Agent Garbo: The brilliant, eccentric secret agent who tricked Hitler and saved D-Day
Stephan Talty
Scribe Publications, PB, 9781921844928
Agent Garbo tells the astonishing story of a self-made secret agent who matched wits against the 3rd Reich and won. Juan Pujol was a nobody, a Barcelona poultry farmer determined to oppose the Nazis. Using only his gift for daring falsehoods, Pujol became Germany's most valued agent; it took four tries before the British believed he was really on the Allies' ... More/Buy
The Billy Bob Tapes: A Cave Full of Ghosts
Billy Bob Thornton, Kinky Friedman
Virgin, PB, 9780753541128
Billy Bob Thornton spins colourful tales of his dirt-poor Southern upbringing, his Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (fear of komodo dragons and antiques), his life, his loves (including his marriage to fellow Oscar winner Angelina Jolie), and, of course, his movie career. The Billy Bob Tapes is full of incredible stories and righteous philosophical rants, told with the help of his close friend, ... More/Buy
Bloodhouse
Darcy Dugan, Mike Tatlow
Harper Collins, PB, 9780732295523
Written in secret during his long years in jail and smuggled out to keep it safe from his enemies until now, Bloodhouse is Darcy Dugan's brutally honest and gripping story of his extraordinary life and times. During Dugan's criminal career, he pulled off countless hold-ups but it was his daring escapes that captured the public's imagination and earned him the monicker ... More/Buy
The Diamond Queen: Elizabeth II and her People
Andrew Marr
Pan, PB, 9780330544160
With the flair for narrative and the meticulous research that readers have come to expect, Andrew Marr turns his attention to the monarch - and to the monarchy, chronicling the Queen's pivotal role at the centre of the state, which is largely hidden from the public gaze, and making a strong case for the institution itself. Arranged thematically, rather than chronologically, ... More/Buy
Exile: The Lives and Hopes of Werner Pelz
Roger Averill
Transit Lounge, PB, 9781921924217
Like the best true life adventures, the story of Werner Pelz is stranger than fiction. Forced to flee Nazi Germany for being Jewish, he was then interned in England for being German. Shipped to Australia on the notorious HMT Dunera, he spent two years in internment camps in Hay and Tatura. After returning to Britain, his life evolved into a spiritual ... More/Buy
Fire in the Belly: The Life and Times of David Wojnarowicz
Cynthia Carr
Bloomsbury, HB, 9781596915336
In December 2010, the National Portrait Gallery in Washington made headlines when it responded to protests from the Catholic League by voluntarily censoring an excerpt of David Wojnarowicz's 'A Fire in My Belly' from its show on American portraiture. Why a work of art could stir such emotions is at the heart of Cynthia Carr's Fire in the Belly, the first ... More/Buy
The Fishing Fleet: Husband-Hunting in the Raj
Anne de Courcy
W & N Non Fiction, PB, 9780297868477
From the late 19th century, when the Raj was at its height, many of Britain's best and brightest young men went out to India to work as administrators, soldiers and businessmen. With the advent of steam travel and the opening of the Suez Canal, countless young women, suffering at the lack of eligible men in Britain, followed in their wake. This ... More/Buy
Gaz
Mark Gasnier
Ebury Press, PB, 9781742755274
This is the story of a football champion who crammed more highs and lows into an 11-year career than just about any player of his generation. Carrying the surname of his uncle and Immortal Reg, he had blinding pace, a shimmy, a step and an innate sense of timing. Whether it was for St George Illawarra, NSW or Australia, he could ... More/Buy
Ghosts By Daylight: A Memoir of War and Love
Janine di Giovanni
Bloomsbury, PB, 9781408822319
Janine and Bruno first fell in love as young reporters in the besieged city of Sarajevo. Years later - after endless phone calls, much of what the French call malentendu, secret trysts in foreign cities, numerous break-ups, three miscarriages, countless stories of rebel armies and a dozen wars that had passed between them - they arrive in Paris one rainy January ... More/Buy
High Strung: Bjorn Borg, John McEnroe, and the Untold Story of Tennis's Fiercest Rivalry
Stephen Tignor
Harper Collins, PB, 9780062009852
High Strung by Stephen Tignor is the gripping untold story of the fiercest rivalry in the history of professional tennis. Viewed through the lens of the fabled 1981 U.S. Open match between Bjorn Borg and John McEnroe, High Strung brings the golden age of tennis vibrantly alive once more. A fascinating chronicle that orbits around the four greatest, most enigmatic talents ... More/Buy
The Horror of Love: Nancy Mitford and Gaston Palewski in Paris and London
Lisa Hilton
Phoenix, PB, 9780753827734
NOW IN B FORMAT. 'Oh, the horror of love!' Nancy Mitford once exclaimed. Elegant and intelligent, Nancy was a reknowned wit and a popular author. Yet this bright, waspish woman, capable of unerring emotional analysis in her work gave her heart to a well-known philanderer who went on to marry another woman. Was Nancy that unremarkable thing - a deluded lover ... More/Buy
The House in France: A Memoir
Gully Wells
Bloomsbury, PB, 9781408822258
In 2009, six years after her mother's death, Gully Wells returns to La Migoua, the house in Provence which belonged to her mother - the glamorous, funny, unpredictable and furiously rude American journalist, Dee Wells. Surrounded by the clutter of decades, Gully is taken back to her childhood, to her mother, her adored stepfather - the celebrated, brilliant, womanising Oxford philosopher, ... More/Buy
I Hate Everyone... Starting with Me
Joan Rivers
Berkeley Books, HB, 9780425248300
‘How do I hate thee? How much time do you have?’—Joan Rivers is nothing if not opinionated—especially when it comes to people she hates. Like people who think giving birth is a unique achievement. Or well-adjusted, a.k.a. boring, ex-child stars who don’t even have a decent addiction. With all of her diverse experiences, it stands to reason that Joan has seen, ... More/Buy
Idea Man: A Memoir by the Co-founder of Microsoft
Paul Allen
Penguin, PB, 9780241953716
Paul Allen co-founded Microsoft. Together he and Bill Gates turned an idea - writing software - into a company and then an entire industry. This is the story of how it came about: two young mavericks who turned technology on its head; the bitter battles as each tried to stamp his vision on the future; the ruthless brilliance and fierce commitment. ... More/Buy
Johnny Lewis: The story of Australia's king of boxing
Paul Kent
Allen & Unwin, PB, 9781743310861
It was the night Jeff Harding came back to the corner at the end of the eleventh, behind on all three judges' cards and bleeding around both eyes, his nose long broken. As Lewis cleaned the cuts he quickly poured everything that was important into his ear. Then he picked him up from his stool with one last instruction: 'Go out ... More/Buy
Jubilee Hitchhiker: The Life & Times of Richard Brautigan
William Hjortsberg
Counterpoint, HB, 9781582437903
When Richard Brautigan took his own life in September of 1984 his close friends and network of artists and writers were devastated though not entirely surprised. To many, Brautigan was shrouded in enigma, erratic and unpredictable in his habits and presentation. Author of the influential Troutfishing in America and A Confederate General from Big Sur, Brautigan’s career was formidable, and it ... More/Buy
The Lady And The Peacock: The Life of Aung San Suu Kyi of Burma
Peter Popham
Rider, PB, 9781846042508
Peter Popham's major new biography of Aung San Suu Kyi draws upon previously untapped testimony and fresh revelations to tell the story of a woman whose bravery and determination have captivated people around the globe. Celebrated today as one of the world's greatest exponents of non-violent political defiance since Mahatma Gandhi, she was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize only four years ... More/Buy
Letters of T S Eliot Volume 3: 1926-27
Valerie Eliot, John Haffenden
Faber, HB, 9780571140855
In the period covered by this richly detailed collection, which brings the poet to the age of forty, T.S. Eliot was to set a new course for his life and work. Forsaking the Unitarianism of his American forebears, he was received into the Church of England and naturalised as a British citizen - a radical and public alteration of the intellectual ... More/Buy
Life Without Limits: How to live a ridiculously good life
Nick Vujicic
Allen & Unwin, PB, 9781743310298
Life Without Limits is the story of gutsy Nick Vujicic, an amazing 28-year-old Aussie born without arms or legs who is now an internationally successful inspirational speaker. Packed full of wisdom, testimonials of his faith and laugh-out-loud humour, Nick tells of life in his 'Chesty Bond' body, his visit to Africa at the age of 20 where he gave away $20,000 ... More/Buy
The Limit: Life and Death in Formula One's Most Dangerous Era
Michael Cannell
Atlantic, PB, 9781848872240
10 September 1961: at the boomerang-shaped racetrack at Monza half a dozen teams are preparing for the Italian Grand Prix. It is the biggest race anyone can remember. Phil Hill - the first American to break into the top ranks of European racing - and his Ferrari teammate, Count Wolfgang von Trips - a German nobleman with a movie-star manner - ... More/Buy
Marie Curie and Her Daughters
Shelley Emling
Palgrave, HB, 9780230115712
Marie Currie was the first person to be honored by two Nobel Prizes and she pioneered the use of radiation therapy for cancer patients. But she was also a mother, widowed young, who raised two extraorginary daughters alone: Irene, a Nobel Prize winning chemist in her own right, who played an important role in the development of the atomic bomb, and ... More/Buy
Marilyn: The Passion and the Paradox
Lois Banner
Bloomsbury, HB, 9781408814109
Like her art, Marilyn Monroe was rooted in paradox: she was a powerful star and a childlike waif; a joyful, irreverent party girl with a deeply spiritual side; a superb friend and a narcissist; a dumb blonde and an intellectual. No previous biographer has recognised - much less attempted to analyse - most of these aspects of her personality. Lois Banner ... More/Buy
Michael Kirby: Law, Love & Life
Daryl Dellora
Penguin, HB, 9780670075980
For most of his life, Michael Kirby has been a man on a tightrope. A person of strong views working in a world governed by objectivity, he has had to balance the potent, sometimes contradictory impulses of passion and duty, honesty and discretion, advocacy and neutrality. He had to hide his real self from the world for decades, while being the ... More/Buy
Mick: The Wild Life and Mad Genius of Jagger
Christopher Andersen
Robson Press, HB, 9781849543828
Mick Jagger is one of the dominant cultural figures of our time - swaggering, strutting, sinister, and mesmerizing - yet he has vowed never to write his own life story. Now, Christopher Andersen provides an explosive, compelling, and definitive biography for Stones fans of all ages. Mick is the definitive look at the leader of the world's greatest rock-and-roll band on ... More/Buy
Milligan's Meaning of Life: An Autobiography of Sorts
Spike Milligan
Penguin, PB, 9780241955956
With his lightning-quick wit, unbridled creativity and his ear for the absurd, Spike Milligan revolutionised British comedy, leaving a legacy of influence that stretches from Monty Python's Flying Circus to the work of self-confessed acolytes such as Eddie Izzard and Stephen Fry today. Throughout his life, Milligan wrote prolifically - scripts, poetry and fiction, as well as several volumes of memoir, ... More/Buy
Mistaken Identity: The Trials of Joe Windred
Stephen Dando-Collins
Vintage, PB, 9781742755175
Mistaken identity haunted Joseph Windred. It saw him wrongly convicted on two continents and almost cost him his life. But every time fate knocked him down, Joe got up, and came back stronger. His fighting spirit would make him a hero, and see him strike it rich. Little did the people of Orange NSW know when they twice elected Joseph Windred ... More/Buy
A Polar Bear Ate My Head: Misadventures in Magazines
Paul Merrill
Ebury Press, PB, 9781742756073
Paul Merrill was an award-winning women's magazine editor when he was inexplicably chosen to launch Britain's first weekly publication aimed at the 'new lad' ZOO. He quickly gained notoriety after running competitions to find the country's randiest nanna, ugliest baby and teen mum of the year, and offering prizes of a boob job for your girlfriend, lesbian wedding and even euthanasia. ... More/Buy
A Private Life: Fragments, memories, friends
Michael Kirby
Allen & Unwin, PB, 9781743311691
This is a collection of reminiscences in which we can discover the private Michael Kirby. It allows the public figure to speak in his own voice, without any intermediary. He opens up as never before about his early life, about being gay, about his forty-three-year relationship with Johan van Vloten, about his religious beliefs and even about his youthful infatuation with ... More/Buy
The Story of Billy Young: A teenager in Changi, Sandakan & Outram Road
Anthony Hill
Penguin, PB, 9780670076178
Billy Young was a boy of 15 when he joined the AIF in 1941. He was an orphan - hungry, broke, with nowhere to sleep - and the army offered him a feed, a blanket and five shillings a day in his pocket. The trouble was, the army sent him off to Malaya where he became a POW when Singapore fell ... More/Buy
This is a Call: The Life and Times of Dave Grohl
Paul Brannigan
Harper Collins, PB, 9780007391233
From Nirvana to Foo Fighters, from brotherhood to bitter rivalry, from breathless highs to lifeless lows, Paul Brannigan gives an unparalleled, intimate and extraordinary account of the life and times of Dave Grohl. In 1990, little-known punk-metal upstarts Nirvana added a new drummer to the band. They were soon to become a global phenomenon - but as we all know, things ... More/Buy
Titian: His Life
Sheila Hale
Harper Collins, HB, 9780007175826
Devoted father and loyal friend, Titian was notorious for disregarding authority and was an international celebrity by his late fifties. He was notoriously difficult but his stubbornness and horrendous timekeeping did nothing to deter his patrons who included the Hapsburgs, the Pope and his family and Charles V. During his career, which spanned more than seventy years, Titian painted around five ... More/Buy
Winter Journal
Paul Auster
Faber, PB, 9780571283217
Facing his sixty-third winter, internationally acclaimed novelist Paul Auster sits down to write a history of his body and its sensations - both pleasurable and painful. Thirty years after the publication of The Invention of Solitude, in which he wrote so movingly about fatherhood, Auster gives us a second unconventional memoir in which he writes about his mother's life and death. ... More/Buy