When Life Gives You Lemurs: New Biographies
Rockstars, animal whisperers, sports giants, legends of the screen, and phenomenal women feature in the latest crop of new biographies and memoirs in the collection. Here are just a few to try.
When life gives you lemurs : how saving animals saved me / Husband, Tim
A story of the tender power of animals to heal broken humans. Tim Husband was born into a Jehovah's Witness family who spent their weekends delivering God's Word. Struggling to fit into this orthodox community, he found refuge in the bush, collecting and caring for injured animals. At fourteen, Tim was thrown out of home by his father and the church elders. He was taken in by the owner of the local zoo, and in exchange for a bed and food, Tim spent the next ten years caring for the wild animals. Tim is one of a handful of international specialists known for their expertise in animal care. He has directed, designed and curated at some of the best-known zoos in the world, building a reputation as an exotic animal whisperer.
View from the second row / Whitelock, Samuel
After making his debut for New Zealand in 2010 at the age of 21, Samuel Whitelock was selected for the 2011 Rugby World Cup campaign. He played in all seven matches and emerged victorious in with the nation's first trophy since 1987. Four years later he played in all seven matches of the 2015 tournament, becoming one of an elite group of players to win back-to-back World Cups. In this autobiography, Whitelock speaks in his own words about physical and mental toughness, leadership and coaching, friends and foes on the footy field, tradition, darkening the jersey and how family and farming provided the bedrock for global success.
The third Gilmore girl : a memoir / Bishop, Kelly
Kelly Bishop's long, storied career has been defined by landmark achievements, from winning a Tony Award for her turn in the original Broadway cast of A Chorus Line to her memorable performance as Jennifer Grey's mother in Dirty Dancing. But it is probably her iconic role as matriarch Emily in the modern classic Gilmore Girls that cemented her legacy. Full of witty insights and featuring a special collection of personal and professional photographs, The Third Gilmore Girl is a warm, unapologetic, and spirited memoir from a woman who has left indelible impressions on her audiences for decades and has no plans on slowing down.
A private investigator with a haunting past, Bill Edgar's life was never destined to be ordinary. Rising to international fame as the 'Coffin Confessor' - the man who crashes funerals on behalf of the deceased, giving voice to their last wishes - Bill dismantled many of the assumptions we hold about truth, dignity and the business of dying. Swindlers, cheaters, vultures, liars and con-artists - there isn't a musty corner of the human soul Bill hasn't confronted. The Afterlife Confessional follows Bill's journey for answers as he looks through the dizzying kaleidoscope of his clients' lives - the widower who escaped an aged-care trap to take her husband's ashes on the road trip of a lifetime; the man who spent his life paying it forward to try to make up for one shameful act; the closet dominatrix who quietly confronts her husband's infidelity by comforting those truly in need; the devoted couple who insist on going hand-in-hand into the afterlife.
Highways and byways / Barnes, Jimmy
The new book from Jimmy Barnes, the award-winning author of the number-one bestsellers Working Class Boy, Working Class Man and Killing Time. From larger-than-life adventures to vivid and poignant tales of the imagination, Highways & Byways is a collection of thirty stories taking readers on an enthralling tour (complete with the odd detour) through the raucous, well-lived life of one of this country's most successful and beloved artists.
Lily, oh Lily : searching for a Nazi ghost / Holman, Jeffrey Paparoa
What if the dead - our dead- never feel to us that they have gone? If family stories, fragments of their lives, continue to nag and haunt us? Lily Hasenburg was just such a figure in Holman's growing years. She was whispered into his ear by grandmother Eunice - in memorable stories of her older sister, who married and moved to Germany at the turn of the 20th century, and was later caught up in the Nazi web spun by Adolf Hitler. Unable to shake loose this story, Holman pursued her to Berlin, Hamburg and Dresden. Here, we have an account of his pilgrimage; the kind of family history we might bury, and forget - to our loss.
For more new biographies in the collection, go to: Non-fiction