AustLit

'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)