the world harvest weeds to supplement their diets, and this book will certainly show older primary aged kids (and adults, too!) the bounty around them. Lindy
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Ever thought weeds were just pesky plants to pull out and throw away? Think again! This informative, funny, and beautiful book will show you just how great edible weeds can taste. Learn to smell your way to an angled onion, bake weeds 'n' cheese pie, and safely harvest the juicy fruits of a prickly pear.
This is the ultimate companion for the young urban or rural forager. Once you've read it, you'll start to see food all around you, every time you go for a walk.
Annie Raser-Rowland and Adam Grubb's love of weeds bursts from every page. It is their sincere hope that this book ends up smeared with mud and stained with blackberry juice. Let's get foraging!
Enola Holmes and the Black Barouche (#7 Enola Holmes)
Nancy Springer
$16.99
Paperback • 272 pages
Enola Holmes is the much younger sister of her more famous brothers, Sherlock and Mycroft. But she has all the wits, skills, and sleuthing inclinations of them both.
At fifteen, she's an independent young woman--after all, her name spelled backwards reads 'alone' - and living on her own in London. When a young professional woman, Miss Letitia Glover, shows up on Sherlock's doorstep, desperate to learn more about the fate of her twin sister, it is Enola who steps up. It seems her sister, the former Felicity Glover, married the Earl of Dunhench and per a curt note from the Earl, has died. But Letitia Glover is convinced this isn't the truth, that she'd know - she'd feel - if her twin had died.
The Earl's note is suspiciously vague and the death certificate is even more dubious, signed it seems by a John H. Watson, M.D. (who denies any knowledge of such). The only way forward is for Enola to go undercover - or so Enola decides at the vehement objection of her brother. And she soon finds out that this is not the first of the Earl's wives to die suddenly and vaguely - and that the secret to the fate of the missing Felicity is tied to a mysterious black barouche that arrived at the Earl's home in the middle of the night. To uncover the secrets held tightly within the Earl's hall, Enola is going to require help - from Sherlock, from the twin sister of the missing woman, and from an old friend, the young Viscount Tewkesbury, Marquess of Basilwether!
Enola Holmes returns in her first adventure since the hit Netflix movie brought her back on the bestseller lists, introducing a new generation to this beloved character and series.
The Wild Before
Piers Torday
$16.99
Paperback • 320 pages
Can one hare alone change the world? The captivating animal adventure destined to be loved by readers of all ages. A stunning hardback edition from the bestselling, much-loved author, Piers Torday.
One stormy, snowy night, a pure silver calf is born on an ordinary muddy farm by the light of the moon. This is the legendary Mooncalf, whose arrival has been foretold since the dawn of time.
According to a dream passed down from animal to animal, if the calf dies, a great terribleness will come - rising seas, a plague, skies raining down fire, the end of all things... and Little Hare vows to persuade all the animals to protect Mooncalf, whatever the cost.
But it's easier said than done, and soon Little Hare realises that he is the only one who can save the world...
A stunning prequel to the award-winning, bestselling The Last Wild trilogy, touching on timely themes of climate change, friendship, and above all, hope.
'Piers Torday is the new master of books for children' The Times 'an unforgettable story of hope and friendship' The Bookseller
One stormy, snowy night, a pure silver calf is born on an ordinary muddy farm by the light of the moon. This is the legendary Mooncalf, whose arrival has been foretold since the dawn of time.
According to a dream passed down from animal to animal, if the calf dies, a great terribleness will come - rising seas, a plague, skies raining down fire, the end of all things... and Little Hare vows to persuade all the animals to protect Mooncalf, whatever the cost.
But it's easier said than done, and soon Little Hare realises that he is the only one who can save the world...
A stunning prequel to the award-winning, bestselling The Last Wild trilogy, touching on timely themes of climate change, friendship, and above all, hope.
'Piers Torday is the new master of books for children' The Times 'an unforgettable story of hope and friendship' The Bookseller
It's Not You, It's Me
Gabrielle Williams
$19.99
Paperback • 288 pages
Holly Fitzgerald has inexplicably woken up inside the body of an LA teenager called Trinity Byrne in 1980 - trapping Trinity in Holly's forty-year-old body back in Melbourne, 2020.
Mind. Officially. Blown.
Holly finds herself navigating a brand-new body, family and cute boy next door - not to mention rock band that might just make it, and potential kidnapper. Meanwhile, lies intersect with truth, hurtling both Holly and Trinity towards a dangerous fate as the connections between them grow deeper and stranger than either could have ever imagined.
Freaky Friday meets Pretty Little Liars - if the Liars were an all-girl punk band from the 1980s - in this highly original soul-swap story from the critically acclaimed author of My Life as a Hashtag.
'An absolute delight. Funny, clever, compelling, and utterly original.' NINA KENWOOD, It Sounded Better in My Head
Mind. Officially. Blown.
Holly finds herself navigating a brand-new body, family and cute boy next door - not to mention rock band that might just make it, and potential kidnapper. Meanwhile, lies intersect with truth, hurtling both Holly and Trinity towards a dangerous fate as the connections between them grow deeper and stranger than either could have ever imagined.
Freaky Friday meets Pretty Little Liars - if the Liars were an all-girl punk band from the 1980s - in this highly original soul-swap story from the critically acclaimed author of My Life as a Hashtag.
'An absolute delight. Funny, clever, compelling, and utterly original.' NINA KENWOOD, It Sounded Better in My Head
