Scribe Publications: New Releases, Latest Scribe News and Henry's Blog

Perfection: a memoir of betrayal and renewal

2009-06-29T00:00:00Z

A breathtakingly honest, gloriously written memoir about the complexities of forgiveness – the story of a young widow who discovers her husband’s secret life only after his sudden death.

Married to a charismatic, charming writer who adored her, Julie Metz and their young daughter lived in a beautiful home in an idyllic (if somewhat provincial) small town outside New York City. Her husband had just begun work on a food book on the topic of Umami, the Japanese idea of perfection, when he dropped dead on her kitchen floor from an embolism. Widowed at 44, Metz was suddenly a single mother with bills to pay and a daughter to raise on her own.

Then, six months later, still grieving, she discovered that her husband of twelve years had had a string of affairs — including a continuing relationship with a woman whom she considered a close friend. This incredible blow forced her to confront what was underneath the perfect veneer of her life and to question this idea of perfection.

Julie Metz’s memoir is a story of coming to terms with painful truths, and of rebuilding both a life and an identity after betrayal and widowhood. Ultimately, it is a story of rebirth and happiness, if not perfection.

The Sealed Letter: a novel

2009-06-29T00:00:00Z

Miss Emily 'Fido' Faithfull is a woman ahead of her times, running her own printing press in Victorian London. She is distracted from her work by the sudden return of her once-dear friend, the unhappily wed Helen Codrington. Before she knows it, Fido is swept up in the intimate details of Helen’s failing marriage and obsessive affair with a young army officer.

What begins as a loyal effort to help a friend explodes into a courtroom drama muckier than any Hollywood tabloid could invent—complete with stained clothing, accusations of adultery, counterclaims of rape, and a mysterious letter that could destroy more than one life.

Based on a scandalous divorce case that gripped England in 1864, The Sealed Letter is a compelling and provocative drama of friends, lovers, and divorce, Victorian style.

The 86 Biggest Lies on Wall Street

2009-06-29T00:00:00Z

How strong was the American economy going into the present crisis? How strong will it be a year from now? How about five years from now? Investors and citizens around the world realise, as never before, that we were all misled — lied to — about the stability of our financial system. But what now?

John R. Talbott's ingenious new book, The 86 Biggest Lies on Wall Street, exposes the lies and then exposes us to the truth of what it will take to rebuild the US economy. As a former investment banker at Goldman Sachs, Talbott knows firsthand how the financial system operates and what it will take to fix it. As the 'oracle' who predicted the housing crisis in his 2003 book, The Coming Crash in the Housing Market, warned of a global banking crisis in his 2006 book, Sell Now, and called the election for Obama when the senator from Illinois was still the underdog in Obamanomics, Talbott' s revelations about how the Street and the economy really work are as clear-eyed and undeniable as his predictions and recommendations for our economic future are tough, sensible and exciting. We may ignore them at our own peril.

If you want to know what people will be talking about in years to come, read John Talbott now.

The Writing Class: a novel: New edition

2009-06-29T00:00:00Z

A darkly comic novel about a writing class with a killer in its midst.

Amy Gallup is a reclusive widow whose only bright spot is the evening writing class that she teaches at the university. This semester’s class is full of the usual suspects: the overly enthusiastic student, the slacker, the prankster, and the undiscovered talent. But there’s something different about this class — and the clues begin with a scary phone call and obscene threats instead of peer evaluations. Amy soon realises that one of her students is a very disturbed individual indeed. When a student is murdered, everyone becomes a suspect.

As she dissects each student’s writing for clues, Amy must enlist the help of everyone in her class, including the murderer, to find the killer amongst them. Suspenseful, extremely witty, brilliantly written, unexpectedly hilarious, and a joy from start to finish, The Writing Class is a one-of-a-kind novel that rivals Jincy Willett’s previous masterpieces.

Shelley's Heart

2009-06-29T00:00:00Z

Published for the first time in Australia, this is arguably the best novel ever written about Washington, D.C.

The first presidential election of the twenty-first century has been stolen, after a bitter contest between two men who are implacable political rivals but lifelong personal friends.

The riveting events that follow turn on the power struggle between President Bedford Forrest ‘Frosty’ Lockwood, the new occupant of the White House, and his supposedly defeated rival, former President Franklin Mallory. In this vast, captivating novel, Washington’s high-powered world of enmity and friendship, and loyalty and cunning, is rendered with a unique, behind-the-scenes realism.

Shelley's Heart is so gripping, even frightening, in its plausibility, that readers may have difficulty bearing in mind that this tale of love, murder, betrayal, and life-or-death struggles for the political soul of America is a work of the imagination rather than an act of prophecy.

Roger's World: toward a new understanding of animals

2009-06-29T00:00:00Z

Roger's World unfolds over the course of Charles Siebert’s last night with Roger, a chimpanzee in a Florida retirement home for former ape entertainers: stars of the big screen, TV, and Big Top circuses. Of the 46 retirees at this facility, Roger, a 28-year-old former Ringling Brothers entertainer, is the only one who still lives alone. Born in captivity, and raised all his life around human beings, he still prefers human company to that of his fellow chimps.

Charles and Roger sit together, a chimpanzee and a man, two beings separated by no more than some metal bars and a few strands of DNA; each of them trying, in a sense, to get past himself in order to get at the other’s essence.

Within this account, Siebert tells a larger story: the tales of his travels in Africa — where he encountered, among other things, elephants sufferring from a collective nervous breakdown, and some of the last remaining chimps in the wild — and his travels in the U.S. through the dark heart of captive chimpdom at a moment in history when the number of chimps in the wilderness is rapidly declining, even as those in captivity continues to rise.

In the end, Siebert’s vigil with Roger leads to a number of moving revelations — not only about Roger and himself, but also about the fraught moment that we humans have arrived at in our relationship with the animal world. Roger's World suggests a new way for human beings to see our fellow creatures, and to see ourselves in relation to them.

The Illustrious Dead: the terrifying story of how typhus killed Napoleon's greatest army: US Hb edn

2009-06-26T00:00:00Z

The Illustrious Dead is another triumph of narrative nonfiction from the author of the New York Times bestselling Empire of Blue Water.

In the spring of 1812, Napoleon was at the height of his power. Forty-five million called him emperor. Unstoppable in his relentless pursuit of territory and authority, he held sole command of a nation that was the richest and most potent on earth, the most cultured, the furthest advanced in medicine and science and technology. In that fateful year, Napoleon turned toward Moscow at the helm of the largest invasion force in the history of mankind.

His army was a thing of martial beauty, honed by constant warfare and brilliantly led. No army on earth could stop Bonaparte from conquering the world. But there was something waiting in the Russian steppes that would test Napoleon to his limit and bring his dreams of a world empire to a shocking close. It was not a brilliant general or an unseen alliance, but the tiny typhus microbe.

The Illustrious Dead tells the tale of these two unstoppable historical forces meeting on the road to Moscow in a clash of killer pathogen and peerless army.

George Megalogenis at 2009 Adelaide Festival of Ideas

2009-06-29T15:39:50Z

The place of work in a meaningful life

Panellists: George Megalogenis, Simon Blackburn, Natash Stott Despoja, Barbara Pocock (Participating Chair)

Visit the 2009 Adelaide Festival of Ideas website for more information.

Date: 12 July 2009

2009 Adelaide Festival of Ideas
3.00–4.30 pm

George Megalogenis at 2009 Adelaide Festival of Ideas

2009-06-29T15:33:42Z

Open and closed — how to reconcile the contradictions in the Australian psyche

Speaker: George Megalogenis

Visit the 2009 Adelaide Festival of Ideas website for more information.

Date: 10 July 2009

2009 Adelaide Festival of Ideas
1.15–2.00 pm

Julian Burnside at 2009 Adelaide Festival of Ideas

2009-06-29T15:37:28Z

Migration — the partly open door

Speaker: Julian Burnside

Visit the 2009 Adelaide Festival of Ideas website for more information.

Date: 11 July 2009

2009 Adelaide Festival of Ideas
11.15 am–12.45 pm

Julian Burnside at 2009 Adelaide Festival of Ideas

2009-06-29T15:35:48Z

On Privilege

Speaker: Julian Burnside

Visit the 2009 Adelaide Festival of Ideas website for more information.

Date: 11 July 2009

2009 Adelaide Festival of Ideas
10.00–10.45 am

George Megalogenis at 2009 Adelaide Festival of Ideas

2009-06-29T15:29:51Z

Free Spin: controlling the Message and the Limits of Free Speech

Panellists: Natasha Stott Despoja, Fred Chaney, George Megalogenis, MC Mehta, Zainah Anwar

Freedom of information laws are in place at state and federal level in Australia, yet all we seem to get is spin. Governments in continuous campaign mode relentlessly massage the message and journalists chase the daily grab rather than getting to grips with substance. Our libel laws remain among the most restrictive in the world, yet at the same time we get tangled up in acrimonious debates about censorship and freedom of expression. Is our speech free enough? Are we too timid and polite? Or would a free speech free-for-all create more losers than winners?

Visit the 2009 Adelaide Festival of Ideas website for more information.

Date: 11 July 2009

2009 Adelaide Festival of Ideas
8.00–10.00 pm

Robert Gott at the Crime & Justice Festival

2009-06-29T15:24:42Z

Thrills, Spills and International Intrigue

The thriller is an extremely popular form and one of its exponents currently enjoying great success is Mark Abernethy. Today he talks to Robert Gott's about his work.

Crime & Justice Festival
The Abbotsford Convent, 1 St Heliers Street, Abbotsford
For tickets visit: http://www.crimeandjusticefestival.com/

Date: 19 July 2009

2.00–3.00 pm

Robert Gott at the Crime & Justice Festival

2009-06-29T15:18:16Z

Murder, Mirth and Mayhem

Humour can often be found in the darkest of places and crime is no exception. Robert Gott's novels always come with a wry smile and Shirley Hardy-Rix loves to collect bizarre stories of crime gone tragically, but also humorously wrong. Today they talk to Simon Clews about why crime can often so damn funny!

Crime & Justice Festival
The Abbotsford Convent, 1 St Heliers Street, Abbotsford
For tickets visit: http://www.crimeandjusticefestival.com/

Date: 18 July 2009

2.00–3.00 pm

Nick Gadd at the Crime & Justice Festival

2009-06-25T14:55:45Z

New Voices

Of late some extremely exciting new voices have joined the world of Australia crime fiction. Nick Gadd, author of Ghostlines, and Robert Sims are two such writers. Today they will talk about the journey that brought them to their remarkable literary debuts with Angela Savage.

Crime & Justice Festival
The Abbotsford Convent, 1 St Heliers Street, Abbotsford
For tickets visit: http://www.crimeandjusticefestival.com/

Date: 19 July 2009

4.00–5.00 pm

Julian Burnside at New Voices 2009 Festival

2009-06-25T10:41:40Z

Testimonies: Witnessing Life

'Writers trouble themselves, rightly, about the usefulness of writing in troubled times-and times are always troubled.' Do books have the power to effect social, personal and historical change? How are personal memoirs and biographies of other people journeys that bring our humanity home to us? In Bitter Shore, journalist and human rights lawyer Jacquie Everitt, presents the tragic story of young Shayan Badraie’s Iranian refugee family. Hear Jacquie’s journey as a writer of a story that breaks her heart even as she speaks about it.

Chair: Julian Burnside, QC, author of Wordwatching and Watching Brief: reflections on human rights, law, and justice

Entry: $5.00 per session. Full Festival $20.00. Lunch $10.00.

Bookings are essential for each session. To book email ELTHAMbookshop@bigpond.com.

Date: 25 July 2009

12.30–1.30 pm, St Margaret's Anglican Church, Eltham, VIC

Nick Gadd at the Crime & Justice Festival

2009-06-25T14:53:34Z

Location, Location, Location — Anatomy of a Crime Scene

A strong sense of place is crucial in good crime fiction. Looking at painting memorable geographic portraits will be Garry Disher, Nick Gadd, author of Ghostlines, and Fiona McIntosh with, to chair the session, Angela Savage..

Crime & Justice Festival
The Abbotsford Convent, 1 St Heliers Street, Abbotsford
For tickets visit: http://www.crimeandjusticefestival.com/

Date: 19 July 2009

10.00–11.00 am

Idan Ben-Barak and Kevin Rabalais at New Voices 2009 Festival

2009-06-25T10:46:07Z

True Stories: Windows on the World

Another perspective on the connections between story and history. Do writers effect change by being both witness and agent of historical circumstance? How do personal accounts relate to historical event? And when it comes to finely observed truth, the writer’s subject doesn’t get much finer than microbes: what is their story? Roger Averill, Boy, He Cry, L M Robinson, Madame Brussels, Lorraine Campbell, Resisting the Enemy, Idan Ben-Barak, Small Wonders: How Microbes Rule Our World explore historical intersections, scientific truths and shades of non fiction.
Chair: Kevin Rabalais, The Landscape of Desire

Entry: $5.00 per session. Full Festival $20.00. Lunch $10.00.

Bookings are essential for each session. To book email ELTHAMbookshop@bigpond.com.

Date: 25 July 2009

6.00–8.00 pm, St Margaret's Anglican Church, Eltham VIC

Launch of Patrick Cullen's debut novel, What Came Between

2009-06-25T15:10:51Z

Patrick Cullen's debut novel, What Came Between, will be launched by local author, Zeny Giles.

Newcastle Regional Art Gallery
Laman Street
Newcastle NSW

RSVP
MacLean’s Booksellers
T: 02 49692525
F: 02 49692544
sales@macleansbooks.com.au

Date: 30 July 2009

6:30pm for 6:30pm

Lamar Waldron at the Crime & Justice Festival

2009-06-24T14:11:33Z

Lamar Waldron on The Long Shadow of the JFK Assassination

Lamar Waldron, author of Legacy of Secrecy: the long shadow of the JFK assassination, was called 'the ultimate JFK historian and examiner' by Variety. His groundbreaking research has been featured by hundreds of newspapers and radio stations, and was the subject of the Discovery Channel documentary, Conspiracy Files: JKF Assassination. He has been featured on CNN, the History Channel, Geraldo Rivera, and Fox News. His work has been acclaimed by authors ranging from former FBI agent William Turner to Kennedy biographer John H. Davis. Session hosted by Russ Radcliffe.

Crime & Justice Festival
The Abbotsford Convent, 1 St Heliers Street, Abbotsford
For tickets visit: http://www.crimeandjusticefestival.com/

Date: 18 July 2009

10.00–11.00 am