Random House Australia: 1821 books

On 28 June 1915, young James Martin sailed from Melbourne aboard the troopship Berrima - bound, ultimately, for Gallipoli. He was just fourteen years old. Soldier Boy is Jim's extraordinary true story, the story of a young and enthusiastic school boy who became Australia's youngest known Anzac. Four...

'One of the better books on our time and the fools we have lately survived. Like War and Peace and the Iliad, it is abundant, instructive, exhilarating and cathartic.' BOB CARR From the suicide bombing of Glasgow Airport and the flooding of England to the horse flu and the Chinese earthquake and the...

Cate Christie is a party girl, unable to commit to anything, until she is involved in a tragic accident that changes everything. To escape her guilt and her parents' bitter disapproval, Cate leaves Perth for her aunt Ida's isolated farm in country Western Australia. Henry is a drifter, a young swagman-like...

When burglars break into Jack's house, they take all his stuff. Now he's got no skateboard, no TV, no music, nothing. All his brothers do is fight, his mum thinks they all need counselling, his dad's trying to set an example, but hey, who's interested? Jack just wants to get out of that house. So...

From the bestselling author of The Mistake comes a hauntingly powerful story about families and secrets and the dark shadows cast by the past. Curl Curl, Sydney, January 1978. Angie's a looker. Or she's going to be. She's only fourteen, but already, heads turn wherever she goes. Male heads, mainly...

Sick jokes, yucky jokes, crazy jokes, cool jokes - more than 400 hilarious gags and riddles collected from children all across Australia.

Two branches of the McAllister family lead very different lives on cattle stations in Central Australia. Rob, a stickler for correctness, manages a wealthy, company-owned property, while his easygoing brother Sandy struggles to support his wife and son on an impoverished leasehold. When tragedy throws...

Three generations of Stewart women share a deep connection to their family farm, but a secret from the past threatens to tear them apart. Widowed matriarch Maggie remembers a time when the Italian prisoners of war came to work on their land, changing her heart and her home forever. Single mum Toni...

Feel that War and Peace went on a bit? Wish there were more laughs in Catcher in the Rye? Very cross that The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo had no references to three-time world hotdog-eating champion, Joey Chestnut? Then ***Smithereens***is for you. At only 300 pages you can knock it off during one...

Sandy's beach holiday at Perfect Bay is perfect!� The waves are just the right size.� But when Sandy is dumped by a BIG wave, her holiday isn't perfect anymore . . .

Like many of his mates from the bush, Frank Ballantyne is keen to join the grand adventure and do his bit. Specially as a chest full of medals might impress the currently unimpressed parents of his childhood sweetheart. So Frank ups his age and volunteers with his horse Daisy ... and his dad. In...

Caspar Jolley is a thrillseeker with a gift for always staying one step ahead. Doctor Evelyn Flowers is a woman of science - and sensuality. Brought together by an off-street speedboat-racing catastrophe, will they be able to overcome a bizarre and confounding injury? Hilarious, inventive and...

Bush Aussies takes us on the road with Allan M. Nixon, as he travels down highways and dusty tracks in search of real Aussie larrikins and legends. Whether they're out on the land, running a successful business or just down the local pub, every country town has its unforgettable personalities,...

This is the story of two families – branches of the Solomons – transported to an alien land, both of whom eventually grow rich and powerful but who, through three generations, never for one moment relinquish their hatred for each other. It is also the story of our country from the beginning until...