Books published by Hybrid Publishers

Carrots and Jaffas tells the story of two red-headed identical twins whose oneness is ruptured when one of them is kidnapped. Their startling intimacy is both a strength and a fault line in their being, and once separated, their individuality emerges. In the course of this exhilarating domestic tale set in Melbourne and the Flinders Ranges, the reader encounters the twins' parents - emotional, scripture-quoting Luisa and calm Bernard - as well as two remarkable storytellers, Doc, an eccentric outback doctor and Greta, an Aboriginal elder. Trauma is followed by recovery through the unexpected agency of story and 'country' (in the Australian Aboriginal meaning of that term). Howard Goldenberg is a doctor, writer, marathon runner and Olympic torch bearer. He has written two non-fiction books, My Father's Compass (2007) and Raft (2009). This is his first novel.

My Mother's Spice Cupboard is the true story of the author's Sephardi Jewish family's migration from Baghdad to Bombay (now Mumbai) to Sydney. Unlike most other Australian Jews, her parents were born and grew up in Bombay, and her grandparents came from Iraq, Burma and India. Her father's family immigrated to Sydney, her mother's to Los Angeles, both in the 1960s. They married in Sydney and raised their family there, alongside the father's many brothers and sisters and members of their former Bombay community. Despite being Jewish, her upbringing was greatly influenced by the food, language and culture of India, and to a lesser extent, Iraq. My Mother's Spice Cupboard is the story of what happened to a community which no longer exists, how its members built new lives in a different country, and what it was like to grow up as one of their children. It's also about how much things have changed over four generations in one family. The author's grandparents' arranged marriage produced nine children; both her parents grew up within the confines of Bombay's insular Baghdadi Jewish community whereas she grew up as a first generation Australian in Sydney. Her children's lives are underpinned by the differing Jewish traditions of her family and her husband's family. The themes underlying the story are those of family and community versus individuality; choice versus obligation; and tradition versus modernity. And underlying the entire narrative is the importance of food and cooking, which goes beyond the mere provision of sustenance to express warmth, love and hospitality.

Seen through the eyes of an illiterate twelve-year-old boy, Nava Semel's moving, at times lyrical fiction explores life in the Palestine of the 1930s - a world where a young Jew is prepared to undertake multiple marriages to threatened East European women for patriotic reasons alone; where a boy's closest friends are a dog named after his hero Johnny Weissmuller (the screen Tarzan of blessed memory), his brother's first wife, and the girl next door. Semel weaves a rich evocation of love and pain and promises, written with eloquent humanity and verve.

Twenty-five years after Gabrielle Gouch left her native land, Transylvania, communism collapsed and the author returned to Romania from Australia to visit her half-brother Tom who told her stories about his life under communism. Though the story is factual, the author uses her strong eye for detail and the techniques of fiction to create this engaging and thought-provoking account about ordinary people in turbulent times. These sad and funny tales are interleaved with the story of the rest of the family from which Tom became estranged. This memoir portrays the exodus of Jewish families from Romania and their arrival in the Promised Land, a dream come true for some but a shock for others. It explores issues of identity, disability, emigration and family relationships against a background of the major political events of the time from a perspective that challenges some accepted views.

The Mystery of You is an exciting and thought-provoking look at ourselves and how we live our lives. It contains a rich tapestry of ideas, beliefs and experiences. It challenges the reader in many ways by confronting everyday issues, but always remaining interesting and easy to read. Many questions are discussed, for example: - What is happening to humanity?- What kind of individuals and communities are we producing?- What have morality and ethics got to do with everyday living?- Where can we find some clues that will give us a head start in our own journey through the maze of living? The first part of the book is written by Ron Goldschlager, a successful businessman and communal identity who cares deeply about humanity and our world. The second part is a series of articles by Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz, a philosopher, scholar, educator, advisor to many high-profile international leaders and prolific writer of over 70 books. Accompanying and complementing the text is a wonderful collection of paintings by Victor Majzner, some produced especially for this work. They are inspiring and colourful illustrations of the important themes in this book. In a positive and easy-to-digest manner, this book explores Jewish thought and belief, and offers a practical and creative perspective on eternal issues. It consists of seven chapters: Ageing; Belief and Bureaucracy; Continuity; Behaviour; Water and Life with Numbers; This is About Happiness; Science or Religion and Religion or Science.

Every year for over a decade Goldenberg, a white middle-aged doctor, has spent numerous periods working as a relieving doctor for Aboriginal communities in remote places. On these visits he has observed and recorded Aboriginal Australians lives without resorting to simplification or glib solutions. Among his true stories we meet psychotic Elijah who believes he is Satan's boss and cannot die; a dehydrated baby whose mother gambles away money for food; an old lady who receives a gashed head while fending off a thief stealing her money - her husband. In the midst of tragedy, suffering and moral ambiguity, these stories also tell of cultural richness and common humanity. Goldenberg writes: 'Aboriginal Australians are not at peace. They are variously unwell, underfed, overfed, afflicted excessively by our lifestyle diseases, confused by our drugs and drink, endowed with income but not with work, living in sickening poverty in paradisiacal places; and distracted from their serious cultural business by the trappings of our serious cultural emptiness.'

What is missing in most curricula - from elementary school all the waythrough to university education - is coursework focused on thedevelopment of problem-solving skills. Most students never learn how tothink about solving problems.Besides being a lot of fun, a puzzle-based learning approach also does aremarkable job of convincing students that (a) science is useful andinteresting, (b) the basic courses they take are relevant, (c) mathematics isnot that scary (no need to hate it!), and (d) it is worthwhile to stay inschool, get a degree, and move into the real world which is loaded withinteresting problems (problems perceived as real-world puzzles).