Showing results by publisher "Bolinda audio" in Biographies & Memoirs

When called up to fight in yet another World War, Drum Major Jackson promised his beloved wife, Mabel, that he would return to lead his band and play for her once more. In May 1940, he was captured at Dunkirk and interned in several German forced labour camps throughout Poland. Two years later, he was transferred to Auschwitz IV. When his captors appointed Jackson their ‘Kapellmeister’ (man in charge of music), he seized the opportunity to provide entertainment for his fellow prisoners at rehearsals and cover for escapees during concerts.

An Afghan refugee’s extraordinary journey - from his early life as a shepherd boy in the mountains of Northern Afghanistan, to his forced exile after being captured and tortured by the Taliban, to incarceration in an Australian detention centre...and finally, to freedom. This moving and poignant work gives the listener a rare insight into the contented ‘milk and honey’ life of a simple Afghan family before the civil war ripped their country apart. The lives and centuries-old livelihood of farmers, craftsmen and small business owners were destroyed in just weeks and months.

In Waterfront, investigative journalist and former police detective Duncan McNab chronicles the larger-than-life characters who have populated Australia’s docks, wharves and ports – and lifts the lid on the crime, politics, violence and corruption that has always been present on Australia’s waterfront.

Tara Moss has worn many labels in her time, including author, model, gold-digger, commentator, inspiration, dumb blonde, feminist, and mother, among many others.

Now, in her first work of nonfiction, she blends memoir and social analysis to examine the common fictions about women.

In her memoir, Dr Phelps candidly explores her struggles and achievements, in medicine, media and politics – from her advocacy around Medevac and COVID-19 management, to the fallout of her public ‘outing’ in the Australian media and her inspirational role in the Teal movement of the 2022 elections. She also reflects on the ideas and passions that have motivated and sustained her during these times, including her philosophies of leadership and equality, and her love of nature.

Carly-Jay Metcalfe was born with cystic fibrosis, survived a double-lung transplant at the age of 21 and faced a rare cancer at the age of 30. What she has endured should have killed her, but her humour, courage and optimism became her best survival skills. From her hospitalised childhood to her many friendships, loves and losses, Metcalfe shares the fickle nature of life with candour and warmth. She writes with compelling insight about organ donation, opioid addiction and survivor's guilt, while still managing to find joy amongst the wreckage.

Celebrity chef Heston Blumenthal is a gastronomic alchemist who sees the kitchen as a laboratory where he loves to experiment with new ways to tantalize diners' taste buds. The story of his life is every bit as colorful and attention-grabbing as his famous snail porridge and bacon-and-egg ice cream. This biography traces his journey from a life-changing childhood holiday in France through to his brief apprenticeship in Raymond Blanc's restaurant, where he stood up to a kitchen bully. It follows him as - constantly pushing the boundaries of his work - he reached the top of his profession and was knighted by the Queen.

As sex and drug addicted Pete, he describes his sometimes shocking, always colourful background. Then, as internationally recognised psychologist PQ, he analyses it with compassionate, yet clinical, objectivity. The result is a work of insight and practical wisdom. In putting himself on his own couch, Quarry will inspire you to reflect on your life’s journey and give you a toolkit to confront the curveballs inevitably heading your way.

Looking for Madeleine is the not-to-be-missed account that the online haters tried to silence. Its award-winning authors, Anthony Summers and Robbyn Swan, feature in the Netflix series The Disappearance of Madeleine McCann. Twelve years on, as Scotland Yard and Portuguese investigators continue their work, the Yard is reportedly focusing on a specific suspect. A senior officer told the authors: 'The case is solvable'.

In her successful career as a travel writer, Southerden found herself staying in ever new and exotic locations, but while staying in a cabin in Norway, she had an epiphany about what she truly wanted for her life, ready to put down roots. With no prior building experience, Southerden decided to build a tiny house with her partner, Max, which tested an already unstable relationship. Over the year and a half of planning and construction of her tiny house, Southerden witnessed her new home coming together as her relationship was falling apart.

As a psychologist specialising in court assessments, David Roland often saw the toughest, most heartbreaking cases. The emotional trauma had begun to take its toll - and then the global financial crisis hit, leaving his family facing financial ruin. So when he found himself in a local emergency ward with little idea of where he was or how he got there, doctors wondered if he had had a nervous breakdown - if the strain of treating individuals with mental-health problems had become too much.

Jamie rose from humble pastry chef to television star by catching the eye of producers during a documentary about the River Café,where he was working at the time. His onscreen charisma meant he featured heavily in the finished documentary; the offers came flooding in, and so The Naked Chef was born. Jamie’s passion shone through and drew in a younger audience. Cooking became cool! Here is the intimate story behind the devoted husband and father of two, television celebrity, political animal, and talented chef.

In the late 1970s, criminal mastermind John Milligan and his associates conspired to import heroin into Far North Queensland via a remote mountaintop airdrop. In a story that is stranger than fiction, it took them three trips through dense jungle to locate the heroin, but they only recovered one of the two packages. When narcotics Agent John Shobbrook took on the investigation of this audacious crime, codenamed 'Operation Jungle', his career was on the rise within the Federal Bureau of Narcotics.

Toni Lamond has lived and breathed show business all her life and has had a distinguished career in TV, cabaret and the musical stage. Born to an Australian show-business dynasty, Toni's career began at age 10 singing on the radio and touring with her parents' variety shows and has since encompassed musical comedy, straight plays, recordings, film and cabaret.

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.

A groundbreaking book exploring the breadth of history of recorded music by and for the LGBT community and how those records influenced the evolution of the music we listen to today. From Sia to Elton John, from Billie Holiday to David Bowie, LGBT musicians have changed the course of modern music. But before their music - and the messages behind it - gained understanding and a place in the mainstream, how did the queer musicians of yesteryear fight to build foundations for those who would follow them?

Albert Black, known as the 'jukebox killer', was only 20 when he was convicted of murdering another young man in a fight at a milk bar in Auckland on 26 July 1955. His crime fuelled growing moral panic about teenagers, and he was to hang less than five months later, the second-to-last person to be executed in New Zealand. But what really happened? Was this a love crime, was it a sign of juvenile delinquency? Or was this dark episode in our recent history more about our society's reaction to outsiders?

Tom's lyrical, candid prose roams from an intimate relationship with a particular cove on the south coast, to meditations on his great-grandmother, and a lesson on what goes into the mapping of hills themselves. Because a good walk in the hills is never just about the hills: you never know where it might lead.

Ted is the quintessential bush storyteller, he has rubbed shoulders with some of the best-known and least-known of his countrymen and women, and in Outback Songman, Ted Egan recounts the story of his rich and extraordinary life. Born to a working-class family in Melbourne's Coburg, he has never had a music lesson. Nonetheless, he has composed some of the first original songs about Australian history and ethos, many of which are now classics.

In Craft for a Dry Lake, Kim Mahood embarks on an extraordinary journey to her heartland - the outback of her youth. Compelled to revisit the haunts of her childhood by the tragic death of her father, Kim seeks to lay his ghost to rest, but instead finds herself faced with many of her own. Her adventures are interwoven with the echoes of childhood memories and peopled by an intriguing cast of outback characters.