Modern Lives: Sixteen True Stories of Change and Creativity

Modern Lives: Seventeen True Stories of Change and Creativity

Seventeen lives, seventeen ways of making sense of the world. This collection brings together wartime diaries and celebrity memoirs, literary biographies and political portraits, stories of trauma survived and creativity sustained — from Pamela Anderson and Pope Francis to a Rwandan refugee who became one of Australia's most beloved community figures. What unites them is the conviction that a life honestly examined is worth sharing.

1. Clouds over Paris: The Wartime Notebooks of Felix Hartlaub — Felix Hartlaub | ISBN: 9781782278443 | RRP: $32.99
   The extraordinary notebooks of a young German soldier stationed in occupied Paris during the Second World War — observational, literary, and shot through with an acute moral discomfort that makes them unlike any other wartime document. A remarkable piece of witness writing rescued from history.
2. Tools for the Top Paddock — Kane Brisco | ISBN: 9781775542124 | RRP: $32.99
   A candid and practical memoir from New Zealand farmer and entrepreneur Kane Brisco, exploring the mindset shifts and hard-won lessons that transformed his approach to both business and life. Grounded, honest, and written for anyone navigating the gap between where they are and where they want to be.
3. A Joyful Life: One Woman's Story of Triumph Over Trauma to Build a Life of Hope and Gratitude — Rosemary Kariuki | ISBN: 9781741177886 | RRP: $34.99
   Rosemary Kariuki fled Rwanda as a refugee, arrived in Australia with nothing, and went on to become one of the country's most celebrated community workers — awarded the NSW Australian of the Year for her tireless work with migrant women. This is her extraordinary story, told with the same warmth and determination that defines her remarkable life.
4. There and Back: Diaries 1999–2009 — Michael Palin | ISBN: 9781474612753 | RRP: $75.00
   The latest volume of diaries from the beloved Monty Python star, broadcaster, and travel writer, covering a decade of extraordinary journeys, creative endeavours, and personal reflections. Michael Palin's diaries are a national treasure — warm, funny, and quietly profound.
5. Love, Pamela — Pamela Anderson | ISBN: 9781472291127 | RRP: $24.99
   Pamela Anderson finally takes control of her own narrative in this raw, poetic, and surprisingly moving memoir. Written entirely in her own words, this is a very different portrait of one of the most scrutinised women of the late twentieth century — vulnerable, defiant, and entirely on her own terms.
6. Beyond the Throne: Epic Journeys, Enduring Friendships and Surprising Tales — Kristian Nairn | ISBN: 9781408731369 | RRP: $59.99
   The actor best known as Hodor in Game of Thrones takes readers on a journey through an extraordinary life — from the set of one of the world's most beloved television series to the global DJ stages, friendships, and adventures that have shaped him. Funny, warm, and genuinely surprising.
7. Karen: A Brother Remembers — Kelsey Grammer | ISBN: 9781400252817 | RRP: $39.99
   Frasier star Kelsey Grammer writes with tenderness and grief about his sister Karen, murdered in 1975 — a loss that has shaped his life and career in ways he has never before fully explored. A deeply personal memoir about love, trauma, and the long shadow of sudden loss.
8. Love Unknown: The Life and Worlds of Elizabeth Bishop — Thomas Travisano | ISBN: 9780525428817 | RRP: $52.99
   A richly detailed biography of Elizabeth Bishop, one of the twentieth century's greatest poets — exploring the travels, relationships, losses, and creative breakthroughs that shaped her singular voice. Thomas Travisano writes with deep knowledge and genuine affection for his subject.
9. The Unfamiliar: A Queer Motherhood Memoir — Kirsty Logan | ISBN: 9780349016573 | RRP: $45.00
   A lyrical, honest, and beautifully written memoir about becoming a mother in ways that don't follow the expected script. Kirsty Logan explores queerness, family, loss, and the strange, transformative experience of bringing a new life into the world with real literary grace.
10. The Fran Lebowitz Reader — Fran Lebowitz | ISBN: 9780349015903 | RRP: $24.99
    The essential collection from one of America's sharpest, funniest, and most opinionated voices. Fran Lebowitz has been writing about culture, cities, and the absurdity of modern life for decades — and she has never been more relevant, or more entertaining, than she is right now.
11. Uptown Girl: A Memoir — Christie Brinkley | ISBN: 9780063454996 | RRP: $36.99
    Supermodel, activist, and cultural icon Christie Brinkley tells her own story — the covers, the marriages, the setbacks, and the resilience — in a memoir that is as candid as it is warm. A portrait of a woman who has navigated enormous public attention with real grace and good humour.
12. Life: My Story Through History — Pope Francis | ISBN: 9780063397538 | RRP: $34.99
    Pope Francis reflects on his own life alongside the great historical events that have shaped the modern world — a unique autobiographical meditation from one of the most influential figures of our time. Thoughtful, humane, and written with the directness that has defined his papacy.
13. I Wrote This for Attention — Lukas Gage | ISBN: 9780008787769 | RRP: $36.99
    The actor known for Euphoria and The White Lotus tells his story with disarming honesty — about growing up, breaking into Hollywood, living publicly, and finding a way to be himself in one of the world's most scrutinising industries. Raw, funny, and completely unguarded.
14. Say Everything: A Memoir — Ione Skye | ISBN: 9780008766498 | RRP: $34.99
    Actress Ione Skye — best known for Say Anything — writes about growing up as the daughter of folk legend Donovan, navigating a complicated childhood, a Hollywood career, and the long process of understanding who she is outside of who other people needed her to be.
15. Docile: Memoir of a Not So Perfect Asian Girl — Hyeseung Song | ISBN: 9780008733421 | RRP: $34.99
    A sharp, candid, and deeply felt memoir about growing up between cultures — Korean heritage and American upbringing — and the expectations, silences, and identity questions that come with living in that in-between space. Hyeseung Song writes about perfectionism, family, and self-discovery with real courage.
16. My Family: The Memoir — David Baddiel | ISBN: 9780008487614 | RRP: $34.99
    Comedian and writer David Baddiel explores his extraordinary family — his father's frontal lobe dementia and its disinhibiting effects, his mother's long-term affair — with the mix of honesty, dark humour, and genuine love that has made this one of the most talked-about memoirs in recent years.
17. Confidence Man: The Making of Donald Trump and the Breaking of America — Maggie Haberman | ISBN: 9780008470197 | RRP: $34.99
    The definitive political biography of Donald Trump from the Pulitzer Prize-winning New York Times journalist who has covered him more closely than any other reporter. Rigorously reported, compellingly written, and essential reading for anyone trying to understand how Trump came to reshape American politics.