My bookshelf

The best-selling author of The Fires of Vesuvius presents a comprehensive history of the social and political world of the Roman emperors including Julius Caesar, Nero, Alexander Severus, Caligula, and Marcus Aurelius.

The horror! The horror!. These are Kurtz’s final words in Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness, the story of a man who travels into the jungle to seek his fortune and who instead finds an all-consuming moral and spiritual wilderness. Conrad’s enduring tale served as a touchstone for many works of fiction inspired by its sombre theme. This collection also includes an additional five of Conrad’s best stories.

This is Charles Darwin’s chronicle of his five-year journey, beginning in 1831, around the world as a naturalist on the H.M.S. Beagle

Thrown in prison for a crime he has not committed, Edmond Dantès is confined to the grim fortress of If. There he learns of a great hoard of treasure hidden on the Isle of Monte Cristo and he becomes determined not only to escape, but also to unearth the treasure and use it to plot the destruction of the three men responsible for his incarceration.

Grace Tame has never walked on middle ground. From a young age, her life was defined by uncertainty — by trauma and strength, sadness and hope, terrible lows and wondrous highs. As a teenager she found the courage to speak up after experiencing awful and ongoing child sexual abuse. This fight to find her voice would not be her last. In 2021 Grace stepped squarely into the public eye as the Australian of the Year, and was the catalyst for a tidal wave of conversation and action. Australians from all walks of life were inspired and moved by her fire and passion. Here she was using her voice, and encouraging others to use theirs too. The Ninth Life of a Diamond Miner is Grace’s story, in Grace’s words, on Grace’s terms. Like Grace, it is sharply intelligent, deeply felt and often blisteringly funny. And, as with all her work, it offers a constructive and optimistic vision for a better future for all of us.

When Napoleon invades Russia in 1812, it forever changes those whose lives it engulfs. Although told on a panoramic scale Tolstoy’s epic novel focuses on the chaos of battle, the horror of death and bloodshed, and the expression of the noble virtues of love and valour through their impact on the lives of three principal characters: the courageous Prince Andrei Bolkonsky, the idealistic Pierre Bezukhov and the nobly born beauty Natasha Rostov.