Showing results by narrator "LIsa Armytage" in All Categories

What is it that makes you distinct from me? Identity is a term much used but hard to define. For that very reason, it has long been a topic of fascination for philosophers but has been regarded with aversion by neuroscientists - until now. Susan Greenfield takes us on a journey in search of a biological interpretation of this most elusive of concepts, guiding us through the social and psychiatric perspectives and ultimately to the heart of the physical brain.

Party-planner Jo Swainson takes pride in her optimistic outlook. Nearly fifty, she has come to terms with both her childlessness and the estrangement from her cold mother, Bobbi. But after being blindsided by Bobbi’s sudden dementia diagnosis, she’s devastated when her husband announces that he’s leaving to start a family with another. Puzzled by a photo of a newborn in Bobbi’s handbag, she is further stunned to learn her mother was once hospitalised for a psychotic breakdown. Each revelation only leads to more mysteries, and Jo soon realises her mother is a stranger she longs to know.

After a 30-year absence Agnes is returning to Australia, the country of her birth, at the request of her aging, narcissistic mother. Having undergone a long period of psychotherapy she now entertains a hope that burning questions will be answered, haunting mysteries solved, and buried memories encouraged into the light. Something has blighted her life since childhood. Something has cast a long shadow over her existence, affecting her ability to grasp at life fully, to develop sustained relationships and to appreciate her own sense of self-worth.

Helen Winters feels like a new woman. Determined to reclaim her future and enjoy the second half of life, the fifty-year-old comes back from a trip to Cyprus brimming with optimism. But just as the freedom of divorce is within her grasp, her daughter returns from college with an unwelcome surprise.

Meet Helen. She worries the walls are closing in. With her children grown and her selfish husband away again, she's full of regrets at not taking the exciting paths she dreamed about in her youth. So when the chance of a last-minute holiday to Cyprus with her two best friends is offered, she grabs it.

Aspiring supermodel Kelli Crawford seems destined to marry her hotshot photographer boyfriend—but on her twenty-fifth birthday she wakes up in an entirely different world. Suddenly, she isn’t twenty-five; she’s turning fifty. She doesn’t have a big-deal boyfriend; she has a nerdy husband. She also has demanding adult children, a grandchild on the way, and symptoms of menopause. Not to mention a whole lot of very confusing technology to figure out.

In the aftermath of a heartbreaking accident, Kirsty is shocked to discover that she has inherited a vineyard in Western Australia from Ed James, a lonely old man she befriended at the library. But there is a condition to his legacy: Kirsty must give up her quiet life in England and live at the vineyard for a least one year. How will a shy librarian cope on her own in a strange country? As she is forced to take her life off hold, one thing is certain, everything is about to change for Kirsty.

Romance can be found in every corner of the world and has changed the lives of people in every period of history. In this collection of 16 stand-alone short stories, including a brand-new tale, Anna Jacobs encapsulates the spark of first love and the glow of second chances in her inimitable style, which fans new and old will take to their hearts.

Childless Maeve Corrigan, though rich and successful, is dying of cancer. She wants to leave her business empire to one of the offspring of her two estranged brothers, Des and Leo. But which young relative should she choose? Des has four children, and he is overstretched financially. Leo is the unambitious owner of a hardware store in a remote Australian town and has two children.

Dan Ireland, a work-weary police crash investigator still hell-bent on punishing himself for his misspent youth, has ample justifications for not going home to Calingarry Crossing for the school reunion, but one very good reason why he should...Maggie Lindeman. Maggie is back in Calingarry Crossing trying to sell the family pub, while also dealing with a restless 17-year-old son, a father with dementia, a fame-obsessed musician husband back in the city and a dwindling bank account. The last thing she needs is a surprise houseguest for the summer.

Bequeathed a century-old house, four estranged friends return to their hometown, Calingarry Crossing, where each must stay for a season at Dandelion House to fulfil the wishes of their benefactor, Gypsy. But coming home to the country stirs up shameful memories of the past, including the tragic end-of-school muck-up day accident twenty years earlier.

Meryem has learned to look out for number one. Abducted as a teenager from England to Turkey, thirty years later she is finally free to live life on her own terms. Divorced and wealthy, she is working a lucrative job in Dubai when a whispered confession from her dying father turns her world upside down, and sets her on a path to discover the truth. The first step is a return to London, and her childhood friends, Alma and Sammy, with whom she embarks upon an impromptu 80s nostalgia weekend, complete with a George Michael look-a-like.

New South Wales, 1972. Following the death of her beloved Aunt Hilda, widow Clare Barclay inherits Bellevue, an historic property in the Blue Mountains township of Numbulla, Australia. Giving up her teaching job to move there, Clare plans to restore the house to its original glory. She also hopes to track down a box of missing documents that may shed light on why her husband Jack secretly second-mortgaged their home. Clare makes friends with the locals, including a boy named Joe. She soon hears of plans to redevelop Numbulla, and to exploit the land bordering the protected wilderness area.

Back in 1957, nine-year-old Zidra Vincent met Jim Cadwallader for the first time. Fourteen years later, their bond of friendship - forged during childhood in the beautiful coastal town of Jingera - is still strong. But is friendship all they dream of? Jim is now a respected war correspondent in Cambodia. Meanwhile, Zidra is an ambitious reporter at the SYDNEY MORNING CHRONICLE, and the seeds of a major story have just landed in her lap.

It is the spring of 1961, and the sleepy little town of Jingera is at its most perfect with its clear blue skies, pounding surf and breathtaking lagoon. Yet all is not so perfect behind closed doors. George Cadwallader - butcher by day and stargazer by night - is loved by everyone, except his wife. He only wants the best for his family, yet it's all falling apart. Philip Chapman is a sensitive young boy, a musical prodigy - and a target for bullies. But with his wealthy parents indifferent to his cries for help, his entire future is at risk.

It's 1957 and, after the death of her husband, pianist Ilona Talivaldis and her nine-year-old daughter Zidra travel to the remote coastal town of Jingera in New South Wales. Ilona, a concentration camp survivor from Latvia, is searching for peace and the opportunity to start anew. In her beautiful vine-covered cottage on the edge of the lagoon, she has plans to set herself up as a piano teacher. The weeks pass, and slowly mother and daughter get to know the townsfolk. But Jingera is not quite the utopia Ilona imagines it to be.

Helen Winters can’t ignore the ache in her heart. With one beloved friend facing a shocking diagnosis and the other still walking on eggshells after their blowout fight, the bubbly fifty-year-old craves the lost comfort of their familiar dynamic. So when someone suggests a trio of tickets to Vegas, the determined woman hopes the trip will rescue their decades-long friendship.