Australian Memoir

For years Pia Miranda has been stopped in the street by calls of, 'Found you!', forever linked to that character we all loved: Josie from Looking for Alibrandi. But playing Josie is only one small part of everything that has shaped the woman Pia has become. Finding My Bella Vita is a charming, honest and uplifting memoir full of heart and humour that reminds us all of the two things that matter most - love and family. (A good cannoli and some Vegemite toast also rate pretty highly!)

The first book in 25 years from Jerry Seinfeld features his best work across five decades in comedy. Since his first performance at the legendary New York nightclub “Catch a Rising Star” as a 21-year-old student in autumn of 1975, Jerry Seinfeld has written his own material and saved everything. For this book, Jerry Seinfeld has selected his favourite material, organised decade by decade.

It's the holiday where shopping centres become a sea of dazed shoppers bearing checklists as long as your arm, lunch is a never-ending buffet of prawns and ham and your electricity bill is doubly struck by having to run the fan all day and keep those decorative lights blinking through the night. William McInnes, best-selling author of Fatherhood, Worse Things Happen at Sea and A Man's Got to Have a Hobby, tackles the silly season in a way only he can - telling stories brimming with good humour and nostalgia, to remind us what Christmas is all about: family.

All Anthony Callea wanted was to sing. From his first memories of singing for his family, Anthony knew that he wanted to share his voice with the world. He had a strongly held dream but was as surprised as anyone when his breakout moment (his heart-stopping rendition of ‘The Prayer’ on Australian Idol) turned him into a household name overnight. Now, in his own words, Anthony shares the joys and challenges of becoming celebrated for his voice, all while navigating the twists and turns of life.

Robyn's story is one of resilience, overcoming adversity, empowering others and driving positive change. She tells of a childhood dogged by domestic violence; a promising athletics career; 35 years as a professional soldier who helped vulnerable women and children in war zones. Her determination and self-belief saw her complete the grueling Commando selection course and become the first woman in Australia to wear the coveted Green Beret. She faced her mortality - both on the battlefield and also unexpectedly in civilian life. A compelling, brave and inspirational memoir with a message!

Reg Chard endured hell as an 18-year-old Australian soldier who fought in 1942 on the infamous Kokoda Trail in World War II. Ironically, Kokoda rescued Reg decades later when he decided to take his own life. After losing Betty, his wife of 66 years, the grief-stricken great-grandfather lost the will to live. But he found new purpose through educating young people, giving guided tours of Sydney's Kokoda Track Memorial Walkway. On these tours, Reg relives Kokoda every day.

In the long-awaited return to his bestselling true crime series on life behind bars, James Phelps has finally turned his attention to HM Prison Pentridge—the bluestone behemoth that was home to Victoria's worst criminals for more than a century. Beginning with a gang of guards and a handful of convicts, for more than 145 years Pentridge housed a who's who of Australian criminals and Melbourne's underworld including Ned Kelly and Mark 'Chopper' Read. This is gritty true crime storytelling, on steroids—about what life was really like behind the bluestone walls of Pentridge.

In this intimate and insightful audiobook, Melissa Doyle shares the stories of some of the most resilient people she has ever met, gently drawing out their wisdom, empathy and heartfelt practical advice for anyone who’s going through a difficult time. When the world stopped turning in 2020, award-winning journalist Melissa Doyle had already been thrown off course by life. She’d just turned 50, her eldest child had finally left home to study overseas and her 25-year-long career as a popular presenter at Channel 7 had come to an end.

I joined the Navy in 1978 and was discharged in late 2016 after almost 39 years service. I served as a medic and also a Medical Administration Officer during my time. The book contains my memories of an awesome career and covers many subjects from my attendance at car accidents; reviving people who had had heart attacks; working in disaster zones to give humanitarian aid and many other stories.

Neale Daniher sat down to pen a letter to the grandchildren he'll never get to know. And then he kept on writing. In 2013, the AFL legend was diagnosed with Motor Neurone Disease - a cruel and incurable condition. He had a choice. He could spend his remaining time focused on himself, or he could seize the opportunity to make a better future for others. Neale is no stranger to challenge. When All is Said & Done is a book of stories and wisdom from a man who has always held his beliefs to the Bunsen burner of life.

Adam Hills was a quiet primary school kid with a prosthetic foot, who did all his homework and only spoke when spoken to. His dad sparked in him a love of comedy, and together they'd spend hours watching and listening to the greats like Peter Sellers and Mel Brooks. So, when it was Adam's turn to speak, he made sure he was funny.

Kate Ceberano is used to a hush descending as she draws breath to release that magnificent voice but when the whole world quietened in 2020, she found the silence disorientating. Without an audience or long hours of travel with her tribe of musicians, there was time to think. But what does an artist do when they can’t make art? They find a way. With characteristic passion, abundance and joy, Kate liberated her unsung songs.

Una espectácular crónica sobre el ascenso a la cima del tenis mundial de la dupla conocida como el Colombian Power. El sábado 13 de julio de 2019, Robert Farah y Juan Sebastián Cabal se coronaron campeones de Wimbledon —el torneo más antiguo y prestigioso del tenis profesional—, luego de una batalla de titanes que duró casi cinco horas y que los llevó a levantar el trofeo más anhelado por cualquier tenista en el mundo.

There was a place far worse than Changi - Singapore's Outram Road Gaol. Deprivation here was so extreme that there really was a fate worse than death. Stubborn Buggers is the story of 12 Australian POWs who fought and survived the battle for Malaya, then captivity and slave labour, followed by the unimaginable hardships of Outram Road Gaol.

It is a story of how they dealt with the brutality of the Japanese military police, the feared Kempeitai.

The Special Operations Group are Australia's most elite policing unit. They are who we turn to in times of crisis: shoot-outs, armed robberies, terrorism. And when the threat gets explosive, enter the Bomb Response Unit. John 'JT' Taylor has seen it all, from backyard blow-ups to the largest bomb to ever go off in Australia. He became the force's longest serving bomb disposal expert and one of its most distinguished members.

Australia has a unique place in the history of outlaw motorcycle gangs. From the clubs' beginnings in the swinging '60s, their entry into the amphetamine market in the 1970s, through to the 1984 Milperra Massacre that made world headlines, to the Sydney airport brawl between the Hell's Angels and Comancheros and the brutal murder of Anthony Zervas, Outlaw Bikers in Australia tells how these 'one per cent deviants' grew to dominate the recreational drug market and became major players in the international outlaw biker scene.

Dami Im was an aspiring singer-songwriter and pianist when she auditioned on The X Factor in 2013. Mentored by Dannii Minogue, she would go on to win. From that time on, her life changed as audiences discovered her incredible voice and her electric stage presence. One of Australia's greatest musical talents, Dami is a long way from the girl born in Seoul who came to Australia on what she thought was a holiday only to find out, when she started school—not speaking a word of English—that she was here to stay.

Lachlan Macquarie is credited with shaping Australia's destiny, transforming a harsh, foreboding penal colony into an agricultural powerhouse and ultimately a prosperous society. He also helped shape Australia's national character. An egalitarian at heart, Macquarie saw boundless potential in Britain's refuse, and under his rule many former convicts went on to become successful administrators, land owners and businesspeople.

Truths from an Unreliable Witness is a fiercely honest and wryly funny memoir of melancholy, love, marriage, the loss of love and marriage, homelessness, of hotel rooms strewn with empty mini-bar bottles of vodka, of waking from a two-week coma, of putrid drug dens and using a jungle to confront yourself. It is about hitting rock bottom and then realising you are only halfway down. Ultimately, it's about hanging on to your last straw of sanity and finding laughter in the darkest of times. You may want to sit down for this....

This is an audiobook about the indestructability of love. Journalist and author Karina Machado spoke to over 60 Australians with stories of postdeath contact. She shares their life-shattering experiences of loss and shows how their spiritual contact with deceased lovers, friends or family members brought peace, hope and the solace of knowing that their connections live on.