AustLit

From the battlefields of Korea, Malaya and Vietnam to the struggle for veterans' welfare, Keith Payne has never shied away from a fight. More than 50 years ago, this bravery saw him receive the Commonwealth's highest military honour - the Victoria Cross.

Keith grew up one of thirteen children in the shadow of the Great Depression and the Second World War. After seeing his father come home wounded from war, Keith joined the army. He was sent to fight in Korea at just 18 years old, the bloody beginning to decades of military service across the world.

Keith's life was defined by one night in 1969. In the dark jungle of Vietnam, under heavy enemy fire, Keith returned to a fled battlefield to rescue 40 of his soldiers. For his extreme act of bravery in leading his men to safety, Keith became the last Australian to earn the VC for 40 years.

Keith spent decades in the public spotlight while struggling with his own demons, then found new purpose as an advocate for others. In a lifetime of service, he has helped not only veterans of foreign wars, but also Indigenous diggers and communities left behind by civilian and military bureaucracy.

No One Left Behind tells, for the first time in his words, of Keith Payne's remarkable life. His definitive autobiography reveals the story of a big-hearted, iconic Australian and the heart and heartaches of a man who continues to fight for his mates.

Featuring a Foreword by Mark Donaldson VC.

Source : publisher's blurb

'A world where self-expression is illegal. A world where survival is everything. A girl who will be heard.

'The story begins . . .

'Seventeen-year-old Teddy lives in the walled-in city Metropolis. Radical laws condemn all forms of self-expression and creativity, and the lives of the people are carefully constructed and controlled by the City Council.

'When Teddy finds out the truth behind one of the City's biggest lies, she slips out into the darkness after curfew.

'She is captured and held prisoner in an old bomb shelter that lies beneath the City. Here, Teddy discovers that there is a world beneath the Metropolis, a world where a growing web of clans are fighting to keep their humanity alive, and waiting for someone to lead them back up into the light.'

Source : publisher's blurb

'Danger, passion and bravery in nineteenth-century Australia, Europe and onto the battlefield of Kandahar.

'As the son of 'the Colonial', legendary Queen's Captain Ian Steele, Josiah Steele has big shoes to fill. Although his home in the colony of New South Wales is a world away, he dreams of one day travelling to England so he can study to be a commissioned officer in the Scottish Regiment.

'After cutting his teeth in business on the rough and ready goldfields of Far North Queensland's Palmer River, he finally realises his dream and travels to England, where he is accepted into the Sandhurst military academy. While in London he makes surprising new acquaintances - and runs into a few old ones he'd rather have left behind.

'From the Australian bush to the glittering palaces of London, from the arid lands of Afghanistan to the newly established Germany dominated by Prussian ideas of militarism, Josiah Steele must now forge his own path.'

Source : publisher's blurb

'Anika Molesworth fell in love with her family's farm, a sheep station near Broken Hill, at an early age. She formed a bond with the land as though it were a member of her family. When the Millennium Drought hit, though, bringing with it heatwaves and duststorms, the future she'd always imagined for herself began to seem impossible.

'As she learned more about the causes of - and the solutions to - the extreme weather that was killing her land and her livelihood, Anika became fired up and determined to speak out. Talking to farmers and food producers all around the world, she soon realised that there was a way forward that could be both practical and sustainable - if only we can build up the courage to take it.

'Beautifully written and full of hope, Our Sunburnt Country shows that there is a way to protect our land, our food and our future, and it is within our grasp.' (Publication summary)

''I am from a family of strong women.'

'Amani Haydar suffered the unimaginable when she lost her mother in a brutal act of domestic violence perpetrated by her father. Five months pregnant at the time, her own perception of how she wanted to mother (and how she had mothered) was shaped by this devastating murder.

'After her mother's death, Amani began reassessing everything she knew of her parents' relationship. They had been so unhappy for so long - should she have known that it would end like this? A lawyer by profession, she also saw the holes in the justice system for addressing and combating emotional abuse and coercive control.

'Amani also had to reckon with the weight of familial and cultural context. Her parents were brought together in an arranged marriage, her mother thirteen years her father's junior. Her grandmother was brutally killed in the 2006 war in Lebanon, adding complex layers of intergenerational trauma.

'Writing with grace and beauty, Amani has drawn from this a story of female resilience and the role of motherhood in the home and in the world. In The Mother Wound, she uses her own strength to help other survivors find their voices.' (Publication summary)

'Life is not going to plan for failed fashion designer Lizzie March, until she finds herself pregnant to super-hot bad boy Jake Wheeler.

'Convinced that he's The One, all she has to do is make him realise that she is The One for him!

'But is it possible she's been looking for love in all the wrong places? Maybe everything she has ever wanted is right under her very own stilettos.' (Publication summary)

'Mark Wales thought his life would end in a cornfield in Afghanistan.

'Mark and his SAS troops emerged from that scorched battlefield twelve hours later, his mentor gunned down, his dream career now a nightmare. Over four deployments of intense warfighting, Mark watched the line between right and wrong become blurred. When he left the SAS he was adrift, crippled by guilt.

'On a mission to rebuild himself, Mark turned his life around. He fought his way into the gates of a US Ivy League business school and into the boardrooms of top-tier international corporations. He spent years navigating failure in a quest to find new meaning in life. With every setback Mark counterattacked, discovering the tactics and tools needed to become more resilient, and to find happiness, belonging and purpose.

'Told with gripping suspense, humour and touching warmth, Survivor is Mark's extraordinary life in and out of the SAS, a story of resilience and a testament to the power of transformation.' (Publication summary)

'There's an algorithm for everything else, so why not love?

'When 24-year-old lawyer Romy learns that she is at her 'optimal stopping point' (the mathematically designated point at which one should select the next 'best person' who comes along in order to have the best chance at happily ever after), she knows it's time to get serious about her love life.

'Ruthlessly rational, with a belief in data over destiny, Romy knows that reliability and consistency are dependable options, while passion and lust are transitory and only bring pain and disillusionment.

'That's why sensible Hans the engineer is the right choice, as opposed to graphic designer James who exhibits the kind of behaviour that has got her into trouble before. Isn't he?' (Publication summary)

'Life can be beautiful if you make it beautiful. It is up to you. Eddie Jaku always considered himself a German first, a Jew second. He was proud of his country. But all of that changed on 9 November 1938, when he was beaten, arrested and taken to a concentration camp. Over the next seven years, Eddie faced unimaginable horrors every day, first in Buchenwald, then in Auschwitz, then on the Nazi death march. He lost family, friends, his country. Because he survived, Eddie made the vow to smile every day. He pays tribute to those who were lost by telling his story, sharing his wisdom and living his best possible life. He now believes he is the 'happiest man on earth'. Published as Eddie turns 100, this is a powerful, heartbreaking and ultimately hopeful memoir of how happiness can be found even in the darkest of 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

'A special sequel to The Tournament from Australia's favourite novelist and the author of both the Scarecrow and Jack West Jr series.

'When her life is threatened by an anonymous assassin, the newly crowned Queen Elizabeth I knows there is only one man she can trust to find the killer before he strikes: her unorthodox childhood tutor and mentor, Roger Ascham.'

Source : publisher's blurb

'A special prequel to The Two Lost Mountains from Australia's favourite novelist and the author of both the Jack West Jr and Scarecrow series.

'When a satellite hunter intercepts a top-secret transmission from the Moon, his old friend Jack West Jr is his only hope...'

Source : publication summary

'Schapelle Corby walked out of Kerobokan Prison in 2014, leaving behind a dark hellhole of violence, corruption and squalor, and straight into a global media circus. 

'She had been Hotel K's most famous inmate.

'Schapelle was a 27-year-old beauty-school student when, in 2004, Bali customs officers found 4.2 kilograms of marijuana in her boogie-board bag. She was convicted of a crime she still vehemently denies committing.

'She spent ten years in Hotel K, where she survived unimaginable horrors, corrupt guards, degrading conditions and abuse at the hands of other prisoners, but also, amazingly, found the love of her life - a love that still burns strong.

'In this revised and updated edition of My Story, first published in 2006, Schapelle describes her descent into madness and finding her way back, the chaos of her release, the trials of surviving outside on parole and, eventually, her dramatic return to Australia, all the while hounded mercilessly by the media.'

Source: Publisher's blurb.

'It is 1857. Colonial India is a simmering volcano of nationalism about to erupt. Army surgeon Peter Campbell and his wife Alice, in India on their honeymoon, have no idea that they are about to be swept up in the chaos.

'Ian Steele, known to all as Captain Samuel Forbes, is fighting for Queen and country in Persia. A world away, the real Samuel Forbes is planning to return to London - with potentially disastrous consequences for Samuel and Ian both.

'Then Ian is posted to India, but not before a brief return to England and a reunion with the woman he loves. In India he renews his friendship with Peter Campbell, and discovers that Alice has taken on a most unlikely role. Together they face the enemy and the terrible deprivations and savagery of war - and then Ian receives news from London that crushes all his hopes...'

Source: Publisher's blurb.

'A warm-hearted novel from the author of Walking on Trampolines about music, grief, relationships, gardens, love, laughter and family.

'Florence Saint Claire is a loner. Albert Flowers is a social butterfly. Good friends who think they know each other.

'But, somewhere between who they are, and who people think they are, lies The Best Kind of Beautiful.'

Source: Publisher's blurb.

'Grace has the perfect life: a job she loves, a beautiful daughter and a rich, successful husband. But one night, when their world falls apart in a shocking disaster, Grace suddenly sees what she couldn't admit - her marriage and her husband are a fraud.

'With the life she knew in tatters, she takes an assignment promoting the launch of a unique luxury hotel, hidden in a stunning, untouched oasis in the heart of tourist-crazed Bali.

'Here, in this last paradise, Grace gathers the strength to take charge of her world. And, inspired by a woman's story from long ago, she discovers a path to a future she'd never dared to imagine . . .'

Source: Publisher's blurb.

'Eighteen-year-old Liobhan is a powerful singer and an expert whistle player. Her brother has a voice to melt the hardest heart, and is a rare talent on the harp. They are both training for the elite warrior band on Swan Island when they are asked to join a mission that requires posing as travelling minstrels.

'Their task is to find and retrieve a precious harp, an ancient symbol of kingship, which has mysteriously vanished. If the instrument is not played at the upcoming coronation, the candidate will not be accepted. Faced with plotting courtiers, secretive druids, an insightful storyteller and a boorish Crown Prince, Liobhan soon realises an Otherworld power may be meddling in the affairs of the kingdom. When ambition clashes with conscience, Liobhan must make a bold decision and a heartbreaking choice ...'

Source: Publisher's blurb.

'After many tumultuous years spent grappling with the past, Jenny Hooper might have expected her latter years to be the best of her life, and they are - until tragedy strikes. Left floundering in a house full of memories, not all of them good, Jenny knows a reckoning is in order.

But it won't be easy. History is beginning to repeat itself for Jenny's adopted daughter, Trudy, who finds herself trapped in an abusive relationship. Jenny and her older daughter, Georgie, can only stand by and watch as Trudy's life implodes.

Meanwhile, half a world away in the UK, Cara and her husband Morrie nurture a devastating secret that keeps them at arm's length from Jenny.

But most of all, Jenny wants to renew contact with the beloved son she lost decades before when she was at her lowest ebb. Only that, and having the chance to tell him the truth about what happened, will give her peace. But is it too late?'

Source: Publisher's blurb.

'The Suez Canal, 1956. The world teeters on the brink of nuclear war and the Middle East is a tinderbox.

Conversely, redeemed archaeologist Benedict Hitchens is enjoying a peaceful existence after years in the professional and personal wilderness. His recent discoveries in western Turkey secured him a place in history and the smart thing to do would be to ignore his growing fear that Britain, France and Israel's imminent invasion of Egypt to liberate the Suez Canal is only a diversion. Ben suspects the truth is that malevolent forces are in search of an ancient treasure hidden deep in the Sinai Desert.

Ben's natural inclination towards self-sabotage is never far below the surface. When a ghost from his past reappears, he puts everything on the line to find answers from the woman who betrayed him and have revenge on the man who tried to destroy him.

Forced to face his personal demons, Ben enters the race to unearth a secret that will, in the wrong hands, mean the annihilation of humankind.'

Source: Publisher's blurb.