AustLit

'Charles Kingsford Smith was the most commanding flyer of the golden age of aviation. In three short years, he broke records with his astounding and daring voyages: the first trans-Pacific flight from America to Australia, the first flight across the Tasman, the first non-stop crossing of the Australian mainland. He did it all with such courage, modesty and charm that Australia and the world fell in love with him. A tickertape parade was held in his honour on New York’s Fifth Avenue. At home, he became a national hero, ‘Our Smithy’.

'Yet his achievements belied a traumatic past. He had witnessed the horror of World War I – first as a soldier at Gallipoli, later as a combat pilot with the Royal Flying Corps – and, like so many of his generation, he bore physical and emotional scars. The public saw the derring-do; only those close to him knew the anxious, troubled individual who pushed himself to the edge of health and sanity.

'In November 1935, Kingford Smith’s plane crashed and he was lost at sea near Burma, his body never to be recovered. This brilliant work from one of Australia’s foremost biographers reveals the complicated, tumultuous life of a fascinating figure, who pursued his obsession to the greatest heights of fame and catastrophe.'

Source: Publisher's blurb.

'Melba: the story of an Australian girl who defied convention and became the most famous singer of her era.

'Growing up in Melbourne, Nellie Mitchell dreamed of fame, but her devout father disapproved. As a young wife and mother on the Queensland cane-fields, her longing for an exciting life intensified. Travelling to London and Paris, she trusted in her musical talent and hoped for a lucky break.

'Within a few years, reborn as Nellie Melba, she was performing to overflowing concert halls, hobnobbing with European royalty and collaborating with some of the most renowned composers of the age. Audiences swooned over the "heavenly pleasures" of her voice, while the public showed an insatiable appetite for news of her sometimes passionate private life. Feted and chastised by critics, pursued by the press and mobbed by fans, Dame Nellie Melba was Australia's first international superstar.

'In this important biography, enhanced by new research, Ann Blainey captures the exuberance, controversy and pathos of Melba's remarkable career.' (Publisher's blurb)