The provocative, entertaining, impassioned and inspiring memoir of Midnight Oil frontman, environmental activist and politician - a truly remarkable Australian.

'Brilliant, funny and immensely moving' Catherine Isaac, author of You, Me, Everything 'Well, that was a tearjerker! Anna McPartlin's Below the Big Blue Sky is a MORE than worthy follow-up to The Last Days of Rabbit Hayes' Marian Keyes *** There's no family quite like the Hayes, and yet they're just like any other - they love each other, they look out for each other and they drive each other mad. When their youngest, Rabbit, dies tragically at just forty, the Hayes are almost torn apart by their grief. Without her beloved mum, twelve-year-old Bunny is adrift; without Rabbit, there can be no Bunny. Her Granny is concerned when Bunny insists on being called by her real name, Juliet. Even surrounded by the noise and chaos of the Hayes, Juliet feels lost and alone. Meanwhile, Rabbit's sister Grace has something else on her mind. She's got the gene that made her sister ill, and she hasn't told anyone yet. All she can think about are the things she's always wanted to do, like fly a plane or climb a mountain, or watch her four children grow up. She doesn't know how to share the news that may break her family, but she knows she needs their support, now more than ever. Despite squabbling over what Rabbit will wear at the wake and their dad burying himself in the past with his diaries, the Hayes family know there's only one way they'll get through this: together. This huge-hearted novel is about grief, family, the messiness of life and finding humour in the most unexpected of places. Below the Big Blue Sky will make you laugh, cry and fill you with joy. Look out for Anna McPartlin's new novel Waiting for the Miracle. ***What readers have been saying about Below the Big Blue Sky*** 'Equally heartbreaking and hilarious' 'You will laugh, you will cry and you will laugh while crying' 'A real, raw, beautiful depiction of life, love and loss' 'The story has us laughing, crying and on the edge of our seats' 'A beautiful story, beautifully written' 'You'll howl laughing and bawl crying, even on the same page' 'A truly wonderful read' 'It is OK to laugh while grieving' 'Fantastically funny and heartbreaking in equal measure' 'Big-hearted, amusing, compassionate, emotional' '#RememberRabbitHayes' 'Moving, heartbreaking and funny' 'I love, love, love the Hayes family' 'Desperately sad, hilariously funny and incredibly moving all at the same time'

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • NEWBERY HONOR AWARD WINNER A classic YA novel about a teenage girl searching for a sense of home and family that celebrates the true spirit of independence on the American frontier. For most of her life, sixteen-year-old Hattie Brooks has been shuttled from one distant relative to another. Tired of being Hattie Here-and-There, she summons the courage to leave Iowa and move all by herself to Vida, Montana, to prove up on her late uncle’s homestead claim. Under the big sky, Hattie braves hard weather, hard times, a cantankerous cow, and her own hopeless hand at the cookstove. Her quest to make a home is championed by new neighbors Perilee Mueller, her German husband, and their children. For the first time in her life, Hattie feels part of a family, finding the strength to stand up against Traft Martin’s schemes to buy her out and against increasing pressure to be a “loyal” American at a time when anything—or anyone—German is suspect. Despite daily trials, Hattie continues to work her uncle’s claim until an unforeseen tragedy causes her to search her soul for the real meaning of home. This young pioneer's story is lovingly stitched together from Kirby Larson’s own family history and the sights, sounds, and scents of homesteading life.

A warm and unforgettable portrait of a family letting go of the known world to encounter an unfamiliar one filled with rich possibilities and new understandings. Bruce Kirkby had fallen into a pattern of looking mindlessly at his phone for hours, flipping between emails and social media, ignoring his children and wife and everything alive in his world, when a thought struck him. This wasn't living; this wasn't him. This moment of clarity started a chain reaction which ended with a grand plan: he was going to take his wife and two young sons, jump on a freighter and head for the Himalaya. In Blue Sky Kingdom, we follow Bruce and his family's remarkable three months journey, where they would end up living amongst the Lamas of Zanskar Valley, a forgotten appendage of the ancient Tibetan empire, and one of the last places on earth where Himalayan Buddhism is still practiced freely in its original setting. Richly evocative, Blue Sky Kingdom explores the themes of modern distraction and the loss of ancient wisdom coupled with Bruce coming to terms with his elder son's diagnosis on the Autism Spectrum. Despite the natural wonders all around them at times, Bruce's experience will strike a chord with any parent—from rushing to catch a train with the whole family to the wonderment and beauty that comes with experience the world anew with your children.

At his grandfather's urging, a boy sets out in search of the secret of life and learns more than he realizes.

Iconoclastic detective Jackson Brodie returns in a triumphant new novel about secrets, sex, and lies. Jackson Brodie has relocated to a quiet seaside village, in the occasional company of his recalcitrant teenage son and an aging Labrador, both at the discretion of his ex-partner Julia. It's picturesque, but there's something darker lurking behind the scenes. Jackson's current job, gathering proof of an unfaithful husband for his suspicious wife, is fairly standard-issue, but a chance encounter with a desperate man on a crumbling cliff leads him into a sinister network -- and back across the path of his old friend Reggie. Old secrets and new lies intersect in this breathtaking novel by one of the most dazzling and surprising writers at work today. "Thank goodness the long Jackson Brodie hiatus is over." --Janet Maslin, New York Times

How does a grandmother answer her grandson's question: Is God Behind the Big Blue Sky? This charming book is one grandmother's response to the theological questions posed by four-year Charlie. His questions are fairly typical of what children ages four to seven would ask. These questions could throw curves to parents who may be caught off guard with such pointed questions about faith and God. Would you know how to answer them? Charlie's questions include, Who is God? and When I fly in a plane, will I see God? The answers to such queries are open-ended and broad. But reading this book will provide a foundation on how to broach such topics with young children. The theme presents responses telling of God's supreme goodness and his overwhelming love for his Creation. God's love is likened to the care that a child receives from a loving parent. These are important spiritual messages for children and adults alike. Katherine Roberts Moore, Christian educator and spiritual director, wrote this book to answer her grandson's questions about God. Silence and centering prayer are most inspiring for me. The actual cessation of activity and going into a silent mode allows me to focus and to think more clearly. She lives with her husband near Ocean Isle Beach, North Carolina, and is working on her next book. Publisher's website: http: //www.strategicpublishinggroup.com/title/IsGodBehindTheBigBlueSky.htm

It's 1942: Tomi Itano, 12, is a second-generation Japanese American who lives in California with her family on their strawberry farm. Although her parents came from Japan and her grandparents still live there, Tomi considers herself an American. She doesn't speak Japanese and has never been to Japan. But after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, things change. No Japs Allowed signs hang in store windows and Tomi's family is ostracized. Things get much worse. Suspected as a spy, Tomi's father is taken away. The rest of the Itano family is sent to an internment camp in Colorado. Many other Japanese American families face a similar fate. Tomi becomes bitter, wondering how her country could treat her and her family like the enemy. What does she need to do to prove she is an honorable American? Sandra Dallas shines a light on a dark period of American history in this story of a young Japanese American girl caught up in the prejudices and World War II.

A boy’s nomadic life in Mongolia is under threat in a novel that “captures the mountains, valleys and steppes in all their surpassing beauty and brutality” (Minneapolis Star-Tribune). In the high Altai Mountains of northern Mongolia, a young shepherd boy comes of age, tending his family’s flocks on the mountain steppes and knowing little of the world beyond the surrounding peaks. But his nomadic way of life is increasingly disrupted by modernity. This confrontation comes in stages. First, his older siblings leave the family yurt to attend a distant boarding school. Then the boy’s grandmother dies, and with her his connection to the old ways. But perhaps the greatest tragedy strikes when his dog, Arsylang—“all that was left to me”—ingests poison set out by the boy’s father to protect his herd from wolves. “Why is it so?” Dshurukawaa cries out in despair to the Heavenly Blue Sky, to be answered only by the wind. Rooted in the oral traditions of the Tuvan people, The Blue Sky weaves the timeless story of a boy poised on the cusp of manhood with the story of a people on the threshold. “Thrilling. . . . Tschinag makes it easy for his readers to fall into the beautiful rhythms of the Tuvans’ daily life.” —Los Angeles Times Book Review “In this pristine and concentrated tale of miraculous survival and anguished loss, Tschinag evokes the nurturing warmth of a family within the circular embrace of a yurt as an ancient way of life lived in harmony with nature becomes endangered.” —Booklist

Essays, poems, photographs, and letters explore the link between Buddhism and the Beats--with previously unpublished material from several beat writers, including Jack Kerouac, Allen Ginsberg, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, Gary Snyder, and Diane diPrima.