Showing results by narrator "Kate Hosking" in All Categories

Australian swimmer Petria Thomas won the hearts of millions around the world with her triple gold-medal-winning triumph at the Athens Olympic Games in 2004. Having overcome the pain and anguish of three shoulder reconstructions and two ankle reconstructions over the length of her glittering 12-year career, Petria is admired and respected for her grit, determination, and steely will to win.

Philadelphia (Delie) Gordon is in the twilight of her years. Finally, it seems, she has found some peace. With the power of the Murray River finally harnessed and the advent of train and rail, the great paddle steamers of the past are redundant. With time to paint and to ponder the continuity of life, she contemplates the randomness of her existence. However Delie's contentment is shattered when fate, with the advent of WWII, is once more to intervene in her life.

For eight years Lexie Rogers has been a uniform cop in Sydney's red light district, Kings Cross. Having survived a violent knife attack, she's witnessed far more than most cops her age. Now she's back at work as the newest member of the Bondi Junction detectives' office and ready to start again. One of her first jobs is to execute a search warrant at a bikie clubhouse belonging to one of the two local gangs in the eastern suburbs.

Rachel tightened her ponytail as she took up the position of Wing Attack. She knew what Mr E said was true, but this was her chance to impress the talent scouts. Rachel's big dream - her only dream - was that one day she would play netball for Australia. Rachel loves netball. She plays the game, reads about it, and tapes all the big matches. She's willing to do anything to realise her ambition to play in the rep team. Just when she has the chance to be noticed, everything goes wrong. Now she has to play for a new club with some less-than-friendly teammates and it's not as much fun anymore.

"You can't have a party without music," said Dad. "You can't have a fire without smoke," said Whacka. It went from bad to worse after that. A barbecue from hell. Spuds on the roof. A visit from the police. It was war, a fight to the finish between Dad and Whacka. And Chris was right in the middle of it. All because Dad vomited in the cabbage patch. It could only be a Paul Jennings story narrated by Kate Hosking.

"'There he is', Gramps shrieked. 'The Spy. The scumbag spy.' I looked up and saw a monstrous white hairy face disappear into the drain. I had never seen such a frightening sight. White hair covered its entire head. I couldn't even see any eyes. In a flash Gramps splashed into the drain after it."

This stunning and intoxicating novel speaks of passion and obsession, ranging in setting from an Australian rainforest to Boston and Toronto. A mysterious and elusive love affair haunts the lives of three women in Australia. Twenty years later, on the other side of the world, Charade Ryan sorts through story and counter-story for her father, the legendary Nicholas, and the truth about her origins.

In a small town near Port Arthur in Tasmania in the mid-90s, Kate Byrne is having an affair with the father of her most gifted student. As the young teacher's sexual life is awakened by the father in scenes of escalating eroticism, the guilt she feels towards the son is compounded. Meanwhile, Veronica, her lover's wife, has just published Murder at Black Swan Point, a true crime book about the brutal slaying of a young adulteress some years before, set in a nearby town.

On the other side of the fence horrible, gobbling squeals came from THE SLOBBERERS as they fought over the bloody trail I had left behind.

What about all that stuff you keep reading about: the moonlit walks, waves softly kissing the sandy shore? It doesn't exist. Does it have to be a problem just because you don't want to hold your mother's hand anymore and you're not ready to hold anyone else's? Before you try to give yourself a hickey tonight, read this!

I gulped. My mouth was dry. How could I tell her? How could I just announce that her son?s innards had been sucked out by giant worms and that his skin was probably flapping somewhere in the morning breeze? I turned away, struggling to find the words.

"Charge!" came Gramps' excited voice. I gasped. The frog general was as big as a full-grown cow. He started to roll his tongue back into his mouth. He was going to slurp me up and slide me down his throat.

"Roy's tiny breaths sounded like milkshake fighting its way up a very thin straw. His eyes were closed. 'Rory', I said. 'Don't die. Don't die.' His eyes fell open. They flicked wildly around. 'The goat', he shouted. I didn't bother looking behind me. I knew there was no goat. And I knew Rory wasn't dying. Not yet."

"I burst out of a clump of bushes and froze. Silhouetted against the moonlit sky were several massive shapes. What if Eileen had infected something else? What if the hospital had cockroaches? Or bedbugs? What if the frogs weren't all dead? I stifled a scream."

A poignant and searingly honest memoir about love and life with Andy Whitfield, breakout star of the television phenomenon Spartacus. When you meet the love of your life, the one person you want to spend the rest of your days with, what do you do when they're ripped away? Vashti and Andy Whitfield fitted together like the missing pieces of a perfect jigsaw. From the moment they met, they were inseparable.

"We must be ruthless," Edward snarls, "because we lead ruthless lives: you, of anyone, should understand that. This is our existence, Jordan, this house, this land, that father, that mother - there's no pity, there's no mercy, there's probably no escape. It is hard, Jordan, and we have to be hard to survive it, and the best we can do is fight anything that threatens to make it worse."

When the neighbors are forced to sell the farm, Chris is desperate to own the cows he has been milking. But Chris' Dad cannot cope with the idea! Then, one moonlit night, Chris sneaks out and follows the cow Petal on a wild rampage to...a mob of motherless cabbage patch babies. Will Chris get to keep his cows? Will he be able to look after this new crop of cabbage patch babies? Will their mothers ever come back?

It's 1969, and small-town girl Faith Taylor longs for the excitement of the city. Leaving her family home in Willow Tree Bend, Faith lands a job at The Angel - Melbourne's most infamous nightclub. While Faith relishes her newfound freedom, she can't help but notice that there are some things about the club that don't add up. So when a policeman shows her a shocking photograph and reveals that a former waitress was murdered, Faith realises she must help to bring down the shadowy owner behind the club's activities.

Neville 'Pom' Darling is on the hunt for the perfect photograph. Skye Stewart is searching for her long-lost grandfather. It's 1939, and Neville, escaping an unhappy marriage and his memories of the Great War, finds himself in Mackenzie Crossing on the day of the terrible Black Friday bushfires. He meets the beautiful Georgie Mackenzie and in an instant knows that she is the subject he has been looking for. As the heat intensifies, Georgie and Pom begin to wonder if they have a future together, but first they must survive the blaze.

It is the start of a long, hot summer, and Madalena Grimaldi has disappeared. Claudia is hired to find the missing schoolgirl, but she's already working on a case - the death of Guy Valentine, her father. As Claudia searches the streets, looking for the ghost of her derelict father and for the mysterious man who can lead her to Madalena, she finds herself sinking into a world where, for many, rock bottom is only the beginning.