The Haunting of Alma Fielding: A True Ghost Story by Kate Summerscale

$29.99 AUD

Category: Biography

'A page-turner with the authority of history' PHILIPPA GREGORY'As gripping as a novel. An engaging, unsettling, deeply satisfying read' SARAH WATERSLondon, 1938. Alma Fielding, an ordinary young woman, begins to experience supernatural events in her suburban home. Nandor Fodor - a Jewish-Hungarian refug ee and chief ghost hunter for the International Institute for Psychical research - begins to investigate. In doing so he discovers a different and darker type of haunting: trauma, alienation, loss - and the foreshadowing of a nation's worst fears. As the spectre of Fascism lengthens over Europe, and as Fodor's obsession with the case deepens, Alma becomes ever more disturbed. With rigour, daring and insight, the award-winning pioneer of historical narrative non-fiction Kate Summerscale shadows Fodor's enquiry, delving into long-hidden archives to find the human story behind a very modern haunting.   ...Show more

The Year of Magical Thinking by Joan Didion

$19.99 AUD

Category: Biography | Reading Level: very good

Didion's journalistic skills are displayed as never before in this story of a year in her life that began with her daughter in a medically induced coma and her husband unexpectedly dead due to a heart attack. This powerful and moving work is Didion's "attempt to make sense of the weeks and then months t hat cut loose any fixed idea I ever had about death, about illness, about marriage and children and memory, about the shallowness of sanity, about life itself." With vulnerability and passion, Joan Didion explores an intensely personal yet universal experience of love and loss. The Year Of Magical Thinking will speak directly to anyone who has ever loved a husband, wife, or child. ...Show more

Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl (70th Anniversary Edition) by Anne Frank

$19.99 AUD

Category: Biography | Reading Level: very good

Anne Franks The Diary of a Young Girl is not just a true story but also a piece of history. Written by Anne Frank for herself, at the age of 13, the diary contains candid and intimate details of Annes thoughts and feelings during the two years of the Second World War she and her family and friends staye d hidden. Anne and her family were eventually arrested and sent to the concentration camps,but her diary remains a testament of youthful experiences in times of war. ...Show more

Beyond the Secret Garden: A Biography of Frances Hodgson Burnett by Ann Thwaite

$24.99 AUD

Category: Biography

Most people have heard of Little Lord Fauntleroy, and of The Secret Garden. Yet few people realize that the same woman wrote both books, 25 years apart, and was considered, along with Henry James, one of the leading writers in America on the strength of the adult novels which made her name in the 1870s and 1880s. Frances Hodgson Burnett's favourite theme in fiction was the reversal of fortune, and she herself knew extremes of poverty and wealth. Born in Manchester in 1849, she emigrated with her family to Tennessee at the close of the Civil War. On the surface, her life was extremely successful. She played the roles of Famous Writer and Fairy Godmother with enthusiasm, but happiness eluded her. She was always waiting for the party, but it went on in other rooms. ...Show more

Some Days - A Tale of Friendship, Cancer and Margherita: a Memoir: a Memoir by Lucy Moffatt; Nicola Matthews (Cover Design by); Ashleigh Meikle (Editor); Jennifer Leslie (Prepared for Publication by)

$20.00 AUD

Category: Biography

Stories of Hope: Finding Inspiration in Everyday Lives by Heather Morris

$29.99 AUD

Category: Biography

Heather Morris, author of the internationally bestselling novels The Tattooist of Auschwitz and Cilka's Journey, grew up on a farm in rural New Zealand. On her way back across the paddocks from school, Heather would visit her great-grandfather and listen to his experiences of war - stories he told only Heather. From a young age Heather discovered that people would tell her their stories if she stopped and listened. In Stories of Hope, Heather Morris will explore the art of listening - a skill she employed when she met Lale Sokolov, the Tattooist of Auschwitz. It was her ability to listen that led him to entrust her with his story. Stories of Hope will examine Heather's extraordinary journey, in the form of a series of beautifully rendered tales of the people she has met, the remarkable stories they have shared with her, and the lessons they hold for us all.   ...Show more

Guiding Lights: The Extraordinary Lives of Lighthouse Women by Shona Riddell

$39.99 AUD

Category: Biography

Women have a long history of keeping the lights burning, from tending ancient altar flames or bonfires to modern-day lighthouse keeping. Yet most of their stories are little-known. Guiding Lights includes stories from around the world, such as the dramatic torching of Puysegur Point, one of New Zealand 's most inhospitable lighthouses; the two caretakers living alone on Tasmania's wild Maatsuyker Island; the female keeper in charge of Cape Beale on Canada's Vancouver Island (the station receives visits from bears, cougars and wolves); several 'haunted' lighthouses in various US states with tragic tales; the despotic keeper on Clipperton Island, a tiny atoll far off the coast of Mexico; lighthouse accidents and emergencies around the world; and two of the world's most legendary lighthouse women: Ida Lewis (US) and Grace Darling (UK), who risked their lives to save others. The book also explores our dual perception of lighthouses: are they comforting and romantic beacons symbolising hope and trust, or storm-lashed and forbidding towers with echoes of lonely, mad keepers? Whatever our perception, stories of women's courage and dedication in minding the lights -- then and now -- continue to capture the public's imagination and inspire us. ...Show more

Three Brilliant Careers by Ross Davies

$29.95 AUD

Category: Biography

Three Brilliant Careers reveals the previously untold story of celebrated author Miles Franklin and two lifelong Australian friends, Nell Malone and Kath Ussher, who met in Chicago in 1914 and reunited a year later in war-torn London. Despite facing enormous risks, the women subsequently travelled to th e Balkans with the Scottish Women's Hospitals and served in frontline medical units attached to the French and Serbian Armies. After the war, Miles settled in London, Kath in Hollywood and Nell in Paris, but maintained their friendship through regular correspondence. All three achieved distinction in their chosen fields, although not without encountering significant obstacles in their path. Bridging four decades across several continents, Three Brilliant Careers follows the remarkable lives of the friends, and explores their crossed destinies to tell an inspirational story of Australia's early feminists. ...Show more

Rembrandt: Great Lives in Graphic Form by Sophie Collins

$19.99 AUD

Category: Biography | Series: Biographic

The Biographic series presents an entirely new way of looking at the lives of the world's greatest thinkers and creatives. It takes the 50 defining facts, dates, thoughts, habits and achievements of each subject, and uses infographics to convey all of them in vivid snapshots. Many people know that Rembr andt Harmenszoon van Rijn (1606-1669) was a Dutch painter and etcher, a master of light and shadow who is regarded as one of the greatest of all portrait artists. What, perhaps, they don't know is that he taught over 50 apprentices; that he produced over 2,000 artworks, of which 120 were self-portraits; and that, after buying one of the finest houses in Amsterdam, he ran up so many debts that he was forced to sell his wife's grave. Biographic: Rembrandt presents an instant portrait of his life and work, with an array of irresistible facts and figures converted into infographics to reveal the artist behind the pictures. ...Show more

The Story of Beatrix Potter by Sarah Gristwood

$35.00 AUD

Category: Biography | Series: National Trust History & Heritage

To this day, Beatrix Potter's tales delight children and grown-ups around the world. But few people realise how extraordinary her own story is. She was a woman of contradictions. A sheltered Victorian daughter who grew into an astute modern businesswoman. A talented artist who became a scientific expert . A famous author who gave it all up to become a farmer. Bestselling biographer Sarah Gristwood follows the twists and turns of Beatrix Potter's life and its key turning points - including her tragically brief first engagement and happy second marriage late in life. She traces the creation of Beatrix's most famous characters - including the naughty Peter Rabbit, confused Jemima Puddleduck and cheeky Squirrel Nutkin - revealing how she drew on her unusual childhood pets and locations in her beloved Lake District. She explores too Beatrix's role as a pioneering conservationist, whose work with the National Trust helped to save thousands of acres of the Lake District - a legacy that, like her books, continues to enrich our lives today. Main text: 30,000 words. Approx 3,000 words for captions and index. ...Show more

Biographic The Beatles - Great Lives in Graphic Form by Viv Coot

$19.99 AUD

Category: Biography | Series: Biographic Ser.

Most people know that The Beatles (1960-1970) were the most famous pop group of all time, who were at the heart of 1960s counterculture and whose songs transformed the music world. What, perhaps, they don't know is that they have spent more than 1,300 weeks, or 25 years, on the Billboard chart; that the artwork for Sgt. Pepper cost 60 times that of a normal album at the time; that their first live U.S. television performance was watched by 34 per cent of the population; and that they were the first band to include all the song lyrics in their album artwork. Biographic: The Beatles presents an instant impression of their life, work and legacy, with an array of irresistible facts and figures converted into infographics to reveal the musicians behind the music. ...Show more

Shakespeare by Joseph Piercy

$19.99 AUD

Category: Biography