Biographies & True Stories Books

'Pentridge was a place of murder and mayhem. A bluestone hell. The worst prison Australia has ever seen.' Andrew Kirby, former inmate Welcome to Pentridge, Australia's most infamous prison.In the long-awaited return to his bestselling true crime series...

The long-awaited biography of cartoonist Murray Ball, creator of Footrot Flats In Murray Ball: A Cartoonist's Life, Murray's son Mason Ball shares all the hits and misses and long years of hard graft that went into what would become the wildly...

The Iraq War’s only living Medal of Honor recipient reveals the untold story of the remarkable brotherhood behind one of the war’s legendary acts of valor In 2004, he stormed an enemy stronghold to save his platoon. Fourteen years later, his unit...

AN NPR BOOK-OF-THE-DAY • A PUBLISHERS WEEKLY STAFF PICK • A NYLON MUST-READ • A FORTUNE NEW BOOK TO READ IN AUGUST“And, at the center of it all, am I actually nice or am I just performing a role I think I’m expected to play” Mia Mercado is a...

Global icon Six-time Grammy winner Headline-maker The most talented recording artist of her generation Much has been said about Amy Winehouse since her tragic death aged just 27. But who was the real Amy?Amy Winehouse: In Her Words shines a spotlight...

An exuberant biography of the life of the iconic photographer and naturalist Peter Beard, whose life and work captured the cultural imagination  Peter Beard lived an astonishing life. The artist, wildlife photographer, and bon vivant enthralled...

“Without stories, we cannot live well,” shares guest editor Min Jin Lee, describing how storytelling affects and nurtures readers. The Best American Short Stories 2023 features twenty pieces of short fiction that reflect a world full of fractured...

"Excellent....Taken as a whole, the volume moves beyond food’s sensory pleasures to investigate it as a cultural vessel, a symbol of inequality, and more. It’s a standout addition to the series." —Publisher's Weekly (starred review)A collection of the...

Revealing, funny, whimsical, and wise, outlaw country legend Willie Nelson shares the untold stories behind the his favorite songs, with all the lyrics and a dynamic assortment of never-before-seen photos and ephemera.From his earliest work in the...

SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER‘If you think the UK isn't corrupt, you haven't looked hard enough … This terrifying book follows a global current of dirty money, and the murders and kidnappings required to sustain it’ GEORGE MONBIOT, GUARDIANAN ECONOMIST AND...

A devastating essay on loss and the people we love from Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, the bestselling author of Americanah and Half of a Yellow Sun. 'Grief is a cruel kind of education. You learn how ungentle mourning can be, how full of anger. You learn...

You’re about to meet so many incredible humans. Are you ready hun? Celebrate some of the modern-day trailblazers, champions and icons who have shaped, or are shaping our world, from well-known public figures and allies to others you will wish you had...

In horse racing greatness is defined by speed. Being the second fastest counts for little. You have to win. And win. And keep winning until every challenger of your generation is put to the sword. Of the twelve horses lined up on Newmarket Heath that...

The Sunday Times bestseller‘An utterly engrossing book’ Nigella Lawson‘Remarkable and gripping’ Edmund de Waal'A near-perfect study of Jewish identity in the 20th century … I don’t hesitate to call it a masterpiece’ Telegraph After her grandmother died,...

In the midst of the hurt and the mundane, the questions and the not yets, you can forget just how far you have come. This illustrated collection of poetry and essays invites you to reclaim moments of brokenness, division, and pain and re-envision them...

SHORTLISTED for the Baillie Gifford Prize’s 25th Anniversary Winner of Winners awardWINNER OF THE BAILLIE GIFFORD PRIZE 2020A Spectator Book of the Year • A Times Book of the Year • A Telegraph Book of the Year • A Sunday Times Book of the Year From the...

Published for the very first time in its own volume, Tolkien’s remarkable tale about a painter whose obsession with detail prevents him from finishing his great work. Niggle is a painter. Not a very successful one, partly because he has so many other...

‘Each of us is born, I believe, with a unique mission, a purpose in life that only we can fulfill. We are linked by a shared responsibility: to help our human family grow kinder and happier.’ Tina Turner, one of the world’s most beloved artists and...

Underbelly meets Molly's Game - the true crime investigation that rewrote the story of Melbourne's infamous gangland war and triggered a royal commission. Melbourne's gangland war was an era dominated by murders, stings, hits, drug busts, corruption and...

THE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER‘Bella’s brilliant love letter to running turns into an extraordinarily brave and frank account of her battle with anxiety. A compassionate and important book’ Joe Lycett‘Perfect for resetting a glum January mindset’ Alexandra...

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • 2015 Christian Book Award winner • Nabeel Qureshi describes his dramatic journey from Islam to Christianity in this expanded edition with new bonus content and reflections. "My friend Nabeel Qureshi was courageous enough to...

Rudy Waltz hasn't had it easy. After accidentally committing manslaughter at the age of twelve, the traumas life continued to throw at him seemed almost inconsequential. Now fifty-four, an expat living in Haiti, he's reliving the harrowing moments of...

Twenty-five home-grown Aussie superstars who have taken American basketball by storm. Ever since Luc Longley lit up the court as the first Australian to play in the NBA in 1991, Australians have made an indelible impact on the world's best basketball...

In the tradition of The Perfect Storm and Into Thin Air, Rachel Slade’s Into the Raging Sea is a nail-biting account of the sinking of the container ship El Faro, the crew of thirty-three who perished onboard, and the destructive forces of globalisation...

The definitive history of Peter Jackson’s Middle-earth saga, Anything You Can Imagine takes us on a cinematic journey across all six films, featuring brand-new interviews with Peter, his cast & crew. From the early days of daring to dream it could be...

SHORTLISTED FOR THE ROYAL SOCIETY SCIENCE BOOK PRIZE 2018Bestselling author Simon Winchester writes a magnificent history of the pioneering engineers who developed precision machinery to allow us to see as far as the moon and as close as the Higgs boson...

Finding Stevie is a dark and poignant true story that highlights the dangers lurking online. When Stevie’s social worker tells Cathy, an experienced foster carer, that Stevie, 14, is gender fluid she isn’t sure what that term means and looks it up...

NUMBER 1 SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLERNo one is born a leader. But through sheer determination and by confronting life’s challenges, Ant Middleton has come to know the meaning of true leadership. In First Man In, he shares the core lessons he’s learned over...

A timeless selection of some of Charles Bukowski’s best unpublished and uncollected poems Charles Bukowski was a prolific writer who produced countless short stories, novels, and poems that have reached beyond their time and place to speak to...

Joan Didion’s savage masterpiece, which, since first publication in 1968, has been acknowledged as an unparalleled report on the state of America during the upheaval of the Sixties Revolution. We forget all too soon the things we thought we could never...

Few gave tiny Singapore much chance of survival when it was granted independence in 1965. How is it, then, that today the former British colonial trading post is a thriving Asian metropolis with not only the world's number one airline, best airport,...

A collection of short stories featuring some of Agatha Christie’s best-loved detectives – Hercule Poirot, Parker Pyne, Mr Satterthwaite and Harley Quin… All great crime writers have their favourite creations. Similarly, every great sleuth has his, or...

One of the most talked-about and best-selling books of last year, this is the no-holds-barred autobiography of a sporting legend driven to the brink of self-destruction The bestseller that has everyone talking. In this, his first, autobiography, ‘Iron’...

On the same day that his wife gave birth to twins, Anthony Doerr received the Rome Prize, an award that gave him a year-long stipend and studio in Rome… ‘Four Seasons in Rome’ charts the repercussions of that day, describing Doerr's varied adventures in...

‘I can understand myself only in the light of inner happenings. It is these that make up the singularity of my life, and with these my autobiography deals’ Carl Jung An eye-opening biography of one of the most influential psychiatrists of the modern...

A captivating true story that will speak to generations of Australians, from the author of Mezza Italiana.  'Nonno Anni gives me a nudge. "You know, when I first came to Australia, I knew that my life would change forever."' Leaving the small...

The classic poems and spine-tingling stories of an American gothic master collected in one volumeOf all the American writers, Edgar Allan Poe staked out perhaps the most unique and vivid reputation as a master of the macabre. Even today, in the age of...

The definitive account of Australia's most notorious criminal case When bodies were discovered in barrels in 1999, hidden within a bank vault in Snowtown in South Australia, Jeremy Pudney was one of the first journalists on the scene. Now, using his...

A brand new omnibus of 55 short stories, presented for the first time in chronological order. Described by her friend Dolly Bantry as ‘ the typical old maid of fiction’, Miss Marple has lived almost her entire life in the sleepy hamlet of St Mary Mead...

The definitive account of when Australia's famed Rats of Tobruk they took on General Erwin Rommel, The Desert Fox. The classic story of 1941's Battle of Tobruk, in which more than 15,000 Australian troops - backed by British artillery - fought in...

Yarns and memories that capture the experience of policing in the bush, gathered by the inimitable Bill 'Swampy' Marsh, bestselling author of GREAT AUSTRALIAN FLYING DOCTOR STORIES and GREAT AUSTRALIAN CWA STORIES.  'I tell you, you meet some...

The gripping true story of the woman who became the Gestapo's most wanted spy In the early 1930s, Nancy Wake was a young woman enjoying a bohemian life in Paris. By the end of the Second World War, she was the Gestapo's most wanted person. As a naïve,...

WINNER OF THE 2010 SAMUEL JOHNSON PRIZE FOR NON-FICTION What if the world imagined by George Orwell in Nineteen Eighty-four was real? What if everything around you was black and white except for the red letters on propaganda signs? Where spies like...

the true story of the greatest pastoral landholder in modern history As a barely literate youth of thirteen, Sidney Kidman ran away from home and worked as an odd-job boy in a grog shanty in outback Australia. He went on to become the greatest pastoral...

SIX MILLION COPIES SOLD. THE SOURCE FOR THE HIGHEST-GROSSING WAR MOVIE OF ALL TIME.The #1 New York Times bestselling memoir of the Iraq War by U.S. Navy SEAL Chris Kyle, and the source for Clint Eastwood’s blockbuster, Acadamy...

The best-selling autobiography of America’s most controversial celebrity icon, Marilyn Manson (with a bonus chapter not in the hardcover).In his twenty-nine years, rock idol Manson has experienced more than most people have (or would want to) in a...

A powerful and inspiring book from the founders of IDEO, the award-winning design firm, on unleashing the creativity that lies within each and every one of us. Too often, companies and individuals assume that creativity and innovation are the domain of...

The fifteenth fostering memoir by Cathy Glass. Danny was petrified and clung to me in desperation as I carried him to my car. Trapped in his own dark world, he couldn't understand why his parents no longer loved or wanted him, and were sending him away...