Online Library Catalogue

Gold Fever tells the story of the heady days following the discovery of gold in Australia. When, in 1851, the focus of the world suddenly turned to the hills, gullies and swirling creeks of New South Wales and Victoria as 'new chums' from all over the world rushed to be rich. This beautifully detailed work includes a narrative that captures the colourful characters and wittily observed sketches of everyday goldfields life. Never out of print since first published in 2001, now updated and in a new format. Geoff Hocking is an author, designer, artist and lecturer. He is the author of many books on Australian history, including Wild Colonial Boys and Under the Southern Cross. He lives in the Victoria's Castlemaine, part of Victoria's golden triangle.

Tuesday, 1 January. Another year, and I still don't like old people. Their Zimmer-frame shuffle, their endless complaints, their tea and biscuits, their bellyaching. Me? I'm eighty-three . . .'Meet Hendrik Groen. An octogenarian in a care home who has no intention of doing what he's told, or dying quietly. To that end, he creates the Old-But-Not-Dead Club and with his fellow members sets about living his final years with careless abandon. Such anarchism infuriates the care home director but pleases Eefje, the woman who makes Hendrik's frail heart palpitate. If it's never too late to have fun, then can it ever be too late to meet the love of your life?

On the windswept, fossil-strewn beaches of the English coast, poor and uneducated Mary Anning learns that she has a unique gift: "the eye" to spot fossils no one else can see. When she uncovers an unusual fossilized skeleton in the cliffs near her home, she sets the religious community on edge, the townspeople to gossip, and the scientific world alight. After enduring bitter cold, thunderstorms, and landslips, her challenges only grow when she falls in love with an impossible man. Mary soon finds an unlikely champion in prickly Elizabeth Philpot, a middle-class spinster who shares her passion for scouring the beaches. Their relationship strikes a delicate balance between fierce loyalty, mutual appreciation, and barely suppressed envy, but ultimately turns out to be their greatest asset. Remarkable Creatures is a stunning historical novel that follows the story of two extraordinary 19th century fossil hunters who changed the scientific world forever.

Poppy Wyatt has never felt luckier. She is about to marry her ideal man, Magnus Tavish, but in one afternoon her "happily ever after" begins to fall apart. Not only has she lost her engagement ring in a hotel fire drill but in the panic that follows, her phone is stolen. As she paces shakily around the lobby, she spots an abandoned phone in a trash can. Finders keepers! Now she can leave a number for the hotel to contact her when they find her ring. Perfect! Well, perfect except that the phone's owner, businessman Sam Roxton, doesn't agree. He wants his phone back and doesn't appreciate Poppy reading his messages and wading into his personal life. What ensues is a hilarious and unpredictable turn of events as Poppy and Sam increasingly upend each other's lives through emails and text messages. As Poppy juggles wedding preparations, mysterious phone calls, and hiding her left hand from Magnus and his parents, she soon realizes that she is in for the biggest surprise of her life.

A novel about three women. Cassie is successful, single and 40, and is worried that life is passing her by; Susan is married and unhappy, more worried about her mother than who her husband is sleeping with; and Anthea, 44, has joined a dating agency to find someone to father her child.

Shasa closed his mouth slowly. The very foundations of his political beliefs and principles were shaken, and the walls cracked through. They had led him up into a high place and shown him the prize that was his for the taking. The future of a country. The end of a family. Shasa Courtney, heir to the Courtney fortunes, dreams only of uniting his divided, beloved country. Against all his principles, he allows his half-brother Manfred to persuade him to join South Africa's right-wing National Party, hoping to moderate from within their dangerous policies of apartheid. But Shasa's wife is working against everything he's working for, while Manfred has deadly secrets he cannot afford to be revealed, either to his family or the public who are on the brink of war. In the terrible struggle for the future of South Africa, the Courtney family will be torn apart - and many will have to pay a terrible price...

On a bird-watching trip aboard the Jessie Ellen, George Palmer-Jones and the other avid crew members achieve every bird-watcher's dream when they sight a sea bird which has never before been recorded. In the subsequent excitement, however, no one notices the sudden absence of the most fanatical birder of them all...Later, Greg Franks' corpse, the head bludgeoned, is found floating in the sea. Had it not been for Greg Franks, amateur detective George Palmer-Jones would not have been on the trip in the first place. He had been hired by Greg Franks' anxious parents to try and persuade their errant son to return home. Now, he must unhappily shoulder the burden of finding why the young man had been murdered...

Historical novel on the corruption of innocence, using the famous painting by Vermeer as an inspiration. Griet, the young daughter of a tilemaker in seventeeth century Holland, obtains her first job, as a servant in Vermeer's household.

'Winter' takes us into a large and complex family drama. It looks at the lives of two German brothers - both born close upon the turn of the 20th century, both so caught up in the currents of history that their story is one with the story of their country, from the Kaiser's heyday through Hitler's rise and fall.

In a Japan still rigid with tradition, an apprehensive 15-year-old tea-house girl prepares to welcome her first client. In his gleaming white uniform, Lieutenant Pinkerton walks up the hill to a house in Nagasaki to find the female he has purchased for a few weeks. When he sails away, she waits, aching for his return. It is one of the world's great love stories. And, as the curtain falls on Madame Butterfly, Cho-Cho hands over her son to his American father, before killing herself. In a daring imaginative leap, Lee Langley takes this moment as a springboard, sending Puccini's characters into a future undreamed of in the original.

Literature professor Rose Asher can't shake the feeling: Robin Weiss, a talented and ambitious student at her New York City college, definitely reminds her of Bruno Brunelli, the man Rose came to love years ago during a semester in the Italian countryside. But soon Robin dies under mysterious circumstances and in a farewell letter directs his teacher to a library archive in Florence. Returning to the rustic Italian villa where she first met Bruno, Rose finds herself enmeshed in a web of secrets and scandal: a folio containing what some believe are lost sonnets by Shakespeare has mysteriously vanished. Uncertain whom she can trust and where she can turn, Rose races against time and her enemies in a desperate bid to retrieve a missing masterpiece--a work of art with the power to change lives and fortunes.

For years, Jack Ryan, Jr. and his colleagues at the Campus have waged an unofficial and highly effective campaign against the terrorists who threaten Western civilization. The most dangerous of these is the Emir. This sadistic killer has masterminded the most vicious attacks on the West and has eluded capture by the world's law enforcement agencies. Now the Campus is on his trail.

Revenge is a dish best served warm... High-flying public relations supremo Agatha Raisin has decided to take early retirement. She's off to make a new life in a picture-perfect Cotswold village. To make friends, she enters the local quiche-making competition - and to make quite sure of first prize she secretly pays a visit to a London deli. Alas, the competition judge succumbs after tasting her perfect quiche, and Agatha is revealed as a cheat and potential poisoner. Definitely not the best start. So Agatha must turn amateur sleuth - she's absolutely got to track down the real killer!

Cairo 1909, the murder capital of the world. But the death of an effendi? Effendis- the Egyptian elite - are important. When Tvardovsky, an effendi and a foreigner, is shot at a gathering of financiers, Gareth Owen, the Mamur Zapt, Chief of Cairo's Secret Police, is called in to investigate. But is he the right man for the job? And there are powerful people who might have preferred Tvardovsky dead.

The Midsomer Worthy's Writer's Circle is has never had much luck in attracting guest speakers. Consequently, there is much surprise (and, in the case of the Circle's secretary, Gerald Hadleigh, a furious, inexplicable objection) when bestselling novelist Max Jennings accepts their invitation. Surprise turns into a variety of responses when Hadleigh is found dead the morning after Jennings' visitation. Chief Inspector Barnaby, called in to investigate, soon determines that the key to solving the murder lies with Jennings, who has subsequently disappeared.

When beautiful young women kiss you on the cheek you know you're over the hill, but I didn't really feel like that. As Wesley said, I still had the moves.' Cliff Hardy may still have the moves but he's in trouble. The economy's tanking and he's been conned by an unscrupulous financial advisor and lost everything he's got. Cliff only knows one way, and that's forward, so he's following the money trail. It's a twisted road that leads him down deep into Sydney's underbelly, into the territory of big money, bent deals, big yachts and bad people. Cliff's in greater danger than ever before, but he's as tenacious as a dog with a bone.

Rebecca, Daniel, Alex and Isabel have been best friends since university. Rebecca married Daniel, Alex married Isabel and for 20 years they have been inseparable. But all that is about to change. When Alex walks out on Isabel, Rebecca thinks things can't get any worse. But then she finds out the reason why and she's left harbouring a secret she'd rather forget. Rebecca's once-happy foursome is now a distant memory, and with hearts broken and friendships fractured, it seems that change can never be a good thing. Or can it.

Every legend has a beginning. During 1974 and 1975 the IRA subjected London to a terrifying bombing campaign. In one day alone, they planted seven bombs at locations across central London. Some were defused, some were not. Jane Tennison is now a fully-fledged detective. On the way to court one morning, Jane passes through Covent Garden Underground station and is caught up in a bomb blast that leaves several people dead, and many horribly injured. Jane is a key witness, but is adamant that she can't identify the bomber. When a photograph appears in the newspapers, showing Jane assisting the injured at the scene, it puts her and her family at risk from IRA retaliation. Good Friday is the eagerly awaited date of the annual formal CID dinner, due to take place at St Ermin's Hotel. Hundreds of detectives and their wives will be there. It's the perfect target. As Jane arrives for the evening, she realises that she recognises the parking attendant as the bomber from Covent Garden. Can she convince her senior officers in time, or will another bomb destroy London's entire detective force?

Corinna Chapman, talented baker and reluctant investigator, is trying to do nothing at all on her holidays. Her gorgeous Daniel is only intermittently at her side. Jason, her baking offsider, has gone off to learn how to surf. And Kylie and Goss are fulfilling their lives' ambition auditioning for a soapie. It should be a time of quiet reflection for Corinna but she's bored. Scenting a whiff of danger, Corinna accepts an offer to do the baking for the film set of a new soap called 'Kiss the Bride' where Kylie and Goss have parts. Things that could only happen to Corinna ensue involving, bizarrely, nursery rhymes and a tiger called Tabitha. While on the other side of town, a young woman is being unmercifully bullied by her corporate employers, employers who spend a lot of time cooking the books.

The murder of a young woman; a cryptic "seventeenth-century" love poem; and a photograph of a mystery grey-haired man. More than enough to set Chief Inspector E. Morse on the trail of a killer. And it's a trail that leads him to Lonsdale College, where the contest between Julian Storrs and Dr Denis Cornford for the coveted position of Master is hotting up. But then Morse faces a greater, far more personal crisis.

Afghanistan, 2009. A Rifle section is halfway throught their six-month tour of duty in Helmand Province. Sixteen men from their Battalion have already been killed. Forty-seven others have been wounded and flown back home. Despite the hardships four young men are on their way to becoming the best soldiers in the Army.

Lady Sophia Sydney would do anything to ensnare the unattainable Sir Ross Cannon. Her goal is to ruin his reputation and cause a scandal that would be the talk of all London. So she insinuates herself into his life by gaining his trust and living in his house. She knows he is falling more in love with her each day. But she never counted on falling in love with him. And she never dreamed he might very respectably ask for her hand in marriage.

All London is at Julia Wentworth's feet. The beautiful, enchanting actress is the toast of the theater world, and anything she desires is hers for the asking. But the incomparable leading lady guards a devastating secret: a mystery husband whom she does not know, dares not mention and cannot love. For years Damon Savage has been searching for the stranger his unscrupulous parents wed him to without his consent. Wanting no more than to be legally rid of the foolish chit, Damon is shocked to discover his "bride" is the exquisite stage performer whom he intended to make his mistress! But though his wife by law, Julia will never truly be Damon's, until he conquers her fears, his formidable rivals, and the stellar lady's proud, independent heart.

High summer in Helmand Province, Afghanistan. Two young soldiers, Milo and Zac, are on a mission which could really make their names. Their special duties team is to ambush and capture a notorious Taliban leader. The operation has been meticulously planned and set up. But suddenly - all is chaos. The hunters are now the hunted. To reach safety they must make their way through fifty kilometres of hostile territory, with a Taliban captive and a young, frightened woman in tow. Perilous at every turn, the journey is the biggest test any of them has ever faced, and it will change their lives forever.

1929: Girls are going missing in Melbourne. Little, pretty golden-haired girls. And not just pretty. Three of them are pregnant, poor girls from the harsh confines of the Magdalene Laundry. People are getting nervous. Polly Kettle, a pushy, self-important Girl Reporter with ambition and no sense of self-preservation, decides to investigate - and promptly goes missing herself. It's time for Phryne and Dot to put a stop to this and find Polly Kettle before something quite irreparable happens to all of them. It's all piracy and dark cellars, convents and plots, murder and mystery... and Phryne finally finds out if it's true that blondes have more fun.

An explosive saga of world powers locked in conflict against an enemy from the stars.The magnificent epic has now expanded into the volatile 1960's, when the space race is in its infancy and humanity must face its greatest challenge: alien colonisation of planet Earth. Yet even in the shadow of this inexorable foe, the United States, the Soviet Union, and Nazi Germany are unable to relinquish their hostilities and unite against a massive new wave of extraterrestrials. For all the countries of the world, this is the greatest threat of all. This time, the terrible price of defeat will be the conquest of our world, and perhaps the extinction of the human race itself.

Photographer Jo Ellen Hathaway thought she had placed her painful family memories behind her. Nearly twenty years have passed since her mother's disappearance when she receives shocking photos of her unclothed and dead. To find the answers she seeks, Jo must return to the island home run by the family from which she is estranged.

Amy Curran and Barney Patterson believed their marriage was made in heaven, but war separated them for five long years, and when Barney returned to Liverpool after VE Day he wasn't the same person - neither was Amy. How could things become so twisted that Amy would kill her adored husband -- and what happened to their little girl, Pearl, just five years old? In 1971 Amy is released from prison and tentatively begins to rebuild her relationship with Pearl, but she is keeping a terrible secret she hopes never to share with her daughter, which has already wrecked more than one life.

Highflying army career women Sergeant Amy Callan and Lieutenant Caroline Cook are both victims of sexual harassment by their superiors. And now they're both dead. Jack Reacher, former US military cop, is a smart guy, a loner and a drifter. He knew both the victims. For FBI Agent-in-Charge Nelson Blake he's the perfect match. He's sure only Reacher has the answers to their burning questions: how did these women die? And why?

Deaf since early childhood, Caleb Zelic is used to meeting life head-on. But now his best mate is dead, his ex-wife, Kat, is avoiding him and nightmares haunt him. But when a young woman is killed, after pleading for his help in sign language, Caleb is determined to find out who she was. And when the trail leads him back to his hometown, he uncovers secrets that could threaten any chance of reuniting with Kat and his life.

Caleb Zelic, profoundly deaf since early childhood, has always lived on the outside - watching, picking up telltale signs people hide in a smile, a cough, a kiss. When a childhood friend is murdered, a sense of guilt and a determination to prove his own innocence sends Caleb on a hunt for the killer. But he can't do it alone. Caleb and his troubled friend Frankie, an ex-cop, start with one clue: Scott, the last word the murder victim texted to Caleb. But Scott is always one step ahead.

It is 1892 and the grisly killings of Whitechapel prostitutes by a man dubbed Jack the Ripper remain a frightening enigma. And in a packed Old Bailey courtroom, distinguished soldier John Adinett is sentenced to hang for the inexplicable murder of his friend, Martin Fetters. Though Thomas Pitt should receive praise for providing key testimony in the Fetters investigation, Adinett has powerful friends...

When two bombs explode in an East London street, Thomas Pitt of the Special Branch is called in to investigate. Two men are arrested and one shot dead - but who and where is the killer? As Pitt starts to investigate the crime, he uncovers truths more disturbing than the acts of a few misguided idealists. There's a web of corruption within the police force, and alll the clues point to Inspector Wetron of Bow Street as its mastermind. Worse still, as head of the sinister, invisible Inner Circle, Wetron has powerful allies in every sphere, and it's almost impossible to pin his guilt to him. Then Pitt's most deadly enemy approaches him with the proposal that they join forces. Pitt feels he has no option and in spite of the danger to himself, his family and his colleagues, he must agree...

Eighteenth Dynasty Egypt is peaceful and prosperous under the dual rule of the Pharaohs Amenhotep III and IV, until the younger Pharaoh begins to dream new and terrifying dreams. Ptah-hotep, a young peasant boy studying to be a scribe, wants to live a simple life in a Nile hut with his lover Kheperren and their dog Wolf. But Amenhotep IV appoints him as Great Royal Scribe. Surrounded by bitterly envious rivals and enemies, how long will Ptah-hotep survive? The child-princess Mutnodjme sees her beautiful sister Nefertiti married off to the impotent young Amenhotep. But Nefertiti must bear royal children, so the ladies of the court devise a shocking plan. Kheperren, meanwhile, serves as scribe to the daring teenage General Horemheb. But while the Pharaoh?s shrinking army guards the Land of the Nile from enemies on every border, a far greater menace impends. For, not content with his own devotion to one god alone, the newly-renamed Akhnaten plans to suppress the worship of all other gods in the Black Land. His horrified court soon realize that the Pharaoh is not merely deformed, but irretrievably mad; and that the biggest danger to the Empire is in the royal palace itself.

Corinna Chapman, owner of Earthly Delights, detests Christmas. She's dreaming of quiet, air-conditioned comfort but instead finds herself dealing with a rose-loving donkey named Serena, a maniacal mother with staring eyes, and the luscious Daniel with whom she'd like to spend a lot more time. But Daniel is on the hunt to find two young runaways, Brigid and Manny, and when Corinna and Daniel find that Brigid is on the streets, heavily pregnant and in danger, the stakes rise. With the help of a troupe of free-spirited freegans, Corinna and Daniel go head-to-head with a sinister religious cult on a mission and a band of Romany gypsies out for revenge in a wild and wonderful chase against the clock.

The Hogswatchnight yuletide season is disrupted by the evil deeds of the Auditors, who replace the red-suited Hogfather with a scythe-bearing demon, prompting the Unseen University wizards and their monster-bashing nanny to launch a rescue plan.

It's not unusual for spies to have secrets, but Henry Hunter has more than most, and after he is stopped by British Intelligence at Croydon airport on the eve of the Second World War, he finds that he has even more. From Switzerland he embarks on a series of increasingly perilous missions into Nazi Germany, all while having to cope with different identities and competing spymasters. In March 1941 in Berlin, haunted by a dark episode from his past, he makes a fateful decision, resulting in a dramatic journey to the Swiss frontier with a shocking outcome. The Swiss Spy is set against the real-life backdrop of the top secret Nazi plans to invade the Soviet Union. The story paints an authentic picture of life inside wartime Europe: the menacing atmosphere, the ever-present danger, and the constant intrigue of the world of espionage.

Seeking revenge against the uncle who had murdered his father, young Prince Alexander sets out for Camelot to seek justice, only to run afoul of the bewitching Morgan LeFay, and joins forces with Alice, a beautiful pilgrim.

France, July 1944: a month after the Allied landings in Normandy and the liberation of Europe is under way. In the Pas-de-Calais, Nathalie Mercier, a young British Special Operations executive secret agent working with the French Resistance, disappears. In London, her husband, Owen Quinn, an officer with Royal Navy Intelligence, discovers the truth about her role in the Allies' sophisticated deception at the heart of D-Day. Appalled but determined, Owen sets off on a perilous hunt through France in search of his wife. With the help of the Resistance he finds Nathalie, but then the bitterness of war and its insatiable appetite for revenge catch up with them in dramatic fashion. Based on real events of the Second World War, The Best of Our Spies is a thrilling tale of international intrigue, love, deception, and espionage.

Even if she hadn’t married Tony Blair, Cherie’s story would have been amazing. Abandoned by her actor father, she overcame obstacles to become one of the UK’s most successful barristers. But when Labour took power in 1997, she faced new challenges: her husband was the first Prime Minister in recent history with a young family, and Cherie was the first PM’s wife with a serious career. Now, she gives a complete account of her own life–an astonishing journey for a woman whose unconventional childhood was full of drama and who grew up with a fierce sense of justice. In her autobiography she reveals for the first time what it was like to combine life as a working mother with life married to the Prime Minister. She writes about her encounters with scores of foreign leaders and her friendships with Presidents Clinton and Bush, as well as with Hillary and Laura. And she offers inside details of her relationships with the royals, including Queen Elizabeth, Prince Charles, and Princess Diana.

Star knitter Sue Stratford's new book is packed with friendly faithful dogs and puppies for you to knit. Suitable for beginners, but with projects to provide a fun challenge for more experienced knitters, this book contains 23 patterns. The dogs cover a wide range of styles from the quirky to the fun to the more true-to-life; and while some like Danger Dog are fun toys, others have a more practical purpose, like Stripy Sausage, the dachshund draught excluder.

'Even great courts and independent judges can sometimes get things wrong. Reading this book, we should resolve to strengthen our defences against miscarriages of justice.' The Hon Michael Kirby AC CMG, past Justice of the High Court of Australia In 1994 Pamela Lawrence was brutally bashed to death in her jewellery shop in Perth. Police suspicion fell on a young drifter named Andrew Mallard. Although innocent, he was charged and convicted of this murder. It took 12 years and an epic struggle by Andrew's mother and sister, a team of lawyers and West Australian journalist Colleen Egan to right this wrong. Not only did their unrelenting battle for justice end in the High Court of Australia making a devastating judgment against the West Australian courts, but it also led to cold-case investigators identifying the real murderer. This is an emotional roller-coaster of a book, brilliantly and compellingly written. It is about justice, survival and what can happen when good people take on the system.

In this book Gerald Durrell takes his first step towards fulfilling his ambition to become a conservationist as a student keeper at Whipsnade Park in 1945. The eager young Durrell observes his co-workers and animal charges alike, including Albert, the ventriloquist lion, who amuses himself by jumping out at people. Whether getting dirty mucking out the buffalo enclosure or attempting to cajole a skittish gnu into a transportation crate, life in the zoo is certainly never boring.

A biographical account of extraordinary events in the career of Leo W. Stach, an expatriate geologist, during war and peace in the Western Pacific region, based on official documents as well as personal written records, together with his recollections, as narrated to the author, Kerry B. Collison, during a series of recorded interviews from December 1996 to June 1997.

This is the story of young Australian men who went to the battlefields of two world wars. Its perspective focuses on the author's mother-in-law, Jessie, whose brother was killed in World War I. Her sweetheart was seriously wounded, and his two brothers were also killed.

Philip Mould, one of the world's foremost authorities on British portraiture and an irreverent and delightful expert for the Antiques Roadshow, serves up his secrets and his best stories, blending the technical details of art detection and restoration with juicy tales peopled by a range of eccentric collectors, scholars, forgers, and opportunities. Originally published: Sleuth : the amazing quest for lost art treasures.

In this inspiring series of letters to his grandchildren, David Suzuki offers grandfatherly advice mixed with stories from his own remarkable life and explores what makes life meaningful. He challenges his grandchildren, and us, to do everything at full tilt. He explains why sports, fishing, feminism, and failure are important; why it is dangerous to deny our biological nature; and why First Nations must lead a revolution. Drawing on his own experiences and the wisdom he has gained over his long life, he decries the lack of elders and grandparents in the lives of many people, especially immigrants, and champions the importance of heroes. And he even has something to say about fashion. The book also provides an intimate look at Suzuki’s life as a father and grandfather with letters that are chock-full of anecdotes about his children and grandchildren when they were small. As he ponders life’s deepest questions and offers up a lifetime of wisdom, Suzuki inspires us all to live with courage, conviction, and passion.

Daughter of country music star Carole Sturtzel, Beccy Cole is one of the most popular country singer-songwriters in Australia today. With refreshing candour, Beccy shares her story. Her marriage and motherhood, becoming a single mother and maintaining the nurturing love of family. Performing for the Australian troops in Afghanistan. Coming out, and what it has meant for her and her fans. Taking control of her own life - and finding love. Heartfelt and honest, Poster Girl is the inspirational memoir of a strong woman who epitomises the authentic spirit of country music, and of Australia.

Noted naturopathic physician Dr. Peter J. D'Adamo introduces a revolutionary new way to eat and life. In Eat right for your type, he explains his groundbreaking diet plan by blood type. Our blood type is a road map to our inner chemistry -- and each blood type processes food, handles stress, and fights disease differently. Find out what you should be eating and how you should exercise in accord with your own type.

Dirk Bogarde recalls his Sussex childhood in the late 1920s and 1930s as a time of harvests and harvest mice, of oil lamps, wells and childhood adventures, and a time of love and gentleness as the world prepared for war.

Peter was a confirmed loner and cat hater, until he was given a small, grey (and impeccably handsome) kitten with folded ears by his then girlfriend. The girlfriend went but Norton stayed - in fact, he and Peter became inseparable. But, after learning how to love his cat, would Peter now learn how to love another human too? Original title: The cat who went to Paris.

In 1823, Cockney sailor and chancer James Porter was convicted of stealing a stack of beaver furs and transported halfway around the world to Van Diemen's Land. After several escape attempts from the notorious penal colony, Porter, who told authorities he was a 'beer-machine maker', was sent to Sarah Island, known in Van Diemen's Land as hell on earth. Many had tried to escape Sarah Island; few had succeeded. But when Governor George Arthur announced that the place would be closed and its prisoners moved to the new penal station of Port Arthur, Porter, along with a motley crew of other prisoners, pulled off an audacious escape. Wresting control of the ship they'd been building to transport them to their fresh hell, the escapees instead sailed all the way to Chile. What happened next is stranger than fiction, a fitting outcome for this true-life picaresque tale. The Ship That Never Was is the entertaining and rollicking story of what is surely the greatest escape in Australian colonial history. James Porter, whose memoirs were the inspiration for Marcus Clarke's For the Term of his Natural Life, is an original Australian larrikin whose ingenuity, gift of the gab and refusal to buckle under authority make him an irresistible anti-hero who deserves a place in our history.

Life on Air begins when, at twenty-four, Attenborough throws over what looks to be a staid future as a "gentleman publisher" for an uncertain position in the BBC's fledgling television service. An adventure in itself (with primitive equipment and unpredictable personalities), broadcasting work involves the Cambridge-educated naturalist in hilarious attempts to improve the upstart Talks Department. Then the discovery of a coelacanth fish off the Comoro Islands offers him his first chance as a producer, and his career introducing wildlife to the public takes off in earnest.

The author uses ancient Toltec wisdom to fashion a personal philosophy around these four principles--be impeccable with your word, don't take anything personally, don't make assumptions and always do your best.

A unique audio portrait of Sir David Attenborough, Britain's best-known natural history film-maker. David Attenborough discusses his life and achievements in this collection of BBC Radio and TV interviews. Contents: Parkinson (1975) featuring Michael Parkinson -- Desert Island discs (1979) featuring Roy Plomley -- Desert Island discs (1998) featuring Sue Lawley -- Mark Lawson talks to David Attenborough (2005) featuring Mark Lawson -- Desert Island discs (2012) featuring Kirsty Young.

As Enola searches for the missing Lady Blanchefleur del Campo, she discovers that her brother Sherlock is just as diligently searching for Enola herself! Sherlock and Enola must solve a triple mystery: What has happened to their mother? And to Lady Blanchefleur? And what does either have to do with their brother, Mycroft?

Enthralling sequel to The Weirdstone of Brisingamen. It is the Eve of Gomrath the night of the year when the Old Magic is aroused. Had Colin and Susan known this, they would never have lighted a fire on the Beacon, thereby releasing the uncontrollable ferocity of the Wild Hunt. Soon they are inextricably caught up in the struggle between their friend, the Wizard Cadellin, and the evil Morrigan. For upper primary school age.

THE PIRATE PIG: Who needs a treasure map when you have a pirate pig with a nose for gold? Stout Sam and his deckhand, Pip, find a pig washed up in a barrel on the beach. They want to keep her as a pet, but they soon realize Julie is no ordinary pig. She can sniff out treasure! What happens if Barracuda Bill, the greediest and meanest pirate who ever sailed the seas, hears about Julie's special talent? RUFFLECLAW: Ruffleclaw is a furry red monster who lives in a burrow under a toolshed. When he decides to move in with a family of humans, he climbs right into bed with a boy named Tommy. Tommy wants to keep Ruffleclaw as a pet, but it won t be easy. Ruffleclaw makes huge messes, he spits, he drinks shampoo, and he eats everything in the fridge . . . along with the plates! Can Tommy teach his monster to behave?

The Silver Fox Patrol is out on their first camping trip! The boys, Thad the fill-in scout-master, Allan, Bumpus, Davy Jones, Smithy, Bob White, Giraffe and Step-Hen, are learning many new things about being scouts and about themselves. But when a bear invades the camp, their trip turns into an adventure that they will talk about for a long time!

Parker is an introverted boy coming to terms with his parents' divorce when he stumbles upon Drog, an ugly green puppet left in the rubbish. But Drog is no ordinary puppet - he's a talking, obnoxious puppet who won't let go of Parker's hand! Worst of all, no one believes that Drog, not Parker, is saying all these outrageous things.

One day, I, Cordelia Codd, am going to be the greatest costume designer in the history of cinema. I will live in exotic places, have fabulous friends and spend my days relaxing at the spa. But for now I'm stuck in the D.U.L.L.E.S.T village on planet Earth, with a best friend a quillion-trillion miles away, not-quite-together parents, a pretend boyfriend/​ supposed thief/​real bully shield, and an epic war with the most unfriendly girl in the universe. Whoever said ‘tomorrow is another day' hasn't lived a day in my life.

Josephine Tugnutt was nervous as she first came to St Chauvin's College. She was one girl among six hundred boys. She came from a girl's boarding school, and was walking into the unknown. It was 1932, the year of the great Yo-Yo craze, and St Chauvin's was another world altogether.

George and Timmy the dog have disappeared - and somebody has broken into Kirrin Cottage! The Famous Five are sure there's a connection - but how can they solve the mystery when there are only three of them?

Why does an escaped convict send a message to Dick in the dead of night? And what can the strange message mean? The police refuse to help-- so the Famous Five must find out for themselves.

Artemis Fowl has constructed a super-computer from stolen fairy technology. In the wrong hands it could be fatal for humans and fairies alike. But no need to worry, Artemis has a brilliant plan. He's not going to use it; he's going to show it to a ruthless American businessman with Mafia connections. His bodyguard, Butler will be with him. What could possibly go wrong?

As the third Trial draws to a close, Thomas and some of his cohorts manage to escape from WICKED, their memories having been restored, only to face new dangers as WICKED claims to be trying to protect the human race from the deadly FLARE virus.

After surviving horrific conditions in the Maze, Thomas is entrapped, along with nineteen other boys, in a scientific experiment designed to observe their responses and gather data believed to be essential for the survival of the human race.

Bill is a 15-year-old runaway evacuee, and he's finding that surviving on the streets of London is pretty easy. Things get more complicated for Bill with the arrival of Julie. She's a runaway too, and although she's a bit posh, she's just as determined as Bill to stay free of interfering parents and 'the social'. But although it's fun for a while to duck Jerry missiles and camp out in bombed-out houses, the reality of living through the Blitz quickly begins to set in.