Cirrus@Austlit

'From the bestselling author of Elizabeth & Elizabeth and That Bligh Girl, comes another fascinating story of female friendship, betrayal and triumphs based on historical events.

'When future governor Philip Gidley King sailed with the First Fleet to the new colony, he had his pick of the convict women to look after him.

'Two years, and two sons, later, he set out back to England to provide a report on Sydney and its newly tamed Norfolk Island, as his mistress Ann Inet begged him to return to her and their children.

'After a year and a half he did - but bringing with him a shocking secret that would cut her to the core, and forevermore change all their lives.

'This is the story of tangled love affairs, female friendship, twisted loyalties, betrayals, hardship, male infidelity, and the tragedies and triumphs of life in a new land.'  (Publication summary)

'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.' (Publication summary)

'Sue Williams examines the role played by the feisty Mary Bligh during the Rum Rebellion When three hundred armed soldiers of the Rum Rebellion marched on Government House to depose Governor William Bligh on January 26, 1808, the man himself was nowhere to be seen.' (Introduction)

'A fascinating story of Governor Bligh's trouble-making daughter, Mary, a powerful and determined woman from the bestselling author of Elizabeth and Elizabeth.

'Superb narration and engrossing drama.' Tom Keneally

'Mary Bligh is no shrinking violet. After an horrific six-month sea voyage from Britain, she proves as strong-willed as her bloody-minded father, the newly appointed Governor William Bligh. The pair immediately scandalise Sydney with their personalities, his politics and her pantaloons.

'When three hundred armed soldiers of the Rum Rebellion march on Government House to depose him, the governor is nowhere to be see. Instead, Mary stands defiantly at the gates, fighting them back with just her parasol.

'Despite being bullied, belittled and betrayed, Mary remains steadfast, even when her desperate father double-crosses her yet again in his last-ditch attempt to cling onto power. But will Mary turn out to be her father's daughter and deceive him in pursuit of her own dreams and ambitions?

'Sue Williams returns to the untold stories of the women of colonial Sydney with another fascinating, meticulously researched historical novel.'(Publication summary)

'The remarkable story of Professor Fiona Wood, AM, one of Australia's most innovative and respected surgeons and world leading burns specialist whose ground-breaking research and technology development has changed the lives of burn patients.

'When three bombs tore out the heart of Bali and decimated so many Australian lives in 2002, burns surgeon Professor Fiona Wood led her team to save twenty-eight survivors with up to ninety-two per cent body burns.

'A pioneer in the field of burns and reconstructive surgery, she made world headlines with the use of her ground-breaking invention of 'spray-on skin' to help minimise her patients' horrific scars.

'Fiona was later made Australian of the Year, was voted Australia's Most Trusted Person for an unprecedented six years' running in the annual Reader's Digest poll and has been acclaimed as an 'Australian Living Treasure'.

'This is now the story of her extraordinary life, from the daughter of a fifth-generation coal-mining family in the north of England to becoming one of Australia's most innovative, respected and dedicated surgeons and researchers. She talks candidly of the moving valour of her burns patients, the heartbreak, the triumph, the tears and the controversies that have stalked her stellar career.

'As co-founder of the Fiona Wood Foundation, she conducts vital research into all aspects of the survival of burns victims, with findings and breakthroughs that have had an impact on treatment around the globe., while she is also director of the Burns Service of Western Australia, a consultant plastic surgeon at Fiona Stanley Hospital and Perth Children's Hospital and Winthrop professor in the School of Surgery at The University of Western Australia.

'Remarkably she has achieved all of this while raising six children.

'In Under Her Skin, Sue Williams, a best-selling author and award-winning journalist who has written a number of best-selling biographies, most notably about Father Chris Riley, Father Bob Maguire, and Dr Catherine Hamlin, presents a searingly honest, no-holds-barred account of all aspects of Fiona Wood's remarkable life.'  (Publication summary)

'The story of how two women, who should have been bitter foes, combined their courage and wisdom to wield extraordinary power and influence behind the scenes of the fledgling colony.

'There was a moment in Australia's European history when two women wielded extraordinary power and influence behind the scenes of the fledgling colony.

'One was Elizabeth Macquarie, the wife of the new governor Lachlan Macquarie, nudging him towards social reform and magnificent buildings and town planning. The other was Elizabeth Macarthur, the wife of John Macarthur, a dangerous enemy of the establishment, who is herself credited with creating Australia's wool industry.

'These women should, in normal circumstances, have been bitter foes. But this novel explores what happens when two women of vision and courage are thrown together in impossible times.' (Publication summary)

'Two incredible women, an unlikely friendship, and a united mission to save the lives of some of the world's poorest and most desperate women.

'Healing Lives reveals the untold tale of Mamitu Gashe, Dr Catherine Hamlin's protégée, and the inspiring almost 60-year friendship between the two women.

'In 1962, three years after Drs Catherine and Reg Hamlin arrived in Ethiopia, an illiterate peasant girl sought their aid. Mamitu Gashe was close to death and horrifically injured during childbirth after an arranged marriage - at the age of just fourteen to a man she'd never met - in a remote mountain village.

'The Hamlins' Addis Ababa Fistula Hospital saved her and, in return, Mamitu dedicated her life to Catherine's mission. Under the iconic doctor's guidance, Mamitu went from mopping floors and comforting her fellow patients, to becoming one of the most acclaimed fistula surgeons in the world, despite never having had a day's schooling.

'This is the moving story of the friendship that saved the lives of over 60,000 of the poorest women on earth.'

Source : publisher's blurb

'Alyssa Azar is unstoppable. When she was just eight years old, she walked the gruelling Kokoda Track, the youngest person in the world to do so. At twelve she climbed the ten highest peaks in Australia. Two years later she touched the top of Mount Kilimanjaro. Now, at the age of nineteen, she has reached the roof of the world: the summit of Mount Everest.

'The Girl Who Climbed Everest is the inspiring story of how an ordinary girl from country Queensland worked towards ascending the world's highest peak. Through passion, determination and immense hard work, and despite being turned back twice - once by a deadly avalanche and the second time by a devastating earthquake that nearly claimed her life - Alyssa is the youngest Australian to have achieved this extraordinary feat. She shares the thrills and heartbreaking disappointments on the road to reaching her goal, and explains how she finds the courage and motivation to keep going in the face of overwhelming danger and adversity. Above all, Alyssa's story shows us that we can achieve anything if we dare to dream big. ' (Publication summary)

'Fred Brophy is a legend - he's one of my favourite real Australians.' John Williamson Son of a sideshow operator and a trapeze artist, Fred Brophy grew up on the road, travelling the length and breadth of Australia. He did time in jail as a teenager before touring his own boxing tent at a time when the tradition was alive and well. With plenty of hardship, adventure, hilarity, tragedy and even a romance, Fred's story is one of living on the smell of an oily rag and staying resourceful to keep his young family together and give his kids the education he didn't have. This is both a snapshot of a fast-disappearing Australia and an inspiring tale of pulling yourself up by the bootstraps. A big-hearted, no-nonsense man who doesn't waste words, Fred uses his tent boxing - the last of its kind on the world - to both entertain and to help troubled youth and battlers. He was awarded an OAM in 2010 for services to charity, boxing and entertainment.' (Source: TROVE)

Samantha Barlow's life changed the day she was brutally attacked on the way to work in Sydney's notorious Kings Cross. The popular, confident young police sergeant was left for dead, dragging herself to a lonely bus stop, desperate to stay alive for her two young children.

'Following the success of Women of the Outback, we now meet another set of amazing women, and hear their incredible stories. Outback Heroines tells some of the best yarns: some touching, some triumphant, but all compelling and tremendously inspiring.

'Tragedy, tears, triumph and laughter . . . Australia's women of the land have seen, battled and overcome it all. They're all extraordinary women, experiencing extraordinary hardships and meeting extraordinary challenges to survive and thrive in an extraordinary part of Australia.

'Across the harsh, dusty, drought-riven, fire-ravaged outback, women fight against the odds every day . . . and often emerge even stronger. ' (Publisher's blurb)

'This is the life story of Father Bob Maguire - a rare behind-the-scenes look at the much-loved 'people's priest'. The enigmatic champion of the down-and-out was shaped by a lonely childhood in poor circumstances, an early priesthood that collided with the upheaval of Vatican 11 and working with the army during the Vietnam War. This is a lively portrait of the man behind the resilient social activist and popular media performer who refuses to be defeated by enforced retirement from the parish over which he presided for nearly forty years.' (Publisher's blurb)