Showing results by narrator "James Saunders" in All Categories

Riley Jax, convicted murderer. Once a promising engineer in the army, he lost everything in a single night when he killed a man - an act he cannot remember. It's a devastating gap in an otherwise perfect memory. Now he's facing a new life, one behind bars, where he has to learn a whole different set of rules and only the toughest survive.

At the Australian war crimes trials that followed World War II, one prosecution witness stood out: Warrant Officer Bill Sticpewich. During his three years in the infamous Sandakan POW camp, Sticpewich had seen hundreds of fellow prisoners die of starvation, sickness and overwork. Of more than 2400 Allied prisoners at Sandakan at the start of 1945, only six survived. It was Sticpewich's meticulous evidence that sent Sandakan's commandant and his murderous henchmen to the gallows. But to his fellow prisoners Sticpewich was not a war hero.

When a young Japanese fighter pilot is shot down and captured in the 1942 Darwin bombing, he knows in his heart he should be dead. Duty is heavy as a mountain, death as light as a feather. That’s the Military Code and it means fight to the death, never surrender or you’ll bring a bitter shame on yourself and family. He conceals his true name to protect his family. Suicide is a possibility, but he’s drawn away from his military indoctrination by experiences with ordinary Australians, drawn towards living out his own individuality.

As a boy living in a tribe in what is now South Sudan, the youngest country in the world, Ayik Chut Deng was a member of the Sudanese People's Liberation Army (SPLA). During his time as a child soldier, he witnessed unspeakable violence and was regularly tortured by older boys. At age 19, he and his family escaped the conflict in Sudan and resettled in Toowoomba, Australia. But adjusting to his new life in small-town Queensland was more difficult than he anticipated.

Through a precious cache of WWII letters, a story of war is revealed. But also, most movingly, a story of love, resilience and survival, from award-winning and bestselling writer, Peter Rees and Sue Langford....

The world is devastated by catastrophic climate change. You have 100 days to save it.... Half a billion climate refugees are flooding into the West, the global depression is getting worse and democracies are being crushed by the neo-fascist Yellow Armbands. In a desperate attempt to avert catastrophe, the Great Powers embark on the most monumental gamble of all time. But climate scientist Irith Hardey is sure they’ve got it wrong - the US president’s pet scheme isn’t going to save the planet, but ruin it.

Wannabe detective plus (top-secret) ghost sidekick equals a brilliant team! You'd think a ghost grandad would be a great sidekick for a wannabe detective. Unfortunately, if there was a 'being a good ghost' exam, Jay’s grandad would fail spectacularly - he hates walking through walls, he can't touch anything and he's rubbish at haunting.

An old witch is losing her power, her husband is in a living death and a criminal mastermind is dying: what if the immense life force in one very special girl could save them all? It’s the mid-1970s, and when young Lía Munro moves into a big country house in Australia after moving from Hong Kong with her father, Paul, things start to happen that make her question who she is and what she might really be. The old house has ghosts; her father, Paul, has a past that links him to both this rural hideaway and the ancient Italian witch named Adelina Russo who once held sway....

Stories from when life was so bad it was funny. We've all had days when if we didn't laugh, we'd cry. Whether it's a domestic drama, a career cock-up or just a run-of-the-mill disaster, we've all been there - no matter who we are. In this hilarious and moving collection, well-known Australians from all walks of life share their stories as a kind of mass therapy: a feel-good tonic for when the proverbial s--t hits the fan.

Stories from when life was so bad it was funny. We've all had days when if we didn't laugh, we'd cry. Whether it's a domestic drama, a career cock-up or just a run-of-the-mill disaster, we've all been there - no matter who we are. In this hilarious and moving collection, well-known Australians from all walks of life share their stories as a kind of mass therapy: a feel-good tonic for when the proverbial s--t hits the fan.

Tishtar runs a small legal practice in Melbourne where he has a new client, Habiba, who seeks to bring her orphan nieces to Australia from war-torn Somalia. He is also a migrant, having left the civil unrest in Iran to find a new life in a new country. As Tishtar becomes consumed with Habiba's tales of war-torn Somalia, his own childhood memories return and he reflects on the time he spent at his grandmother's house to escape the atrocities that unravelled post the Islamic Revolution.