Ann Blainey's Books

I Am Melba

A Biography

By: Ann Blainey

Write a review Read reviews Take a Quiz Solve Book Puzzle

The story of an Australian girl who defied convention and became the most famous singer of her era. Growing up in Melbourne, Nellie Mitchell dreamed of fame, but her devout father disapproved. When a chance arose to go to Paris, she trusted in her musical talent and hoped for a lucky break. Within a few years, reborn as Nellie Melba, she was performing to overflowing concert halls, hobnobbing with European royalty and collaborating with some of the most renowned composers of the age. Audiences swooned over the 'heavenly pleasures' of her voice, while the public showed an insatiable appetite for news of her sometimes passionate private life. Dame Nellie Melba was Australia's first international superstar. In this important biography, enhanced by new research, Ann Blainey captures the exuberance, controversy and pathos of Melba's remarkable career. Winner of the 2009 National Biography Award. Shortlisted, 2008 Age Book of the Year Awards. ‘Blainey ... writes with clarity and panache. This is an entertaining biography. Everyone should read it and be reminded of what a remarkable singer we once had in our midst.’ —Sydney Morning Herald ‘There have been five biographies of Melba, together with her own rather fanciful memoirs; but the present one by Ann Blainey is superior to them all.’ —The Age ‘Thoroughly researched, excellently written and beguilingly human biography of Nellie Melba’ —Australian Book Review ‘Blainey brings a freshness to the story, giving us the feeling that we are reading about a life in progress.’ —Good Reading ‘Welcome and timely, shedding new light on the diva’ —Courier Mail ‘This is a gripping story of triumph and sorrow.’ —Sun-Herald ‘Meticulously researched biography’ —The Australian Ann Blainey is the author of I Am Melba. She has written five biographies, and her most recent biography of Dame Nellie Melba reflects her fascination with singing and opera. She has served on the council of two Australian opera companies and of the Percy Grainger Museum in Melbourne, where she lives.

Average ratings

N/A

Write a review

Solve jigsaw puzzle

Age

Page Count

410

Publisher

Black Inc.

Published Date

ISBN 10

192182543X

ISBN 13

9781921825439

Marvelous Melba

The Extraordinary Life of a Great Diva

By: Ann Blainey

Write a review Read reviews Take a Quiz Solve Book Puzzle

Marvelous Melba

The Extraordinary Life of a Great Diva

By: Ann Blainey

Nobody sings like Melba, and nobody ever will, proclaimed the impresario Oscar Hammerstein in 1908. Like many others of his time, he considered her the world's greatest singer. The wild acclaim showered on her by American fans led to the coining of the word Melbamania. Year after year she toured America on the Melba train, bringing opera and concerts to out-of-the-way cities and towns; thanks to the new gramophone, she could also be heard in the remotest locales. Ann Blainey's beguiling life of Nellie Melba tells the story of a woman who-in an era when no woman was prime minister, chief justice, head of a church or financial firm, or a universal film star-became perhaps the most famous woman in the world. Ms. Blainey's Marvelous Melba punctures many of the myths surrounding Melba's life and career, and offers a new portrait of the great diva.

Average ratings

N/A

Write a review

Solve jigsaw puzzle

Age

Page Count

409

Publisher

Ivan R. Dee

Published Date

ISBN 10

1615780068

ISBN 13

9781615780068

I Am Melba

A Biography

By: Ann Blainey

Write a review Read reviews Take a Quiz Solve Book Puzzle

I Am Melba

A Biography

By: Ann Blainey

Average ratings

N/A

Write a review

Solve jigsaw puzzle

Age

Page Count

410

Publisher

Black Inc.

Published Date

ISBN 10

192182543X

ISBN 13

9781921825439

Immortal Boy

A Portrait of Leigh Hunt

By: Ann Blainey

Write a review Read reviews Take a Quiz Solve Book Puzzle

Immortal Boy

A Portrait of Leigh Hunt

By: Ann Blainey

Ann Blainey’s work, first published in 1985, provides a sensitive study of Leigh Hunt and the literary climate that influenced his life, and fills a large gap in literary biography. Blainey brings a perceptive eye to a generally embittered man whose chaotic life seemed a tragic failure. This title will be of interest to students of literature.

Average ratings

N/A

Write a review

Solve jigsaw puzzle

Age

Page Count

228

Publisher

Routledge

Published Date

ISBN 10

1317278267

ISBN 13

9781317278269

The Farthing Poet

A Biography of Richard Hengist Horne 1802-84: A Lesser Literary Lion

By: Ann Blainey

Write a review Read reviews Take a Quiz Solve Book Puzzle

The Farthing Poet

A Biography of Richard Hengist Horne 1802-84: A Lesser Literary Lion

By: Ann Blainey

First published in 1968. Richard Hengist Horne, virtually unknown today, was one of the more extraordinary figures of the nineteenth century literary scene. The author of an epic poem Orion was acclaimed a work of genius by almost every English critic. His voluminous literary output is for the most part forgotten, but his life and character, his widely romantic aspirations to be a Man of Genius, provide a fascinating tragi-comic study. As a background study to the literature and society of the time, Ann Blainey’s book is packed with interest and anecdote, and as a study of a remarkable man it is consistently entertaining.

Average ratings

N/A

Write a review

Solve jigsaw puzzle

Age

Page Count

303

Publisher

Routledge

Published Date

ISBN 10

1317245199

ISBN 13

9781317245193

King of the Air

The Turbulent Life of Charles Kingsford Smith

By: Ann Blainey

Write a review Read reviews Take a Quiz Solve Book Puzzle

King of the Air

The Turbulent Life of Charles Kingsford Smith

By: Ann Blainey

A revealing portrait of a brilliant and troubled figure – a daredevil of the sky Charles Kingsford Smith was the most commanding flyer of the golden age of aviation. In three short years, he broke records with his astounding and daring voyages: the first trans-Pacific flight from America to Australia, the first circumnavigation around the equator, the first non-stop crossing of the Australian mainland. He did it all with such courage, modesty and charm that Australia and the world fell in love with him. He became a national hero, ‘Our Smithy’. Yet his achievements belied a traumatic past. He had witnessed the horror of World War I – first as a soldier at Gallipoli, later as a combat pilot with the Royal Flying Corps – and, like so many of his generation, he bore physical and emotional scars. The public saw the derring-do; only those close to him knew the anxious man who pushed himself to the edge of health and sanity. In November 1935, Kingsford Smith’s plane crashed and he was lost at sea near Burma, his body never to be recovered. This brilliant work from one of Australia’s foremost biographers reveals the complicated, tumultuous life of a fascinating figure, who pursued his obsession to the greatest heights of fame and catastrophe Ann Blainey is the author of the acclaimed I Am Melba, which won the 2009 National Biography Award and was the most popular book in the 2009 State Library of Victoria Summer Reads program. Her other books include biographies of Leigh Hunt and the Kemble sisters. ‘Brilliant ... Blainey’s fascinating book focuses on the inner as well as the outer man. While Smithy’s career highlights may be well known, his ambiguous relationship with fame, his drinking, and his doubts and fears were not. In this beautifully written, scrupulously researched and meticulously indexed work, Blainey has filled this gap to perfection.’ —Ross Fitzgerald, The Weekend Australian 'Crisply written ... Even people not particularly interested in the feats of aviators will find this book an engrossing read.' —Jim Davidson, The Sydney Morning Herald ‘Blainey is a pleasure to read and this biography is superbly researched’ —Michael McGirr, Australian Book Review

Average ratings

N/A

Write a review

Solve jigsaw puzzle

Age

Page Count

442

Publisher

Black Inc.

Published Date

ISBN 10

1743820712

ISBN 13

9781743820711

Lipstick on the Strawberry

By: Margaret Ann Spence

Write a review Read reviews Take a Quiz Solve Book Puzzle

Lipstick on the Strawberry

By: Margaret Ann Spence

Estranged from her English family, Camilla Fetherwell now lives in the United States and owns a successful catering business. Returning home for her father's funeral, she reunites with her first love, Billy, whom she hasn't seen since her father broke up their teenage romance. Billy seems eager to resume their love affair. But after one blissful night together, things take a turn. Camilla suspects her father may have led a secret life, and when Billy reveals something he, too, has discovered, her apprehension grows. Billy holds her heart, but their relationship might be tainted by what her father hid. A reunion seems impossible. Her life feels as splattered as her catering apron. As she watches her food stylist make a strawberry look luscious with a swipe of lipstick, Camilla wonders if a gloss has been put over a family secret? Can she and Billy survive what's underneath?

Average ratings

N/A

Write a review

Solve jigsaw puzzle

Age

Page Count

336

Publisher

The Wild Rose Press Inc

Published Date

ISBN 10

1509215328

ISBN 13

9781509215324

Redmond Barry

An Anglo-Irish Australian

By: Ann Galbally

Write a review Read reviews Take a Quiz Solve Book Puzzle

Redmond Barry

An Anglo-Irish Australian

By: Ann Galbally

Sir Redmond Barry was the pre-eminent figure in Melbourne of the middle years of last century. A Supreme Court judge for thirty years, he was the founding and sustaining force behind the University of Melbourne, the Supreme Court Library, the Public Library, the National Gallery and the Museum. As social and cultural benefactor, he stands alone. Paradox pervaded his life. While seen by many as a hidebound, even villainous judge, his trust in the rule of law underpinned, for example, an unusually sympathetic and active response to the Aboriginal people. Yet fear of losing social standing and his Irish family's esteem blinkered him to injustice on his own doorstep. The story of his unacknowledged relationship of thirty years with Louisa Barrow, and of their four illegitimate children, is perplexing and often painful in the telling. This important biography is long overdue.

Average ratings

N/A

Write a review

Solve jigsaw puzzle

Age

Page Count

272

Publisher

Melbourne University Publish

Published Date

ISBN 10

0522845169

ISBN 13

9780522845167

The Girl and the Game

A History of Women's Sport in Canada, Second Edition

By: M. Ann Hall

Write a review Read reviews Take a Quiz Solve Book Puzzle

The Girl and the Game

A History of Women's Sport in Canada, Second Edition

By: M. Ann Hall

In the second edition of this groundbreaking social history, M. Ann Hall begins with an important new chapter on Aboriginal women and early sport and ends with a new chapter tying today's trends and issues in Canadian women's sport to their origins in the past. Students will appreciate the more descriptive chapter titles and the restructuring of the book into easily digestible sections. Fifty-two images complement Hall's lively narrative.

Average ratings

N/A

Write a review

Solve jigsaw puzzle

Age

Page Count

425

Publisher

University of Toronto Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

1442634146

ISBN 13

9781442634145

Is History Fiction?

By: Ann Curthoys

Write a review Read reviews Take a Quiz Solve Book Puzzle

Is History Fiction?

By: Ann Curthoys

The relationship between history and fiction has always been a controversial one. Can we ever know that a historical narrative is giving us a true account of what actually happened? Provocative and fascinating, this book is an original and insightful examination of the ways in which history is - and might be - written. It traces History's double...

Average ratings

N/A

Write a review

Solve jigsaw puzzle

Age

Page Count

606

Publisher

ReadHowYouWant.com

Published Date

ISBN 10

1459604369

ISBN 13

9781459604360

Beyond the Protective State

By: Ann Capling,Brian Galligan

Write a review Read reviews Take a Quiz Solve Book Puzzle

Beyond the Protective State

By: Ann Capling,Brian Galligan

An historical and theoretical account of the transition from protectionism to alternative policies in the Australian manufacturing industry.

Average ratings

N/A

Write a review

Solve jigsaw puzzle

Age

Page Count

292

Publisher

CUP Archive

Published Date

ISBN 10

0521426294

ISBN 13

9780521426299

King of the Air

The Turbulent Life of Charles Kingsford Smith

By: Ann Blainey

Write a review Read reviews Take a Quiz Solve Book Puzzle

King of the Air

The Turbulent Life of Charles Kingsford Smith

By: Ann Blainey

Average ratings

N/A

Write a review

Solve jigsaw puzzle

Age

Page Count

442

Publisher

Black Inc.

Published Date

ISBN 10

1743820712

ISBN 13

9781743820711

Constructing Suburbs

Competing Voices in a Debate over Urban Growth

By: Ann Forsyth

Write a review Read reviews Take a Quiz Solve Book Puzzle

Constructing Suburbs

Competing Voices in a Debate over Urban Growth

By: Ann Forsyth

Examining the debate between activists and professional planners over the vision of the future of a large growth corridor in Sydney, Australia, this case study maps the history of development from the late sixties to the mid-nineties, during which time serious environmental and financial problems arose. The book outlines five major visions of the future development and examines forms of political, economic, and institutional power applied by the parties in the project, with emphasis on the processes of infrastructure privatization and ecological impacts. The conclusion reflects on contemporary dilemmas about pluralism.

Average ratings

N/A

Write a review

Solve jigsaw puzzle

Age

Page Count

220

Publisher

Routledge

Published Date

ISBN 10

1135300100

ISBN 13

9781135300104

A Woman of Influence

Science, Men & History

By: Ann Moyal

Write a review Read reviews Take a Quiz Solve Book Puzzle

A Woman of Influence

Science, Men & History

By: Ann Moyal

Ann Moyal tells of her life's work in Australian science history, and the many important people she met along the way.

Average ratings

N/A

Write a review

Solve jigsaw puzzle

Age

Page Count

220

Publisher

Apollo Books

Published Date

ISBN 10

1742585973

ISBN 13

9781742585970

New Zealand and Japan 1945-1952

The Occupation and the Peace Treaty

By: Ann Trotter

Write a review Read reviews Take a Quiz Solve Book Puzzle

New Zealand and Japan 1945-1952

The Occupation and the Peace Treaty

By: Ann Trotter

An account of New Zealand's relations with Japan during the years immediately following World War II. Drawing upon primary sources, the book examines New Zealand's part in the work of the Far Eastern crimes trials, in the Commonwealth Occupation Force, in the War Crimes trials and in the Peace Treaty debate. A key account of New Zealand's post-war foreign policy, this study also contributes to the history of post-war Japan and is intended for students of international history and Japanese studies. First published in 1990, this title is part of the Bloomsbury Academic Collections series.

Average ratings

N/A

Write a review

Solve jigsaw puzzle

Age

Page Count

240

Publisher

A&C Black

Published Date

ISBN 10

1780939922

ISBN 13

9781780939926

My Tongue is My Own: A Life of Gwen Harwood

Winner of the 2023 National Biography Award

By: Ann-Marie Priest

Write a review Read reviews Take a Quiz Solve Book Puzzle

My Tongue is My Own: A Life of Gwen Harwood

Winner of the 2023 National Biography Award

By: Ann-Marie Priest

A masterful portrait of a major Australian writer, her incandescent poetry and her battles to be heard in a male-dominated literary establishment. Winner of the 2023 National Biography Award The first biography of Gwen Harwood (1920–1995), one of Australia’s most significant and distinctive poets. Harwood is renowned for her brilliance, but loved for her humour, rebellion and mischief. A public figure by the end of her life, she was always deeply protective of her privacy, and even now, some twenty-six years after her death, little is known of the experiences that gave rise to her extraordinary poems. This book follows Harwood from her childhood in 1920s Brisbane to her final years in Hobart in the 1990s. It traces how a lively, sardonic and determined young woman built a career in the conservative 1950s, blasting her way into the patriarchal strongholds of Australian poetry. Harwood refused to be bound by convention, ‘liberating’ herself, to use her word, before women’s lib existed. Yet she also struggled for much of her life to combine marriage and motherhood with her creative ambitions. In this sense, she is a twentieth-century everywoman. She is also a unique and powerful presence in Australian literary history, a poet who challenged orthodoxies and spoke in a remarkable range of voices. This illuminating, moving biography reveals a deeply passionate figure both at odds with her time and deeply of it, and reclaims and celebrates this important Australian writer. ‘Gwen Harwood, that excellent poet and critic, deserves a sympathetic and lively biography. Ann-Marie Priest, to her credit, has just written that book.’ —Ann Blainey, winner of 2009 National Biography Award 'Read this meticulous biography with Harwood's poetry in hand, and chase down every poem that Priest cites.' —The Sydney Morning Herald 'Ann-Marie Priest has captured completely the sprite-like nature of one of Australia's finest poets… Through these pages, the great poet feels so alive.' —Judges comments, National Biography Award

Average ratings

N/A

Write a review

Solve jigsaw puzzle

Age

Page Count

386

Publisher

La Trobe University Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

1743822316

ISBN 13

9781743822319

Immodest and Sensational

150 Years of Canadian Women in Sports

By: M. Ann Hall

Write a review Read reviews Take a Quiz Solve Book Puzzle

Immodest and Sensational

150 Years of Canadian Women in Sports

By: M. Ann Hall

With the Canadian women's Olympic hockey team and other high-profile female athletes in recent years drawing a healthy share of the sports media limelight, there is a perception that Canadian women are finally getting into sport in a big way. Not true. Canadian women have been playing and competing since the latter part of the nineteenth century, eager to participate and partake of the benefits that sports and physical exertion bring. From the beginning, social obstacles have made the playing field uneven for women. The resistance has used everything from arguments about unladylike dress and deportment and the dangers of exercise for Canada's future mothers, to barriers to sports facilities and overt harassment. Yet schoolgirls, society women and working-class women have relished sport and fought for their right to play and compete, with grit and dignity. Often their efforts have been honoured by city and provincial sports halls of fame, but their achievements are still little known. This book, illustrated throughout, tells the story of pioneering women athletes, and of the early sports media -- some of Canada's first women sportswriters --who championed them every step of the way.

Average ratings

N/A