Showing results by narrator "Fiona MacLeod" in All Categories

Emily Webb, co-host of the popular Australian True Crime podcast, details chilling cases of murder and crime that have happened in the quiet streets of Australia's suburbs. Featuring contemporary cases as well as some shocking historical murders you've probably never heard of, Suburban True Crime proves you shouldn't say 'it could never happen here'. This collection of cases that are hard to believe, except they really happened—and all in the streets and homes of the Australia many of us know and live. The suburbs.

Vera De Rossi no longer believes in love...and thanks to her ex-boyfriend­, she's also broke, jobless, and staring down the barrel of a court case that could land her in prison. Turning to her talent for baking, Vera opens a cafe in Hanrahan, a cozy tourist town in the foothills of the Snowy Mountains. Josh Cody, once Hanrahan's golden boy, escaped 16 years ago with gossip hard on his heels and a pregnant girlfriend in tow. Now he's back: a qualified veterinarian - and a single dad with a lot to prove

After the violent death of her husband, Callie Jones retreats to a cottage in the grounds of an old mansion in Tasmania. The relative remoteness of the place and the wild beauty of the Tasmanian landscape are a balm to her shattered nerves, and the locals seem friendly, particularly horseman Connor Atherton and his siblings at the nearby property, Calico Lodge. But all is not well: The old mansion has a sinister past, one associated with witchcraft and murder.

They say a change is as good as a holiday. Joey Miles is hoping so after leaving the city behind, his stockbroking career in flames, to embrace a brand-new challenge: farming. But while returning to his hometown somehow feels right, he's got a long way to go to get back on his feet financially and the last thing he needs is the townsfolk meddling in his love life (or lack thereof).

Noosa Heads, 1987: Newly divorced Cynthia has returned to her home town from Los Angeles to reconnect with her 19-year-old daughter, who is pregnant and determined not to listen to her mother's advice. Cynthia's former best friend, Lorraine, has been stuck mowing lawns as part of a business she shares with her husband - his dream, not hers. When Cynthia convinces Lorraine to join the local Sunshine Gardening Society, they meet young widow Elizabeth, and rootless, heartbroken Kathy.

Being thirty-something, broke, divorced and in a cold war with her ten-year-old son is a lot, but Jo's handling it. Just. At least she is until her job at the Natural History Museum is put in jeopardy. An invitation to dig up dinosaur bones on a remote Queensland sheep station arrives at just the right time. It's not her first trip to Yindi Creek, but it's not as though anyone will remember her from fifteen years ago ... And by anyone, of course, she means the pilot she had that fling with. The fling that taught her she's far safer sticking to science.

The road to love is a rutted dirt track for the other vet from Snowy River ... An unmissable, funny, feel-good romance from the author of The Vet From Snowy River, Stella Quinn.

With its old-world glamour, sprawling seaside grounds and air of possibility, the Duchess Hotel might just be the place to help four women rediscover who they are and bring some spark back to their lives. When Joan decides to pick up a brush and start painting for the first time in decades, she inspires Frances and Kirrily - and, eventually, Alison - to join her. Over canvas, conversation and creativity they will learn that you should always hold onto your dreams and that new friends can give you the courage to live life on your own terms.

Kylie Summer loves her hometown in the Snowies, and life would be wonderful if only her workshop would turn a profit (she's broke) and Hanrahan would recover from its shortage of eligible blokes (unlikely). But then an arrogant city lawyer turns up. Is he in Hanrahan to stay? Not at all. He's charming and he's good-looking but he's a bad decision waiting to happen. If only he didn't make her feel so ... wonderful.

Books bring them together - but friendship will transform all of their lives. Five very different women come together in the Northern Territory of the 1970s, by an exceptional new Australian author. In 1978 the Northern Territory has begun to self-govern. Cyclone Tracy is a recent memory and telephones not yet a fixture on the cattle stations dominating the rugged outback. Life is hard, and people are isolated. But they find ways to connect.

Women's brain health is no longer a niche topic. Neuroscience is uncovering answers to questions women have pondered for generations - demystifying everything from puberty, periods, contraception, pregnancy, sex and love to menopause, hormone therapy and dementia. Understanding how the brain is shaped by genetics, hormones and life experiences is vital for women to maintain their health and embrace their unique strengths at every stage of life.

Sex workers in 19th-century Melbourne were judged morally corrupt by the respectable world around them. But theirs was a thriving trade, with links to the police and political leaders of the day, and the leading brothels were usually managed by women. While today a popular bar and a city lane are famously named after Madame Brussels, the identities of the other ‘flash madams’, the ‘dressed girls’ who worked for them and the hundreds of women who solicited on the streets of the Little Lon district of Melbourne are not remembered.

For many years, Newcastle was the centre of an extensive paedophile network run by members of the Anglican church – and protected by parishioners and community members who looked the other way. In this gripping audiobook, Anne Manne reveals how this network was able to avoid detection for so long, and how its ringleaders were finally exposed and brought to justice. At the centre of the story is a survivor, Steve Smith, who endured years of childhood abuse but refused to be silenced.

Alexandra Collier was a writer living in a light-filled Brooklyn brownstone in New York with the man she loved. But when she woke up to a ravenous hunger to have a baby that her partner didn't share, she had to make a choice between love or a future family. From defying her family's expectations to searching for sperm and navigating pregnancy alone, Ally deftly takes us through the ecstatic, complicated and demanding path to becoming a solo mother by choice.

Students from an elite girls' school go on a camping trip into the Australian bush. Four of them—a girl gang, a group of best friends dubbed 'The Cins' by the teachers—become separated from the main group. A male teacher volunteers to look for them. None of the five come back. A major search immediately gets underway. Days crawl past, agonisingly, with no sign of the girls or their teacher.

The chilling true story of the heinous murder of Karlie Pearce-Stevenson and daughter Khandalyce and how the case was cracked. How did two girls go missing for seven years and nobody noticed? In August 2010, dirt bike riders discovered human bones in the notorious Belanglo State Forest, where Ivan Milat had so cruelly tortured and slain seven young backpackers. The remains were those of a young woman, who the police dubbed 'Angel' after a T-shirt emblazoned with the word 'Angelic' that was found near the body.

Four favorite Australian authors present a heartwarming collection of festive stories about finding love on the farm this Christmas.

Margaret Bryce, deceased mother of twins, has been having a hard time since dying in 2014. These days she spends time with her daughters - Eva in Madrid, and Rachel and her family in Melbourne - and her estranged husband, Henry, in Aberdeen. Mostly she enjoys the experience of revisiting the past, but she's tiring of the seemingly random events to which she repeatedly bears witness. There must be something more to life, she thinks. And death.

One coin for love, one for marriage, one to return to Rome. Two days ago, Lara Foxleigh tossed three gold euros into the Trevi Fountain. Now, she is caring for a cranky old man and living in a picturesque villa...half a world away from her home and the concerns of her loving family. Soon, it seems as if those wishes she made in Rome just might be coming true, and she may even be able to help heal a 15-year-old tragedy. Until Lara's past threatens to destroy everything she loves....

Four new festive rural stories from favourite Australian authors about the country practices at the heart of these small towns.