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1 y separately published work icon Fighting for Hakeem Craig Foster , Sydney : Hachette Livre Australia , 2019 17442918 2019 single work autobiography

'Football is the world game. It unites. At a grassroots level it creates communities and, in 2019, those communities helped save the life of one of its own.

'In 2012, Hakeem al-Araibi was a promising young player on Bahrain's national football team when he was arrested for attacking a police station during the Arab Spring, despite television footage showing him playing soccer at the time of the alleged attack. After three months of torture and wrongful imprisonment, Hakeem was released. He fled the country and made his way to Australia, where he was granted refugee status. Hakeem made a life here and was playing for the suburban Pascoe Vale Football Club, in Melbourne. He thought he was safe.

'But, in November 2018, on a holiday to Thailand with his wife, Hakeem was again arrested. The Bahraini government wanted to extradite him to face a ten-year jail sentence, or worse. What happened next shows the best of what soccer can do, and the worst the governing body of FIFA brings. If it wasn't for the Australian soccer community and former Socceroo Craig Foster, Hakeem may never have been freed.

'This powerful memoir reveals how a local soccer legend fought tirelessly to help bring home a man he'd never met. From Pascoe Vale to Switzerland, Canberra to Thailand, Foster raised his voice and tens of thousands of Australians were galvanised to #FreeHakeem. Foster lobbied FIFA and the United Nations and worked with human rights organisations worldwide to enable Hakeem's safe return to his wife in Australia.

'Despite being from different backgrounds, religions and generations, Craig Foster and Hakeem al-Araibi are united forever through their love of the world game and their fight for freedom.' (Publication summary)

1 1 y separately published work icon Red Ice James Phelan , Sydney : Hachette Livre Australia , 2010 Z1722805 2010 single work novel thriller 'Just a few days after the conclusion of Liquid Gold, Lachlan Fox is thrown back into the midst of the action when the dangerous and powerful Umbra organization offers to trade a man they've taken hostage for one of their own operatives. After the CIA claim they won't negotiate with terrorists, Umbra begins to cut off the natural gas supply to Europe. This is just a small indication of the level of chaos they're prepared to inflict. Assassinations follow . . . Red Ice is a post-cold war thriller set in an unstable Europe, where control of resources equals true power. It's a novel in which Russia is under the influence of corrupt capitalists, the pace is non-stop, the stakes are inconceivably high, the villain a true megalomaniac - and ex-Navy hero Lachlan Fox is seriously challenged.' (From the publisher's website.)
1 5 y separately published work icon Ways of Escape Hugh Mackay , Sydney : Hachette Livre Australia , 2009 Z1584813 2009 single work novel

'Set in a typical contemporary suburb, Ways of Escape is the first-person story of Tom, a clinical psychologist who's losing patience with his affluent, perfection-seeking clients. Divorced and struggling with professional burnout, he's open to the possibility of radical change.

He allows himself to become reckless with a client intent on seducing him, leading to a charge of professional misconduct and the humiliating prospect of deregistration. He is caught up in the disappearance of a neighbour who had recently left his wife and children. And a lighthearted distraction comes in the form of an offer to write for a motoring magazine - an experience Tom finds liberating.

Two streams of Tom's life then intersect when he agrees to advise one of the candidates for election as chancellor at a boutique university. Three people are contesting the election: a corporate lawyer who has recently crossed swords with a relative of Tom's, the charismatic proprietor of a chain of real estate agencies, and an eminence grise on the academic staff.' (Publisher's blurb)

1 3 y separately published work icon My Dad's A Wrestler Matt Zurbo , Dean Gorissen (illustrator), Melbourne : Hachette Livre Australia , 2008 Z1621726 2008 single work picture book children's
1 2 y separately published work icon Sleep Tight, My Honey Lisa Shanahan , Wayne Harris (illustrator), Melbourne : Hachette Livre Australia , 2008 Z1581457 2008 single work picture book children's

'Lily and Monty s new baby is a gorgeous bunny, but she just won t sleep at night. Grandma, Tortoise, Possum, Butterfly and Bat are full of helpful advice, but nothing works, until Lily finds the perfect solution!'(Production summary)

1 2 y separately published work icon Quest for the Crown Eleanor Coombe , Sydney : Hachette Livre Australia , 2008 Z1576801 2008 single work children's fiction children's

'There is trouble on Faraway Island. It is time for the Great Fairy Council to elect a new fairy ruler, but as the Fairy Queen's crown has been stolen, this is not possible. Rumour has it that Lord Foulweather, king of the goblins, has stolen the crown, and that soon he'll be the one sitting on the throne.

'In an attempt to stop this from happening, the Queen decrees that whoever finds the crown and brings it back safely to Faraway Island will be crowned the new fairy ruler.

'Blaize (the singing fairy), Puck (the love fairy), Eden (the healing fairy) and Astara (the youngest fairy in the land), all volunteer to go on the quest. Because the fairies have lost their flying power, the Queen summons a thunderstorm to scatter the volunteers all over the kingdom. Hence, each fairy ends up having a different adventure, meeting bunyips, wattlemen, yowies and dragons along the way. ' (Publication summary)

1 2 y separately published work icon The Magic Emerald Eleanor Coombe , Sydney : Hachette Livre Australia , 2008 Z1576792 2008 single work children's fiction children's

'Astara, the new Fairy Queen, is faced with her first challenge - the ice in the High Hills is spreading towards the fairy forest, killing a lot of the plants and animals that live there.

'The ice is being spread by hobyahs, icy monsters that live in the glaciers, and the only way to fight them is with the Emerald of Life, a magical gem held by a gryphon, a giant animal that lives on the Glittering Plains and has not spoken or moved for thousands of years.

'To make matters worse, while Astara is trying to work out how to make the gryphon give her the magic emerald, her friend the Moon Fairy and her little moonbeams are kidnapped by the willowykes, nasty tree-like creatures that live by lakes and bogs. ' (Publication summary)

1 1 y separately published work icon Trouble in Faraway Island Eleanor Coombe , Sydney : Hachette Livre Australia , 2008 Z1576789 2008 single work children's fiction children's

'Fafnir the dragon is in love - with himself. Shot by one of Puck s love arrows while staring at a mirror, poor Fafnir is now singing endless love songs to himself.

'If only his singing were good. It is so bad, in fact, that the goblins have been stealing the gnomes beards and using the hair to make earplugs. The gnomes are furious and turn to Astara, the Fairy Queen, for help.

'Astara summons Puck, the love fairy, to remove the arrow and stop Fafnir's singing. With the help of his friend Blaize, he tries to do so but fails. The only way to break the spell over Fafnir is to find another dragon for him to love, and that is when they decide to ask the Sea Fairy for help.

'The Sea Fairy introduces them to Warawan, the gentle water dragon who lives with her. ' (Publication summary)

1 y separately published work icon The Wonderful Starberries Eleanor Coombe , Sydney : Hachette Livre Australia , 2008 Z1574051 2008 single work children's fiction children's

'Blaize, the singing fairy, is depressed he has lost his guitar in the goblin caves and can no longer use his fairy magic. Astara, the Fairy Queen, decides Blaize needs cheering up so she sends Cedar, the fairy wand-maker, Puck, the love fairy, Eden, the healing fairy, and herself on a special quest to gather unique materials from around Faraway Island to make Blaize a new magical fairy guitar. Meanwhile, Garton the Ghastly, the new Goblin King, has found Blaizes old broken guitar, and has started playing it and creating havoc for the gnomes and pixies. The only way he can be stopped from playing his hypnotic tunes is by Blaize playing his new guitar and undoing the old guitar's magic. On the quest, the fairies encounter new and strange creatures who help them find what they need to make the guitar and restore peace to the island. Puck meets the Mistral Tree, the rarest tree in the Wild Woods, Eden meets the grumpy singing sirens, and Cedar goes to the Hissing Volcano where she encounters the most unusual gentle beast, the qilin. Astara gets the flower fairies to help her find the magical starberries, which play the most important role of all they tempt the dangerous Chimera from the Wild Forest, and, while it eats the berries, she uses a magical spell and the power of her sceptre to summon a rainbow. The rays fall on the Chimera, and the beast freezes and she manages to collect some of its scales, an essential ingredient in making the new magical guitar.' (Publication summary)

1 1 y separately published work icon Balancing Act Wendy Graham , Sydney : Hachette Livre Australia , 2008 Z1547428 2008 single work novel young adult Mack and Josie are fourteen year old class mates who strike up a friendship based upon their own issues and personal struggles which include absent parents and school bullying.
1 4 y separately published work icon Saltwater Moons Saltwater Moons Julie Gittus , Sydney : Hachette Livre Australia , 2008 Z1523018 2008 single work novel young adult 'Sun's life instantly becomes complicated when she embarks on her first real love and sexual relationship. This is a powerful story sensitively exploring issues of first love, betrayal and family difficulties.' (Publisher's blurb)
1 3 y separately published work icon Biting the Big Apple Bella Vendramini , Sydney : Hachette Livre Australia , 2008 Z1537322 2008 single work autobiography 'Bella knew there must be more to life than a series of casual jobs working for increasingly freakish bosses and drinking tea in her Glebe kitchen each night. An actor by trade, she scraped together enough money for a one-way ticket to the Big Apple, enrolling on impulse in the prestigious Strasberg Institute. What life in New York city would offer her she could never have predicted...sometimes ugly, mostly poverty-striken but always exhilarating, Bella embraced the rollercoaster ride. This is the story of how Bella took on New York - her brilliant love affair that turned sour, the friends she made, her acting and her studies and day to day life in that fabulous town. For most of us this is a dream but for Bella it's her life, and she writes about it with passion but also surprise at where she has let life take her.' (Publisher's blurb)
1 5 y separately published work icon My Baby Love Meredith Costain , Beatriz Martin Vidal (illustrator), Melbourne : Hachette Livre Australia , 2008 Z1531507 2008 single work picture book children's 'My Baby Love is a celebration of the joy of playing with a baby, and a clapping game in delightful verse.'
1 2 y separately published work icon The Water Boy's Story Sue Hines , Sydney : Hachette Livre Australia , 2008 Z1529175 2008 single work novel young adult science fiction fantasy

'In a grim world made crazy after a cyber-terrorist attack, fifteen-year-old Hamish Water Boy leaves his teen wife and the relative safety of his home to journey through Victoria in search of women to help repopulate the tiny, dying community of Plunkettville. Along the way Hamish reluctantly teams up with Shazza, a crazy old hermit woman who takes him to the city of the War Women, a separatist community on the coast. Hamish is in very real danger of losing his tongue, and his life, as even Shazza turns against him. After some fast talking he convinces a group of women to journey back to Plunkettville with him, and the inevitable happens they become lost in the high country of Victoria. The new world is populated by ragged remnants of humanity, and particularly feared are the evil and savage Bordermen from Melbourne, the City of Death. When Hamish is captured by a raiding party of Bordermen, it looks like the end of the road for Plunkettville and the pioneering families who built it not to mention the end of Hamish Water Boy.'

Source: Publisher's blurb.

1 3 y separately published work icon Faraway Fairies Eleanor Coombe , 2008 Sydney : Hachette Livre Australia , 2008- Z1527610 2008 series - author children's fiction children's
1 7 y separately published work icon The Naked Truth : A Life in Parts Graeme Blundell , Sydney : Hachette Livre Australia , 2008 Z1522931 2008 single work autobiography

'The Naked Truth is the very personal story of Graeme Blundell - Australia's first sex icon (by chance), a founder of the Melbourne's theatre groups La Mama and Playbox, which showed audiences that actors could speak in Australian English, and now an acclaimed writer and journalist.

'From his a childhood in Melbourne's working-class outer suburbs Graeme passionately followed his dreams to become a central part of Australian popular culture. He has worked in films, TV and theatre. The hit movie Alvin Purple made him Australia's first permissive pin-up, and he became a symbol of the early seventies - an era everyone still wants to be part of.

'Actor, director, producer, biographer, critic and journalist, Blundell established theatre companies and was there when they closed, watched the film industry through its many renaissances, and television as it became an addictive digital environment. In The Naked Truth Blundell writes about Australian life in the 40s, 50s and on with the insight of someone who was always part of the action - whether he wanted to be or not.' (Publisher's blurb)

4 1 y separately published work icon Gold Dust Kimberley Freeman , Sydney : Hachette Livre Australia , 2008 Z1522435 2008 single work novel

'In Cold War Leningrad, Sofi and her cousins Natalya and Lena hope for a different life for themselves. Their dreams of the West - of fame and wealth and beautiful things - sustain them through creeping poverty, the long shivering winters, and the loss of their fathers. When the fall of the Soviet Union brings them new opportunities, the three girls decide they'll stop at nothing to make their dreams come true.

'Each woman grasps at a new life in Europe and, for a while, it seems fortune has smiled on them. But gradually things unravel as reality fails to live up to their teenage dreams.

'Sofi's life in a small village in rural France is idyllic, but her husband is remote and cool. Nataliya shines on the red carpets and at the fashion shows of London, but her success is precariously reliant on another's whims. Lena has two beautiful children and a loving husband, but in her mind her sister casts too long a shadow directly and she becomes obsessed with the past.

'Dissatisfactions prompt jealousies, rivalries and betrayals. As their relationships splinter, none of them is aware of a dark figure from their Russian years, and the bad luck that still lies in wait for them...'

Source: Author's website, http://www.kimwilkins.com/
Sighted: 24/09/2008

1 5 y separately published work icon Blood Oil James Phelan , Sydney : Hachette Livre Australia , 2008 Z1522418 2008 single work novel thriller 'Sees the return of Ex-Navy operative Lachlan Fox. Now working as an investigative journalist, Lachlan Fox has been visiting some of the World's trouble spots. But a trip to Africa brings him face to face with a horror that could change him forever. Set in Nigeria, Venezuela, the US and UK the book is about terrorism, oil supply and poverty. The central ideas of Blood oil (as with all James Phelan's thrillers) come from world news and current affairs. From New York to Nigeria, London to Libya, Fox and his best mate Alistair Gammaldi race to unravel a sinister plan before each step is put into action. Lachlan Fox is going to prove, again, that there is a hero in all of us.' (Publication summary)
1 3 y separately published work icon That'd Be Right : A Fairly True History of Modern Australia William McInnes , Sydney : Hachette Livre Australia , 2008 Z1519860 2008 single work prose humour

'William brings the World, or at least Australia, into our backyards as he writes about families and sport and politics and life in his familiar style that makes you feel as if he is sitting down talking to you.

'Both funny and insightful That'd Be Right is part memoir, part personal history of Australia over the last thirty years. It's a biographical trip told through sport, and families and William's own experiences. He writes: "As with A Man's Got to Have a Hobby I weave in and around the events that have held such fascination for this country over the last thirty years or so, connecting them all with the progression of a life."

'Some of these events would be considered momentous, some small and personal. And all are seen through William's eyes. They range from a day at the Melbourne Cup with his mother where too many champagnes and too few winners were picked; a swimming carnival early in the morning after a gloomy and long federal election the night before; watching truly surreal Grand Final moments in a pub with a group of odd and unknown bar companions.

'William also writes about a night at the cricket with his son, which shows how things can change and oddly come full circle.' (Publisher's blurb)

2 1 y separately published work icon Splinter Michael MacConnell , Sydney : Hachette Livre Australia , 2008 Z1514044 2008 single work novel crime detective 'Sarah Reilly just brought down one of America's worst serial killers. Her father, FBI legend Harry Reilly, was kidnapped during the investigation, and the man she loved was murdered. Refusing offers of extended leave, Sarah launches herself back into her work in the Boston FBI field office. But the murder of a child in California sees her and her new partner assigned to a special taskforce to investigate. It's a high-profile case. The parents are famous, wealthy and, it seems, they are holding information back. The media and public sympathy that initially was directed to them at their son's senseless murder has turned to suspicion. The whispers about their guilt are growing. Sarah is right in the middle, looking for the truth, and she isn't going to let PR spin doctors or the LAPD get in her way. The taskforce, led by Sarah, starts to uncover evidence of something bigger than a domestic homicide. It seems over a number of years someone has been coldly and brutally extorting wealthy West Coast families. Whoever is behind the crimes is a master manipulator who will stop at nothing to evade capture. Sarah, haunted by her past and faced with the murder of another young boy.' (Publisher's blurb)
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