Books published by Melbourne Books

Over the last seventeen years the Moroccan Soup Bar has become a much-loved Melbourne institution. Its spoken menu, delicious food and unique ambience, founded on principles of equality and generosity, have become legendary. In this book the restaurants founder, Hana Assafiri, shares her recipes for food and life.

A comprehensive, entertaining and visually stunning history of the circus in Australia.

There was only one Phar Lap: There is only one 'Oppy' - Courier Mail, 1932. Hubert 'Oppy' Opperman was a sporting icon, a cycling phenomenon whose epic feats of endurance captivated the world. For over two decades, he dominated almost every race he entered and shattered record after record in Australia and Great Britain. In 1928, he led the first Australasian team to ever contest the Tour de France. But Oppy was more than just a champion. During the Great Depression, a time of painful economic and social change, he became a transcendent symbol of Australian fortitude. He became a household name, a legend - as popular as the cricketer Don Bradman and the racehorse Phar Lap. As well as vividly retelling his sporting triumphs, this book is the first to consider the legacy of Opperman's post-cycling career. It explores the emotional pain of his private life, the controversies that dogged his seventeen-year political career including his term as Minister for Immigration in the Menzies Government, and the far-reaching changes he helped bring to Australian immigration policy. This meticulously researched biography gives readers a thrilling insight into the brutal world of professional cycling and an intimate portrait of an extraordinary Australian.

Jeff Duff is arguably the most flamboyant, creative and controversial entertainer Australia has produced. His musical gifts and fantastical androgynous performances parallel the artistry of David Bowie. While Duffos career kicked off in the 1970s, he continues to grow as an artist, creating new music and performing sell-out concerts to this day. In his tell-all memoir, dedicated to Bowie, Duffo shares his tales of life, love and rocknroll, in what is a rollicking, entertaining read. From his childhood desire to wear a dress, to performing before violent London punk crowds, to being banned and arrested, and even his journey into the depths of despair, Duffo recalls all with flair and style.

Primates are a group of animals more like us than any other. They are beautiful, enigmatic, often misunderstood. They are our biological family. And many of them are in trouble.Lou Grossfeldt has always wanted to work with animals. Today she is one of Australia''s leading experts on primate husbandry and care. Lou has spent more than two decades working to help save our primate family from extinction.In this book, Lou shares her remarkable stories with award-winning writer David Blissett. You''ll travel from the stunning rainforests of Borneo and Vietnam, to the vanishing wilderness of Madagascar and Uganda, the to one of the world''s most iconic zoos. You''ll read about the refugees of the forest and meet some notable members of the family.Lou offers insight into the plight facing primates in the wild, and shares some practical advice each of us can follow to help make a tangible difference to the survival of these amazing animals.''It is my hope that many people will read and enjoy these stories. And that this will encourage them to join the growing band of us who care and help us to make a positive difference for primates, and all living things.'' - From the foreword by Jane Goodall.

As engrossing as a novel, this story of the death of childhood in the cradle of the world's mightiest empire, and the atmospheric tale of crime and punishment leading to a sensational murder trial is from another time but implicitly raises questions which remain with us today.Steve Harris' book brings to life a most bizarre social experiment and all its grotesqueness in engrossing form. It's a very human, dramatic and authentic tale, written so comprehensively that it is a service to Australian and British readers. - Tom Keneally, winner of the Booker Prize and Miles Franklin AwardHistory as suspenseful, vividly portrayed, affecting and moving as the best films and fiction. - Robert Drewe, award-winning authorSteve Harris skilfully portrays one of the most sobering and saddest stories in Australian history. - Professor Geoffrey Blainey, AC

Marianne Broadbent is a leadership and executive search consultant who works every day with women and men making career decisions and life choices. She provides sharp and informed insights, through her work with organisations and teams, to build and sustain great talent. She shares her personal experiences of taking career risks, making multiple choices and managing a 'blended life' in our new modern paradigm where careers aren't as linear as they once were. She complements this with the thoughts and words of 20 executives who willingly provide their personal and career perspectives on their own trade-offs and 'getting on with it'.The Agile Executive should be compulsory reading for all women (and men too!) who aspire to succeed in corporate life. - Elizabeth Proust, AO Chairman, Bank of MelbourneIt takes both courage and generosity of spirit to use yourself as a case study for others' learning. Above all this is a very generous book. And like the author chock full of memorable advice. - Diane Smith-Gander, Non-executive director and past president of Chief Executive Women (CEW)Relevant and empowering, The Agile Executive offers exactly what's needed to adapt to and lead change in our disruptive age. Priceless wisdom from a highly successful leader who has been there. - Stephen M.R. Covey, The New York Times and #1 Wall Street Journal bestselling author of The Speed of Trust

Award Winning Australian Writing 2018 is embracing the digital era being published in literary journal format via print on demand. AWAW has become a pillar of the literary landscape encouraging and showcasing emerging writers. This 11th 2018 edition features the cream of the past year's crop of award winning short story and poetry competitions. AWAW2018 includes winning writing for the following competitions plus many more! Overland's Neilma Sidney Short Story Prize 2017 Alan Marshall Short Story Award State Library of Queensland Young Writers Award Stonnington Untitled Literary Festival Short Story Competition CJ Dennis Poetry Competition Apollo Bay Short Story Competition 2018 UTS Anthology Writing Prize The Ada Cambridge Biographical Prose Prize

Sequel to the bestselling 'Our House is Not in Paris'. Join for the first time, or continue to share in this sequel, the French renovee trials and triumphs of Susan and Stuart Cutsforth, an 'ordinary' Australian couple. Our House is Certainly Not in Paris is a magical memoir about their renovation of an old farmhouse in France. They devote their holidays to breathing life back into its ancient stone walls. It is so charmingly written that the reader is transported to their petite village and the people in this book become like old friends. This is a story about achieving dreams. It makes you want to grab life with both hands.

Dr Thomas McMahon, a self-assured and ambitious Australian environmentalist, journeys into the Philippines, intending to 'save' the tribal peoples of Mindanao and their mountain environment from the exploitation of Horizon Mining Corporation (HMC). Instead, the country changes him in ways that he never thought possible. Tom is in his mid-thirties, married, with a successful academic career and important international environmental connections. He heads The Melbourne Environment Centre, which locks horns with the Company. This battle spills over into the Philippines, where HMC is launching a new mining operation after uncovering the largest copper deposit in Asia. As a political pragmatist who campaigns on climate change and sustainable development, Tom becomes enmeshed in a network of green militant insurgents who see him and his campaign as part of the problem. Tom discovers that people are the primary threatened species - not birds, pandas or whales.

It took only three days to fall in love with Rome. Like all infatuations, I expected it to wear off. I decided that I would leave when I no longer noticed the Coliseum. I am still waiting.' Twenty years ago, Bronte Jackson won an airline ticket that thrust her into the heart of the Mediterranean. Recently separated, made redundant and evicted from her home, Bronte spent six months recovering in Greece and spending her redundancy package, before making her way to Rome. Roman Daze: La Dolce Vita for All Seasons is a book about living a personal and continuously surprising adventure. It's about following your heart and what it's like to live among people who continuously use theirs. In Roman Daze, Bronte Jackson describes how the seasons, food, family, landscape, rituals and history combine to create and explain the Italian lifestyle and why, from the outside, it looks like la dolce vita.