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

John Wood grew up in working-class Melbourne; when he failed out of high school, an employment officer told him, 'You have the mind of an artist and the body of a labourer.' And so John continued to pursue his acting dreams in amateur theatre, sustaining himself by working jobs as a bricklayer, a railway clerk and even in the same abattoir as his father. When he won a scholarship to NIDA, in Sydney, it moved John into a new and at times baffling world, full of extraordinary characters.

Cate Christie is a drifter, moving restlessly through her carefree youth until tragedy strikes, and her life is changed forever. She flees the city, seeking refuge at her great-aunt Ida's farm in the wheatfields of Western Australia. There she finds Henry, a swagman whose dark eyes and heavy heart hold secrets he's not willing to share. When Ida is no longer able to go on, Cate and Henry are put to the ultimate test. Together they must embrace the true meaning of family, community and love so they can lay their own ghosts to rest.

You have been given access to secret files buried deep within the archives. Disturbing stories never meant for the light of day. Stories of evil grandparents and unsettling homework. A string of deaths, seemingly unrelated. Walls squirm, as if alive. A cursed wish comes true. Ordinary people behave oddly, even family and your closest friends. These stories share a common fate. All the children are met with tragedy. Coincidence? Or could these nightmares be connected by something more sinister than you dare to imagine? A dark and chilling mystery awaits.

A response to the devastating 2019-20 bushfires, Animals Make Us Human both celebrates Australia’s unique wildlife and highlights its vulnerability. Writers and researchers reflect on their connection with animals and nature. They share moments of wonder and revelation from encounters in the natural world: seeing a wild platypus at play, an echidna dawdling across a bush track or the inexplicable leap of a thresher shark; watching bats take flight at dusk or birds making a home in the backyard; or following possums, gliders and owls into the dark.

Roman Quaedvlieg was always destined to make a mark. As a rookie policeman on the mean streets of Fortitude Valley in the dying days of the Moonlight State, his first arrest was Brisbane's most wanted escapee. Three decades later, he found himself navigating through the corridors of power in Canberra. Tour de Force charts the years in between, during which he truly sees it all.

Cassie Prince lives in a beautiful beach suburb with her successful husband Jon and their children Ellie and Danny. Life is perfect, right? Except now she's reached her mid-forties, she can't help wondering what happened to the fun-loving, sexy and accomplished woman she used to be. This isn't what was promised. She's panicking about ageing, bored in her marriage, exhausted by her demanding kids, and increasingly torn by news of her sick mother back in England. So Cassie does what she's always done - buries her feelings and ignores her problems (and does some more online shopping).

You wake up alone after an emergency caesarean, desperate to see your child. And when you are shown the small infant in the nursery, a terrible thought takes root: this baby is not your baby. No one believes you. Not the nurses, your father or even your own husband. They say you’re confused and delusional. Dangerous. But you’re a doctor - you know how easily mistakes can be made. It’s up to you to find your real child, your miracle baby, before it’s too late. With everyone against you, is it safe to trust your instincts? Or are memories from your past clouding your judgement? This can’t all be in your head...can it?

He was a murderer, swindler, bigamist and suspect in the Jack the Ripper killings. Frederick Deeming was also the most hated man in the world. Claiming to be haunted by the ghost of his dead mother, Deeming had spent years roaming the planet under various aliases, preying on the innocent, the gullible and the desperate. But the discovery by Australian police in 1892 of the body of one of his wives in a shallow concrete grave triggered one of the greatest manhunts in history and exposed a further series of grisly murders that stunned the Victorian era.

Fart is excited! He's desperate to make friends and have fun. But no one likes a fart. Not even a fart with a heart. Too smelly. Too embarrassing. Too gross. This enhanced edition of No One Likes A Fart is narrated by the author, Zoe Foster Blake, with supporting voices from Hamish Blake (aka Tooty McFluffson).

For a man who has been firmly in the public eye for the past decade or more, Matt Preston has been very, very quiet about his past and private life. There are reasons for this. Now, in Big Mouth, Matt opens up about his early years for the first time—the good and the bad, the tragic and the ecstatic. Like the man himself, it's a story that's joyous, funny and larger than life. It's also, perhaps unexpectedly, filled with pathos and emotional depth, set to a pulsating 1980s soundtrack.

Part biography, part forensic jigsaw puzzle, part cold-case detective investigation, The Eagle in the Mirror is the astonishing untold story of an Australian-born intelligence officer accused by some espionage experts of being the traitor of the century: Charles Howard 'Dick' Ellis. The longest serving spy for the British Secret Intelligence Service (MI6), Ellis helped set up the Office of Strategic Services (OSS), now known as the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), as well as the Australian Secret Intelligence Service (ASIS).

He fought Napoleon's army and survived. He was sent to the gallows and escaped the noose. Now he is in chains and on his way to the other side of the world. What happens next will become one of the most remarkable survival stories in history. The 19th century has just begun. The world is at war. England, ruled by a mad king, is exiling thousands of criminals to an old land that has become its newest dumping ground.

On a remote property in western NSW, eight-year-old Parker fears that something is wrong with his brain. His desperate attempts to control this internal chaos spark a series of events that gallop from his control in deadly and devastating ways. Years later, Parker, now a father himself, returns to the bushland he grew up in for a camping trip with old friends. When this reunion descends into chaos amid revelations of unresolved fear, guilt and violence, Parker must finally address the consequences of his childhood actions.

Drawing from the wide array of topics covered in their popular mental health podcast Minding Your Mind, psychiatrist Ian Hickie and broadcaster and author James O'Loghlin bring their signature compassion and curiosity, intelligence and humour, to this practical 'user's guide' to our evolving mind and selves. It takes an empowering, holistic approach to mental health, acknowledging that every season of life brings its own ups and downs, unique challenges and breakthroughs.

Seven years ago, Ben was loveless, overweight, in debt and living in his parents' rumpus room, trying to find a way to quietly die. Days passed by in a haze of marijuana smoke and self-loathing. Then, one day, Ben decided not to die. He decided to change everything—starting with the Ben bit. Becoming Cadance would be more than a gender transition. It would be a transition in every way. It would mean leaving behind a rural Mudgee childhood filled with Frogger, hot chips, Godliness and a forbidden love of Sarah Parker's My Little Pony.

In the brutal world of rugby league, Mark 'Spudd' Carroll is one of the most fearsome players to ever lace on a boot. An enforcer who would do everything in his power to ensure victory for his team - including a pre-game ritual of eating 16 potatoes, hence the nickname. Spudd is from a rugged era where, even if concussed, players climbed to their feet and threw themselves back into the fray. In stints with the Panthers, Rabbitohs and Sea Eagles, his search-and-destroy missions each weekend made his matches compulsory viewing.

I'm being hunted while trying to save a town that wants me dead. No one is safe from him. I know what I need to do to secure their safety, but I don't know if I can end him. My tormentor, my nemesis, the one who consumes me. He hurt me in so many ways, so why do I find myself wanting to save him?

Emma Cormac married into a perfect life, but now she's barely coping. Inside a brand-new, palatial home, her three young children need more than she can give. Clem, a wilful four-year-old, is intent on mimicking her grandmother, the formidable matriarch Pat Cormac. Arthur is almost three and still won't speak. At least baby Robbie is perfect. He's the future of the family. So why can't Emma hold him without wanting to scream? Beyond their gleaming windows, a lake vista is evaporating. The birds have mostly disappeared, too.

Careers in the cocaine-trafficking business are usually short. It's not only a dangerous profession, fraught with the possibility of capture and long jail sentences, but it can be deadly if the cartels get to you first. Not for Luis Antonio Navia. For 25 years the Cuban American smuggled hundreds of tons of white powder for the biggest cartels in Colombia and Mexico, including Pablo Escobar's Medellín Cartel.

It's winter in Melbourne, and Detective Emmett Corban is starting to regret his promotion to head of the Missing Persons Unit, as the routine reports pile up on his desk. So when Natale Gibson goes missing, he's convinced this is the big case he's been waiting for - the woman's husband and parents insist the devoted mother would never abandon her children, and her personal accounts remain untouched. But things aren't all they seem. The close-knit Italian family is keeping secrets - none bigger than the one Natale has been hiding.