Showing results by narrator "Melissa Madden Gray" in All Categories

At 10, we know how girls are pigeonholing themselves into what they think they should be. Whether they see themselves as academic or not, whether they are interested in boys, puberty is a reality, friendship fights are underway and the influence of social media is impacting. With heightened pressure from what they see in the media, in movies and on TV, our girls are leaving childhood behind well before they hit their teens. Not surprisingly, emotions can be heightened and relationships can be fraught.

The crime of sextortion has reached epidemic proportions, fuelled by both sex offenders and organised scammers targeting our most vulnerable online. Children are some of the internet's most prolific and most naive users, and increasing numbers are finding themselves caught in an evil web of networked manipulators. Saving Our Kids highlights the dangers lurking in every child's smartphone, web browser and computer game.

A novel about three women at turning points in their lives, and the one night that changes everything.

History teacher Gwen is driving to school when she hears a news report about a man on his regular morning swim, taken by a Great White. She races to the beach, but all that remains of Jason is his swimming cap, a flipper with a bite taken out of it and a bit of torn, blood-stained wet suit found floating on the other side of the island. Her private heartbreak is interrupted by a woman screeching to a stop on a motor bike. A frantic Tish screams for information, convinced it's her husband who's been taken by the man-eater. Gwen tries to reassure her that it's Jason who's been killed.

As bushfires rage outside the city, three women watch a performance of a Beckett play. Margot is a successful professor, preoccupied by her fraught relationship with her ailing husband. Ivy is a philanthropist with a troubled past, distracted by the snoring man beside her. Summer is a young theatre usher, anxious about the safety of her girlfriend in the fire zone.

At one of the most critical times in their development—an age when they're ready to spread their wings and look to the future—they have had to deal with enormous disruption and dislocation, and come to terms with living life from their bedrooms. The long stints of remote learning and the anxiety of at-home exams has compounded with the ever-present pressure of the ATAR and worries around friendships and relationships, who they want to be, gender identity, alcohol, vaping, and sex, body image and mental health. Self-harm and eating disorders have risen dramatically.

This is a story about Clare, Louisa and Chris. And sometimes Paul, and less often, Beth. It is most certainly not about frittatas (a terrible concession), and more to do with lemon tart (a perfect contrast of textures). It is about what to do when your husband tells you that he doesn't love you anymore. And what to do when your wife leaves you after too many rounds of IVF. It's about helping your new friend with her funeral catering business, and discovering that, sometimes, the most unlikely of pairings are the very, very best.

Greta's partner, Joel, grew up with five brothers and a sister in a feisty household on an isolated NT property. But he doesn't talk about those days - not the deaths of his sister and mother, nor the origin of the scars that snake around his body. Now, many years later, he returns with Greta and their three young boys to prepare the place for sale. The boys are quick to settle in, and Joel seems preoccupied with work, but Greta has a growing sense of unease, struggling in the build-up's oppressive heat and living in the shadow of the old, burned-out family home.