Showing results by publisher "Penguin Random House Australia Audio" in All Categories

All aboard the Scomo Express as our hero pulls back the lid on the life and times of one of history's great leaders and humbly serves up a steaming meat pie of everyman wisdom for the hungering masses. These are the unofficial chronicles of Scotty's first 18 months in his new role as head honcho of the largest marketing firm in the country - the Australian federal government - as it unfolded, completely devoid of any self-aggrandisement, doublespeak, sleight of hand or other dirty shenanigans played by the Opposition.

In 1995 in Kailua-Kona, Hawaii, seven-year-old Nainoa Flores is saved from drowning by a shiver of sharks. His family, struggling to make ends meet amidst the collapse of the sugar cane industry, hails his rescue as a sign of favour from ancient Hawaiian gods. But as time passes, this hope gives way to economic realities, forcing Nainoa and his siblings to seek salvation across the continental United States, leaving behind home and family.

The challenge of anxiety never tests you more than when you become a mother. From conceiving, to pregnancy, to birth and forever more, there are infinite reasons for your anxiety to be heightened. The impact on mothers isn't just the anxiety itself, it's the stop sign it seems to put up in front of you at almost every turn. Anxiety can stand in the way of living a rich, full and wonderful life and from fulfilling your potential personally, professionally and as a mother. But this doesn't have to be your reality.

John Mitchel, Irishman, lawyer, journalist, activist and politician, is a complex character. Charged with treason in Ireland and tried by an English judge, he was snuck off mainland Ireland on the day he was charged to avoid a breakout and rebellion. He was transported initially to Bermuda, then to South Africa and then to Van Diemen's Land where as an Irishman he was supported by many and given a ticket of leave. He soon became a farmer and activist and was eventually secreted out of Australia to the USA, where it was felt he could be more active for the Irish cause.

As the pearling ships return to Bannin Bay after a long diving season, 20-year-old Eliza Brightwell nervously awaits the arrival of her father's boat. But when his lugger finally limps in, it brings with it a tale of tragedy: Charles Brightwell, master pearler, has gone missing at sea. Immediately, whispers from the townsfolk point to mutiny or murder, but headstrong Eliza knows her father; she is sure he is still alive. As the Bay swelters under the heat of the approaching wet season, it falls to Eliza to seek out the truth behind her eccentric father's disappearance.

Callie March is fascinated by human absurdity, including the habits of the upper class. So when she bribes her screen-addicted teenage son to join a local rowing club, she is thrilled to discover a whole new world of odd behaviours, irrational obsessions and riverside rooting. Thrust into a support crew and a very silly uniform, Callie has inadvertently volunteered for a season of pre-dawn parenting, endless fundraising and a whole lot of pandering to insufferable dickheads. But she also finds friendship, intrigue, lust and Harry Styles, while her son finds his first (illuminating) love.

Two teammates get off on the wrong foot . . . but might just stumble into love. Theo Bestavros did everything right.He worked hard, got his game-winning moment and - failed. He's determined to make the most of a second chance at the Brunswick Falcons. Jake Cunningham has it all. He's a Falcons fan-favourite, a constant headline, and has no intention of being the first AFL player to come out.

In the summer of 1976 it's picking season on an Australian stone-fruit orchard run by Celia, a hardworking woman in her early 40s. Years ago, when her husband was killed as a bystander in an armed robbery, Celia left the city and brought her newborn daughter, Zoe, to this farm for a secure life. Now 16, Zoe is a passionate, intelligent girl, chafing against her mother's protectiveness, yearning to find intensity and a bit of danger.

On a brilliant autumn's day, Mr Walker arrives at the grandest hotel in town. While things get off to a wobbly start, this charming labrador is determined to put his best paw forward. And it's just as well because the most unexpected adventures await. The audiobook edition of The Tales of Mr Walker contains eight delightful stories inspired by the real-life Mr Walker, a Guide Dog Ambassador who now calls Park Hyatt Melbourne home. Royalties from sales of this audiobook go to Guide Dogs Victoria.

Angus Mooney is in a dark place: the afterlife. His days are spent in aching embarrassment; god, religion, the supernatural—he was wrong about everything. Now, obsessing about the wife he left behind, Gracie, he watches from the other side as she is seduced by his killer, who has stepped seamlessly into Mooney's life. Meanwhile, life after death isn't all it's cracked up to be.

What lessons might cancer teach him before it finishes him off? Peter Goldsworthy asks, obliquely. A GP of forty years' practice, as well as one of Australia's most awarded and celebrated writers, Goldsworthy ('Doctor Pete' to his patients) brings his characteristic black humour and storytelling power to the tale of his own cancer journey. Accidentally diagnosed after a scan of his dicky knee, he was thrown into a world that he knew only too well from the other side: a world that soon shrank to hospital visits, sleepless and hyped-up nights on dexamethasone and life-saving chemotherapy.

Liv Winsome, working mother of three sons, wife to decent if distracted Duncan, is overwhelmed. And losing her hair. Her doctor has told her she needs to slow down, do less. Focus on what's important. After Jai, one of her 14-year-old twins, is involved in a sexting scandal, Liv realises things need to change, and fast. Inspired by the pop-psychology books she devours, she writes a nine-page list of everything she does to keep the family afloat and she delegates.

Since their bitter divorce, Lisa and Rolf have forged new and separate lives. Rolf has moved out of Beacon Bay, while Lisa has remained in the tiny tropical town, a pillar of her community. When a cyclone brings a massive tree smashing into Lisa's roof - into the home Rolf built and where they raised their family - their son, Dave, convinces Rolf that he must do the repairs. Tensions abound when Rolf arrives with glamorous stage star Renata, along with a pretty young publicist who stirs up complications for Dave and his new restaurant.

In 2000, Rebekah Robertson gave birth to twin boys, George and Harry. But as they grew older, their preferences began to show, and by the age of three it was clear Georgie was drawn to anything that was pretty or had a skirt that could swirl. Before long Georgie began to insist that she was a girl and became distressed that she had to hide who she really was when she started school. Soon the bullying started, and she would come home in floods of tears, begging her mother to help her.

In their youth, lovebirds Elizabeth and Ray had to fight to be together. Their future was full of promise and, blessed with children and careers, their happiness complete. But a twist of fate changed their lives forever. Now in her 60s, Elizabeth is desperately lonely. She rarely sees her two adult sons and her closest friend is a talkative budgie. But when her grandson, Zach, gets into trouble with the police, she decides to take him on a road trip to find his grandfather, her lost love Ray, in the hope of mending their broken family.

Nicole and Samantha Cooper both remember the summer day when their mother, Tina, lost control of their car - but not in quite the same way. It is only after Tina's death, almost four decades later, that the sisters are forced to reckon with the repercussions of the crash. Nicole, after years of sabotaging her own happiness, seems finally content but still can't get through to her sister. And Samantha is hiding something that might just tear apart the life she's worked so hard to build for herself.

Marina and her husband, Jacob, were each born on a kibbutz in Israel. They meet years later at a university in California, when Jacob is a successful psychiatrist with a young son, Ben, from a disastrous marriage. The family moves to a brownstone in Harlem, formerly a convent inhabited by elderly nuns. Outside the house one day Marina encounters Constance, a young refugee from Rwanda, and her toddler, Gabriel. Unmoored and devastated, Constance and Gabriel quickly come to depend on Marina, and her bond with the little boy intensifies.

Oli Darling is a queer artist from the country - it says so right at the top of every press release. His art has brought him fame, money, fashionable substance abuse issues and only a little imposter syndrome. But then he goes on live TV and says the one thing that can get a rich white guy cancelled. With his reputation in tatters, nobody is buying Oli's schtick or his art. That's a problem for all the people who've invested millions in him. Powerful, dangerous people. To save his own skin, Oli will need to restore his public image.

Brittany Hockley and Laura Byrne, former Bachelor finalists and hosts of the number-one podcast Life Uncut, have bumbled their way through it all. And they're here to make you feel a little less alone in the chaos. Through interviewing the experts, dispensing advice and tackling questions about love and life—both big and small—on Life Uncut, Laura and Britt have created a community of open-hearted and supportive women. Now they've distilled their most trusted and true advice into a book that's as much about romance as it is about loving ourselves.

Marco should be at university, studying biomedicine. Instead, he's been sent to live on a cruise ship in the Mediterranean with his estranged uncle, all because of a 'blip' everyone else is convinced was a panic attack. (Which it most definitely was not.) And even though Marco's trip is supposed to provide answers - about himself, about his family - all he finds on board the Ocean Melody are more and more questions. But then his best friend CeCe proposes a new plan: for someone who has always done the right thing, in every possible way, it's time for Marco to get a few things wrong.