Australian Memoir

City Girl, Country Girl brings together the stories of women who have left lives in the city or other countries to build new futures in places where knowing how to milk a cow or drive a tractor stands them in far better stead than an ability to negotiate rush-hour traffic or find a good cappuccino. It ranges in scope from the classic outback story of Sarah Durack in the late 1800s to the author's own mother's experiences of swapping wartime Melbourne for a dairy farm on the Limestone Coast to the present day.

Alcohol, usually beer, is an integral part of Australian culture. Australian writers from Henry Lawson onwards praise, blame and generally celebrate the demon drink. It can develop or ruin friendships, create farcical situations, breed or shatter illusions. Broadcaster and writer Jim Haynes has collected short stories and verse from well-known Australians that place that pint of beer at the centre of things.

On Lust and On Longing together for the first time. When On Lust was first published it caused a media sensation: Blanche d'Alpuget wrote of a pillar of society who had molested children and of events that ended in mystery. Now she reveals all. On Longing caused a similar sensation, for different reasons. D'Alpuget dared to write that she loved and had inspired love in a man already adored by the public. Here are the raw and timeless themes of the power and powerlessness inherent to lust, love, loss and death.

In these frustrating days of diesel and electric trains it is hard to remember the smell of coal smoke, the hiss of steam, and the sting of cinders flying into your eyes. With his passion for the olden days and his famous ear for a good yarn, Bill ‘Swampy’ Marsh has brought together another enthralling collection of funny, dramatic and hilarious stories from drivers and gangers, firemen and guards, their families and everyone in between.