Graham Rundle

Seven-year-old Graham Rundle was excited to learn he was going for a holiday at a place where he’d have a chance to play with lots of other boys. A few days later, his father dropped him off at Eden Park, a Salvation Army boys’ home outside Adelaide in South Australia.

As soon as his father left, Graham’s few possessions were taken away and he was given old clothes to wear. From now on, he was told, he’d be known around the home simply by his number, ‘44’. When he pleaded to go home, he was told that nobody wanted to take him. He’d been abandoned by his family – even, it seemed, by the grandmother he loved.

This book vividly portrays what happened to Graham over the eight years he spent at Eden Park, living in fear of abuse by his peers and by the men who were supposed to care for him. It captures his extraordinary resilience, determination and humour, and his debt to the loving nana who tracked him down against the odds and offered him hope in the midst of hell.

 Alison Lloyd and Terry Denison

The true story of Australia starts with a piece of land that went for a swim. Millions of years ago it floated away from Africa. Very, very, slowly. It was home to dinosaurs and giant animals, until the first Australians showed up and got comfortable.

This wild and wonderful land was a mystery to the rest of the world. Then the English decided to make it the biggest jail ever . . . Experience the story of Australia from prehistory to federation in 1901.

 Yuval Noah Harari

Your Quick and Simple Summary and Analysis of Sapiens.
Inside, you’ll find:
• An introduction to Harari’s main concepts
• Time-saving chapter summaries
• Analysis and Commentary
• A guide to additional resources, including helpful articles, books, podcasts, and videos

About Sapiens: A Brief History of Mankind by Yuval Harari

Did you know that, a hundred thousand years ago, there were at least six separate species of human beings on Earth? Today, there is only one—homo sapiens.

Sapiens by Yuval Harari provides an expansive look at the modern world’s view of the ways human beings have evolved and the catalysts behind the species and cultures we’ve become, all the way from the beginning of mankind to the present day and beyond. Harari combines history and science to provide a unique perspective to the traditional narratives of human development and examines what happened to the other five species of humans and what may ultimately happen to us.

Please note that this summary is NOT the original book and is meant to be read as a supplement to the original.

Mark Brandi

‘It’s funny how quick it happens and without you really noticing. Anton said once that it’s like walking out into the sea, and you think everything’s fine and the water’s warm, but when you turn back you’re suddenly miles from shore. I’ve never been much of a swimmer, but I get what he means. Like, being caught in a current or something. A rip.’

A young woman, living on the street has to keep her wits about her. Or her friends. But when the drugs kick in that can be hard.

Anton has been looking out for her. She was safe with him. But then Steve came along.

He had something over Anton. Must have. But he had a flat they could crash in. And gear in his pocket. And she can’t stop thinking about it. A good hit makes everything all right.

But the flat smells weird.
There’s a lock on Steve’s bedroom door.
And the guy is intense.

The problem is, sometimes you just don’t know you are in too deep, until you are drowning.

Jackie French

The world is at war, and women are working, often behind the scenes, in areas from nursing to espionage. And despite their many successes, these are the women the men don’t see. Spies for Britain are sent across German-occupied Europe. Their secret is that their missions are organised not by the official men in charge, but by the women men don’t see: the assistants, secretaries and librarians. Even Winston Churchill himself is in the early stages of dementia and capably organized by women despite his dozing. Nor will the work of the female CIA, Bletchley Park analysts, or female physicists working on atomic energy be recognised until long after most of them are dead.

Sophie Higgs (now the Dowager Countess of Shillings) is part of a spy ring of woman agents organised by other women. Her friend Ethel Cashman organises the British Ministry of Food, dealing with the USA to maintain vital supplies.

Another friend Anne ventures once more into Mesopotamia, not as an archeologist this time, but to gather intelligence. And in Australia, Midge understands that food is as important as troops. And more than 50 years later, these are still the women history does not see: the women who helped win the war.

Catherine Coulter

From New York Times bestselling authors Catherine Coulter and J.T. Ellison comes a riveting thriller pitting special agents Nicholas Drummond and Michaela Caine against a private French space agency that has the power to end the world as we know it.

Galactus, France’s answer to SpaceX, has just launched a communications satellite into orbit, but the payload actually harbors a frightening weapon: a nuclear-triggered electromagnetic pulse.

When the satellite is in position, Galactus’s second-in-command, Dr. Nevaeh Patel, will have the power to lay waste to the world with an EMP. A former astronaut, Patel believes she is following the directions of the Numen, aliens who saved her life when she space-walked outside the International Space Station. She is convinced that with the Holy Grail, just discovered by the owner of Galactus—eccentric treasure hunter Jean-Pierre Broussard—she can be reunited with the Numen, change the world’s destiny, and become immortal with them.

The countdown has begun when Special Agents Nicholas Drummond and Michaela Caine are thrown into the pending disaster. They must stop the EMP that would wreak havoc on communication and electronic systems on Earth, resulting in chaos and anarchy.

With their signature “nonstop action with enough realism to keep you thinking and scare the daylights out of you at the same time” (Suspense Magazine), Coulter and Ellison have created a thriller to take you on a breakneck and breathtaking journey.

C J Taylor

All Anna wants is to be able to sleep. But crushing insomnia, terrifying night terrors and memories of that terrible night are making it impossible. If only she didn’t feel so guilty…

To escape her past, Anna takes a job at a hotel on the remote Scottish island of Rum, but when seven guests join her, what started as a retreat from the world turns into a deadly nightmare.

Each of the guests have a secret, but one of them is lying – about who they are and why they’re on the island. There’s a murderer staying in the Bay View hotel. And they’ve set their sights on Anna.

Seven strangers. Seven secrets. One deadly lie.

Someone’s going to sleep and never wake up…

 Thorne C J Tudor

The new spine-tingling, sinister thriller from the Sunday Times bestselling author of The Chalk Man.

One night, Annie went missing. Disappeared from her own bed. There were searches, appeals. Everyone thought the worst. And then, miraculously, after forty-eight hours, she came back. But she couldn’t, or wouldn’t, say what had happened to her. Something happened to my sister. I can’t explain what. I just know that when she came back, she wasn’t the same. She wasn’t my Annie. I didn’t want to admit, even to myself, that sometimes I was scared to death of my own little sister.

Robert Goddard

What value can be put on a human mind? How Joe Roberts does what he does is a mystery. He has a brain that seems able to outperform a computer. To a games company like Venstrom that promises big profits if his abilities can be properly exploited. So they send Nicole Nevinson to track him down and make him an offer too good to refuse.

But Venstrom aren’t the only people interested in Joe. His current boss, a shady businessman, is already making serious money out of Joe’s talents and isn’ going to let him go without a fight. And then there are other forces, with still darker intentions, who have their own plans for him.

Almost before she knows it, Nicole’s crossed an invisible line into a world where the game being played has rules she doesn’t understand and where no-one can help her win.

But win she must. Because the battle now isn’t just for Joe’s mind, it’s for Nicole’s life.

Fiona McCallum

When knowledge gives you the power to change your life …
Alice Hamilton loved being a mature-age student, but now she’s finished her university degree she needs to find herself a career. But the job market is tough and it doesn’t help that her partner David keeps reminding her about their sizeable mortgage. When she’s offered a role in a major real estate agency, she jumps at the opportunity. David is excited by her prospects in the thriving Melbourne housing market, and Alice is pleased that she’ll be utilising her exceptional people skills.

But Alice quickly realises all is not as it seems. What is she doing wrong to be so out of sync with her energetic boss, Carmel Gold, agent extraordinaire? Alice is determined to make it work, but how much will it affect her values?

As everything starts to fall apart, a sudden visit home to the country town Alice escaped years ago provides an unexpected opportunity to get some perspective. Surrounded by people who aren’t what they seem, or have their own agendas, can Alice learn to ask for what she really wants … on her own terms?