Good Reading Podcast

The most painful of Evie Cormac's memories have been locked away, ever since she was held prisoner as a child - a child whose rescue captured hearts and headlines. Forensic psychologist Cyrus Haven's mission is to guide her to something near normality. But today, on a British beach, seventeen bodies wash up in front of them. There is only one survivor, with two women still missing. And Evie's nightmares come roaring back.Whatever happened all those years ago lies at the core of this new trage...

Meg’s life is woven into the fabric of St. Stephens. It’s a tapestry made of two precious children, a hidden truth, and a husband whose ideas of a perfect wife do not match her own. When Meg puts her foot down on a third kid, gets a job, and is empowered by the same book group that was meant to keep her in her place, her marriage begins to disintegrate. Set in a tiny Mormon community, this is a novel about resilience and courage – the fierceness of mother-love and the power that comes with ne...

During the Second Sudanese Civil War, thousands of South Sudanese boys were displaced from their villages or orphaned in attacks from northern government troops. Many became refugees in Ethiopia. There, in 1989, teacher and community leader Mecak Ajang Alaak assumed care of the Lost Boys in a bid to protect them from becoming child soldiers. So began a four-year journey from Ethiopia to Sudan and on to the safety of a Kenyan refugee camp. Together they endured starvation, animal attacks and t...

In this enticing new cookbook, Dr Clare Bailey shows you how to create fabulous bakes, sweet treats and desserts with recipes that are low in sugar, high in protein yet irresistibly delicious!From family favourites such as brownies, cheesecakes and crumbles to healthy cupcakes and bite-size muffins, The Fast 800 Treats Recipe Book brings you sweet treats and savoury snacks that won't send your blood sugars soaring. Featuring 80 indulgent recipes that make use of healthy and natural ingredient...

As a boy, Gerard McCann was sexually abused by a Catholic priest at his local church. As a grown man, he confronts the trauma of what he suffered and the psychological aftermath of his experience, grappling with shame, guilt and the devastating impact it had on his family, relationships and sense of self. Despite what he endured, Gerard’s story is one of hope and healing, of acknowledging pain and seeking support, of honesty and justice.In this episode Gregory Dobbs chats to Gerard McCann abo...

Some people are born into bad situations, some people have bad situations thrust upon them, and some people find bad situations through their dodgy choices, lack of information and personal idiosyncrasies. Julia’s life sits at the intersection of all three.From high school dropout on a psych ward to card-carrying lesbian on a motorbike, from enduring a controlling relationship with her ex-lover’s brother to being chased by a media scrum outside a Perth court, the life of beloved children’s au...

Thrown out of the pack for being a weakling, Laurence the Wolf is down on his luck. He knows he’s strong, and brave, and cool, but nobody else seems to think so. What’s more, he’s STARVING. A clever plot to gobble up Little Red Riding Hood once and for all is foiled by all the creatures of the fairytale forest and just as things are getting desperate, he catches a whiff of something delicious. Could those be . . . vegetables?In this episode Gregory Dobbs chats to Ben Miller about why Lawrence...

During the years of the Great Depression, Cressida Morley and her eccentric family live in a weatherboard cottage on the edge of a wild beach. Outsiders in their small working-class community, they rant and argue and read books and play music and never feel themselves to be poor. Yet as Cressida moves beyond childhood, she starts to outgrow the place that once seemed the centre of the world. As she plans her escape, the only question is: who will she become?The End of the Morning is the final...

Psychiatry registrar Doctor Hannah Wright, a country girl with a chaotic history, thought she had seen it all in the emergency room. But that was nothing compared to the psychiatric ward at Menzies Hospital. Hannah must learn on the job in a strained medical system, as she and her fellow trainees deal with the common and the bizarre, the hilarious and the tragic, the treatable and the confronting. Every day brings new patients: Chloe, who has a life-threatening eating disorder; Sian, sufferin...

Matilda, Jo, Penny and Cressy are all women at the top of their game; so imagine their surprise when they start to be personally overlooked and professionally pushed aside by less-qualified men. Only they're not going down without a fight. Society might think the women have passed their amuse-by dates but the Revenge Club have other plans. After all, why go to bed angry when you could stay up and plot diabolical retribution? Let the games begin...In this episode Gregory Dobbs chats to K...

Acclaimed wildlife scientist Vanessa Pirotta has been mugged by whales, touched by a baby whale and covered in whale snot. In Humpback Highway, Pirotta dives beneath the surface to reveal the mysterious world of humpback whales — from their life cycle and the challenges humans present, to why whale snot and poo are important for us and the ocean. Plus the cutting-edge new technologies that allow us to see where they swim, listen to them talk and spy on them underwater. Whether you’re a whale ...

All Time High is a comprehensive guide on how to enter the cryptocurrency market as a complete beginner and to prosper. Cryptocurrencies have the power to radically transform not only our financial lives, but our personal freedom, sovereignty and mindset. Powered by blockchain technology, cryptocurrencies offer a new way for investors to create wealth and a potential early retirement without having to be a trader, have financial knowledge or a prior skill level. Sydel Sierra has documented th...

For years the firefighters of New York’s Engine 99 have rushed fearlessly into hot zones, saving countless lives and stopping devastating blazes in their tracks. They’ve also stolen millions from banks, jewellery stores and art galleries. With their inside knowledge and specialist equipment, they’ve become the most successful heist crew on the East Coast.Their newest member, Andrea ‘Andy’ Nearland, is not what she seems either. She’s an undercover operative, hunting the men of Engine 99 for a...

Named after a famous fictional character, librarian Bridget Jones was raised on a remote cattle station, with only her mother’s romance novels for company. Now living alone in Fremantle, Bridget is a hopeless romantic. She also believes that anyone who doesn’t like reading just hasn’t met the right book yet, and that connecting books to their readers is her superpower. If only her love life was that easy.When handsome Italian barista Fabio progresses from flirting with love hearts on her coff...

Compassion continues Julie Janson’s emotional and intense literary exploration of the complex and dangerous lives of Aboriginal women during the 1800s in colonial New South Wales, which she began in Benevolence as a counter narrative to colonial history in Australian literature. Compassion is the dramatised life story of one of Julie Janson’s ancestors who went on trial for stealing livestock in New South Wales, and it is an exciting and violent story of anti-colonial revenge and roaming adve...

36 Ways of Writing a Vietnamese Poem is a book-length poem that is an urgent, unsettling reckoning with identity and the violence of identity, embedded with racism, oppression and historical trauma. But it also addresses the violence in those assumptions – of being always assumed to be outside one’s home, country, culture or language. And the complex violence, for the diasporic writer who wants to address any of this, of language itself.Making use of multiple tones, moods, masks and camouflag...

Most of us have done our time in the retail trenches, but service stations are undoubtedly the frontline, as Melburnian David Goodwin found out when he started working the weekend graveyard shift at his local servo.From his very first night shift, David absorbed a consistent level of mind-bending lunacy, encountering everything from giant shoplifting bees and balaclava-clad goons hurling cordial-filled water bombs from the sunroof of their BMW, to anarcho-goths high on MDMA releasing large ra...

Robert ‘Goupong’ Anderson, was once the fastest man in Australia and world-record holder. Goupong, his little sister Dot, and his best friend Jonathan belong to the Ugarapul people, the Green Tree Frog tribe, and live with their families and others within the harsh confines of the Deebing Creek Mission – a place run by the malevolent Boss Man.Goupong and Jonathan are focused on winning the mission’s biggest running race that year, but when mysterious noises, unexplained occurrences and biblic...

Until well into the twentieth century, heartbroken men and women in Australia had a legal redress for their suffering: jilted lovers could claim compensation for 'breach of promise to marry'. Hundreds of people, mostly from the working classes, came before the courts, and their stories give us a tantalising insight into the romantic landscape of the past – where couples met, how they courted, and what happened when flirtations turned sour. In packed courtrooms and breathless newspaper reports...

As a young girl growing up in a strict ultra-Orthodox family, Dassi's life was preordained - marry young, live a devout life and raise children within the Adass community's religious rules. This righteous path would keep her safe from the immodest, secular world just a few blocks away in suburban Melbourne. But the Adass community was not safe for Dassi.Dassi was fifteen when her revered school principal, Malka Leifer, started to single her out. Dassi's cloistered and harsh upbringing meant s...

In this episode Gregory Dobbs chats to James Foley about where his ideas come from, the great characters he has created – Sally Tinker (the world’s foremost inventor under the age of twelve), Joe Tinker (full-time baby) and Charli Stevenson (foremost biologist under the age of eleven). We explore the hilarious and often quite smelly adventures they get up to, and Sally's amazing range of inventions. There's also a few Dad jokes along the way.In 'Brobot' Sally Tinker knows she can build a bett...

In 1940, as the Nazis sweep toward Lithuania, Japanese diplomat Chiune Sugihara defies his government and secretly issues visas to fleeing Jewish refugees. After the war, Sugihara is dismissed and disappears into obscurity.Three decades later, in Australia, Rachel Margol is shocked when her engagement reveals a long-held family secret: she is Jewish. As she grapples with this deception and the dysfunction it has caused, unspoken tragedies from the past begin to come to light. When an opportun...

Cassie has settled into life in Hedgely when, out of the blue, her troubled cousin, Sebastian, comes to stay for Hallowe'en. Sneering and scornful, Sebastian trails after Cassie and her friends, interfering with their coven projects and belittling the dangers of the faery world. But Cassie, Rue and Tabitha have bigger problems - as the nights grow longer, a dark shadow creeps out of the Hedge and villagers start behaving strangely, possessed with the desire to find a mysterious object.When th...

Nedingar is the story of a young child who wants to meet their Ancestors (Nedingar), to know them, learn from them and follow their ways. The child's mother gently explains that they have already met their Ancestors, yesterday, today and tomorrow, and that they are everywhere in Country, walking close behind them. Beautifully illustrated by Leanne Zilman, Nedingar is a lyrical, dual language picture book from two debut Noongar creators that celebrates the beauty of Country and family.In this ...

Bush Bugs is a colourful array of Australian insects that will captivate young children. From spiky stick insects to hairy spiders, from blood-sucking mosquitos to dung-eating blow flies and feasting wasps, this is a fun and easy-to-read book introducing tiny readers to tiny bush critters.Crow Baby tells the story of a baby born with two spirits – one human and one crow. The baby grows up to be Daisy Crow, a girl who lives with humans by day and flies with the crows in her dreams. Crow Baby i...

On a Bright Hillside in Paradise, tells the story of a family of convict descendants in the back-blocks of Tasmania, on a farm in a place called Paradise. They lead hard-scrabble lives. The drama begins when strangers arrive, Christian Brethren evangelists who hold big revival meetings in local barns.On a Bright Hillside in Paradise tackles big questions of faith and family but remains grounded in the dreams and strivings of its beautifully drawn characters. Higgs takes lives that history mig...

Three couples, friends since high school, rent a luxurious house in the mountains for an unplugged weekend of drinking and bushwalking. No internet, no phones, no stress. On the first night, the topic of partner-swapping comes up. It's a joke - at first. Not everyone is keen, but an agreement is made. The lights will be turned out. The three women will go into the three bedrooms. The three men will each pick a room at random. It won't be awkward later, because they won't know who they've slep...

Two women from different worlds in Renaissance France cross paths in a way that changes both their lives. One is Marguerite de Navarre, a King’s sister. Powerful, privileged and widely admired, Marguerite must nonetheless marry where she is told to, regardless of her feelings, and – despite the thrilling new ideas of religious reform causing upheaval in France – must toe the line for the good of her brother’s kingdom. Ever a risk-taker, she does what she can to protect her reformist friends.T...

A woman abandons her city life and marriage to return to the place of her childhood, holing up in a small religious community hidden away on the stark plains of the Monaro. She does not believe in God, doesn't know what prayer is, and finds herself living this strange, reclusive life almost by accident. As she gradually adjusts to the rhythms of monastic life, she finds herself turning again and again to thoughts of her mother, whose early death she can't forget.Disquiet interrupts this seclu...

Over seventy years had passed since Mira Unreich was freed from a concentration camp in Germany. On that spring day in 1945, she found herself alive, against all odds. In the decades that followed, she never explained the mystery underpinning her survival. How could Mira say that in the Holocaust 'I learned about the goodness of people'?When Mira's journalist daughter Rachelle realised time was running out for Mira, who was ill with cancer, she resolved to ask her mother questions. It would b...

Penny Albright is a daughter of the thorn coven, forced to patrol the veil between the realms of Life and Death. Each night, one thorn witch—and only one—must cross the veil by burning at the stake. Each morning, that witch draws on their magic to return. Failure to follow the rules risks the veil and risks them all. Thorns, Tides, Embers, Storms, and Ores. All five covens are bound in servitude to the tyrant High Warden of Halstett.But one morning, Penny's favourite sister Ella doesn't retur...

Crown Resorts, the Bond Group, James Hardie, HIH Insurance, Geoffrey Edelsten’s Allied Medical Group, 7-Eleven and Rio Tinto, the list goes on…Australia has suffered from the continual sting of business scandals since corporate cowboys like Alan Bond and Christopher Skase wrought so much damage during the 1980s. Since then, hundreds of thousands of Australians have been affected, with many left traumatised when corporations collapse due to gross mismanagement and profits being put before peop...

It's 2012 and in Northern Afghanistan, an international crisis has erupted. A group of NGO workers have been kidnapped by local insurgents and are now hidden in a winding mountain region. After attempts to negotiate a deal with the bandits fail, and with the lives of the hostages hanging in the balance, there is only one option... the SAS and Navy SEALs are sent in to find and free them.The Rescue is the action-packed story of the special forces' attempts save the hostages from almost certain...

In 1977, twenty-seven-year-old Robyn Davidson set off with a dog and four camels to cross 1,700 miles of Australian desert to the sea. A life of almost constant travelling followed. From the deserts of Australia, to Sydney's underworld; from Sixties street life, to the London literary scene; from migrating with nomads in Tibet, to 'marrying' an Indian prince, Davidson's quest was motivated by an unquenchable curiosity about other ways of seeing and understanding the world.Davidson threw bombs...

Macedonia, 1917. The great city of Salonika is engulfed by fire as all of Europe is ravaged by war. Amid the destruction are those who have come to the frontlines to heal: surgeons, ambulance drivers, nurses, orderlies and other volunteers. Four of them—Stella, Olive, Grace and Stanley—are at the centre of this extraordinary new novel, which takes its inspiration from the wartime experiences of Australians Miles Franklin and Olive King, and British painters Grace Pailthorpe and Stanley Spence...

Twelve-year-old Billy Pyke has a talent for sorting things out, whether it’s his chaotic family home or the busy book stall at Paddy’s Market. In 1871, the market is the loud, smelly, marvellous heart of Melbourne, and Billy is delighted to work at the book stall there for the eccentric Mr Cole. When his new friend Kezia warns him of a sinister magician called the Obscurosmith, Billy can’t believe her stories of magical deals gone horribly wrong – until he sees them happening. And the night t...

This illustrated memoir explores the evolution of one of Australia’s finest design minds. A visual delight, it ranges from photos of childhood gardens and goats to hand-drawn plans for Paul’s earliest designs. Through never-before-seen materials, the story behind Paul’s vision is revealed – and we see the creative workings that come to fruition in meticulous and timeless gardensIn this episode Gregory Dobbs chats to Paul Bangay about his early foundational experiences in horticulture, the peo...

Edinburgh, haunted by the ghosts of its many writers, is also the cold case beat of DCI Karen Pirie. So she shouldn't be surprised when an author's manuscript appears to be a blueprint for an actual crime. Karen can't ignore the plot's chilling similarities to the unsolved case of an Edinburgh University student who vanished from her own doorstep. The manuscript seems to be the key to unlocking what happened to Lara Hardie, but there's a problem: the author died before he finished it. As Kare...

'The Harry Potter Wizarding Almanac' is official companion to the Harry Potter stories – the ultimate compendium of wizarding lists, charts, maps and all things magical! Discover magical places, study wandlore, encounter fantastic beasts and find out about the witches and wizards who lived there. This dazzling gift book brings together beloved characters, unforgettable moments and iconic locations from Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone all the way through to The Deathly Hallows. I...

Salt River Road is a compelling coming-of-age novel about grief and healing set in a small town in the 1970s. In the aftermath of their mother’s death, the Tetley siblings’ lives are falling apart. Left to fend for themselves as their family farm goes to ruins, Rose sets out to escape the grief and mess of home. When she meets Noongar Elders Patsy and Herbert, she finds herself drawn into a home where she has the chance to discover the strength of community, and to heal a wound her family has...

Gigorou (jig-goo-roo) means ‘beauty’ or ‘beautiful’ in Jirrbal, the language of Sasha Kutabah Sarago’s grandmother. Growing up, Sasha didn’t feel gigorou. At a young age, she was told, ‘You’re too pretty to be Aboriginal’. Since then, she’s been on a journey to reconcile her conflict with beauty. In this intimately fierce, funny and reflective book, Sasha retraces her footsteps as a beauty assistant, model and magazine editor to find the answers she’s searching for. Through conversations with...

There are more than 50 000 species of spiders. They surround us in our daily lives and, contrary to popular belief, the vast majority are completely harmless to humans. James O’Hanlon takes us from his backyard to all corners of the globe (and even outer space!) to explore these fascinating creatures and show us why they’re not so scary after all. You’ll encounter everything from miniscule jumping spiders with super intelligence to giant tarantulas whose venom could one day save your life. Cl...

When Anna Funder returned to the work of her literary hero George Orwell looking for escape and inspiration, re-reading his books and biographies, Anna Funder uncovered his forgotten wife – and it’s a revelation. Eileen O’Shaughnessy’s literary brilliance shaped Orwell’s work and her practical nous saved his life. But why – and how – was she absent from the story? Using newly discovered letters from Eileen to her best friend, Funder recreates the Orwells’ marriage, through the Spanish Civil W...

When five couples pool their resources to live in a house located where a turquoise lagoon meets the sea, the quirky little offshore community of Cook's Basin is shocked. How will ten people - one in a wheelchair and one with a hauntingly familiar face - survive where the only way in or out is by boat? When a member of the household is found floating face down in the bay, the police insist the death was accidental but the bizarre circumstances have locals scratching their heads. Former journa...

The crime of sextortion has reached epidemic proportions, fuelled by both sex offenders and organised scammers targeting our most vulnerable online. Children are some of the internet's most prolific and most naive users, and increasing numbers are finding themselves caught in an evil web of networked manipulators.Up to 70 percent of all new sexual exploitation content online is victim-produced, and much of it follows the same script and the abuser then blackmails their victim - for money or f...

Many Australians know lines from Dorothea Mackellar’s classic poem ‘My Country’ by heart, very little has been written about the poet’s extraordinary life. From her childhood and youth in Sydney’s Point Piper and Pittwater, to discovering her love for the Australian landscape on her brother’s farm in Gunnedah, Dorothea engaged with the intellectual elite of Sydney and abroad as she embarked on a decades long literary career that saw her linked to some of the leading lights of her day.Battling...

Imprisoned in the Mauthausen concentration camp in Austria, 1944, Spanish fighter and photographer Mateo Baca is ordered to process images of the camp and inmates for a handful of photo books being made for presentation to top Nazi figures. Just five books in total, but Mateo manages to make a secret sixth book and, with the help of a local woman, Lena Lang, it remains hidden until the end of the war.Seventy-five years later, thirteen-year-old Hannah Campbell's Yugoslavian grandfather, Nico A...

Britain, 1961: the beautiful blonde baby Diana is born to Viscount Althorp, heir to the Spencer earldom. But Diana grows up amid the fallout of her parents’ messy divorce. She struggles at school but finds refuge through romantic novels. She dreams of falling in love and being rescued by a handsome prince.In royal circles, there is concern about the Prince of Wales. Charles is nearing thirty and the right girl needs to be found, fast. She must be young, aristocratic and completely free of pas...

From the author of 'Fake History', comes a shocking yet hilarious look at ten of the greatest liars from our past, examining these previously unquestioned idols and exposing what they were trying to hide.Whether it's virtuous leaders in just wars, martyrs sacrificing all for a cause, or innovators changing the world for the better, down the centuries supposedly great men and women have risen to become household names, saints and heroes. But just how deserving are they of their reputations?Exp...

A near-fatal car accident has left Jane in a coma. When she wakes, she has no idea who she is. Initially comforted by unlikely spectres from past cases, Jane is unaware of everyone else’s concerns: the police who believe she was deliberately run off the road; a lawyer whose files were in her car at the time of the accident – files he should never have lent her; her neurosurgeon who fears a relapse; and her partner, Tim, who has to cope with the fact Jane remembers almost nothing of the last t...

One of the lucky few with a job during the Depression, Peggy’s just starting out in life. She’s a bagging girl at the Angliss meatworks, a place buzzing with life as well as death, where the gun slaughterman Jack has caught her eye – and she his.How is her life connected to Hilda’s, almost a hundred years later, locked inside during a plague, or La’s, further on again, a singer working shifts in a warehouse as her eggs are frozen and her voice is used by AI bots? Let alone Maz, far removed in...

Bob is sixty-five years old, confined to a Perth nursing home. But thirty years ago, he killed a man in the remote northern Kimberley mining region. He offers to show Sparrow where the body is, but there's a catch: Sparrow must travel north with him under the guise of being his carer. They are accompanied on the drive by another nursing home resident: Luke, thirty years old, paralysed in a motorbike accident. As they embark on their road trip through the guts of Western Australia, pursue...

Drawn from the pages of history and cutting-edge science, Thaw is a gripping read that will forever change how you see the frozen continent – and those who seek to conquer it.In 1912, five British explorers struggle across the Antarctic landscape, through howling winds and plummeting temperatures, seeking the safety of their camp. Today, as the world's ice sheets begin to melt and surrender their secrets, renowned glacial archaeologist Missy Simpson works to discover the true cause of the exp...

In a small fishing village on the coast of Portugal, a select band of surfers take unimaginable risks, pushing the boundaries of their death-defying sport as they seek to go bigger than ever before. Their goal? To ride the Everest of the ocean - the 100-foot wave.Sports journalist Matt Majendie was welcomed into the inner circle of Nazare's tight community to chronicle their incredible highs and terrifying lows. Follow the endeavours of Britain's leading big-wave surfer, a former plumber from...

'Cast Mates: Australian Actors in Hollywood and at Home' is a group biography of Australian acting giants across the ages.The larger-than-life personalities that form the heart of this book — Errol Flynn, Peter Finch, David Gulpilil and Nicole Kidman — have dominated cinema screens both locally and internationally and starred in some of the biggest films of their eras — including The Adventures of Robin Hood, Network, Crocodile Dundee and Eyes Wide Shut. From the Golden Age of Hollywood in th...

Since 1901, thirty-one different leaders have run the national show. Whether their term was eight days or eighteen years, each prime minister has a story worth sharing.Edmund Barton united the bickering states in a federation. The unlucky Jimmy Scullin took office days before Wall Street crashed into the Great Depression. John Curtin faced the ultimate challenge of wartime leadership. John Gorton, Gough Whitlam and Paul Keating each shook up their parties' policies so vigorously that none las...

Jimmy is a kid growing up fast on the poorest street in small town rural Australia. He tries to do everything right and look out for his alcoholic mum and his disabled younger brother. His older brother is in jail, so it's up to Jimmy to hold things together. And small-town life is unforgiving if you're from the other side of the tracks: But Jimmy soon learns that even when you get things right, everything can still go wrong.In this episode Gregory Dobbs chats to Mark Brandi about his memorie...

For over four decades, world-leading independent medical research organisation the Centenary Institute has been producing breakthroughs in our biggest health challenges – cancer, cardiovascular disease and the many other problems stemming from inflammation. In The Good Gut Anti-Inflammatory Diet, Professor Phil Hansbro explains why inflammation is the fundamental cause of almost all disease, and what you and your gut can do about it.This book outlines the factors causing inflammation, and div...

Twenty-five years after the end of the World War II, ageing British Special Operations Executive Noah Ainsworth is reflecting on the secret agent who saved his life when a mission went wrong during his perilous, exhilarating years in occupied France. He never knew her real name, nor whether she survived the war. Inspired by her father's wartime exploits, Noah's daughter Charlotte begins a search for answers. What follows is the story of Fleur and Chloe, two otherwise ordinary women who in 194...

In 1846, linguistics professor Fabrice Cleriquot is despatched from Lyon to the Swan River Colony, sent away with a box full of silkworms to stop him from bringing more disgrace upon the family. Accompanying him on board the Elizabeth are twenty-eight mismatched and misguided Catholic missionaries including Dom Salvado, who seeks to create a Spanish Benedictine monastery deep in the bush, and the Irish Sisters of Mercy, who are fleeing a dreadful famine. Given the job of distributing a huge d...

Australians love dogs – big dogs, little dogs, fluffy couch potatoes and hardy working dogs. We have one of the highest rates of pet ownership in the world. Australia’s Dogs is a celebration of the dog in Australian life, exploring the human-canine bond, and reflecting on the crucial role played by dogs in our life and work. Learn more about Australia’s home-grown dog breeds that played a central role in the development of pastoral industries, as well as the iconic dingo and its place in Indi...

Bhutan is known as the land of Gross National Happiness, a Buddhist Shangri-la hidden in the Himalayas. But in the late 1980s, Bhutan waged a brutal ethnic-cleansing campaign against its citizens of Nepali ancestry, including Om Dhungel and his family.Bhutan to Blacktown tells Om Dhungel’s remarkable story — his journey from a remote village to a senior position in the Bhutanese Civil Service, to life as a human rights activist in Nepal and, eventually, to his work as a community leader in Bl...

In December 1943, five courageous war correspondents join a British air raid on Berlin. They are Australians, Alf King from the Sydney Morning Herald and Norm Stockton from the Sydney Sun; Americans, Ed Murrow from CBS and Lowell Bennett from the International News Service; and Norwegian journalist and activist, Nordahl Grieg. Each is assigned to one of the 400 Lancaster bombers that fly into the hazardous skies over Germany on a single night. Of the five, only two return to file their storie...

When Kerri Sackville decided to stop filling every idle moment with distraction and learn to be comfortable alone, her quality of life soared. From boosting creativity and productivity, improving self-awareness, building resilience and moral courage, to improving relationships and connection with others, a bit of alone time is vital to wellbeing. But with smart phones, social media, endless streaming and podcast options, as well as the demands of work, family and friends, spending meaningful ...

'The Prize' revisits the 1943 Archibald Prize scandal, when portrait painter William Dobell was temporarily stripped of the prize for his expressionistic portrait of Joshua Smith. The Art Gallery of New South Wales trustees were taken to the Supreme Court of New South Wales by vexatious competitors Mary Edwards and Joseph Wolinski, claiming that the winning painting was a caricature, not a portrait. The fallout from the case was devastating for both Dobell and Smith who had been likely lovers...

Meet Leslie Bird, the irascible matriarch of a big bonkers Bird family, coming-of-age and to the boil, as the secrets and slights that have shaped her and her hapless husband's lives impact their children in the most profound and complex ways.'Things She Would Have Said Herself' is a darkly funny, deeply moving novel that documents the lengths and breadths one woman will go to, to ignore her own and others' pain and what happens when she's confronted by it one sweltering Christmas day.In this...

The islands of Prospera lies in a vast ocean in splendid isolation from the rest of humanity, or whatever remains of it. Citizens enjoy privileged lives dedicated to the highest creative ideals. When their life time is up they are despatched to the mysterious island, The Nursery, to be 'reiterated' as a fresh-faced teenagers. Proctor Bennett is a Ferryman, a specialist enforcer whose job it is to shepherd the soon-to-be 'reiterated' into their next life cycle. But Proctor is experiencing stra...

Meet the Tobin family... Joy is an immigrant who left Ireland with her three children under difficult circumstances. She is a troubled mother who has spent her life running and hiding from her past while trying to raise her children in New Zealand as best she can. Conor, the high-achieving son is a high-profile media figure and CEO. He's walking a fine line between self-promotion and self-detonation. Frances, the 'perfect' middle child - now a wife and mother - is about to make a mistake that...

This is a story about Clare, Louisa and Chris. And sometimes Paul, and less often, Beth. It is about what to do when your husband tells you that he doesn't love you anymore. And what to do when your wife leaves you after too many rounds of IVF. It's about helping your new friend with her funeral catering business, and discovering that, sometimes, the most unlikely of pairings are the very, very best. It is about food that is outrageously good and comforting to sad people.Catering, like life, ...

Kylie Schnabel has a perfectly ordered life - but that's about to be disrupted by one disastrous week. As the eldest child in a single-parent family, Kylie's always had more important things on her mind than smiling for random strangers. Controlling her job, her home, her romantic life and - most importantly - her family takes all her concentration. She's always succeeded, though, because that's just who Kylie is. When her fiercely independent mother breaks an ankle and needs help, it's ...

The Laughter Effect is a timely reminder that we could all do with a little more lightness in our lives. Ros Ben-Moshe shares the science of laughter and the practical ways to include more of it in our days.Drawing on positive psychology and neuroscience, along with practice and wisdom from humour and laughter therapy, Ros Ben-Moshe offers a new dimension to self-care, elevating mindfulness, gratitude and self-compassion. Enriched by case studies from around the globe, Ros shares how the Laug...

Novelist JB Blackwood is on a cruise with her husband, Patrick, to celebrate their wedding anniversary. For days they sail in the sun. They lie about drinking, reading, sleeping, having sex. Patrick is a legendary film director and JB's one-time professor. Much older than JB, Patrick is a maverick film director and a cult figure - a god in the eyes of many. But now his success is waning while JB is on the cusp of winning a major literary prize.When a storm strikes the cruise, the bliss is sha...

In 1914, when the war draws the young men of Britain away to fight, it is the women who must keep the nation running. Two of those women are Peggy and Maude, twin sisters who work in the bindery at Oxford University Press in Jericho. Peggy is intelligent, ambitious and dreams of studying at Oxford University, but for most of her life she has been told her job is to bind the books, not read them. Maude, meanwhile, wants nothing more than what she has.When refugees arrive from the devastated ci...

Tanya Plibersek was elected to federal parliament aged just twenty-eight, and has lived almost half her life in the public eye. She is the longest-serving woman in Australia’s House of Representatives. But how much do we know about what drives her, what she values, and what we can expect from her next?Margaret Simons draws on exclusive interviews with Plibersek, her political contemporaries, family and close friends to trace the personal and political strands of this modern Australian story. ...

Centering on St. Joseph's, a Catholic orphanage in Vermont, Christine Kenneally shares the stories of survivors who have fought to expose the truth and hold the powerful - many of them Catholic priests and nuns - to account. As these stories have come to light, the laws in Vermont have been forced to change, including the statute of limitations on prosecuting them. Christine also exposes the international institutional abuse including those Ireland, the UK and in Australia institutions ...

In June 1926, a posse of police officers and white civilians murdered at least twenty Oombulgurri people at Forrest River in the Kimberley. After the massacre, a conspiracy of silence descended. Witnesses vanished. One of the massacre’s perpetrators was Bernard O’Leary, a former soldier whose land holding was known as ‘the underworld’. At the 1927 Royal Commission into the killings, O’Leary was portrayed by his lawyer as a simple honest backwoodsman who was framed. In this powerful account, K...

Everyone pays a premium to live in Esperance. The wealthy community of Esperance is picture-perfect. Big houses, stunning views, beautiful people. A brand new running track for the local club to jog around in the evenings. From the outside, it looks like paradise. But the women of the town know the truth: you can hide anything - from wrinkles to secrets from your past - if you have enough money. You could even hide a murder.In this episode Gregory Dobbs chats to Ali Lowe about inventing a pla...

The British Navy, the largest in the world, is for the first time in a century under serious threat. World War 1 is imminent. Three very different characters converge to change the course of history.The eminent female archaeologist Gertrude Bell is exploring the ancient treasures of Persia. The charismatic Englishman Jackie Fisher, Admiral of the Fleet, is battling to convince the British Navy to modernise. William D'Arcy, a determined Queensland businessman is in the process of founding the ...

New Delhi, 3 a.m. A speeding Mercedes jumps the kerb, and in the blink of an eye five people are dead. It's a rich man's car, but when the dust settles there is no rich man at all, just a shell-shocked servant who cannot explain the strange series of events that led to this crime. In the shadow of lavish estates, extravagant parties, predatory business deals, and calculated political influence, three lives become dangerously intertwined: Ajay is the watchful servant, born into poverty, who ri...

Chronic pain is a major cause of human suffering. Yet pain that persists for three months or more is often unrelated to any physical injury. So why does it still hurt? Research over the last few decades shows that many of us — sufferers of chronic pain and health practitioners alike — are victims of a trick of the nervous system. Where we believe that pain has its root in a damaged body, it is the brain that prolongs the hurting long after the body has healed.Paul Biegler, a science journalis...

The Australian Autism Handbook is the go-to guide for parents whose children have been diagnosed with an autism spectrum disorder. It is a practical and comprehensive guide to every aspect of raising an ASD child, including early signs and symptoms, getting a diagnosis, the importance of early intervention, and expert advice on finding your way through the medical maze.This new edition book has been completely revised and updated with new chapters on dads and siblings, the teenage years, and ...

The Smash Hits Nick vs The World is the life and times of tennis bad boy Nick Kyrgios. With his unconventional playing style, constant battles with authority, a knack for bad behaviour and an uncontrollable temper, Nick continues to make headlines in sport whether he’s winning or losing.Kyrgios: The Smash Hits celebrates Australia’s ultimate tennis headliner featuring yarns, quotes, interviews and stats on the small-town boy discovering his natural talents at a sport he doesn't really like.In...

Aimee Maguire is about to lose everything because she can’t afford to pay the rent in her Byron Bay alternative book shop. Her engagement is also on an official time-out. Then the arrival of her micro-influencer niece, Freya, sets off a chain of events that ends with Aimee tangled up with a group of influencers-turned-reality TV stars, exposing her to the absolute worst of humanity. There just might be a silver lining somewhere, amid the chaos, but Aimee needs to embrace the one thing she’s b...

A Chinese astronaut is found dead in a NASA training environment in Houston, Texas. No one can explain how he got there. Amid fears of a diplomatic catastrophe, the CIA dispatches Timothy 'Hangman' Blake to investigate a convicted kidnapper who works in the facility. Blake is deeply insane, afflicted by terrible urges he can barely control - but he's also brilliant. A secret Chinese spacecraft may be surveilling the United States, though Blake can see something much more sinister is going on....

In this compelling and comprehensive work, renowned historian Frank Bongiorno presents a social and cultural history of Australia’s political life, from pre-settlement Indigenous systems to the present day.Depicting a parade of dreamers and schemers, Bongiorno surveys moments of political renewal and sheds fresh light on our democratic life. From local pubs and meeting halls to the parliament and cabinet; from pamphleteers and stump orators to party agents and operatives – this enthralling ac...

Growing up Wiradjuri is a collection of personal stories by Wiradjuri Elders. The writers are Uncles and Aunties who came of age in New South Wales in the 1950s and 1960s.In a strong collective voice, they share their stories of the difficulties of marginal life, backbreaking labour and family separation, but also of fond memories of their own Elders, Aunts and Uncles who cared for them and taught them culture. Contributors describe happy memories of family and community life on country, work...

'The Passion of Private White' describes the meeting of two worlds: that of the intensely driven anthropologist Neville White, and the world of hunter-gatherer clans in remote northern Australia with whom he has lived and worked for half a century, mapping their culture and history in breathtaking detail. As White began to understand this ancient culture struggling between the demands of Western modernity and the equally pressing need to preserve their lands, customs, laws and language, he wa...

Tom Keneally is the winner of the 2022 ARA Historical Novel Society's prize for his story 'Corporal Hitler's Pistol'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, bu...

Katrina Nannestad is the winner of the 2022 ARA Historical Novel Society's prize in the Children and Young Adult category for Rabbit, Soldier, Angel, ThiefIt's spring, 1942. In an idyllic Russian village the sky is blue, the air is warm and sweet with the scent of flowers. But it's the height of World War II and the German Army are advancing on the Eastern Front and suddenly an entire Russian village is razed to the ground. Only six-year-old Sasha remains and he is alone in war-torn Rus...

In 'Bear Learns How to be a Rainbow' winter is coming and Bear is feeling sad, lonely and scared. But Bear discovers he can be the sun and as bright as the daylight sky. But what will Bear do when the rainbow disappears and winter arrives?Bear loves eating blueberries and reading. In 'Do Bears Who Eat Blueberries Go Bananas?' Bear reads something that makes him feel worried. This 'sticky thought' follows Bear everywhere but his friend Kookaburra has a plan that will help Bear chase that stick...

In the midst of an unfolding disaster, seven people are trying to survive on a small boat in a world completely transformed by an apocalyptic flood. Haunted by entwined pasts, the characters must voyage from a small town through a world that seems increasingly fantastic. Each will face their past, some will die, and the boat will take some to a miraculous new world but only fifteen-year-old Charlotte will discover that death is not always death.In this episode Gregory Dobbs chats to Allen C J...

As heir apparent to his father’s global media empire, Lachlan Murdoch is one of the world’s most powerful people. Yet despite a life in the spotlight, Lachlan’s personality, politics and business acumen remain enigmatic. In this compelling biography, acclaimed journalist Paddy Manning explores Lachlan Murdoch’s upbringing, political beliefs and role as head of Fox Corporation – the man ultimately responsible for Fox News. This is a book about power, apprenticeship, politics and succession in ...

Allan Reader is one of the last traditional bat-makers and is struggling to keep the family business alive in a small workshop in Melbourne. When gifted young batter Todd Harrow catches Allan's eye, he selects the best piece of willow he's harvested in years to make a Reader bat for him. As Harrow charts a meteoric rise to the highest echelons of the sport, Allan's magical bat takes centre stage, awakening something special in both men. But in cricket, as in life, nothing is guaranteed and wi...

When Stephanie Plum turns up for work at Vinnie's Bail Bonds she finds office manager Connie hasn't shown up for work. Stephanie's worst fears are confirmed when she gets a call from Connie's abductor. He says he will only release Connie in exchange for a mysterious coin that was left as collateral at the Bail Bonds Office. The problem is the coin is nowhere to be found. Stephanie must enlist the help of Grandma Mazur, her best friend Lula, good cop Joe Morelli and hunky security expert Range...

K2 O'Hero is a seemingly ordinary boy from a truly extraordinary family - he and his twin sister Izzabird have been sworn to keep their family's history of magical explorers a secret. Not even their infuriating step-siblings, Theo and Mable, know magic exists. They believe K2 to be the most hopeless person they have ever known.But K2 has a secret gift. He draws maps of worlds that are beyond the wildest of imaginations. Worlds with six hundred moons, burning rivers, armoured robots and dark, ...

Twelve-year-old Billy Pyke has a talent for sorting things out, whether it’s his chaotic family home or the busy book stall at Paddy’s Market. In 1871, the market is the loud, smelly, marvellous heart of Melbourne, and Billy is delighted to work at the book stall there for the eccentric Mr Cole. When his new friend Kezia warns him of a sinister magician called the Obscurosmith, Billy can’t believe her stories of magical deals gone horribly wrong – until he sees them happening. The night the O...

Mia Swainson is an environmental engineer and member of the ACT Climate Council. Happy Planet Living outlines achievable steps for change and the simple everyday things that can make a big difference. Learn how to make your home carbon positive, achieve zero waste living, and get more from reusing and recycling. Try the 'buy nothing new” challenge for a week or a month or even a year. Introduce 'meat free Mondays' and explore delicious and healthy recipes. Discover the joys of 'home-made' and...

In Search of Perfumes is a journey across the world in search of the beautiful, mysterious and exotic materials that go into creating perfume. Fruits, flowers, herbs, spices and tree bark are just some of the ingredients that are responsible for satisfying our insatiable appetite for beautiful fragrances. From labdunum cistis to lavender and the damask rose, from jasmine and vanilla to cedar and sandalwood, this the story of the people and places at the source of the fragrances that so ...

It's the early 2000s and 9/11 is fresh in the world's memory. The Taliban have taken over Afghanistan, and a new threat is emerging: suicide bombings, ordered by military commander of the Taliban, Mullah Dadullah.The Hunt is a powerful retelling of a real-life Special Forces mission to catch Dadullah. Using classified sources and his unique insight into the way the SAS works, Andy McNab gives a page-turning account of what it took for the Special Forces to find their target and take him down....