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Isaac Bacirongo and Michael Nest

A memoir of a Pygmy man’s fight to save his identity from extinction.

Jo Normile

“If we see cruelty or wrong that we have the power to stop, and do nothing, we make ourselves sharers in the guilt.” –Anna Sewell, author of Black Beauty.

Jo Anne Normile was not supposed to keep the foal, an exuberant Thoroughbred with only a few white hairs on his reddish-brown forehead. But she fell in love with the young horse, who had literally been born into her arms. The breeder finally said she could keep the colt, whom she nicknamed “Baby” – but only if she raced him. It was difficult to take Baby away from the safety of his pasture. But Normile had made a promise. Besides, horseracing had always come across as a glamorous blend of mint juleps and celebrity, of equine grace and speed. It was a vision she found appealing. And she fell hard for it, this “Sport of Kings.” She experienced a thrill every time Baby sprinted around the track, edging out other horses. But the magic that enchants is a veneer.

For every Seabiscuit, there are tens of thousands of racehorses whose lives end in pain and despair, with indifference and corruption that runs rampant through the world of horse racing. Normile knew none of this. Not until an accident on a poorly maintained track. That’s when everything changed. That’s when Normile founded the most successful horse rescue in the country, an organization that would go on to save more horses than anyone else ever had. That’s when she knew she had no other choice.

Saving Baby is Jo Anne Normile’s story of perseverance and passion. A heartbreaking and ultimately life-affirming book, it testifies to the transcending power of hope, and the unshakeable bond of love.

Anne Crawford

From being an ‘unmanageable’ puppy with big barking problems and an uncertain future to one of the best-loved therapy dogs at Melbourne’s Royal Children’s Hospital – a heart-warming and inspiring story about how the love of a good human can change a dog’s life and how a loving dog can bring life and hope to those in great need. Ralf the Giant Schnauzer was once a small puppy with a big barking problem. He was facing an uncertain future until Caroline Lovick and her loving family came along. They rescued Ralf from Tasmania and welcomed him into their family home in Melbourne.

Ralf was the recipient of daily cuddles from Caroline’s four children who would spend hours playing with him. He became an important part of their daily walk to school and a celebrity at the school gates where children would stop and pat the friendly visitor.

One day Caroline and her family took Ralf to compete at the Royal Melbourne Show. It was here that his potential as a therapy dog was first spotted. Shortly afterwards Ralf began working at Trinity Manor nursing home followed by The Royal Children’s Hospital in Melbourne where he became an instant hit with children and their families. Soon Ralf was a permanent fixture, earning fans far and wide.

Ralf’s story is by turns heart-warming and inspiring, and is full of the amusing antics of this endearing animal. It is a true tale of how the love of a human owner can change a dog’s life and how the love of a dog can bring hope to those who need it most.

Rebecca Starford

It should have been a time of acquiring confidence, building self respect and independence, of fostering a connection with the natural world through long hikes…

A gripping, compulsively readable memoir of bullying at an elite country boarding school.

Anne Holt

Less than six months after taking office, the Norwegian Prime Minister is found dead. She has been shot in the head. But was it a politically motivated assassination or personal revenge? The death shakes the country to its core. The hunt for her killer is complicated, intense and gruelling. Hanne Wilhelmsen must contain the scandal before a private tragedy becomes a public outrage, in what will become the most sensitive case of her career…This is a story of lies, intrigue and politics. The Lion’s Mouth questions who holds the power in Norway, and how far they will go to use it.

Erica Spindler

An idealistic young woman marries a man she barely knows only to discover his first wife disappeared under mysterious circumstances. As a child, Bailey Browne dreamed of a knight in shining armor swooping in to rescue her and her mother. As she grew older, those dreams transformed, becoming ones of a mysterious stranger who swept her off her feet and whisked her away from her ordinary existence; then, suddenly, there he was. Despite the ten-year difference in their ages and her working class upbringing and his of privilege, Logan Abbott and Bailey fall deeply in love. Marriage quickly follows.

But when Logan brings her home to his horse farm in Louisiana, a magnificent estate on ninety wooded acres, her dreams of happily-ever-after begin to unravel. A tragic family history Bailey knew nothing about surfaces, along with whisperings about the disappearance of his first wife and rumors about women from the area who have gone missing, and when another woman disappears, all signs point to her husband’s involvement.

Katherine Howell

Paramedic Stacey Durham has an idyllic life; her dream job, a beautiful house, and a devoted husband. Until her car is found abandoned and covered in her blood. Detective Ella Marconi knows information is key in the first twenty-four hours, questioning the frantic husband James, jealous sister Marie, and Rowan, the colleague who keeps turning up in all the wrong places.

Just as Ella starts to piece together the clues, a shocking message arrives for James: You won’t see her again if you don’t tell the truth. As she sifts through the lies, Ella’s relationship with Dr Callum McLennan is under siege, and she doesn’t know if it can survive the over enthusiasm of her family, or the blind hatred of his mother.

With the investigation hitting dead ends and new threats being made, Ella must uncover the truths buried beneath the perfect façade before the case goes from missing person to murder.

Erica James

A gorgeous tale of friendship and love from Sunday Times bestseller Erica James.

Ashcombe was the most beautiful house Saskia had ever seen as a little girl. A rambling pink cottage on the edge of the Suffolk village of Melbury Green, its enchanting garden provided a fairy-tale playground of seclusion, a perfect sanctuary to hide from the tragedy which shattered her childhood.

Now an adult, Saskia is still living at Ashcombe and as a book restorer devotes her days tending to the broken, battered books that find their way to her, daydreaming about the people who had once turned their pages. When she discovers a notebook carefully concealed in an old Bible – and realising someone has gone to a great deal of trouble to hide a story of their own – Saskia finds herself drawn into a heart-rending tale of wartime love…

Alex Kava

Ryder Creed and his dogs have been making national headlines. They’ve intercepted several major drug stashes being smuggled through Atlanta’s airport. But their newfound celebrity has also garnered some unwanted attention.

When Creed and one of his dogs are called in to search a commercial fishing vessel, they discover a secret compartment. But the Colombian cartels’ latest shipment isn’t drugs. This time, its cargo is human. To make matters worse, Creed helps one of the cartel’s drug mules escape—a fourteen-year-old girl who reminds him of his younger sister who disappeared fifteen years ago.

Meanwhile, FBI agent Maggie O’Dell is investigating a series of murders—the victims tortured, killed, and dumped in the Potomac River. She suspects it’s the work of a cunning and brutal assassin, but her politically motivated boss has been putting up roadblocks.
By the time she uncovers a hit list with Creed’s name on it, it might be too late. The cartel has already sent someone to destroy Creed and everyone close to him.

But Creed and his dogs have a few surprises in store on their compound in Florida. Will it be enough to stop a ruthless cartel determined to remove the thorn in its side once and for all?

Cecilia Ekback

Swedish Lapland, 1717. Maija, her husband and their two daughters arrive from their native Finland, hoping to forget the traumas of the past and put down roots in this harsh but beautiful land. Above them looms Blackasen, a mountain whose dark history haunts the lives of those in its shadow.

While herding the family’s goats on the mountain, Maija’s elder daughter, Frederika, stumbles across the mutilated body of one of their neighbours, Eriksson. The community dismisses the death as a wolf attack, but Maija feels certain it was murder. Compelled to investigate despite her neighbours’ unconcern, Maija is drawn into the history of tragedies and betrayals that have taken place on Blackasen.

Meanwhile, young Frederika is pulled toward the mountain as well, feeling something no one around her seems to notice. The seasons change, and the harshest winter in memory–known as a “wolf winter”–descends upon them. Struggling to survive, the settlers are forced to come together, but Maija, not knowing whom to trust, is still determined to find answers. As the snow gathers, the settlers’ secrets are laid bare. Soon Maija will discover the true cost of survival under the mountain–and what it will take to make it to spring.