MOTHER'S DAY SPECIALS! SHOW ME MORE
'What does it mean to be on land that was taken from other people? Now that we know how the taking was done, what do we do with that knowledge?'
Kate Grenville is no stranger to the past. Her success and fame as a writer exploded when she published The Secret River in 2005, a bestseller based on the story of her convict ancestor, an early settler on the Hawkesbury River.
More than two decades on, and following the defeat of the Voice referendum, Grenville is still grappling with what it means to descend from people who were, as she puts it, "on the sharp edge of the moving blade that was colonisation".
Drawing extensively from unpublished and previously unseen written accounts, oral histories, letters, and archival materials, Peter Mitchell's Under the same Moon offers a deeply personal exploration of the lesser-known Australian World War II campaign in the Middle East. It captures the dramatic separation of a group of men from their Australia-bound convoy and their arrival in Java, teetering on the brink of collapse. The narrative also illuminates the fears and anxieties of families left in the dark.
Grantlee Kieza (Sister Viv, Banjo, Mr & Mrs Gould) writes about iconic Australian lives. His latest book focuses on the extraordinary story of Annette Kellerman – swimmer, daredevil, trailblazer and Hollywood star ...
Josie McSkimming, watched her older sister, Dorothy Porter, become an award-winning poet, but it was a family of complex dynamics.
Born to renowned barrister, Chester Porter, Dot, Josie and their sister, Mary, grew up in an unpredictable family home on Sydney's northern beaches. Each forged her own impressive career, but Josie and Dot sought very different escapes from their formidable father. Josie fell into (and out of) evangelical Christianity and psychotherapy while Dot found 'the Arts' and sex.
ABBEY'S BOOKSELLER PICK ----- Miles Franklin was a very young woman when her first and most famous book, My Brilliant Career, was published (without the intended question mark after the second word!). It created a sensation amongst the literary folk of the land, but unfortunately her British publisher didn't make it easy for Australians to read it and the general readers were unlikely to get their hands on a copy. What earnings Miles gained from it were not enough to save her family's farm or to set her up independently, nor were her next attempts at novels successful.
Scorning to live on the bounty of some of the wealthy women who feted her, she decided to seek work as a housemaid and then use her experiences to write an expose on servanthood. This too was never published, but Kerrie Davies has mined the rich seams of the original manuscript to construct this period of Miles' life. She also deals with the years following, when Miles went to America and found work with organisations and trades union dedicated to female suffrage and bettering the lives of working women there.
I'm not always a fan of creative non-fiction, and I still have reservations, but Miles Franklin is a woman I have always greatly admired, and this deeply researched and carefully written book does bring to light a little-known period of her brilliant life. Lindy
The true story of Lech Blaine's family, a stranger-than-fiction tale that is heartbreaking, hilarious and altogether astonishing. A dark comedy about the tangled fates of two couples and the children trapped between them.
Michael and Mary Shelley are Christian fanatics who loathe their fellow Australians - especially their 'reckless indulgence of alcohol and obsession with idiotic ball sports'. Lenore and Tom Blaine are working-class Queensland publicans raising a large family in a raucous, loving, sports-obsessed home.
There's just one problem. Lenore and Tom are foster parents to three of Michael and Mary's children, who were removed from the Shelleys as infants. And the Shelleys are prepared to do anything to get them back. Anything.
Elizabeth Fortescue captures the 'many lives' of one of Australia's most celebrated contemporary artists.
From her time as a war artist and her involvement with refugees and people who've been in gaol, through to her family, which includes a number of Ukrainian psychics, there is a lot to know about what informed Wendy.
The book is enriched by essays from five leading curators, journalists and writers.
Murriyang is, in part, Stan Grant’s response to the Voice referendum but it eschews politics for love.
In this gorgeous, grace-filled book, he zooms out to reflect on the biggest questions, ranging across the history, literature, theology, music and art that has shaped him. Setting aside anger for kindness, he reaches past the secular to the sacred and transcendent.
Talk Your Way Out of Trouble
Life lessons from the law
Paperback
$36.99
In Stock 😊
Fearless Beatrice Faust
Sex, Feminism and Body Politics...
Paperback
$36.99
In Stock 😊
Chinese Parents Don't Say I Love You
A memoir of saying the unsayable...
Paperback
$34.99
In Stock 😊
Till Death Do Us Part
Life without Jock and learning to...
Paperback
$36.99
Forthcoming
You can preorder this
Annette Kellerman, Australian Mermaid
The inspiring true story of the...
Paperback
$35.99
In Stock 😊
The Ninth Life of a Diamond Miner
A memoir
Paperback
$24.99
Not in-store but you can order this
Miles Franklin Undercover
The little-known years when she...
Paperback
$34.99
In Stock 😊
Women of a Certain Courage
Life stories from women of all backgrounds...
Paperback
$32.99
In Stock 😊
The Legend of Albert Jacka
From the Shores of Gallipoli to...
Hardback
$49.99 $39.99
In Stock 😊
The Worst House on the Worst Street
Nineteen Years in Renovation Hell...
Paperback
$34.99
In Stock 😊
Bombshell
The life and law of Leigh Johnson...
Paperback
$29.99
Not in-store but you can order this
Kasey Chambers Just Don't Be a D**khead
And Other Profound Things I've Learnt...
Paperback
$34.99
In Stock 😊
With What I Have Left
People say that talking to yourself...
Paperback
$29.99
Not in-store but you can order this
More Great Australian Outback Police Stories
Paperback
$34.99
Not in-store but you can order this
Stories My Grandmothers Didn't Tell Me
Two women's journeys from war-torn...
Paperback
$34.99
In Stock 😊
Because I'm Not Myself, You See
A Memoir of Motherhood, Madness...
Paperback
$36.99
In Stock 😊
My Father's Suitcase
A story of family secrets, abuse,...
Paperback
$34.99
Not in-store but you can order this
The Sweet Air of Freedom
Convict Frayne's Narrative of Politics,...
Paperback
$44
Not in-store but you can order this
Untold Story of William Shum
Editor of Australian Home Beautiful...
Hardback
$59.95
In Stock 😊
The Cancer Finishing School
Lessons in Laughter, Love and Resilience...
Paperback
$36.99
In Stock 😊
Breath
A triumphant story of hope and survival...
Paperback
$32.99
Not in-store but you can order this
Loving My Lying, Dying, Cheating Husband
A memoir of a whirlwind romance...
Paperback
$34.99
In Stock 😊
In Bad Faith
Inside a secret ultra-Orthodox sect...
Paperback
$34.99
Not in-store but you can order this
The Nature of Honour
Son, Duty-bound Soldier, Military...
Paperback
$36.99
Not in-store but you can order this
Saving Bunji
The story of a girl, a rescued kangaroo...
Paperback
$34.99
Not in-store but you can order this
Eventually Everything Connects
Eight Essays on Uncertainty
Hardback
$34.99
Not in-store but you can order this
Tough Love
The Amazing True Story of a Boxing...
Paperback
$29.99
Not in-store but you can order this
I'll Let Myself In
Breaking down doors, claiming space...
Paperback
$32.99
Not in-store but you can order this
Shake Some Action
My life in music (and other stuff)...
Paperback
$35
Not in-store but you can order this
537 Days of Winter
An Australian Antarctic Expedition...
Paperback
$22.99
Not in-store but you can order this
Life Keeps Me Dancing
108 years well lived, grounded in...
Paperback
$36.99
Not in-store but you can order this
Reaching Through Time
Finding my family's stories
Paperback
$36.99
Not in-store but you can order this
In/Out
A scandalous story of falling into...
Paperback
$34.99
Not in-store but you can order this
Love Language
A memoir of family, music and pasta...
Paperback
$34.99
Not in-store but you can order this
Bhutan to Blacktown
Losing Everything and Finding Australia...
Paperback
$32.99
Not in-store but you can order this
Emboldened
On finding the fire to keep going...
Paperback
$34.99
Not in-store but you can order this
Vegemite
The true story of the man who invented...
Paperback
$34.99
Not in-store but you can order this
The Crossing
A memoir of love, adventure and...
Paperback
$36.99
Not in-store but you can order this
Train Lord
The Astonishing True Story of One...
Paperback
$24.99
Not in-store but you can order this
Olivia
Grace and Gratitude: Her Place Amongst...
Paperback
$29.99
Not in-store but you can order this
131 York Street
Sydney NSW 2000
Australia
