The Happiest Man on Earth by Eddie Jaku

$32.99 AUD

Category: Biography

Life can be beautiful if you make it beautiful. It is up to you. Eddie Jaku always considered himself a German first, a Jew second. He was proud of his country. But all of that changed on 9 November 1938, when he was beaten, arrested and taken to a concentration camp. Over the next seven years, Eddie fa ced unimaginable horrors every day, first in Buchenwald, then in Auschwitz, then on the Nazi death march. He lost family, friends, his country. Because he survived, Eddie made the vow to smile every day. He pays tribute to those who were lost by telling his story, sharing his wisdom and living his best possible life. He now believes he is the 'happiest man on earth'. Published as Eddie turns 100, this is a powerful, heartbreaking and ultimately hopeful memoir of how happiness can be found even in the darkest of times.                 ...Show more

Growing Up Aboriginal in Australia by Anita Heiss

$29.99 AUD

Category: Biography

Childhood stories of family, country and belonging What is it like to grow up Aboriginal in Australia? This anthology, compiled by award-winning author Anita Heiss, showcases many diverse voices, experiences and stories in order to answer that question. Accounts from well-known authors and high-profile identities sit alongside those from newly discovered writers of all ages. All of the contributors speak from the heart - sometimes calling for empathy, oftentimes challenging stereotypes, always demanding respect. This groundbreaking collection will enlighten, inspire and educate about the lives of Aboriginal people in Australia today. Contributors include- Tony Birch, Deborah Cheetham, Adam Goodes, Terri Janke, Patrick Johnson, Ambelin Kwaymullina, Jack Latimore, Celeste Liddle, Amy McQuire, Kerry Reed-Gilbert, Miranda Tapsell, Jared Thomas, Aileen Walsh, Alexis West, Tara June Winch, and many, many more. ...Show more

Far From Home: A True Story of Murder, Loss and a Mother's Courage by Rosie Ayliffe

$34.99 AUD

Category: Biography

British mother Rosie Ayliffe thought her 21-year-old daughter, Mia, would be safe travelling around Australia on a gap year. But Mia wanted to extend her visa and in order to do that needed to find 88 days of work on a farm - a requirement that would lead to catastrophic events. Four short days after Mi a moved to a hostel in Queensland to take a job on a sugarcane farm, she was brutally murdered. Faced with every parent's worst nightmare, Rosie travelled to Australia to retrieve Mia's body. From the moment she landed, however, she started to hear stories about the terrible treatment of young workers like Mia - stories of exploitation, sexual harassment, rape. Mia was Rosie's only child and she brought her up as a single parent. Her death was traumatic and life-changing. In Rosie's memoir, she describes movingly how she has found the strength to come to terms with devastating loss, drawing on inspiration from her daughter's short life. She also explains how she has become the driving force behind an international campaign to press for change to the 88 days system. Part expose of the dangers facing backpackers in Australia, part call to arms, ultimately Far from Home is an inspiring and heartfelt story of a mother's love for her daughter and her fight to protect others from suffering a similar tragedy.   ...Show more

The Beauty of Living Twice by Sharon Stone

$29.99 AUD

Category: Biography

In The Beauty of Living Twice, Sharon Stone chronicles her efforts to rebuild her life, and the slow road back to wholeness and health. In an industry that doesn't accept failure, in a world where too many voices are silenced, Stone found the power to return, the courage to speak up, and the will to mak e a difference in the lives of women and children around the globe. Over the course of these intimate pages, as candid as a personal conversation, Stone talks about her pivotal roles, her life-changing friendships, her worst disappointments and her greatest accomplishments. She reveals how she went from a childhood of trauma and violence to a business that in many ways echoed those same assaults, under cover of money and glamour. She describes the strength and meaning she found in her children and in her humanitarian efforts. And ultimately, she shares how she fought her way back to find not only her truth, but her family's reconciliation and love. ...Show more

The Storm Within: The Autobiography of a Legend by Cameron SMITH, with Andrew WEBSTER

$49.99 AUD

Category: Biography

***CAPTAIN OF THE 2020 TELSTRA NRL PREMIERSHIP WINNERS THE MELBOURNE STORM*** Cameron Smith AM is the most decorated rugby league player of all time. The recipient of numerous Dally M and Golden Boot awards, he has starred in the toughest league competition on the planet every season since he made his N RL debut in 2002. Captaining the Melbourne Storm to multiple premierships, Smith played in a staggering seventeen finals campaigns. An integral member of the record-breaking Queensland teams of 2006-2017, he won eleven State of Origin series. As skipper of the Australian national team for over a decade, he led the Kangaroos to two World Cups. Smith is credited with revolutionising the number nine position. He holds the State of Origin records for most appearances and most wins, as well as the NRL records for most games, goals, points scored, wins and appearances as captain. This book maps his unique journey in the game: an extraordinary look into the biggest matches and biggest moments, Smith describes his career with great colour and candour, outlining what it takes to climb to the highest level in sport. Talent aside, it is Smith's intelligence and poise that set him apart, coupled with consistency, durability and longevity that are unlikely to ever be matched. Notoriously private throughout his career, The Storm Within sets the record straight. Finally, the life behind the legend - the man behind the mystery - tells his story. Features a foreword by legendary Melbourne Storm coach Craig Bellamy. ...Show more

Turns Out, I'm Fine by JUDITH LUCY

$27.99 AUD

$32.99 (15% off)

Category: Biography

When the relationship Judith Lucy thought was The One broke down, her world fell apart. Not only was she single again and about to turn fifty but now that she didn't have a partner to buy gourmet sausages with at Farmers' Markets, she realised how much her relationship had enabled her to avoid dealing w ith: everything from her brother's death to her doubts about doing comedy in an increasingly serious world situation. Why was she so floored? Did all these problems have something in common? Judith went back to the start to try and work that out. In her most candid and insightful book yet, Judith looks at her family and relationships to understand how despite being a feminist, her hopes and expectations have been shaped by men – whether it was thinking that she needed Mr Right to 'complete her' or struggling for male approval in most aspects of her life, including her work. Having diagnosed the disease, Judith sets about healing. She explores other ways to get outside herself and make the most of the time she has left – community, volunteering, climate action and the natural world. And although things will doubtless keep going wrong (like covid!), it turns out she's fine. ...Show more

One Italian Summer by Pip Williams

$29.99 AUD

Category: Biography

Pip and Shannon dreamed of living the good life. They wanted to slow down, grow their own food, and spend more time with the people they love. But jobs and responsibilities got in the way: their chooks died, their fruit rotted, and Pip ended up depressed and in therapy. So they did the only reasonable t hing - they quit their jobs, pulled the children out of school and went searching for la dolce vita in Italy.One Italian Summer is a warm, funny and often poignant story of a family's search for a better way of living in the homes and on the farms of strangers. Pip sleeps in a woodshed, feasts under a Tuscan sun, works like a tractor in Calabria and, eventually, finds her dream - though it's not at all the one she expected.   ...Show more

Becoming by Michelle Obama

$49.99 AUD

Category: Biography

An intimate, powerful, and inspiring memoir by the former First Lady of the United States   In a life filled with meaning and accomplishment, Michelle Obama has emerged as one of the most iconic and compelling women of our era. As First Lady of the United States of America--the first African American to serve in that role--she helped create the most welcoming and inclusive White House in history, while also establishing herself as a powerful advocate for women and girls in the U.S. and around the world, dramatically changing the ways that families pursue healthier and more active lives, and standing with her husband as he led America through some of its most harrowing moments. Along the way, she showed us a few dance moves, crushed Carpool Karaoke, and raised two down-to-earth daughters under an unforgiving media glare.   In her memoir, a work of deep reflection and mesmerizing storytelling, Michelle Obama invites readers into her world, chronicling the experiences that have shaped her--from her childhood on the South Side of Chicago to her years as an executive balancing the demands of motherhood and work, to her time spent at the world's most famous address. With unerring honesty and lively wit, she describes her triumphs and her disappointments, both public and private, telling her full story as she has lived it--in her own words and on her own terms. Warm, wise, and revelatory, Becoming is the deeply personal reckoning of a woman of soul and substance who has steadily defied expectations--and whose story inspires us to do the same. ...Show more

With My Little Eye: The Incredible True Story of a Family of Spies in the Suburbs by Sandra Hogan

$29.99 AUD

Category: Biography

The very funny true story of three children recruited by their parents to work for ASIO in the 1950s.   Hilarious, moving and brilliantly told' - Susan Johnson'It reads like the very best of spy thrillers.' - Matthew Condon'An intimate and compelling look at an ordinary family who happen to be ASIO age nts.' - Kristina OlssonGrowing up in the 1950s, the three Doherty children were trained by their parents to memorise car number plates, to spot unusual behaviour on the street and, most important of all, to avoid drawing attention to themselves.The children became unwitting foot soldiers in Australia's battle against Soviet infiltration in the Cold War. They attended political rallies, stood watch on houses owned by communist sympathisers, and insinuated themselves into the UFO Society. In 1956 the Doherty family went on a beach holiday with Vladimir and Evdokia Petrov, the famous Soviet defectors, who were hiding from Soviet assassins.Dudley and Joan Doherty swore their children to secrecy, and for decades, they didn't even discuss among themselves the work they did for ASIO.With My Little Eye is a poignant and very funny account of a peculiar childhood in 1950s suburban Australia ...Show more

Beautiful Things: A Memoir by Hunter Biden

$32.99 AUD

Category: Biography

When he was two years old, Hunter Biden was badly injured in a car accident that killed his mother and baby sister. In 2015, he suffered the devastating loss of his beloved big brother, Beau, who died of brain cancer at the age of 46. These hardships were compounded by the collapse of his marriage and a years-long battle with drug and alcohol addiction. In Beautiful Things, Hunter recounts his descent into substance abuse and his tortuous path to sobriety. The story ends with where Hunter is today—a sober married man with a new baby, finally able to appreciate the beautiful things in life. ...Show more

My Year of Living Vulnerably by Rick Morton

$34.99 AUD

Category: Biography

In early 2019, Rick Morton, author of acclaimed, bestselling memoir One Hundred Years of Dirt, was diagnosed with complex post-traumatic stress disorder - which, as he says, is just a fancy way of saying that one of the people who should have loved him the most during childhood didn't. So, over the cou rse of twelve months, he went on a journey to rediscover love. To get better. Not cured, not fixed. Just, better. This is a book about his journey to betterness, his year of living vulnerably. It's a book about love. What love is, how we see it, what forms it takes, how we practice it in our lives, what it means to us, and how we really, really can't live without it, even if, like Rick for many years, we think we can.   ...Show more

Lapsed by Monica Dux

$34.99 AUD

Category: Biography

Losing your religion is harder than it looks ... From devout ten-year-old performing the part of Jesus in a primary school play to blaspheming, undergraduate atheist, Monica Dux and her attitude to the Catholic Church changed profoundly over a decade. Another ten years and she'd calmed right down. Now she was just 'lapsed'. Then, on a family trip to Rome, her young daughter suddenly expressed a desire to be baptised. Monica found herself re-examining her own childhood and how Catholicism had shaped her. Was Catholicism really out of her system or was it in her blood for life? In Lapsed, Monica sets out to find the answer. Her investigations lead her to test a miracle cure in Lourdes and to steal from a church. She visits the grave of a headless Saint who claimed to be married to Christ (and wore a wedding ring made of his foreskin to prove it), and speaks to cannon lawyers, abuse survivors and even a nun who insists that the Virgin Mary starts her car every morning. She ponders the big questions, such as would Jesus really make a great dinner party guest or would he end up calling Einstein a blasphemer? And, far more seriously, given what she now knows about clerical abuse and its extent, is it enough to turn her back on the Church, or did she have a deeper, more enduring obligation? With the wry humour of David Sedaris and the razor-sharp observations of Nora Ephron, Lapsed is the story of one woman's attempt to exorcise her religious upbringing, and to answer the question, is Catholicism like a blood group and, if so, is it possible to get a total transfusion? 'It made me laugh, cry and swear.' Jane Caro   ...Show more