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

Gabrielle has inherited the ability to change the colour of her skin from her mother, Tallulah. They guard their power carefully within the walls of a home that's been bleached completely white. This is the doing of Gabrielle's father, Robert. After battling his executive-level colleagues all day at the office as a man of colour, he needs everything in his house to be white - including his wife and daughter.

Atticus Van Tasticus is back. And this time he means business. Having escaped certain disaster on the high seas, he's on the scent of treasure. Then the call comes from above: 'Ship ahoy, Captain, ship ahoy!' If only it were good news, which of course it ain't. Vicious, mean and mighty unclean Bjorn Ironhead is on the warpath - and Atticus and his crew are in his sights. Stay and fight, or run and hide? But where do you hide a pirate ship, and who's this Captain Half Map, and, most of all, where's that treasure of treasures?

A distant land. A dangerous husband. A forbidden love. It is 1912, and Maisie Porter stands on the deck of the SS Oceanic as England fades from view. Her destination is Buccaneer Bay in Australia's far northwest. Her purpose: marriage to her cousin Maitland, a wealthy pearling magnate - and a man she has never met. Also on board is William Cooper, the Royal Navy's top man. Following a directive from the Australian government, he and 11other 'white' divers have been hired to replace the predominantly Asian pearling crews.

When a body is found buried near the desolate forest road of Kellers Way, Detective Melanie Carter must identify the victim if she is to have any chance of finding the killer. That's no easy task with fragmentary evidence from a crime committed years earlier and a conspiracy of silence from anyone who might have information. The one person who may be able to help is Julie West.

Perched high on the snowy slopes of the Mabombo Ranges lies The Grandest Hotel on Earth. It's wilder than the African savanna, more fantastical than Disneyland and more magical than Shangri-la. So when ordinary 11-year-old Vincent meets the hotel's young Florence, he sets off on a path leading into his most wondrous dreams. But, of course, dreams have a funny way of taking strange and surprising turns, and, before long, Vincent is torn between right and wrong, friendship and family and the most enticing of desires—to see into the future.

The son of first-generation Tongan immigrants, Hau drew on the legacy of his name (meaning 'King') to become one of the nation's most influential musical artists. But the best stories often come from the humblest beginnings. A promising junior rugby player, Hau decided in his teens to trade in the footy boots for Hammer pants, soaking up every bar and breakbeat of the new sound and culture exploding out of urban America: DJ Kool Herc and LL Cool J, mix-tapes and graffiti, velour Kangols and Beat Street.

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.

On the evening of September 22, 1998, three teenage girls venture out for a night of mischief in the coastal town of Blairgowrie. But only two return. For over 20 years the disappearance of 15-year-old Cecilia May remains a baffling cold case - until human bones are discovered on an isolated beach. Now it's up to Detective Emmett Corban and his team to dig up decades of trauma, and find the missing piece of an investigation that's as complex as it is tragic.

'The only way to comprehend this tragic story of mine is to write it.' On the 10th of February 2017, there was a sentencing hearing for murder in the Victorian Supreme Court. The young woman in the dock, who sat quietly with her hands in her lap, had perfect skin and light-brown hair tied back as neatly as a private school prefect's. When the judge asked her to confirm her plea, the young woman answered in a clear and polite voice. 'Guilty, Your Honour.' That killer is Mary K. Pershall's beloved daughter, Anna. She is 28 years old, tall and beautiful, with an effervescent wit and a university degree in psychology. She also hears the voices of demons.

With the Map of Half Maps finally in the hands of Atticus and his crew, the rest should be easy, right? Wrong! Rattling skeletons, ghosts, monsters from the deep, killer sands and a boiling hot tub are just some of the obstacles between them and certain treasure!

Wafting around with his stinky best friend Burp, Fart couldn't be happier. But sometimes Burp wishes people wouldn't say "yuck" and "gross" and "pee-yew". Could being smelly ever be a force for good? A super stinker of a tale that proves anyone can be a hero. Listeners who loved Zoe Foster Blake's ABIA award-winning and best-selling No One Likes a Fart will love this companion book as Fart and Burp decide to make difference in the world whether people love them or not. They'll make some friends along the way and even get capes!

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.

Comedian Oliver Twist was four years old when he and his family fled the aftermath of genocide in Rwanda for Malawi, their exile for the next fourteen years. Twist has turned the turmoil he and his family endured into a thrilling adventure of a hero's journey. A natural born storyteller, propelled from the cold alleys of a Malawian refugee camp to the warm spotlight of the Australian stage, he vividly describes what it's like to leave your homeland behind and to have to wait your whole childhood for life to begin.

It's 2002. Britney and Justin are done. Low-rise jeans tyrannise the pants-wearing public. And Hector Singh, a 27-year-old eccentric, moderately talented yet extremely confident aspiring TV writer, is hell bent on 'making it' in LA. He's Puerto Rican and Indian but also post-race (or so he thinks) and he refuses to be intimidated by the Whites Only landscape of show business. But when his mother dies suddenly, Hector's grief turns into depression, triggering dark thoughts and a binge-eating disorder. With a series of implosions that threaten to sink his work and relationships, Hector unravels.

Despite coming out years ago, twenty-six-year-old Sean Preston has never been one to shout his sexuality from the rooftops. When his relationship of three months comes to a humiliating end, he vows never to become emotionally attached again, falling into a cycle of hook-ups, booze and an unrelenting gym routine. The rest of Sean's life isn't panning out how he hoped either.

Have you ever wondered if time travel is actually possible? Or where the Australian accent came from? Or what it feels like to have dementia? If you're an inquisitive person who likes to understand how things came to be the way they are, this collection of thought-provoking explainers from The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald has got you covered. Explain That answers some of the year's - and life's - most baffling questions.

When the lives of four very different women become entangled in a boutique Venice hotel, dark secrets unravel and not everyone who checked into the hotel will check out again. Set against a backdrop of the romance and tragedy of magical Venice, The Venice Hotel explores the powerful bonds that develop between women in times of crisis, and the healing power of female connection.

The island of Borneo was once the most heavily wooded in the world, and its people have always carved wood beautifully. In Killernova, grappling with his heritage, Omar Musa remixes this ancient art form with fiery poetry forged in the stars. With equal parts swagger, humour and vulnerability, Musa charts a journey through the colonial history of Southeast Asia, environmental destruction, bushfires, race in Australia, the isolation and addiction of COVID lockdown, family, lost love and, ultimately, recovery.

1901. Night draws in. With the stealth of a spy vessel, the royal ship Azizye approaches the famous vistas of Mingheria. 'An emerald build of pink stone.' The 29th state of the ailing Ottoman Empire. The ship carries Princess Pakize, the daughter of a deposed sultan, her doctor husband, and the Royal Chemist, Bonkowski Pasha. Each of them holds a separate mission. Not all of them will survive the weeks ahead. Because Mingheria is on the cusp of catastrophe. There are rumours of plague—rumours some in power will try to suppress. But plague is not the only killer.

Everline Blackthorn has devoted her life to the wardens - warriors who guard against monsters known as the vespertine. When a series of strange omens occur, Everline disobeys orders to investigate and uncovers a startling truth in the form of Ravel Severin: a rogue vespertine who reveals the monsters have secrets of their own. Ravel promises the help she needs - for a price. Vespertine magic requires blood, but it's a sin for a warden to feed a vespertine - let alone fall in love with one.