Item category 2: Newmarket - Life Stories

After ten years in New Zealand, Joe Bennett asked himself what the hell he was doing there. Other than his dogs, what was it about these two small islands on the edge of the world that had kept him - an otherwise restless traveller - for really much longer than they seemed to deserve? It wasn't t...

Amy had a happy childhood until the death of her mother when she was 10. Her father became an abusive alcoholic and she was quickly abandoned by him, given money so she would leave the house and leave him alone. And disappear she did, to drug dens, with the tragic consequence that she became addi...

Raised in Alabama, she sent shockwaves through the South when she launched a public broadside against Jim Crow and donated to the NAACP. She used her fame to oppose American intervention in WWI. She spoke out against Hitler the month he took power in 1933 and embraced the anti-fascist cause durin...

When the Taliban were at the height of their power in 2001, Abbas Nazari's parents were faced with a choice: stay and face persecution in their homeland, or seek security for their young children elsewhere. The family's desperate search for safety took them on a harrowing journey from the mountai...

"When Richard Gosling's young daughter faced emergency surgery, a colleague carelessly asked what would happen if she died. In that moment, Richard was forced to picture his own daughter's funeral, and the people who are there to help families after the worst has happened. Aged 40, Richard left h...

Crafted from original interviews, American Heroes tells the vivid, authentic stories of the veterans who gave themselves - and even their lives - serving in overseas conflict from World War Two to Korea, Vietnam, Iraq and Afghanistan. Outnumbered, under pressure and under fire, these men and wome...

The first woman to ascend to the most powerful legislative role in our nation, passing laws that save lives and livelihoods, tells the story of her transformation from housewife to House Speaker, becoming a prophetic voice on the major moral issues of the day who's not afraid of a good fight.

For centuries, works of art have been stolen in countless ways from all over the world, but no one has been quite as successful at it as the master thief Stéphane Breitwieser. Carrying out more than two hundred heists over nearly ten years -- in museums and cathedrals all over Europe -- Breitwies...

For decades, the Kennedy name has been synonymous with wealth, power, and -- above all else -- integrity. But this carefully-constructed veneer hides a dark truth: the Kennedy men's legacy of physical and psychological abuse of women, part of a tradition of toxic masculinity that spans generation...

At the Edge of Empire is a dual narrative that tells the story of modern China by braiding an intergenerational family memoir with first-person contemporary reporting by the former New York Times Beijing bureau chief.

"Michael and Mary Shelley are Christian fanatics who loathe their fellow Australians – especially their 'reckless indulgence of alcohol and obsession with idiotic ball sports'.Lenore and Tom Blaine are working-class Queensland publicans raising a large family in a raucous, loving, sports-obsessed...

Ina Garten, the author of thirteen cookbooks, beloved Food Network personality, Instagram sensation, and the cultural icon whose face has launched a thousand memes, shares her personal story with readers hungry for a seat at her table.

The true story of one of Australia's top cops. Nick Kaldas is a cop's cop. From investigating war criminals to taking down global drug operations, Kaldas has seen the worst humanity can offer. But he's also seen which human qualities can lead to greatness.

I've had many amazing adventures in my life. Some stories, though, I have only ever shared with my friends... Until now!' Dame Joan Collins has always believed one should retain some mystery in life, and hide a knowing smile behind one's shoulder pads. In her new book, she returns in dazzling for...

The glittering story of April Ashley, model and trans pioneer, and the divorce case which gripped 1960s Britain and defined transgender rights for a generation.

The story of a family in modern China with a history of deceit, betrayal and political intrigue, and the communist party's long shadow over them, from the Cultural Revolution to today. Following the lives of military intelligence officer Jie and his wife Moon, The Book of Secrets weaves recently ...

Eddie Betts grew up in Port Lincoln and Kalgoorlie, in environments where the destructive legacies of colonialism - racism, police targeting of Aboriginal people, drug and alcohol misuse, family violence - were sadly normalised. His childhood was defined by family closeness as well as family stri...

A dedicated doctor. A devastating diagnosis. A chance for a medical revolution. Skin cancer is this country's most common cancer, and melanoma the deadliest form of it. Richard Scolyer, together with his colleagues at Melanoma Institute Australia, has dedicated years to groundbreaking research an...

In his inspirational memoir, Jack Riewoldt reveals all about his remarkable AFL career and how a positive attitude helped him overcome his toughest moments on and off the field. After booting two goals to help the Richmond Tigers secure a drought-breaking premiership win over Adelaide in 2017, Ja...

An extraordinary family memoir from acclaimed newsreader and journalist, Mishal Husain, uncovering the story of her grandparents' lives amidst empire, political upheaval and partition. 'I witnessed the dwindling glow of the British Empire. I saw small men entrusted with great jobs, playing with t...

This book distills war down to individual young men climbing into defenseless gliders made of plywood, ready to trust the towing aircraft that would pull them into enemy territory by a single cable wrapped with a telephone wire. Based on their after-action reports, journals, oral histories, photo...

In this intimate and open account - nothing like any rock-and-roll memoir you've ever read - Alex Van Halen shares his personal story of family, friendship, music and brotherly love in a remarkable tribute to his beloved brother and band-mate. In his rough yet sweet voice, Alex recounts the broth...

Kate Middleton's life's story seems like a modern-day fairy-tale: an attractive, clever, and ambitious girl from unexceptional beginnings meets and falls in love with a wealthy prince destined to be King when they are both university undergraduates. Now, with the British monarchy in transition, C...

Investigative tech reporters, Kate Conger and Ryan Mac, tell for the first time the full and shocking inside story of Elon Musk's unprecedented hostile takeover of Twitter and the forty-four-billion-dollar deal's seismic political and financial fallout.

From New York Times columnist, Pulitzer Prize winner, and bestselling author Nicholas D. Kristof, an intimate and gripping memoir about a life in journalism.

The extraordinary life of Cher can be told by only one person... Cher herself. After more than seventy years of fighting to live her life on her own terms, Cher finally reveals her true story in intimate detail, in a two-part memoir. Her remarkable career is unique and unparalleled. The only woma...

Jay Malkoun is streetfighter from Melbourne's roughest suburb who rubs shoulders with movie stars and opera singers. Convicted drug trafficker and champion horse breeder. Survivor of the Melbourne underworld wars, and ten years in Australia's most brutal prison. Nightclub enforcer and peacemaker....

A witty, winning, and revelatory personal narrative of the author's transition from sightedness to blindness and his quest to learn all he can about blindness as a distinct and rich culture all its own.

Gregory Berns is a leading neuroscientist who has extensively studied dogs and how they think. But when he and his wife bought a small farm in rural Georgia and populated it with a handful of cows they couldn't imagine how their lives would be transformed. As he gets to know his herd, Berns' affe...

At seventeen, Anna Broinowski is precocious, naive and convinced she knows how the world works. But O-Week at Sydney University changes that. She's suddenly in a hyper-masculine caste system, where future captains of industry terrorise freshers and invade dorms in naked, screaming packs. Nothing ...