Australian Memoir

Samah Sabawi shares the story of her parents and many like them who were born as their parents were being forced to leave their homelands. Filled with love for land, history, peoples it is more than anything else a family story and a love story told with enormous humanity and feeling. How the...

The extraordinary true story of journalist Cheng Lei whose life was abruptly transformed when she was detained in China on false charges of espionage. Journalist Cheng Lei spent more than three gruelling years in a Beijing prison after being wrongly accused of espionage. Harrowing, fierce and...

Andrew Hamilton thought he had life sorted: beautiful fiancée, a popular pizza restaurant, two beloved dogs and a thriving side business supplying massive quantities of magic mushrooms and LSD to eager Sydneysiders. Then one night police raided his Surry Hills home and it all came crashing down. Andrew's predicament didn't sink in at first, mainly because he was on a three-day cocaine bender and just wanted to sleep it off. When he was transferred to Parklea Correctional Centre, his prison-inspired existential dilemma began.

SOON TO BE A TV MINISERIES ON PARAMOUNT+ WINNER OF THE DANGER PRIZE 2018 John Ibrahim's incredible life story told in his own words. Last King of the Cross lays bare Australia's most notorious underworld figure. In the mongrel tongue of the streets, John writes of fleeing war-torn Tripoli with...

With over 55,000 disappearances annually in Australia, each story is a heart-wrenching account of unanswered questions and shattered lives. The narrative spans decades, from the 1980s to present-day mysteries, including the puzzling case of a gentle Greenpeace worker vanishing amidst inner-city Melbourne, the suspicious disappearance of a 21-year-old, and the grim discovery of scattered remains in Queensland, unravelling a harrowing tale of violence and tragedy. And then there is the perplexing case of a man who went missing over and over again.

‘Stop screaming, I'm scared too!' is not what you'd expect to see on the back of a loadmaster's helmet in a Chinook helicopter flying over southern Afghanistan, but for Rod Henderson it sums up his 22 years of service as a soldier in the Australian Army. This is not the story of a general or a Special Forces hero. It is the extraordinary memoir of a regular Australian soldier. Like so many others who have served their country with honour and distinction, the little-known stories of ordinary soldiers deserve to be told.

In 2002, twenty-one-year-old Taekwondo champion Kim Dalton was living her dream of becoming an Australian champion and running a Taekwondo school with Rob. But by early 2003, a persistent pain in her side turned out to be a rare and aggressive cancer called adrenocortical carcinoma. Kim called the tumor “Fred the Freak.” Life changed forever, and the real fight had just begun. In this very personal Australian story, Kim takes you on her journey through the maze of doctors, specialists, scans, and operations.

Host of Mamamia’s No Filter Kate Langbroek tells all in this deliciously funny and inspiring memoir about moving to Italy with her family to seek la dolce vita. Now including new bonus content: Kate's recipe for happiness – oh, and a recipe for the perfect Ragu alla Bolognese! ‘A wonderful...

Keith Banks was a member of the Queensland Police Force when not everyone with a badge could be trusted. After serving as an undercover cop and declining an opportunity to participate in a lucrative and totally corrupt enterprise, Keith found himself sidelined from the drug squad. In 1984, he was transferred to the Taringa Criminal Investigation Branch as a detective senior constable. That had its moments, but he wanted more. He missed the adrenaline charge of his days as an undercover cop.

Chef and restaurateur Ben Shewry knows obsession well. Whether it's crispy-edged lasagne, saltwater crocodile ribs or the perfect potato, obsession is what motivates him and what makes him tick. It's also what has propelled his Melbourne restaurant Attica into the league of the most innovative, acclaimed dining experiences in the world, and one of the most vital in Australian history.

Havoc-06 is the call sign of former Australian Combat Controller Troy Knight. As a Royal Australian Air Force Airfield Defence Guard, Troy had not found the military adventure he sought: combat operations. His thirst for overseas deployment saw him privately contract his services in Iraq and South East Asia, but when he got whiff that the Australian Defence Force was raising a new defence capability, he couldn’t help but want to be part of it.

What does a young footballer do to cut loose? At night, some play what they think of as pranks or games: night games with women. Sometimes these involve consensual sex, sometimes not, and often the lines are blurred. In Night Games, Anna Krien follows the rape trial of an Australian Rules footballer. She also takes a balanced and fearless look at the dark side of footy culture - the world of Sam Newman, Ricky Nixon, Matty Johns and the Croa Sharks.

The meteoric rise of motorsports phenom Oscar Piastri has been the stuff of legends - so far. Three years and a record-breaking three straight titles across Formula Renault, Formula 3 and Formula 2 set up one of the most anticipated F1 rookie seasons ever when the 21-year-old Melburnian joined...

Hooked on the limitless profits of the drug trade, organised crime has grown so powerful that it now poses a major threat to Australia's national security. Clive Small and Tom Gilling show how Australian crime gangs, in partnership with violent international syndicates, have exploited lax law enforcement and corruption on the nation's waterfront to import narcotics on a vast scale from Europe, Asia, Africa and South America.

THE ONLY TRUE STORY BEHIND THE CREATOR OF MARY POPPINS The remarkable life of P.L. Travers, the creator of Mary Poppins—perfect for fans of the movie Mary Poppins Returns and the original Disney classic! “An arresting life…Lawson is superb at excavating the details.” —Library Journal...

In 1999, Larry McMurtry, whose wanderlust had been previously restricted to the roads of America, set off for a trip to the paradise of Tahiti and the South Sea Islands in an old-fashioned tub of a cruise boat, at a time when his mother was slipping toward a paradise of her own. Opening up to...

Mary Fowler is already a global football superstar with the Matildas, but there's so much more to the person behind the headlines and highlight-reel goals. Bloom is a mix of deeply personal experiences that have shaped Mary, behind-the-scenes insights from the Matildas' World Cup run...

Always Greener is an exquisite portrait of Kate Grenville's complex, conflicted grandmother, who she feared as a child and only in adulthood came to understand. Born in rural Australia, Dolly Russell becomes a successful businessperson, mother and troubled wife. Then came the depression, bankruptcy and World War I. Yet, in a way, those disasters freed her. They allowed her to use her intelligence and ambition to make a space for herself in a man’s world.

You'll have heard a few of these stories before, but not like this. It's a step-by-step history of my twenty-three years behind bars; what day to day life was really like in jail, what I did to survive and why I'll never go back. It's not a nice story.

The story of eight courageous women who had the courage and strength for which the Anzacs are renowned and the compassion and tenderness that only a woman can bring. One brave nursing sister, Hilda Samsing, became a whistle blower. Nursing aboard the hospital ship Gascon, outraged by the bungled evacuation of wounded Anzacs which was censored out of the press, she let her diary be shown in high places, which raised questions in the House of Commons.