Cirrus@Austlit

'The true story of an undercover ASIO agent who was hung out to dry in the Cold War.

''I have lost everything in coming here. I have lost my friends... I have probably lost my position; I shall probably have to remove my child from the school and my mother from the house in which she lives. I do not think there is anything else I can possibly lose.'

'Mercia Masson dressed stylishly and loved to host a party. She was a journalist in an era when there were few female journalists, she always wanted to be in the thick of things, and she knew people in very high places. She also led a dangerous double life.

'This is the remarkable story of an ASIO agent who was hung out to dry. She was exposed at a royal commission that was partly intended to undermine public confidence in the ALP and its leader, Doc Evatt. Written in association with her daughter Cindy, this story brings to life a determined woman at the centre of dramatic events in Australian politics during the Cold War.' (Publication summary)

'A charming story of a young woman who faces challenges and finds joy teaching in outback schools

'The year is 1956. Sally Gare is twenty-one. She's just out of teachers' college, and has been sent to work at a two-teacher school more than 3000 kilometres from Perth. With the head teacher away, she starts out alone with a class of forty-five Aboriginal children, ranging in age from five years to twenty-one. Thus begins the career of a remarkable teacher and a life-changing adventure in remote Australia.

Outback Teacher is the story of the challenges and delights of teaching in outback schools in the 1950s and 1960s. Sally's interaction with her students and the local Aboriginal communities is affectionate and heart-warming, although it isn't without its misunderstandings. But the tensions aren't just confined to the school and the local community. Some of the characters with whom Sally shares her less than comfortable housing are as eccentric and as curiously interesting as any escapee to the outback.

'Full of warmth, humour and kindness, this generous book reminds us how bush people have always found their own solutions to the problems isolation throws at them. But most importantly, and in the most personal way, it confirms how inspiring and passionate teachers can change lives.' (Publication summary)

'Ethel Livesey was quite a gal.

'An attractive young woman from a respectable middle-class family in Manchester, she had over 40 aliases, eight official marriages, four children and five divorces. Her story stretches from industrial England to the French Riviera, from Ireland to New York, Shanghai, New Zealand, the Isle of Man and across Australia. Ethel claimed she was a cotton heiress, wartime nurse, casino hostess, stowaway, artist, opera singer, gambler, spy, close friend of the King, air raid warden, charity queen and even wife of Australian test cricketer Jack Fingleton.

'When her career imploded (with the abandonment of her glittering society marriage in post-war Sydney just two hours before the guests were due to arrive), the story of the Amazing Mrs Livesey was blazoned across newspapers around the world. But what was fact and what was fiction?

'With a prologue by Ethel Livesey's granddaughter, this extraordinary and constantly surprising story of the woman who was possibly Australia’s greatest fraudster is told for the first time in rich and fascinating detail. ' (Publication summary)