SHORTLISTED FOR THE NATIONAL BIOGRAPHY AWARD 2019 'Have you met Mrs Edith Coleman? If not you must - I am sure you will like her - she's just A1 and a splendid naturalist.' In 1922, a 48-year-old housewife from Blackburn delivered her first paper, on native Australian orchids, to the Field Naturalists Club of Victoria. Over the next thirty years, Edith Coleman would write over 300 articles on Australian nature for newspapers, magazines and scientific journals. She would solve the mystery of orchid pollination that had bewildered even Darwin, earn the acclaim of international scientists and, in 1949, become the first woman to be awarded the Australian Natural History Medallion. She was 'Australia's greatest orchid expert', 'foremost of our women naturalists', a woman who 'needed no introduction'. And yet, today, Edith Coleman has faded into obscurity. How did this remarkable woman, with no training or connections, achieve so much so late in life? And why, over the intervening years, have her achievements and her writing been forgotten? Zoologist and award-winning writer Danielle Clode sets out to uncover Edith's story, from her childhood in England to her unlikely success, sharing along the way Edith's lyrical and incisive writing and her uncompromising passion for Australian nature and landscape. PRAISE FOR THE WASP AND THE ORCHID 'An engaging...vividly created window onto the life of an impressive woman and her times.' Sydney Morning Herald '[A] brilliant biography' Australian Women's Weekly 'Danielle Clode breathes life into the story of Edith Coleman... an approachable blend of biography, science, nature writing and social history.' Adelaide Advertiser 'Undoubtedly a remarkable woman' Weekend Australian

A guide to identifying the native orchids of southwest Western Australia, based on a simple, mainly pictoral key directing the reader to the section addressing the distinctive features of each species and information on distribution, habitat, flowering period, and the common name. Includes full desc

"The Malayan Orchid Review is an annual publication of the Orchid Society of South East Asia, based in Singapore. Its coverage reflects the aims of the Society, which include the advancement of orchid science and orchid conservation, as well as orchid culture and appreciation. It also promotes the interests of hybridisers and commercial growers. The MOR covers reports on orchid shows around the region, new species and hybrid descriptions, articles on orchid biology, conservation and culture, etc. It is the only comprehensive full colour orchid journal published in English in South East Asia."--

Veteran governess Laura Grey joins the Selwick Spy School expecting to find elaborate disguises and thrilling adventures in service to the spy known as the Pink Carnation. She hardly expects her first assignment to be serving as governess for the children of André Jaouen, right-hand man to Bonaparte's minister of police. At first the job is as lively as Latin, but Laura begins to notice Jaouen's increasingly strange behavior. As Laura edges closer to her employer, she is surprised to learn that she has much in common with him. And Jaouen finds he's hired more than he's bargained for...

This magnificently illustrated, up-to-date, and authoritative book covers 150 of the most well known and widespread species as well as many that are extremely rare or were only recently described. John Riley's drawings are not only beautiful but masterpieces of meticulous accuracy: all are anatomically exact, representing the finest collection of illustrations of this flora published to date.

Growing orchids is a pursuit more than two millennia old. This guide explains, in accessible detail, the natural habitat of some 400 orchid species, hybrids, and variants, providing the information leading directly into practical propagation and cultivation guidance. Illustrated throughout.

The Fifteens of Stone House have reached Attainment: the day a girlie may Beseech for the privilege of serving as a Perfected womanidol in the Orchid Nursery. When vivacious, irreverent Pearl goes missing, pious Mica hopes fervently that her friend has been chosen for Perfection and has not, as she fears, absconded from the State. Mica feels bound by love and duty to seek Pearl - to save her from punishment if she is caught by the Ecumen or, worse, if she has left Civilisation. Mica's search will take her into a frightening physical and moral terrain where insurgents and outcasts are still fighting a strategic war against the clerical regime. But first Mica must bring herself to violate the secret-sacred space that is the Orchid Nursery. Through its youthful protagonists The Orchid Nursery explores sexual politics and the co-opting of religion to perpetrate extremes of misogyny, violence, control and obliteration of the cultural and historical record. It also sees the possibility of hope emerging from the worst kind of dystopia. "A powerful story, so visual and present it feels like a cross between a painting by Hieronymus Bosch and MCEscher ... Confronting in its truths, The Orchid Nursery's richness of language also layers it in warmth and humour." - Stephanie Smith "A superbly crafted vision of a toxic cultural wasteland. Three women: rebel, zealot, hag. Three journeys through a disintegrated future. Check current news reportage before claiming the horrors of The Orchid Nursery could never come to pass within our lifetime." - Cat Sparks "Terrifying, but so beautifully, dreamily written." - Elizabeth Farrelly " A] febrile world of strong and desperate characters, alien lore and changing loyalties ... that Katz presents with luminous, edgy and at times almost unbearably vivid descriptions. Mysterious and compelling, the narrative is etched with a grim humour in its dark evocation of a world both eerie and strange and yet also disturbingly familiar." - Libby Hathorn"