Showing results by publisher "Bolinda Publishing Pty Ltd" in Literature & Fiction

Barely five feet tall, suicidally courageous, obsessed with tigers, and sexually eccentric, Mabel Stark was the greatest female tiger trainer in history. Clad in her leather suits and married five times, she was the Mae West of tiger taming. In the 1910s and 1920s, when circus was the most popular entertainment in America, Mabel Stark was the biggest attraction for the Ringling Brothers Barnum & Bailey circus.

The week before Christmas, 1929, Eoghan O'Keenan loses his factory job, and has to flee the slums of Chippendale with his seven-year-old sister Agnes. On the north side of Sydney at Lavender Bay, Olivia Greene is working on her latest millinery creations and dreaming of becoming the next Coco Chanel. A job on the Harbour Bridge for Eoghan, designing couture for the Governor's wife for Olivia, and a chance meeting in the Botanic Gardens sees the beginning of an unconventional romance.

Wild Cat Falling is the story of an Aboriginal youth, a 'bodgie' of the early sixties who grows up on the ragged outskirts of a country town, falls into petty crime, goes to gaol, and comes out to do battle once more with the society who put him there.Its publication in 1965 marked a unique literary event, for this was the novel from the Aboriginal community to be published in Australia.

Lucy Nolan is the golden girl. The only daughter of local grocers, Sally and Mike Nolan, she's grown up in a home of total love and security. The one thing her heart desires is that Jack Hanson might ask her to marry him, and when he does eventually propose, Lucy is prepared to give up everything to be with him—even though it means leaving her beloved parents to live abroad where Jack has been offered an exciting business opportunity. But then, almost on the eve of the marriage itself, tragedy strikes.

Yorkshire, 1923. Sonny Cowgill is slowly regaining his memory. He was declared missing in action in the First World War, presumed dead. But Sonny’s beloved wife Rachel found him and brought him home. As he rebuilds his relationship with his wife and learns how to be a father to the son he never knew he had, memories begin to resurface. Sonny remembers something that the Cowgill family thought lost forever – the whereabouts of his eldest brother.

The marriage of Marcia and Curt Ratheter seems idyllically happy. As much in love now as on their wedding day, nothing can mar their joy. But one fateful day in 1931, Curt disappears, leaving Marcia her two daughters bereft. Then Barty Bendall admits his love to Marcia. Desperately trying to forget the past, Marcia moves to Blackburn with him, but soon Barty sinks into bad ways, tyrannising the family. He particularly focuses his aggression on Polly, Curt and Marcia’s first-born, blonde as an angel but afflicted since birth with an ominous shadow over her health.

When lawyer Daniel Connell receives a visit from his troublemaking old flame, Victoria, pleading for his help, he looks for any excuse not to get involved. But no one else believes her pleas of innocence, and Daniel can see she is terrified. As he enters Vick's life once more, Daniel's search for truth leads from the dark heart of Essex to the mountains of Afghanistan and a terrifying world where monsters are real - and nothing is sacred.

Fiery and ambitious, brilliant architect Francey Spinetti is a young woman on her way to the top. When wealthy magnate CJ Ambrose introduces her to his vast North Queensland business empire and a career-scarred local cop, Steve Parish, everything seems to be falling into place, including her love life. But the harsh outback landscape holds more secrets than Francey could possibly have imagined, and more enemies too. CJ's family seem determined to eliminate Francey from the picture—whatever the cost.

Remi Victoire grew up in a theatre troupe based in Paris after being abandoned by his mother. He has a good heart but is a womaniser and a drunkard. His faithful best friend is Pascal, who shares with Remi the experiences of the theatre trouple. Saskia is a Prussian contortionist who joins the two men on their storytelling journeys. They - along with the other young members of the theatre company - are the ‘lost children’, caught up in the trials and tribulations of a chaotic period of war and peace, which also marks the transition from oral to written storytelling.

Rescuing the subject from dry abstractions, Clare Connors focuses on the real questions that emerge when we read and study literature - such as how we find meaning and how literature relates to its historical context - before exploring the response of theorists. Using selections from works including poetry by Christina Rossetti and Annie Proulx's Brokeback Mountain, Connors unites theory with practice, revealing how enjoyable it is to think about reading.

A superbly written novel offering an intriguing interpretation of one of the world's greatest aviators, the glamorous and mysterious Jean Batten. Jean Batten became an international icon in the 1930s. A brave, beautiful woman, she made a number of heroic solo flights across the world. The newspapers couldn't get enough of her, yet she suddenly slipped out of view, disappearing to the Caribbean with her mother and dying in obscurity in Majorca, buried in a pauper's grave.

By the Sunday Times best-selling author of The Lie. Forbidden love, intimate betrayal and the devastating power of exposure drive Helen Dunmore's remarkable new title. London, November 1960: the Cold War is at its height. Spy fever fills the newspapers, and the political establishment knows how and where to bury its secrets. When a highly sensitive file goes missing, Simon Callington is accused of passing information to the Soviets and arrested.

Cate Perry’s future couldn’t look brighter. She’s learning about life on the land, and has just completed her first solo flight over the vast Northern Territory cattle station she calls home. And she’s falling in love - with handsome, gentle Alf. Then a tragic freak accident changes Cate’s life forever. Grief and shame drive her to Tamworth, where she meets the talented Nat and quickly stumbles into a singing career. But fame begins to take its toll and, just when Cate least expects it, Alf steps back into her life. Will Alf and Cate face up to their feelings, or forever live with the consequences?

The irrepressible Russell "Buffy" Buffery has upped sticks from London and moved to Knockton, Powys, to a B&B inherited from an old flame. With his future spread before him, and a string of failed marriages behind him, Buffy decides it's time for a new challenge. Meanwhile: Harold's wife has run off with a younger woman leaving him alone with his as-yet-unwritten novel narrated by Mary Pickford's cat; Amy's weedy boyfriend has turned out to be not so needy after all; and Andy's partner's corset-and-suspender-clad attempts at seduction are having anything but the desired effect.

The Suez Canal, 1956. The world teeters on the brink of nuclear war and the Middle East is a tinderbox. Conversely, redeemed archaeologist Benedict Hitchens is enjoying a peaceful existence after years in the professional and personal wilderness. His recent discoveries in western Turkey secured him a place in history, and the smart thing to do would be to ignore his growing fear that Britain, France and Israel's imminent invasion of Egypt to liberate the Suez Canal is only a diversion. Ben suspects the truth is that malevolent forces are in search of an ancient treasure.

If you think the Olympics are fantastic, just wait till you read about the incredible achievements of the animal kingdom. In this world there are even prizes for coming dead last! Guess Who’s Coming for Dinner - A tummy-rumbling look at what’s on nature’s menu. Learn all about the wacky things some animals eat and the extraordinary ways they find food to fill their bellies.

Carl Strassberger’s comfortable life in the south of France is shattered when his brother-in-law Larry Lucas, the heir to the family banking business, suddenly vanishes after landing a multi-million-dollar deal. Investigating Larry’s disappearance, Carl uncovers a sinister travel company that helps wealthy, unhappy clients disappear to a new life. But Carl fears Larry is dead – or worse.

Yorkshire, 1878. Young, ambitious and in love, Albert Cowgill’s life is finally beginning in earnest. At just 23, he has already been made partner at Haigh, Ackroyd & Cowgill – the best wool business in the city. He’s also just laid eyes on the prettiest girl he ever saw, Hannah Ackroyd. Romance soon blossoms for Albert and Hannah, and they marry and set up home in Scarborough. But before long, clouds gather over Number 1, Byland Crescent. Within a year, Albert’s family begins to disintegrate.

Nell Reece has never known her mother, and her father's burden of guilt about his wife has kept him cowed for years, working as a common labourer on his sister's farm. For all her aunt's spiteful attempts to break Nell's independent spirit, she has never succeeded. But now Nell, pregnant and alone, is forced to leave behind the men in her life, believing she might never be able to return. With little but the clothes she wears, she travels across the Bedfordshire countryside of 1890. When she encounters a scruffy urchin called Kit, she takes him under her wing.

Sydney, 1941: Olive and Ivy may be identical twins, but they couldn’t be more different. While Olive is focused on marrying a man appropriate to her station, Ivy wants to do more, to be more. Joining the Australian Women’s Army Service is the perfect chance for her to escape her family obligations and make a real difference in the world. She doesn’t expect serving her country to lead to romance...or devastating betrayal and unthinkable grief. Sydney, 2008: Escaping her husband’s betrayal and an impossible personal loss, Madeline returns home to Sydney to nurse her broken heart.