Archive | New Releases

Lynda Holden
In 1970, Lynda was eighteen, unmarried and pregnant when she was forced to give her baby up for adoption. She was sent by a doctor to a Catholic girls’ home for unmarried mothers, and told she’d have no hope of keeping her child because she was Aboriginal.

After twenty-six years, Lynda was finally able to make contact with her lost son – but the much wished for reunion didn’t go well. When she looked into the adoption records, she found a web of lies – lies about her family, the baby’s father, her ‘consent’ for the adoption – and her Indigenous heritage had been completely erased.

So began a quest for justice: Lynda took on the Catholic Church in an attempt to right the wrongs of the past. In this incredibly powerful memoir, she sheds light on the lasting impacts of forced adoption on mothers, children and their families, and gives voice to the countless women who have been silenced for generations.

Rosie Batty
After tragedy, how do we find hope? A memoir about what it takes to get through the very worst of times from Rosie Batty – a singular woman who has experienced tragedy, who had lost all hope, yet now is intent on finding it again. On a warm summer’s evening in February 2014, eleven-year-old Luke Batty was killed by his father at cricket practice. It was a horrific act of family violence that shocked Australia.

The next morning, his mother Rosie bravely stood before the media. Her powerful and gut-wrenching words about family violence galvanised the nation and catapulted her into the spotlight. From that day on, Rosie Batty campaigned tirelessly to protect women and children, winning hearts and minds with her courage and compassion, singlehandedly changing the conversation around domestic violence in this country. Rosie’s remarkable efforts were recognised when she became the 2015 Australian of the Year and a year later she was named one of the World’s Greatest Leaders by Fortune magazine. However, behind Rosie’s steely public resolve and seemingly unbreakable spirit, she was a mum grieving the loss of her adored son.

Sue Willliams
The remarkable true story of a family forced into hiding after leaking Russian secrets. What started out as a great adventure turned into a terrifying nightmare when Nick Stride and his family were forced to flee for their lives from one of the richest, most powerful men in the world.

Nick moved to Russia in 1998 to help build the British Embassy in Moscow, but ended up on the run with his wife and two children after leaking secrets from Vladimir Putin’s one-time deputy. Hiding off grid on Australia’s final frontier – remote beaches on the Dampier Peninsula on the far north Kimberley coast – the family faced crocodiles, sharks, snakes, raging bushfires and the devastating Cyclone Yvette, and survived only by catching fish and crabs and learning how to kill wild animals. It was a life-or-death move, but Nick felt he had no choice. Now, emerging from isolation, the family are finally ready to share their incredible story.

David Cameron
Anzac Day 2024 represents the 73rd anniversary of the critical battle of Kapyong (23 to 25 April 1951) This book for the first time tells the full story of the Australian, Canadian, New Zealand and American units involved. Fewer than 1,000 Australian and Canadian infantrymen, supported by New Zealand artillery and 15 American Sherman tanks fought off an entire Chinese Division of over 12,000 men and contributed significantly to defeating the great Chinese August offensive.

The battle of Kapyong was fought during a heavy downpour in mountainous terrain, with Chinese units infiltrating the Australian lines which extended for seven kilometres. Given the small number of men involved and the long defensive line, several strong points were quickly established. The Australians almost alone, but with support from New Zealand gunners and some American tanks, for the first 24 hours held back the Chinese and were at times surrounded by large numbers of Chinese who launched ongoing human wave attacks against their isolated positions — but the line held with Australians leading bayonet counter charges against the Chinese. Within 24 hours, Canadian troops were committed to the battle and for 12 hours also faced significant attempts by the Chinese to surround their position – they too held their ground.

Andrew Faulkner
Beginning on Gallipoli’s fatal shore, Guts Glory and Blunder follows the Anzacs to the Somme trenches and the race to the Hindenburg Line. This is a story of the 50th Battalion’s uncommon valour in its fiercest battle.

How ordinary men performed superhuman feats despite a flawed plan, ‘friendly’ fire, enemy atrocities—a POW massacre and human shield tactics—and a combat mutiny. How a larrikin private was awarded a Victoria Cross for one of the most audacious stunts in the history of the medal. Guts Glory and Blunder is a story of how the diggers prevailed against all odds.

Anne Manne
A searing expose of institutional child abuse, and the remarkable story of the survivors who would not be silenced. For many years, Newcastle was the centre of an extensive paedophile network run by members of the Anglican church — and protected by parishioners and community members who looked the other way.

In this gripping book, Anne Manne reveals how this network was able to avoid detection for so long, and how its ringleaders were finally exposed and brought to justice. At the centre of the story is a survivor, Steve Smith, who endured years of childhood abuse but refused to be silenced.

Drawing on extensive research and interviews with survivors, clergy, police and others, Manne explores how the network operated and how it became entrenched in the upper echelons of Newcastle society. She offers deep insights into the minds and strategies of abusers, and pays tribute to the victims and their tireless struggle for justice. Child sexual abuse has previously been thought of as an individual crime; Manne pioneers an examination of it as part of a network.

Neil Lancaster
She was taken against her will. On her fifteenth birthday, trafficking victim Affi Smith goes for a run and never returns. With a new identity and secure home in the Scottish Highlands, she was supposed to be safe…

She escaped once.

With personal ties to Affi’s case, DS Max Craigie joins the investigation. When he discovers other trafficking victims have disappeared in exactly the same circumstances, he knows one thing for certain – there’s a leak somewhere within law-enforcement.

She won’t outrun them again.

The clock is ticking… Max must catch Affi’s kidnappers and expose the mole before anyone else goes missing. Even it if means turning suspicions onto his own team…

Lee Child
Reacher takes a stroll through a small Wisconsin town and sees a class ring in a pawn shop window: West Point 2005. A tough year to graduate: Iraq, then Afghanistan. The ring is tiny, for a woman, and it has her initials engraved on the inside. Reacher wonders what unlucky circumstance made her give up something she earned over four hard years. He decides to find out. And find the woman. And return her ring. Why not?

So begins a harrowing journey that takes Reacher through the upper Midwest, from a lowlife bar on the sad side of small town to a dirt-blown crossroads in the middle of nowhere, encountering bikers, cops, crooks, muscle, and a missing persons PI who wears a suit and a tie in the Wyoming wilderness.

The deeper Reacher digs, and the more he learns, the more dangerous the terrain becomes. Turns out the ring was just a small link in a far darker chain. Powerful forces are guarding a vast criminal enterprise. Some lines should never be crossed. But then, neither should Reacher.

Lee Child
March 1997. A woman has her throat cut behind a bar in Carter Crossing, Mississippi. Just down the road is a big army base. Is the murderer a local guy – or is he a soldier? Jack Reacher, still a major in the military police, is sent in undercover. The county sheriff is a former US Marine – and a stunningly beautiful woman. Her investigation is going nowhere. Is the Pentagon stonewalling her? Or doesn’t she really want to find the killer?

The adrenaline-pumping, high-voltage action in The Affair is set just six months before the opening of Killing Floor, and it marks a turning point in Reacher’s career. If he does what the army wants, will he be able to live with himself? And if he doesn’t, will the army be able to live with him?

Is this his last case in uniform?