Author Archive | admin

Jeremy Burfoot
Buckle up for some turbulence because nothing flies under the radar for Captain Jeremy Burfoot. With more than 35 years of airline experience, the former Qantas pilot presents an Airbus-load of stories about unruly passengers and cockpit clashes, and expertly navigates the bizarre myths surrounding everyday air travel.

He explains important details like why plane wings actually bend, which in-flight surfaces carry the most germs and how to make plane food taste better.

Jam-packed with hilarity, horror stories and honest insights, The Secret Life of Flying is part memoir and part guide to the skies – a razor-sharp and First Class read for anyone who has ever wondered who’s really flying the plane …

Todd Alexander
In The Worst House on the Worst Street, Todd chronicles their journey from optimistic home buyers to self-taught, weary home renovators. Beginning with humble rental refreshes, they’ve tackled and transformed collapsing apartments, damp-infested terrace houses, acres of overgrown vineyards and off-the-grid homesteads – with a growing tally of injuries, floods and menacing neighbours thrown in.

But nothing could have prepared them for the very worst a small-town, dilapidated fibro shack on the wrong side of the tracks. Asbestos, mould, rotting timber, vermin, crumbling walls, shoddy repairs, holes in the roof, floors and windows . . . This house has it all. Amid Covid-19, near-bankruptcy and multiple DIY-related hospital visits, Todd and Jeff put their hard-won knowledge to the test. Jeff brings his dogged determination, obsessive quest for perfection and super-human DIY skills, while Todd brings a sense of humour to his roles of Jeff’s labourer, painter, shopper, cleaner and site health and safety manager.

Part inspiration and larger part cautionary tale, Todd Alexander’s The Worst House on the Worst Street will help any home renovator keep laughing along the way. It’s a comedy, a book of how-to (and what-not-to) and a bloody good yarn for anyone who’s survived a renovation or those who don’t even intend to lift a finger.

Miriam Margolyes
Oh Miriam! has been such a constant refrain in my life, said in all kinds of tones – laughs, surprised gasps and orgasmic sighs (I’m hoping for all of those from you as you read on!) – that it had to be the title of this book. And with a cast list that stretches from Churchill to DiCaprio, Dahl to Dietrich, Princess Margaret to Maggie Smith, I’ve so much more to tell you and so much more to say.

My chapters range from ‘How to Stay Married’ to ‘Don’t Let the Bastards Get You Down’. Discover how to break the thickest conversational ice; why swearing is actually good for you (though not on the Today programme); the unexpected things I learned at school and what my Spice Girl name would be. Not to mention my Tale of the Unexpected and my very own Vagina Monologue.

Buckle up and join me on another unforgettable adventure, but this time through my heart and head . . .

Linwood Barclay
How would you react in a life-or-death situation? It’s a question everyone asks themselves, but few have to face in real life. English teacher Richard Boyle certainly never thought he would find himself talking down a former student intent on harming others, but when Mark LeDrew shows up at Richard’s school with a bomb strapped to his chest, Richard immediately jumps into action. Thanks to some quick thinking, he averts a major tragedy and is hailed as a hero, but not all the attention focused on him is positive.

Richard’s brief moment in the spotlight puts him in the sights of a deranged blackmailer with a score to settle. The situation rapidly spirals out of control, drawing Richard into a fraught web of salacious accusations and deadly secrets. As he tries to uncover the truth he discovers that there’s something deeply wrong in the town—something that ties together Mark, the blackmailer, and a gang of ruthless drug dealers, and Richard has landed smack in the middle of it. He’s desperate to find a way out, but everyone in his life seems to be hiding something, and trusting the wrong person could cost him everything he loves.

What price will he pay for one good deed?

Darry Fraser
1894, Echuca, Victoria
Tess Hawthorn is a woman on the run from her abusive husband. All she has to do is get on the riverboat Victor and she will be free. But with tensions at an all-time high between unionist shearers and Scabs, Tess isn’t the only person trying to board a boat under the cover of night. When a brawl erupts between the union and non-union men, Tess is mistaken for a fellow Scab and in the chaos pulled aboard the PS Rodney – the same boat heading up the Darling River that her husband was bound for.

The last person Bram Kempster expects to see on board is Tess Hawthorn, the girl he’s loved from afar since they were young. But he can’t afford to get distracted, not when he’s on an urgent trip to Renmark. Tess didn’t want him back then and, if her haughty behaviour is anything to go by, she certainly doesn’t want him now.

But childhood hurts are the least of their problems. The continent is a tinderbox of violence and bloodshed waiting to ignite, and at home the Murray River is rising fast. Can they overcome their past in time to work together and survive?