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All the Golden Light (HarperCollins 2024)

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All the Golden Light (HarperCollins 2024) I

“Great book. Five stars. Highly recommend”

— Siang Lu, acclaimed author of Ghost Cities.

A stirring, dramatic story about finding connection, meaning and beauty in a time of darkness ... and the craving and savagery of the heart

1918, Belowla. As the Great War grinds to an end, Adelaide Roberts accompanies her father to a rugged island off the south coast of New South Wales. While loss and deprivation have decimated the country, Ada dreams of a life filled with purpose and hope.

On the windswept rocky outcrop she meets lighthouse keeper Emmett Huxley, a dark-eyed outsider haunted by his service in France. Adelaide and Emmett are inexorably drawn together, but Adelaide discovers plans have been made for her with decorated returned soldier Donal Blaxland, a local landowner.

Soon Adelaide is forced to make a choice about her future, and discovers that Donal harbours terrible secrets of his own. As she begins to understand the depths of Donal's desperation, Adelaide knows she must leave - and between the treacherous waters of the coast and the rugged ranges of an ancient land, she fights for her survival, determined to live and love on her own terms.

A moving, uplifting story about the craving of the heart - and hope in the darkest of times.

paperback

“All the Golden light is as good as historical fiction gets” —

Samuel Bernard, book reviewer The Weekend Australian.

“Suspenseful, thrilling and evocative. O'Brien captures the beauty, brutality and danger of the sea and the breathtaking beauty and ruggedness of the landscape, so quintessentially Australian”

— Tania Blanchard, bestselling author of The Girl from Munich.

“Heartstopping... O'Brien shows a deft hand navigating tragedy, grief and above all hope” —

Alli Parker, bestselling author Under the Foot of the Cherry Tree.

“One woman's powerful and moving journey to independence in a time when women had none”

— Victoria Purman, bestselling author of The Last of the Bonnegilla Girls.

“Hidden secrets lend an air of mystery to this tale, which kept me reading... All the Golden Light is a compelling story with a climactic and fast-moving conclusion ”

— Brooke Michie, book reviewer Good Reading magazine.

A Life by Design: The Art & Lives of Florence Broadhurst (Allen & Unwin)

Florence Broadhurst, the one-time chanteuse of Shanghai, Bond Street salon owner, world-renowned wallpaper designer and Sydney socialite lived a life steeped in subterfuge and deception. Here for the first time we get a glimpse at the fascinating woman behind the hand-printed brocades.

Late in the afternoon of 16 October 1977, seventy-eight year-old Florence Broadhurst was brutally murdered. Her killer was never found.

The mystery surrounding Florence's death is in keeping with the elegant artifice of her life. Born in rural Australia, Florence soon decided Queensland was too small a stage. She travelled the world, changing her name and business as she went--a performing arts academy in Shanghai, a fashion salon in London and a husband or two until finally, in 1949, she returned to Australia. This time Broadhurst claimed to be an English woman escaping post-war London for the sunshine of the 'promised land'.

1959 saw her drawing on images she had gathered from her travels to create a flourishing business, Australian (Hand Printed) Wallpapers. By the time of her death Florence Broadhurst was a successful socialite--and a wealthy woman. But who was she, this generous, ferociously autocratic and evasive woman? In A Life by Design we get a glimpse of the woman behind the hand-printed brocades and mysterious life.

“Wallpapers, particularly those designed by Broadhurst, are finding a new audience. Much of this renewed interest is thanks to O’Brien and her book A Life by Design the art and lives of Florence Broadhurst.”

— Stephen Crafti, writer and designer.

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“O’Brien digs deep in this elegant, illuminating account of the life and times of the enigmatic wallpaper designer Florence Broadhurst found brutally murdered in her Paddington studio in 1977. And if to this day we are left in the dark as to the murderer, this classy literary whodunit does much to shine a light on one woman’s remarkable, ever-evolving creative life. An indispensible, beguiling guide to the world of wallpaper”

— Lyn Hughes critically acclaimed author of Flock and Mr Carver's Whale

Hello Darling: The Jeanne Little story (Allen & Unwin)

“He seemed to wince every time I opened my mouth. I thought I was getting somewhere until the day the professor’s secretary told me he’d shot himself”

— Jeanne Little on her one brush with elocution lessons

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The definitive biography of one of Australia's best loved stars of stage and screen, the fabulous and inimitable Jeanne Little.

The unmistakeable and inimitable Jeanne Little she of the amazing eyelashes and fabulous, if somewhat startling, dress sense (remember the green garbage bag frock?) is one of Australia's most loved and best known show business celebrities.

A zany comedian with the voice of a truck driver, Jeanne got her start as a guest on the 'Mike Walsh Show' in 1974 and never looked back. For over a decade she was the queen of Australian daytime television and beyond. With her distinctive presence, off-beat humour and flair for the innovative and unusual, Jeanne Little is an extraordinary woman. From Gold Logies to the Order of Australia to the hearts of Australian television and cabaret audiences alike, Jeanne wins them all. There's no one else quite like her.

Here for the first time, along with revealing accounts of what really went on behind the craziness of Jeanne's seemingly accidental success, is the story of her remarkable childhood and her sometimes turbulent, often controversial but never dull life. Hilarious, heart-warming and moving, with dollops of Jeanne's own unique glamour and distinctive style, this is an engrossing biography of one of the true living treasures of the Australian stage and screen.