Life as a Novel: A Biography of Maurice Shadbolt (#1 1932 to 1973) by Philip Temple

$44.99 NZD

Category: Biography

Maurice Shadbolt believed that New Zealanders should tell their own stories, cherish their own myths and believe in their own big lies before they could stand upright in a post-colonial world. Through his fiction, non-fiction and international journalism, he played a leading role in projecting New Zeala nd to the world throughout the second half of the 20th century. His overseas success provoked envy among literary critics but this had little impact on his many readers at home or abroad, nor the judges who awarded him prizes and fellowships. His first novel, Among The Cinders (1965), achieved sales of more than 200,000, unprecedented for the time for a work of New Zealand fiction. His non-fiction New Zealand: Gift of the Sea (1963), in collaboration with Magnum photographer Brian Brake, also achieved enormous sales. The success of Shadbolt's books reflected the growing hunger of New Zealanders for stories about themselves. Author Philip Temple knew Maurice Shadbolt well and brings insight to his story of how Shadbolt made his mark as a writer of fiction. He also tells of Shadbolt's adventures behind the Iron Curtain; his role in anti-Vietnam War protests; his voyage to Mururoa to protest French nuclear testing. He has had unique access to Shadbolt's friends, colleagues and adversaries and an extraordinary treasure trove of letters and documents from both here and overseas in producing this absorbing book. He tells of Shadbolt's close friendships with guru poet James K. Baxter and leading painters such as Colin McCahon. Philip Temple also recounts Shadbolt's increasingly fraught personal life. By the age of 40, he had been married twice and fathered five children and been involved in numerous affairs. It is a fascinating tale about a man who became New Zealand's most well known and controversial author. ...Show more

Song for Rosaleen by Pip Desmond

$29.99 NZD

Category: Biography

A beautifully crafted memoir of a family coping with their mother's dementia, Song for Rosaleen is both a celebration of Rosaleen Desmond's life and an unflinching account of the practical and ethical dilemmas that faced her six children. Told with love, insight, humour and compassion, it raises importa nt questions about who we become when our memories fail, how our rapidly ageing population can best be cared for, and what this means for us all. ...Show more

Freyberg - A Life's Journey by Matthew Wright

$45.00 NZD

Category: Biography | Reading Level: near fine

In this fresh account of one of the 20th-century's great New Zealanders, Matthew Wright approaches Bernard Freyberg the man rather than the more widely known figure of a military leader. What took a humble immigrant child in Wellington to become a hero in two wars, friend to literary giants and politici ans, very private father and husband, and very public govenor-general? Freyberg: A Life's Journey is the most accessible biography on 'Tiny' Freyberg yet, with numerous black and white photos. ...Show more

The Bravest Voices by Ida Cook

$32.99 NZD

Category: Biography

This timeless memoir documents two sisters' bravery leading up to WWII - a singular historical account that shines a light on one of humanity's darkest hours. Ida and Louise Cook are two ordinary Englishwomen, seemingly destined never to stray from their quiet London suburb and comfortable jobs - Ida as a budding romance novelist and Louise as a civil service typist. But in 1923, a chance hearing of an aria from Madame Butterfly sparked a passion for opera in the sisters that led to the formation of friendships with some of Europe's leading singers and their network, many of them Jewish. As the Nazis rose to power, Ida and Louise began working with the opera world's insiders to save members of the community from persecution and death. Through ingenuity, thrift and bottomless goodwill, the sisters eluded the suspicion of the Nazis and helped secure safe passage for dozens of refugees. No one would have predicted such daring lives for Ida and Louise Cook - but that underestimation is exactly how they were able to save lives.First published in 1950, Ida's memoir of the adventures she and Louise shared remains as fresh, vital and entertaining as the woman who wrote it, and is a moving testament to the extraordinary acts of courage by two everyday heroes. ...Show more

Antarctica's Lost Aviator: The Epic Adventure to Explore the Last Frontier on Earth by Jeff Maynard

$32.99 NZD

Category: Biography

The astonishing voyage of the first solo crossing of Antarctica by the unlikeliest of arctic explorers. By the 1930s, no one had yet crossed Antarctica, and its vast interior remained a mystery frozen in time. Hoping to write his name in the history books, wealthy American Lincoln Ellsworth announced h e would fly across the unexplored continent. And to honor his hero, Wyatt Earp, he would carry his gun belt on the flight. The main obstacles to Ellsworth's ambition were numerous: he didn't like the cold, he avoided physical work, and he couldn't navigate. Consequently, he hired the experienced Australian explorer, Sir Hubert Wilkins, to organize the expedition on his behalf. While Ellsworth battled depression and struggled to conceal his homosexuality, Wilkins purchased a ship, hired a crew, and ordered a revolutionary new airplane constructed. The Ellsworth Trans-Antarctic Expeditions became epics of misadventure, as competitors plotted to beat Ellsworth, pilots refused to fly, crews mutinied, and the ship was repeatedly trapped in the ice. Finally, in 1935, Ellsworth took off to fly from the Weddell Sea to the Ross Sea. A few hours after leaving, radio contact with him was lost and the world gave him up for dead. Antarctica's Lost Aviator brings alive one of the strangest episodes in polar history, using previously unpublished diaries, correspondence, photographs, and film to reveal the amazing true story of the first crossing of Antarctica and how, against all odds, it was achieved by the unlikeliest of heroes. ...Show more

Like Father Like Son by Michael Parkinson

$35.00 NZD

Category: Biography

A look at the life and times of the man Sir Michael most looked up to. It started in the shadow of the pithead in a South Yorkshire mining village and ended up in tears before an audience of millions. Michael Parkinson's relationship with his late father John William was, and remains, a family love stor y overflowing with tenderness and tall tales of sporting valour, usually involving Yorkshire cricket or Barnsley FC. However, it was the overwhelming grief which poured out of Michael when Piers Morgan pressed him about John William in a television interview - four decades after the death of the father he encapsulated as 'Yorkshireman, miner, humorist and fast bowler' - that convinced one of the outstanding broadcasters and journalists of our time to delve deeper into the dynamics of their lives together. Co-written with his son Mike, this affectionate and revealing memoir explores the influences which shaped John William, Michael and succeeding generations of Parkinsons. The journey leads them from the depths of a Yorkshire coal mine, via the chapel, pub and picture-house, to a spot behind the bowler's arm at Lord's and the sands at Scarborough. While Like Father, Like Son conveys a powerful sense of time and place, it is wit, insight and, above all, enduring love which shine through its pages.     ...Show more

The Miracle Typist by Leon Silver

$37.99 NZD

Category: Biography

In the tradition of THE TATTOOIST OF AUSCHWITZ, a heartbreaking true story of love, loss and survival against all odds during the Second World war. Conscripted into the Polish army as Hitler's ground and air forces are bearing down on his country, Jew Tolek Klings vows to return to his wife, Klara, and son, Juliusz. However, when the Luftwaffe's bombs start falling and the Polish cause looks hopelessly lost, Tolek finds himself under fire from his supposed brothers in arms. The Polish army is rife with anti-Semitism and he is relentlessly tormented. As the Germans cross the border, he is faced with a terrible dilemma: flee to protect his family - and risk being shot as a deserter - or ride out the war, hoping rumours of women and children being spared in the concentration camps are true.  What follows is an odyssey that will take Tolek from a Hungarian internment camp, where his ability to type spares him from the frontline, on to Palestine, Beirut, Egypt, Tobruk and Italy. A broken telegram from Klara, ending with the haunting words, 'We trouble', pushes him to the brink.      ...Show more

Stories of Hope: Finding Inspiration in Everyday Lives by Heather Morris

$32.99 NZD

Category: Biography

Heather Morris, author of the internationally bestselling novels The Tattooist of Auschwitz and Cilka's Journey, grew up on a farm in rural New Zealand. On her way back across the paddocks from school, Heather would visit her great-grandfather and listen to his experiences of war - stories he told only Heather. From a young age Heather discovered that people would tell her their stories if she stopped and listened. In Stories of Hope, Heather Morris will explore the art of listening - a skill she employed when she met Lale Sokolov, the Tattooist of Auschwitz. It was her ability to listen that led him to entrust her with his story. Stories of Hope will examine Heather's extraordinary journey, in the form of a series of beautifully rendered tales of the people she has met, the remarkable stories they have shared with her, and the lessons they hold for us all.   ...Show more

A Repurposed Life by Ronni Kahn

$37.00 NZD

Category: Biography

'From the founder of OzHarvest, an ebullient, generous memoir with an exhilarating message.' ANNABEL CRABB 'Brimming with energy, altruism and refreshing candour' QUENTIN BRYCE 'The inspiring story of a woman with a big heart who dared to make a difference. This is a must-read book. I couldn't put it do wn.' ITA BUTTROSE 'Ronni Kahn is a force of nature. She has taught so many of us about the importance of embracing community and compassion through offering and sharing our food to those most vulnerable in our society.' KYLIE KWONG 'You don't get used to living permanently behind the eight ball - no matter how long you've done it, it doesn't get easier. There's a constant sense of shame that eats away at you, making you feel that you're just not good enough. Some people are so poor that they can't even afford to feel shame. Ronni Kahn, through her work with OzHarvest, does the very thing that offers hope to those in the poverty trap: restore dignity and remove shame. This is her story.' JIMMY BARNES Life throws us mysterious ingredients. If we are brave enough to put the recipe aside and experiment, it's right there that things get interesting. As the owner of a successful events company, throwing away huge volumes of leftover food at the end of the day came with the territory. But when Ronni Kahn hit midlife, she found herself no longer able to turn a blind eye to her food waste problem. Hand delivering the untouched food to homeless shelters around Sydney became her renegade solution. Little did she know that fixing her small problem at work would lead her to unlock a hidden purpose at the very core of her inner life. Now founder and CEO of the food rescue organisation OzHarvest, Ronni leads hundreds of staff and thousands of volunteers with the goal to nourish Australia. She serves in an advisory capacity to government and is an instrumental leader in changing federal laws to improve social justice and environmental policies. A Repurposed Life is the story of how Ronni found her voice, her heart and her deepest calling. From her early years growing up under the brutal system of apartheid South Africa, to a socialist commune in Israel, Ronni finally settled in Australia to discover a profound new way of living. Shared with the humour, warmth and energy that have made her an internationally renowned keynote speaker, this heartfelt exploration of the choices that define us will speak to anyone seeking a more passionate expression of being alive.   ...Show more

Kamala's Way by Dan Morain

$37.99 NZD

Category: Biography

Synopsis coming soon.......

Ruth Bader Ginsburg: A Life by Jane Sherron de Hart

$40.00 NZD

Category: Biography

'A vivid account of a remarkable life' --The Washington Post In this bestselling comprehensive, revelatory biography -- fifteen years of interviews and research in the making -- historian Jane Sherron De Hart explores the central experiences that crucially shaped Ginsburg's passion for justice, her adv ocacy for gender equality, and her meticulous jurisprudence. At the heart of her story and abiding beliefs was her Jewish background, specifically the concept of tikkun olam, the Hebrew injunction to "repair the world," with its profound meaning for a young girl who grew up during the Holocaust and World War II. Ruth's journey begins with her mother, who died tragically young but whose intellect inspired her daughter's feminism. It stretches from Ruth's days as a baton twirler at Brooklyn's James Madison High School to Cornell University, and to Harvard and Columbia Law Schools; to becoming one of the first female law professors in the US and having to fight for equal pay and hide her second pregnancy to avoid losing her job; and to arguing momentous anti-sex discrimination cases before the US Supreme Court. All this, even before being nominated in 1993 to become the second woman on the court, where her crucial decisions and dissents are still making history. Intimately, personably told, this biography offers unprecedented insight into a pioneering life and legal career whose profound mark on American jurisprudence, American society, and American character and spirit will reverberate deep into the twenty-first century and beyond. ...Show more

Walk in My Combat Boots: True Stories from the Battlefront by James Patterson

$29.99 NZD

$37.00 (18% off)

Category: Biography

Written with Matt Eversmann, the real-life hero of Black Hawk Down, James Patterson brings us true stories of life on the battlefront In Walk in My Combat Boots, men and women from all branches of the US military - Army, Navy Air Force, Marine Corps - share the moments of their service that matter most. These powerful true stories of courage, honour and duty from those who have sacrificed are at once humbling and inspiring. What defines them is the shared ethos- 'We all need to serve something bigger than ourselves.' Whether they're jumping out of planes, being shot at on the ground, or feeling like they might never get back home, 'When the fear shows up,' explains a Marine Corps rifleman, 'I tell myself I can do it - I will do it. And I do.' From armour technicians and tank commanders to truck drivers, from combat medics and flight nurses to psychological operatives, from training to deployment in country all across the globe - and post-tour life on the home front - each and every one of these heroes embodies the warrior spirit in their daily work. ...Show more