Showing results by narrator "Natasha Beaumont" in All Categories

Teacher and former rugby league player Chris Dawson appeared to have it all - a loving family and a beautiful home in Sydney's Northern Beaches. But in the summer of 1982 his wife Lynette disappeared and not long afterwards Dawson married a much younger woman, a former student. Less than a decade later this young woman escaped the marriage and went to the police to record her suspicions that Dawson had been involved in Lynette's disappearance. A homicide investigation followed but got nowhere until 1998, when Detective Sergeant Damian Loone was handed Lynette's file.

In the summer of 1912, a workman's pickaxe strikes through the basement floor of an old tenement house in Cheapside, London, uncovering a cache of unimaginably valuable treasure that quickly disappears again. Present day. When respected jewellery historian Kate Kirby receives a call about the Cheapside jewels, she knows she's on the brink of the experience of a lifetime. As Kate peels back the layers of London's stories of plague, fire and political turmoil, she is forced to explore long-buried family secrets.

In 1838 Englishwoman Elizabeth Gould - wife of celebrated ornithologist John Gould - made a trailblazing tour of Australia to collect and illustrate our curious birdlife. Inspired by real-life letters and weaving the discovery of some of the country's unique species with her own personal journey, The Birdman's Wife is an intimate memoir about the struggles and demands of art, the needs of children and what it's like to live with an ambitious and demanding genius.

When single mother Alex flees her abusive relationship and moves with her teenage son and baby girl to a rural ecovillage, she thinks she’s made the best decision of her life. Pine Ridge is idyllic: the off-grid lifestyle and remote location are perfect, and the community is welcoming. Charmed by its magnetic founder and the beauty of the former farmland, Alex settles easily into her new home. But her arrival at Pine Ridge disturbs barely submerged secrets, and she’s shaken by a series of eerily familiar events that seem to be connected to the abandoned farmhouse on the hill.

Adrift in outer space, a motley crew of human-made objects tell their tales, making real history sweeter and stranger. Starman, a lovelorn mannequin orbiting the Sun in his cherry-red car, pines for his creator. The first sculpture ever taken to the Moon is possessed by the spirit of Neil Armstrong. The International Space Station, awaiting deorbit and burial in a spacecraft cemetery beneath the ocean, farewells its last astronauts. A team of tamponauts sets off on a perilous mission to Mars inspired by the courage of their predecessors.

Inspired by Melanie Dimmitt’s own crash-landing into special-needs parenthood, and shaped by her conversations with parents of children with wide-ranging disabilities, alongside specialists and researchers, Special shares real stories and expert guidance to soothe anyone whose life has taken an unexpected turn.

In this disarming and gently self-deprecating collection of vignettes about ageing, Lily Brett gives us snapshots of her everyday life in New York. After waving enthusiastically to a tall, grey-haired woman she has mistaken for her husband and avoiding a large dog that turns out to be a fire hydrant, Lily has to concede that her ophthalmologist is right: she does need cataract surgery.

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.

To lose one husband may be regarded as a misfortune; to lose both looks like murder. In New South Wales in 1888, Louisa Collins was sentenced to hang after being tried multiple times for the alleged murders of her two husbands. The testimony of her young daughter helped to decide her fate. This clever and compelling novel recreates Louisa’s time in her Darlinghurst prison cell as she reflects on her life and on the grief and loss that delivered her to this place.

In a hotel room on a sleepy Pacific island, Judy Novak waits. And worries. It isn’t the first time 29-year-old problem child Paulina has kept her mother waiting. But Judy can’t ignore the island’s jagged cliffs and towering pines - or the dread that Paulina has finally acted on her threats to take her own life. When Paulina’s body is discovered, Judy’s worst fears seem confirmed. Only, Paulina didn’t kill herself. She was murdered.

The Starlit Dancer is the enchanting bedtime story of Mabel, a girl whose love lights up the world! Buy now to discover the special secret of how, every night, she helps the stars shine bright. This quick uplifting story is ideal for 3- to 7-year-olds who love music, magic, and mystery. Stimulates the imagination and teaches gentle lessons about the power of love, unity, and harmony.