In Search of Angels

When her 14 year old niece was diagnosed with a life-threatening illness, respected journalist, radio producer and TV researcher, Janise Beaumont (pictured), set off in search of a miracle. What she found will warm your heart and perhaps, restore your faith in humanity.

Eight years ago life hurt like crazy. Janise Beaumont felt she had failed in every area of her life and no matter what she did, or how hard she tried, happiness always seemed to elude her. Then a woman she barely knew gave her a little picture book about angels which she kept by her bed just to remind herself that ‘We are not alone whatever the circumstances.’ When her niece Georgia, fell gravely ill Janise began collecting the stories of people who have encountered angels Read more

Do You Want Sex With That?

Journalist for The Age newspaper in Melbourne, Claire Halliday (pictured), was asked to write a book on Australian’s attitudes to sex. As well as providing a fascinating look inside Australia’s sex industry and the organisations that oppose it, Do You Want Sex With That? discusses the impact of sex in the media on our society. Sex is everywhere you look these days – on billboards, television, radio, newspapers, magazines and the Internet. Sex sells and particularly if you’re a parent, sex in the media terrifies.

The backlash against the old advertising mantra ’sex sells’ has given rise to a new brand of conservatism in Australia which saw the artist Bill Henson publicly criticised for producing photos of naked juveniles and the Federal Government proposing mandatory filtering of sex and violent content on the Internet. Read more

Lisa Williams – Life Among the Dead

Since 2006 Lisa Williams (pictured) has been hosting her own cable TV show, Life Among the Dead, which airs in Australia on W. On 14th September the popular medium and clairvoyant spoke to me by telephone from her home in England.

It was the evening before my 40th birthday and I was hoping Lisa Williams would deliver a message from one of my dead relatives. I don’t know what I was expecting. A birthday greeting from the other side perhaps? A few choice words of wisdom from Uncle Jack? According to her autobiography, Lisa had been delivering messages from the dead to complete strangers in supermarkets and on the street, for many years and I knew from reading Lisa’s book that her gift could extend over telephone wires. So what’s the problem? Read more

To Hellas and Back: My Modern-day Greek Tragedy by Lana Penrose

BOOK REVIEW. To Hellas and Back is the true story of one woman’s four year Greek Odyssey for love.  Lana Penrose subtitled her book, ‘My modern-day Greek tragedy’, but it soon becomes clear to the reader that Penrose was being facetious, as this very funny book does not read like any Greek tragedy I’ve ever read!

During the Sydney Olympics in 2000, Aussie girl Lana Penrose follows her sweetheart Dion, to Athens when he is offered the job of managing one of the city’s most popular radio stations. As the son of two Greek parents, Dion takes to the city of Athens like a duck to water. As Lana Penrose was later to write in her book – for Dion “a lifetime of passive cultural conditioning sprang to life” when he begins living and working in the Greek capital. Read more

Comedian Denise Scott reflects on her first gig as an author

Denise Scott (pictured) is a well-loved Melbourne based stand-up comedian, actor and radio and TV personality. She has appeared regularly on TV shows such as Full Frontal, The Today Show and The Big Gig, and was the breakfast host at Melbourne radio station Vega FM for 3 years and is currently a regular on Spicks+Specks on ABC TV. All That Happened at Number 26 is her first book.

Demonstrating what it takes to hold it all together when you want to follow your career aspirations, maintain the love in a marriage, bring up kids who will get up off the couch, and look after an aging parent – all while retaining a healthy sense of self-doubt, Denise Scott’s first outing as an author is truely a heart-warming read. Read more

Piecing life together after childhood sexual abuse

Singer, songwriter, public speaker, business owner and author, Monique Lisbon (pictured) was twenty years old when her life fell apart. After years of being scared silent, Monique was able to admit to herself and to others that she had been sexually abused by her father and thus, began a long and often painful journey to heal. Read more

‘The Woodcutter’s Wife: A Stepmother’s Tale’ by Dolla S. Merrillees

Book of the Month: May 2008

Lets face it, in the minds of millions of children, stepmothers are about as popular as broccoli and visits to the dentist. Always cast as the villain In fairy tales, the stepmother in reality faces an uphill battle to convince all others she is not the wicked witch of myth and legend. In her debut book, Dolla S. Merrillees (pictured) shows us that the stepmother is neither fundamentally good nor evil, she is a mere mortal who wants what every woman wants–healthy, happy kids and a marriage that will last all the days of her life. Read more

‘Judas Kisses’ by Donna Carson with Debbie Ritchie

Judas Kisses by Donna Carson with Debbie Ritchie

A true story of betrayal and survival

On Good Friday in 1994, Donna Carson was bashed, doused in petrol and set alight by her de facto partner. Donna suffered horrific burns to 65 per cent of her body and spent the next six months in hospital lapsing in and out of consciousness. Throughout her ordeal, what kept her alive was the thought of her two young sons, Coe and Bodean. While she recuperated, social services stepped in and took them away.

Variously described as an anti-domestic violence campaigner, advocate for victims’ rights, crusader, trailblaser and pioneer, Donna Carson’s name now sits alongside Aung San Suu Kyi and Mary Robinson on Amnesty International’s list of ‘Women of Courage’ (Human Rights Defender, April/May 2005).

This remarkable book challenges the myths about domestic violence, burns survival and the workings of the Australian legal system.

Divided into three parts: Life, Death and Resurrection, Judas Kisses looks at Donna’s loveless marriage and her abusive relationship with her then partner, Garry. It details her fight for survival in Westmead Hospital (Sydney) after the horrific attack, as well as her struggle with the Department of Community Services (who believed she had participated in a suicide pact). It also tells of Donna’s fight to regain custody of her children, as well as her confrontation of the legal system over Garry’s trial and sentencing.

Judas Kisses looks at the woman Donna Carson once was, and the woman she came to be. It is the true story of what happens when a victim turns survivor and demands to be seen and heard. Since her recovery, this extraordinary woman has dedicated her life to working with burns survivors and victims of crime. In 2004, she was voted Australian of the Year – Local Hero for her tireless and innovative support of victims of crime in her local area.

Debbie Ritchie is a close friend of Donna Carson’s for more than 30 years. Debbie holds a degree in Education from Wollongong University and has taught full time since 1978. In 2001 she gained a Diploma in Professional Children’s Writing through the Australian College of Journalism. Following this, she began writing short fiction for the Department of Education’s NSW School Magazine. Debbie has taught creative writing classes within programs for Gifted and Talented students in the Southern Highlands of NSW, with some of her students going on to win major writing awards.

Judas Kisses is published by Hardie Grant Books and is available in bookstores from 1 April 2008. Recommended Retail Price $22.95. 418 pages.

YOU CAN BUY THIS BOOK ONLINE NOW FROM QBD BOOKS

COMPETITION
The winner of the ‘Judas Kisses’ competition for newsletter subscribers of Australian Women Online is Babette Bensoussan from NSW.