Showing results by narrator "Jo Van Es" in All Categories

Thirteen-year-old Audrey is a talented young football player. But does she want to play for Australia or does she just want to please her father, Ben, whose own thwarted sporting career looms large in his ambitions for his daughter? Audrey's mother, Jonica, doesn't know whether to be more concerned about her anxious daughter, her overbearing husband, or the only other girl on the team, Katerina, who is causing trouble on and off the field.

Audrey Mendes is a clever lawyer but has never made partner. Her weeks are filled with long hours in the office, visits to her ageing parents, trivia nights at the local and evenings at home with her pet rabbit, Joni. When Audrey tries to buy wine at the pub she is ignored and walks out without paying. One thing leads to another, and soon she starts rebelling in small and creative ways against a world in which she is unseen - until a painful reminder from her childhood pushes her into a reckoning.

Voice memos, care packages, hours-long phone conversations, treasured traditions that go back decades, glasses held aloft during wedding toasts, hands held at funerals, first cuddles with newborns, work lunches with work wives, taking it to the group chat – our friendships touch and enrich every part of our lives. But how often do we stop to consider them deeply?

Kerstin is childless by choice and married to her job when Gianni, a charming Italian, turns her life into a champagne-colored fairy tale. Soon after their runaway wedding, Gianni is diagnosed with cancer and Kerstin becomes his dedicated carer. But when she discovers that he has been cheating on her all through their relationship, she is faced with a difficult choice: walk away, or continue to care for the man who betrayed her.

Through her personal quest for a better way of being, author and respected journalist Christine Jackman seeks out the best ways to regain clarity and peace of mind in a busy and noisy world. For centuries, wise men and women have sought silence to gain insight and creative inspiration. Now the modern world is catching up. Is neuroscience finally proving that the mystics, monks and medicine men were onto something?

Do you find yourself at a crossroads in your life? Do you want to make a switch in your career? Are you wondering what next? You are not alone. In this user-friendly book, career coach Annie Stewart guides you through the changes you can implement to move towards passion and purpose. In seven simple yet profound steps, Career to Calling: How to Make the Switch outlines how you can find and follow your calling and overcome the fears that are so often in the way of success.

The Secret of Half-Arsed Parenting is a practical and entertaining antidote to the extreme stress of modern parenting. It pokes fun at the unrealistic goals and expectations thrust on parents today, and offers a way to raise kids with less pressure, less guilt, less stress and fewer cupcakes baked at midnight. It's not about doing a bad job. It's about recognising that parents don't have to be perfect.

When Felicity Harley, founding editor of Women's Health magazine and whimn.com.au, felt really out of kilter, she started talking to other women about their feelings of being overwhelmed. The floodgates opened. Turns out her girlfriends, colleagues and other mums at the school gate had also been drowning in feminist guilt while trying to keep everything afloat, plagued by perfectionism, riddled with doubt, ruled by screens and hurtling towards burnout. As we juggle the roles of partner, boss, friend, mother and employee (plus a side hustle), balance has never been more crucial.

In Terror to Triumph, 12 domestic violence survivors describe the terror they experienced and the additional challenges they encountered from a system that was supposed to help them. Most importantly, they tell of the practical steps they have taken - physically, emotionally, psychologically, and spiritually - to journey from darkness to light and build new lives. They tell of continued recovery, and how they have reclaimed self to reach a sense of triumph.

Estranged sistes—Eva and Elisabeta Novak—have not spoken since Eva’s young daughter, Gracie, was killed in a road accident. More than a decade later, and long after Eva has moved overseas, Elizabeta calls, insisting that Eva return home. But when Eva arrives at her sister’s house, she discovers that Elizabeta is dead. Eva finds that she has been appointed the executor of Elizabeta’s estate, and as she undertakes the monumental task of clearing out the house, she comes to know her sister again through the objects and documents that she encounters.

Could the classic Cinderella story be encoded with an inspiring story of a girl's personal transformation? Could we have missed the hidden gems that reveal a story we all wished we knew? George Helou reveals a hidden story of the classic version of Cinderella to show how Ella underwent a remarkable change of mind. Ella moved beyond exploitation, bullying, and disillusionment by becoming aware of her personal need for love and respect and the important role of her dignity.