Snapshot in Time by Doris Curcovic

$35.00 NZD

Category: Biography/Memoir

Passages by Linda Trubridge

$40.00 NZD

Category: Biography/Memoir

Passages is an intimate account of a young family’s sailing venture. When Linda and David sold the house they had built to last a lifetime and abandoned a thriving career for a nomadic life, they discovered more about the world and themselves than they ever imagined. The story’s strength li es in its reflections on the challenges of maintaining a relationship and nurturing children in extreme circumstances. Passages describes an experience that shaped extraordinary lives; it expresses those universal truths that are discovered when body, mind, and spirit are in balance with nature and oneself. ...Show more

Lady in Waiting: My Extraordinary Life in the Shadow of the Crown by Anne Glenconner

$35.00 NZD

Category: Biography/Memoir | Reading Level: very good

The remarkable life of Lady in Waiting to Princess Margaret who was also a Maid of Honour at the Queen's Coronation - and is a character in THE CROWN this spring. Anne Glenconner reveals the real events behind The Crown as well as her own life of drama, tragedy and courage, with the wonderful wit and extraordinary resilience which define her. Anne Glenconner has been close to the Royal Family since childhood. Eldest child of the 5th Earl of Leicester, she was, as a daughter, described as 'the greatest disappointment' by her family as she was unable to inherit. Her childhood home Holkham Hall is one of the grandest estates in England. Bordering Sandringham the Princesses Elizabeth and Margaret were frequent playmates. From Maid of Honour at the Queen's Coronation to Lady in Waiting to Princess Margaret, Lady Glenconner is a unique witness to royal history, as well as an extraordinary survivor of a generation of aristocratic women trapped without inheritance and burdened with social expectations. She married the charismatic but highly volatile Colin Tennant, Lord Glenconner, who became the owner of Mustique. Together they turned the island into a paradise for the rich and famous, including Mick Jagger and David Bowie, and it became a favourite retreat for Princess Margaret. But beneath the glitz and glamour there has also lurked tragedy. On Lord Glenconner's death in 2010 he left his fortune to a former employee. And of their five children, two grown-up sons died, while a third son had to be nursed back from a coma by Anne, after having suffered a near fatal accident. Anne Glenconner writes with extraordinary wit, generosity and courage and she exposes what life was like in her gilded cage, revealing the role of her great friendship with Princess Margaret, and the freedom she can now finally enjoy in later life. She will appear as a character in the new series of THE CROWN this spring.   ...Show more

Peter and Me: When a love story becomes a carer's anguish by Helen Ritchie

$33.00 NZD

Category: Biography/Memoir

When a love story becomes a carer’s anguish They first met when Helene was 18 years old. Together for nearly 40 years, this is the story of their relationship through Peter’s intense last four years involving 24/7 care, the impact of a horrible illness and a shameful and ad hoc health system . It aims to give a voice to isolated and exploited carers, especially those in private homes, and to expose fundamental issues about humanity and failed systems. It calls for and it calls a Royal Commission inquiry and a ‘bipartisan’ Parliamentary response to produce viable solutions. ...Show more

Under the Covers: Secrets of a Magazine Editor by Jenny Lynch

$38.00 NZD

Category: Biography/Memoir

Former editor Jenny Lynch takes the wraps off the unreported side of life in print, explodes myths, unearths secrets and shows that even on seemingly conservative publications such as the New Zealand Woman's Weekly things were seldom exactly as they seemed. Her memoir, aptly titled "Under the Covers", i s a revealing account of what went on behind the closed doors of various editorial offices and newsrooms during one of the most colourful periods in magazine and newspaper history. Lynch's 30-year path to her top job was full of drama and off-beat activities. But nothing she had experienced before she became editor of the Weekly prepared her for the challenges that lay ahead. Indeed, the magazine's battle for dominance in what became known as The Magazine Wars was fought against a backdrop of management turbulence and ownership changes. Peppered with the names of those who have touched the author's life, including the famous and the fleeting, "Under the Covers" will appeal to everyone who enjoys reading about the ever-changing world of print media. ...Show more

What Does the Sea Sound Like?: Memoirs of a Coda (Child of Deaf Adults) by Evie Mahoney

$30.00 NZD

Category: Biography/Memoir

Evie Mahoney is a CODA, a Child Of Deaf Adults, raised in Auckland, New Zealand. She is the eldest of six hearing children. Being first born her early life was mainly in a deaf environment and she was sensitive to how hearing people outside that environment reacted to her family. She lived on the edge b etween the two cultures and naturally slipped into the role of interpreter, from a young age, ensuring the Deaf and Hearing understood each other when communicating. While she learnt the values of her deaf parents with their perception of the mainstream hearing world, she also learnt the different values of the hearing world that she belonged to. Six decades later Evie is happy to have been raised by inspiring parents and enjoys the special dimension the deaf culture has given her. She has seen communication become easier for the Deaf with New Zealand Sign Language now being an official language and becoming a more accepted form of communication. Modern technology is also providing visual communication options for the Deaf. Nevertheless, Evie sees attitudes of the Hearing towards the Deaf still having a long way to go. ...Show more

Chasing the Rose: An Adventure in the Venetian Countryside by Andrea Di Robilant

$37.00 NZD

Category: Biography/Memoir

From the author of the best-selling "A Venetian Affair," here is the charming chronicle of his search for the identity of a mysterious old rose. Andrea di Robilant's tale takes us back to the time of Josephine Bonaparte, as well as into some of the most delightful rose gardens in Italy today, brought to colorful life on the page in the watercolors of artist Nina Fuga. In his 2008 biography of the Venetian lady Lucia Mocenigo (his great-great-great-great- grandmother), di Robilant described a pink rose that grows wild on the family's former country estate, mentioning its light peach-and-raspberry scent. This passing detail led to an invitation for an audience with a local rose doyenne, Eleonora Garlant. She and other experts wondered if di Robilant's unnamed rose could possibly be one of the long-lost China varieties that nineteenth-century European growers had cultivated but which have since disappeared. On the hunt for the identity of his anonymous yet quietly distinctive rose, Di Robilant finds himself captivated by roseophiles through time--from Lucia and her friend Josephine Bonaparte to the gifted Eleonora, whose garden of nearly fifteen hundred varieties of old roses is one of the most significant in Europe--and by the roses themselves, each of which has a tale to tell. What starts out as a lighthearted quest becomes a meaningful journey as di Robilant contemplates the enduring beauty of what is passed down to us in a rose, through both the generosity of nature and the cultivating hand of human beings, who for centuries have embraced and extended the life of this mysterious flower. ...Show more

The Divorce Diaries by Sarah Quigley

$38.00 NZD

Category: Biography/Memoir | Reading Level: near fine

Funny, honest, confronting, wise, this is a compelling and bitter-sweet true story of breaking up and breaking through. 'I hear you're divorced?' a friend greets me. 'Congratulations!' The Divorce Diaries outlines the difficult and often heart-breaking process of leaving a marriage and beginning again. Sarah Quigley has garnered numerous accolades, including Column of the Year in the MPA Awards, for her magazine articles on the subject. Now she revisits the tumultuous months leading up to exiting her marriage - and the equally confusing emotions that follow. Living in a tiny rooftop apartment, surrounded by glossy millionaire neighbours. Overcoming grief, guilt and regret, while learning to enjoy being alone again. Taking the first tentative steps into a changed world of dating. Quigley shares both her darkest and most hilarious moments as a divorcee, all played out against the colourful bohemian backdrop of her adopted city, Berlin. Ultimately, this book traces rediscovering a belief in love. ...Show more

Insane Mode: How Elon Musk's Tesla Sparked an Electric Revolution to End the Age of Oil by Hamish McKenzie

$25.00 NZD

Category: Biography/Memoir

A USA Today New and Noteworthy Title   "You'll tell me if it ever starts getting genuinely insane, right?"--Elon Musk, TED interview   Hamish McKenzie tells how a Silicon Valley start-up's wild dream came true. Tesla is a car company that stood up against not only the might of the governme nt-backed Detroit car manufacturers but also the massive power of Big Oil and its benefactors, the infamous Koch brothers.   The award-winning Tesla Model 3, a premium mass-market electric car that went on sale in 2018, has reconfigured the popular perception of Tesla and continues to transform the public's relationship with motor vehicles--much like Ford's Model T did nearly a century ago. At the same time, company CEO Elon Musk courts controversy and spars with critics through his Twitter account, just as Tesla's ever-increasing debt teeters on junk bond status....   As McKenzie's rigorously reported account shows, Tesla has triggered frenzied competition from newcomers and traditional automakers alike, but it retains an edge because of its expansive infrastructure and the stupendous battery factory it built in the Nevada desert. The popularity of electric cars is growing around the world, especially in China, and McKenzie interviews little-known titans who have the money and the market access to power a global electric car revolution quickly and decisively.   Insane Mode started off as a feature on the dual-motor Tesla Model S, which gave the car Ferrari-like acceleration, but it's also the perfect description of the operating cycle of a company that has sworn it won't rest until every car on the road is electric. Here is a story about the very best kind of American ingenuity and its history-making potential. Buckle up ...Show more

Dead People I Have Known by Shayne Carter

$40.00 NZD

Category: Biography/Memoir | Reading Level: good

Winner - Ockham NZ Book Awards - General Non-Fiction Award 2020 In Dead People I Have Known, the legendary New Zealand musician Shayne Carter tells the story of a life in music, taking us deep behind the scenes and songs of his riotous teenage bands Bored Games and the Doublehappys and his best-known b ands Straitjacket Fits and Dimmer. He traces an intimate history of the Dunedin Sound that distinctive jangly indie sound that emerged in the seventies, heavily influenced by punk and the record label Flying Nun. As well as the pop culture of the seventies, eighties and nineties, Carter writes candidly of the bleak and violent aspects of Dunedin, the city where he grew up and would later return. His childhood was shaped by violence and addiction, as well as love and music. Alongside the fellow musicians, friends and family who appear so vividly here, this book is peopled by neighbours, kids at school, people on the street, and the other passing characters who have stayed on in his memory. We also learn of the other major force in Carter's life: sport. Harness racing, wrestling, basketball and football have provided him with a similar solace, even escape, as music. Dead People I Have Known is a frank, moving, often incredibly funny autobiography; the story of making a life as a musician over the last forty years in New Zealand, and a work of art in its own right. ...Show more

Passion Is My Main Ingredient by Dean Brettschneider

$30.00 NZD

Category: Biography/Memoir

In this blistering memoir of his life in the baking business, Dean Brettschneider describes his journey from a small town baker's apprentice to Global Baker and the internationally successful entrepreneur he is today. Make no mistake -- this is not a book about baking. As we follow the interwoven arcs o f Dean's career and personal life, his experience teaches us practical lessons on how to harness our passion to strategically improve ourselves and advance our careers. His revelations on entrepreneurship -- most notably how he founded Baker & Cook and transformed it from a neighbourhood bakery into a multi-national money-spinner in a matter of years -- give us a first row view of what goes into building a business from the ground up, including all of the pain and sacrifice that comes with it. Told in a refreshingly frank manner, Dean's story is sometimes shockingly direct, often hilarious, and always enlightening, leaving us with valuable astute insights into how to navigate the trials and tribulations of life in business. ...Show more

Where There's a Will - Discovering Endurance in a Race Across Europe by Emily Chappell

$37.00 NZD

Category: Biography/Memoir

'Chappell is a gifted storyteller' - ObserverA London cycle courier with a taste for adventure, Emily Chappell entered an extraordinary new race - The Transcontinental - in which riders must find their own way, entirely unassisted, across Europe in the shortest time possible. On her second attempt, she won the women's event, covering nearly 4,000 miles in 13 days and ten hours, sleeping in short bursts wherever exhaustion took her. In the aftermath of a win that troubled as much as pleased her she worked with Mike Hall, the founder of the race, until his tragic death on the road. Where There's a Will is a book about a normal person finding the capacity to do something extraordinary; the paradoxes of comradeship, competition, vulnerability and will and the shock of grief, combined in a beautifully written and very human story. ...Show more