'Engaging and hopeful' New Scientist**A fascinating exploration of how losing our sense of smell can shape our world, and how the global pandemic transformed our understanding of this mysterious sense.When award-winning reporter Paola Totaro lost her sense of smell to Covid in March 2020, her world changed and dulled in an instant. Trapped in a sensory vacuum without fragrance or flavour, she embarked on a journey of discovery to unravel the my...

'In this highly readable biography of Nellie Melba...Robert Wainwright tells the story of the girl with the incredible voice who, by sheer force of her personality and power of her decibels, took the operatic world by storm and managed to escape from her violent husband' Ysenda Maxtone Graham, DAILY MAILNellie Melba is remembered as a squarish, late middle-aged woman dressed in furs and large hats, an imperious Dame whose voice ruled the world for three d...

In 1908 Muriel Matters, known as 'that daring Australian girl', chained herself to an iron grille in the House of Commons to demand votes for women, thus becoming the first woman to make a speech in the House. The following year she made headlines around the world when she took to the sky over the Houses of Parliament in an airship emblazoned with 'Votes for Women'.A trailblazer in the suffrage movement, Muriel toured England in a horse-drawn caravan to promote the cause. But femin...

The marvellously strange but true story of the family behind the famous Darrell Lea confectionery company.In the early 1930s, the Australian family confectionery company Darrell Lea was a sensation, its shops stacked with delicious chocolates, marshmallows, nougat and much more in line with the company's motto to 'Stack 'em high, watch 'em fly'.It was at this time that Montague Lea met the vivacious teenage 'ticket writer' Valerie Everitt. Monty fell hard f...

In the stifling Australian heat of October 1993, a campsite the size of a small town was spontaneously created at a lonely desert roadhouse by the side of the Stuart Highway, which links Darwin with Alice Springs. The 1200 men and women who swagged on the unforgiving ground beside their horses, cars, trucks and even helicopters had come to this isolated place Dunmarra to help solve a mystery and save a life.A local son had disappeared without a trace. No-one was certain if he had b...

For two decades, Rose Hancock Porteous has fascinated Australians. The Filipina housekeeper who became the lover and then the wife of her millionaire employer has regularly created headlines, but behind the facade of the colourful socialite there is much that has not been revealed about this fabulously flawed woman.This is Rose's story - thorns and all - beginning with her childhood on the Philippine island of Negros, where the heritage that promised social prominence and financial...

Vivacious, confident and striking, young Australian Sheila Chisholm met her first husband, Lord Loughborough, in Egypt during the First World War. Arriving in London as a young married woman, she quickly conquered English society, and would spend the next half a century inside the palaces, mansions and clubs of the elite. Her clandestine affair with young Bertie, the future George VI, caused ruptures at Buckingham Palace, with King George offering his son the title Duke of York in exchange...

A Matilda's story of football, motherhood and breaking down barriers.**'Katrina's book is a powerful testament to grit, endurance, and agility. It shows how perseverance, focus, and strong values lead to true success. A must-read for anyone seeking strength in themselves and those they love.' - Cathy Freeman OAM'This is a heartwarming book full to the brim with love of family, of friends, of football. Yet, we discover in its pages just how much courage it t...

Enid Lindeman stood almost six feet tall, with silver hair and flashing turquoise eyes. She stopped traffic in Manhattan, silenced gamblers in Monte Carlo and walked her pet cheetah through Hyde Park on a diamond collar.In early twentieth century society, where women were expected to be demure and obedient, Enid Lindeman gallivanted through life accumulating four husbands and numerous lovers, her high-jinks dominating British gossip columns during the inter-war years.She dr...

WINNER OF THE TIMES 2017 BIOGRAPHY OF THE YEAR PRIZESHORTLISTED FOR THE 2016 BOARDMAN TASKER PRIZE FOR MOUNTAIN LITERATURE'One of the two best Alpinists of his time - Mallory was the other.' The TimesIn the spring of 1901 a teenager stood on top of a hill, gazed out in wonderment at the Australian landscape and decided he wanted to be a mountaineer. Two decades later, the same man stood in a blizzar...

The House of Drogo Montagu is the family name of the Dukes and Earls of Manchester who served the British monarchy for five centuries. But by 1927, when Alexander, the eldest son of the 9th Duke, married an enterprising young Australian woman named Nell Stead, the family was on its knees financially.Faced with war and a legacy of excess and indulgence, 'Mandy' and Nell tried to rescue the family's fortunes and revive a dying estate that included Kimbolton Castle, the home of Cather...

In 1909, a young Australian actress made headlines around the world when she took to the sky over London in an airship emblazoned with the slogan 'Votes for Women' and dropped leaflets over the city. Muriel Matters was dubbed 'that daring Australian girl', and the American media declared it to be the world's first aerial protest. Just months earlier, Muriel had become the first woman to make a speech in the British House of Commons, after chaining herself to a brass grille to protest again...