Miles off Course by Sulari Gentill, Pantera Press, $29.99 Communists, facists, sly-groggers, thieves, and older brother Wilfred make 1933 a year to remember for Australian gentleman-painter Rowland Sinclair. Trouble follows him from the manicured croquet lawns of the Hydro Majestic up to the wild High Country and all the way to the front door of […]

Jubilee by Shelley Harris, Weidenfeld & Nicolson, $29.99 Smart and insightful, familiar yet uncomfortable, watertight and believable, Shelley Harris’ debut novel ticks all the boxes for a compelling, original and compact read. With a quirky premise of a newspaper photograph snapped at an English street party to celebrate the Queen’s silver jubilee in 1977, Harris […]

Vincent Van Gogh: The Life by Steven Haifeh and Gregory White Smith, Profile Books , $59.99 Destined for posthumous priceless collectors’ value, it is still hard to conceive that when Vincent Van Gogh died at just 37, his star had yet to ascend. And if Pulitzer prize-winning Jason Pollock biographers Naifeh and Smith’s hypothetical reconstruction […]

Tideline by Penny Hancock, Simon & Schuster UK, $29.99 This chilling psychological thriller navigates through its undercurrent of a 43-year-old woman’s obsession and kidnap of a fifteen year-old-boy, to sway the reader into a dangerous comfort zone. “These boy-men did not exist quite like this when I was young… taller, broader, softer, gentler,” muses voice […]

She was just 26 years old, mourning the death of her father and about to be crowned Queen of England, but in this previously unseen portrait, Elizabeth II exudes calm and dignity. The image is one of 35 official photos taken in March 1952 by Kenneth Clayton. Clayton was allowed to keep the snaps as […]

They were bitter love rivals for two decades so it’s not hard to imagine how Princess Diana would feel about Camilla wearing her favourite jewels. The Duchess of Cornwall wore Diana’s beloved diamond and emerald brooch to the races in Cheltenham yesterday. The Queen Mother gave Diana the brooch when she married Prince Charles in […]

On Boxing Day 2011, celebrity chef Matt Golinski lost his wife and three daughters when a fire devastated their family home. Matt survived the fire, but sustained third degree burns to 40 percent of his body. He was unconscious for weeks and only recently learned of his family’s fate. Now, Matt’s colleagues and friends — […]

Sugary soft drinks might be bad for your waistline but they’re even worse for your heart. A new Harvard University study found that people drinking as few as 6.5 sugary drinks a week were 20 percent more likely to have a heart attack than those who never consumed them. Researchers from the Harvard School of […]

When life in Townsville became too much, Chris and Claudia Bouma bought a trailer, packed up their three kids and spent two years travelling Australia.

Spectacular arts events are becoming a powerful new catalyst in travel Down Under encouraging Australians to take weekend breaks away.