Showing results by narrator "Rebecca Macauley" in All Categories

Buddhism for Mothers explores the potential to be with your children in the all-important present moment; to gain the most joy out of being with them. How can this be done calmly and with a minimum of anger, worry and negative thinking? How can mothers negotiate the changed conditions of their relationships with partners, family and even with friends? Using Buddhist practices, Sarah Napthali offers ways of coping with the day-to-day challenges of motherhood.

Freya thought she could relax when Ryan's best mate Jamie got engaged to her best friend Hannah. Two couples, four friends – what could be better than that? But a day before the wedding, Freya is torn between keeping the peace or blowing it up. Hannah's perfect wedding is hours away and she's daydreaming of a honeymoon in Tahiti and starting the family she longs for when she hears the first-responder sirens. Is it a grass fire? Worse? And why aren't Ryan or Jamie answering their phones?

Taylor Markham is now a senior at the Jellicoe School, and has been made leader of the boarders. She is responsible for keeping the upper hand in the territory wars with the townies, and the cadets who camp on the edge of the school's property over summer. She has to keep her students safe and the territories enforced and to deal with Jonah Griggs - the leader of the cadets and someone she'd rather forget. But what she needs to do, more than anything, is unravel the mystery of her past and find her mother.

A devastating bushfire. Three scorched marriages. An an inflammatory secret that will rock a town. When a lethal bushfire tore through Myrtle, nestled in Victoria’s breathtaking Otway Ranges, the town’s buildings - and the lives of its residents - were left as smouldering ash. For three women in particular, the fire fractured their lives and their relationships. Eighteen months later, with the flurry of national attention long past, Myrtle stands restored, shiny and new. But is the outside polish just a veneer?

Alice Hunter is smarting from the raw deal life has thrown her way: suddenly single, jobless and forced to move home to her parents' tiny seaside town. And now she faces an uncomfortable truth. She wants her twin sister Libby's enviable life. Libby's closest friend Jess Dekic has been around the Hunter family for so long she might as well be blood. She's always considered herself a sister closer to Libby than Alice ever could be.

The three Chirnwell sisters are descended from the privileged squattocracy in Victoria's Western District - but could a long-held secret threaten their family? Harriett has a perfect life - a husband who loves her, a successful career and a daughter who is destined to become a doctor just like her. Xara has always lived in Harriet's shadow; her chaotic life with her family on their sheep farm falls far short of her older sister's standards of perfection and prestige. Georgie, the youngest sister and a passionate Teacher, is the only one of the three to have left Billawarre.

Welcome to my world. I'm Amal Abdel-Hakim, a 17-year-old Australian-Palestinian-Muslim still trying to come to grips with my various identity hyphens. It's hard enough being cool as a teenager when being one issue behind the latest Cosmo is enough to disqualify you from the in-group. Try wearing a veil on your head and practicing the bum's up position at lunchtime and you know you're in for a tough time at school.

Maz Antonio has spent the last two years in prison so is determined to make the first major family gathering in their new home deep in Australian suburbia as perfect as possible. She owes it to everyone after the terrible mistakes she's made ... mistakes for which she will always be trying to atone. This special lunch is her chance to make things right for her husband and children, to show everyone that she can maintain her sobriety, that things can go back to normal.

All Violet wants is to be with Lincoln. But he has a secret so great it could tear them apart. Then there’s Phoenix. He’s intense and enigmatic, but he's always there for her. Caught up in a battle between light and dark - where angels seek vengeance and humans are warriors - Violet must decide who she’s willing to sacrifice and who to trust, because the wrong choice could cost her not only her life, but her destiny.

Written 20 years ago, Puberty Blues is the best-selling account of growing up in the 1970s that took Australia by storm and spawned an eponymous cult movie. Puberty Blues is about "top chicks" and "surfie spunks" and the kids who don't quite make the cut: it recreates with fascinating honesty a world where only the gang and the surf count. It's a hilarious and horrifying account of the way many teenagers live, and some of them die.

As they work at their new afternoon job at the local cat shop, Elmo and the rest of the Teen Power gang learn of more and more cats disappearing. Curious and worried, they decide they have to try and solve the mystery. Elmo knows that he has to find the cats before it's too late. Where are the cats going? Who is taking them? And why?

Margaret, the matriarch of the wealthy Jamieson family, has always been as tight-fisted with the family money as she is with her affection. Her daughter, Sarah, is successful in her own right, but she feels compelled to meet Margaret's every demand. Anita, married to Cameron Jamieson, leads a comfortable life, but she fears everything could change in a heartbeat. Ellie, the youngest, has lived a nomadic life, leaving her siblings to care for their ageing mother. As their mother’s health deteriorates, will long-held secrets and childhood rivalries smash this family into pieces?

Tara Hooper is at breaking point. With two young children, a business in a town struggling under an unexpected crime wave and her husband more interested in his cricket team than their marriage, life is a juggling act. Then, when new neighbours arrive and they are exactly the sort of people the town doesn't want or need, things get worse.

From advice to the sleep deprived to dealing with the drama of toddler tantrums to thoughts on teenage egocentrism, this invaluable audiobook will teach you how to manage the expectations you have of yourself, your partner, and your children. Buddhism for Parents On the Go will help you conquer the day-to-day challenges of life, reduce your stress levels, and gain true insight into the ever-changing joys of parenthood.

Izzy Harrington's fiancé is a successful entrepreneur and everyone's friend, but today she's waiting for him to get home so she can tell him they're over. Except Brad never arrives. Instead, three angry men knock on the door and insist on talking to Brad. When the police arrive asking difficult questions and demanding to see his passport, Izzy's packed suitcases suddenly take on a whole new meaning.

Rage Winnoway's mother has been asleep since she had a terrible accident. In a quest to find healing magic, Rage and her animal friends travel through a strange gateway to Valley, a land of mythical beasts, talking dogs and streets that change shapes.

It has been two years since Violet Eden walked away from the city, her friends, her future and most importantly, her soulmate, Lincoln. Part angel, part human, Violet is determined to stand by the promises she made to save the one she loves.

Meredith established the Copeton Crochet Collective (no knitters please) because it would be like having friends, only with her in charge, and because there would be no men. It comes as a nasty shock, then, when Luke, the handsome grandson of no-nonsense Edith, decides to stay and learn to crochet.

A fresh and poignant novel of family, journeys, past decisions...and dresses. Four women, one dress, and the secret that binds them all. When the fates of these four women intertwine in an unexpected and powerful way, none of their lives will ever be the same again.

Love will kill us all. Angels are real. They aren’t always kind. Violet Eden is certain of all this because she is Grigori - part angel, part human. She has felt the influence of both light and dark. When Hell unleashes its worst, Violet must embrace every facet of her angel self to save the people she cares about and the world as she knows it. But death is not the worst thing that Violet will face. For her, the endless question "Can love conquer all?" will finally be answered.