Books published by publisher Hachette Australia

In 1858, 14-year-old Narcisse Pelletier sailed from Marseilles in the French trader Saint-Paul. With a cargo of Bordeaux wine, they stopped in Bombay, then Hong Kong, and from there they set sail with more than 300 Chinese prospectors bound for the goldfields of Ballarat and Bendigo. Around the eastern tip of New Guinea, however, the ship became engulfed in fog, struck reefs and ran aground. Scrambling aboard a longboat, the survivors undertook a perilous voyage, crossing almost 1,000 kilometres of the Coral Sea before reaching the shores of the Daintree region in far north Queensland, where, abandoned by his shipmates and left for dead, Narcisse was rescued by the local Aboriginal people. For 17 years he lived with them, growing to manhood and participating fully in their world - until in 1875 he was discovered by the crew of a pearling lugger and wrenched from his Aboriginal family. Taken back to his 'real' life in France, he became a lighthouse keeper, married and had another family, all the while dreaming of what he had left behind.... Drawing from firsthand interviews with Narcisse after his return to France and other contemporary accounts of exploration and survival, and documenting the spread of European settlement in Queensland and the brutal frontier wars that followed, Robert Macklin weaves an unforgettable tale of a young man caught between two cultures in a time of transformation and upheaval.

When Leigh Hopkinson was a university student in Christchurch she worked at a succession of low-paying jobs that paid the rent and fit in around her degree. None of them fit so well, however, as stripping. She figured it couldn't be that difficult - she was just going to dance on stage in front of a bunch of strangers. She'd show them a bit of skin, but the gig wasn't going to last that long. Or so she imagined.While stripping was harder than Leigh thought it would be, she hadn't counted on it being so exhilarating - or lucrative. So when she moved to Melbourne and needed to make a living, the lure of her old job was strong. The world of the strip club had become familiar, even reassuring, though some of the people she met during the course of her job didn't exactly give her faith in the future of humanity. Over the course of Leigh's career, she learnt a lot about other people and even more about herself, and the result is a story that delves into a world that not everyone visits but everyone finds fascinating.

In 1858, 14-year-old Narcisse Pelletier sailed from Marseilles in the French trader Saint-Paul. With a cargo of Bordeaux wine, they stopped in Bombay, then Hong Kong, and from there they set sail with more than 300 Chinese prospectors bound for the goldfields of Ballarat and Bendigo. Around the eastern tip of New Guinea, however, the ship became engulfed in fog, struck reefs and ran aground. Scrambling aboard a longboat, the survivors undertook a perilous voyage, crossing almost 1000 kilometres of the Coral Sea before reaching the shores of the Daintree region in far north Queensland, where, abandoned by his shipmates and left for dead, Narcisse was rescued by the local Aboriginal people. For seventeen years he lived with them, growing to manhood and participating fully in their world - until in 1875 he was discovered by the crew of a pearling lugger and wrenched from his Aboriginal family. Taken back to his 'real' life in France, he became a lighthouse keeper, married and had another family, all the while dreaming of what he had left behind...Drawing from firsthand interviews with Narcisse after his return to France and other contemporary accounts of exploration and survival, and documenting the spread of European settlement in Queensland and the brutal frontier wars that followed, Robert Macklin weaves an unforgettable tale of a young man caught between two cultures in a time of transformation and upheaval.

‘an outstanding piece of writing...a powerful novel...’ Reading TimeFriendship is a slippery notion. We lose friends as we change and our friends don’t, or as we form other alliances, or as we betray our friends or are ourselves betrayed…In the pearling town of Broome, against the backdrop of World War II, a young man and a young woman fall in love. Hart is the son of a pearling master, Mitsy the daughter of a Japanese diver. Can their love survive as Japan enters the War and Mitsy encounters prejudice and hate?In this beautifully written novel, Garry Disher evokes a war-devastated Australia and its effects on young adults forced to leave their childhood behind.

At 10.30 p.m. on 12 January 2016 Acting Sergeant Luke Warburton thought he was taking his last breath. A decorated New South Wales Police Officer, the father of three was looking death in the face after a bullet pierced his femoral vein. If it wasn't for the fact that it happened in the Emergency Ward of Sydney's Nepean Hospital, Warburton would probably have been dead already. An hour earlier, he'd walked to his police van with his ever-faithful German shepherd, Chuck, trotting alongside. Later, Luke would be awarded the Commissioner's Valour Award for conspicuous merit and exceptional bravery in the line of duty. He would maintain he was just a copper doing his job. So, too, was Chuck, who was nationally recognised for bringing down Australia's most wanted man, Macolm Naden, after a manhunt lasting more than seven years.Man's Best Friend is Luke and Chuck's story. It's the story of a boy who dreamed of one day being a policeman, of his love for dogs and his time at the NSW Police Dog Unit. It's also the story of an ordinary man and his ordinary dog doing extraordinary things in the line of duty.

‘an outstanding piece of writing...a powerful novel...’ Reading TimeFriendship is a slippery notion. We lose friends as we change and our friends don’t, or as we form other alliances, or as we betray our friends or are ourselves betrayed…In the pearling town of Broome, against the backdrop of World War II, a young man and a young woman fall in love. Hart is the son of a pearling master, Mitsy the daughter of a Japanese diver. Can their love survive as Japan enters the War and Mitsy encounters prejudice and hate?In this beautifully written novel, Garry Disher evokes a war-devastated Australia and its effects on young adults forced to leave their childhood behind.

The prize for winning the race around the world is almost within reach. But sometimes the biggest danger can lie close to home.Quinn, Ash, Zain and the crew of the Libertas are racing against the clock to get back to Verdania before the King's deadline. Will they make it in time? Will Quinn complete the first map of the whole world? Will Zain bring back enough treasure to satisfy the King? Will they win the race to the end of the world?Or will their enemies stop them from getting back at all?For fans of international bestseller John Flanagan's Ranger's Apprentice series and Rick Riordan's Percy Jackson books.The first book in the series was named one of the best middle-grade books of 2014 by Readings.'Not since Emily Rodda's Deltora Quest series has there been such an exciting adventure tale from an Australian author. Echoes of Robinson Crusoe make this feel like a classic with a new twist, and it's perfect for readers aged 8 to 12 who are looking for some escapism in the sea of contemporary stories' - Readings on Prisoner of the Black HawkThe Mapmaker Chronicles1. Race to the End of the World2. Prisoner of the Black Hawk3. Breath of the Dragon (October 2015)

For fans of Hooked by Samantha X and In My Skin by Kate Holden. Leigh Hopkinson was the least likely person to become a stripper but after spending two decades naked, she realised it was her career - and her life.When Leigh Hopkinson was a university student in Christchurch she worked at a succession of low-paying jobs that paid the rent and fit in around her degree. None of them fit so well, however, as stripping. She figured it couldn't be that difficult - she was just going to dance on stage in front of a bunch of strangers. She'd show them a bit of skin, but the gig wasn't going to last that long. Or so she imagined.While stripping was harder than Leigh thought it would be, she hadn't counted on it being so exhilarating - or lucrative. So when she moved to Melbourne and needed to make a living, the lure of her old job was strong. The world of the strip club had become familiar, even reassuring, though some of the people she met during the course of her job didn't exactly give her faith in the future of humanity.Over the course of Leigh's career, she learnt a lot about other people and even more about herself, and the result is a story that delves into a world that not everyone visits but everyone finds fascinating.

What's the secret of the book, and why is it so valuable? These are the questions Gabe must answer when a dying man hands him a coded manuscript with one instruction: take it to Aidan. Gabe is hurled into a quest that takes him beyond his monastery home and into a world of danger, political intrigue and adventure.As he seeks to decipher the code and find a mystery man who may not even exist, Gabe learns that survival must be earned and that some of life's biggest lessons are not found in books.Gabe finds himself questioning everything he knows about right and wrong and wondering if he'll ever find a way back home. He also discovers that the biggest secret of all may be his own.'Not since Emily Rodda's DELTORA QUEST series has there been such an exciting adventure tale from an Australian author. Echoes of Robinson Crusoe make this feel like a classic with a new twist, and it's perfect for readers aged 8 to 12 who are looking for some escapism in the sea of contemporary stories.' - Readings on A.L. Tait's bestselling RACE TO THE END OF THE WORLD

From a talented emerging Australian writer, a brave, honest, unforgettable memoir about mental illness that breaks the silence and shatters the taboos to give hope to all those struggling to find their way through.'When I was eleven years old Mum told me, "One crowded hour of glorious life is worth an age without a name." Even before I heard these words I was always a child who crammed intense joy into tiny pockets of time.'One day Sophie Hardcastle realised the joy she'd always known had disappeared. She was constantly tired, with no energy, no motivation and no sense of enjoyment for surfing, friends, conversations, movies, parties, family - for anything. Her hours became empty. And then, the month before she turned seventeen, that emptiness filled with an intense, unbearable sadness that made her scream and tear at her skin. Misdiagnosed with chronic fatigue, then major depression, then temporal lobe epilepsy, she was finally told - three years, two suicide attempts and five hospital admissions later - that she had Bipolar 1 Disorder.In this honest and beautifully told memoir, Sophie lays bare her story of mental illness - of a teenage girl using drugs, alcohol and sex in an attempt to fix herself; of her family's anguish and her loss of self. It is a brave and hopeful story of adaptation, learning to accept and of ultimately realising that no matter how deep you have sunk, the surface is always within reach. Running Like China shatters the silence and smashes the taboos around mental illness. It is an unforgettable story.

A beaut story about one very ugly kid.Robert Hoge was born with a tumour in the middle of his face, and legs that weren't much use. There wasn't another baby like him in the whole of Australia, let alone Brisbane. But the rest of his life wasn't so unusual: he had a mum and a dad, brothers and sisters, friends at school and in his street. He had childhood scrapes and days at the beach; fights with his family and trouble with his teachers.He had doctors, too: lots of doctors who, when he was still very young, removed that tumour from his face and operated on his legs, then stitched him back together. He still looked different, though. He still looked ... ugly.UGLY is the true story of how an extraordinary boy grew up to have an ordinary life, and how that became his greatest achievement of all.