The thirteenth volume in the popular John Pearce Adventures set on the high seas 1795: Just as Lieutenant John Pearce feels that he has been freed from an old foe, a new one takes his place. In the face of fresh antagonism, and with complications in his relationship with the recently widowed Emily Barclay, Pearce must juggle personal difficulties with the call of service. Aboard HMS Flirt, Pearce and his Pelicans soon join the squadron led by Horatio Nelson on a reconnaissance which results in the destruction of a key French battery – though the success is short-lived. In raids ashore, split loyalties, and bloody sea fights, Pearce must show bravery and resource to ensure his survival and return to Emily. Only luck and Pearce’s fierce appetite for battle can save them from the perils ahead.

Our fascination with shipwrecks comes not from the loss of the vessel itself but the dramatic struggle for survival that follows. A Treacherous Coast tells the stories left by survivors of ten maritime disasters from Australia's tropical north-eastern waters. Not all ended with the loss of the ship. But all pitted the survivors against harsh and unforgiving elements and inhospitable lands far removed from what was familiar. It draws on firsthand accounts recorded in ships logs, journals, personal correspondence, and contemporary newspaper reports. The book opens with the Endeavour which ran aground on the Great Barrier Reef during Cook's historic voyage up Australia's east coast in 1770. It then moves on to the seizure of the small schooner Caledonia in Moreton Bay by escaped convicts in 1831. Then it unteases the conflicting stories surrounding the Aborigines' treatment of the Stirling Castle survivors on K'gari (Fraser Island) in 1836. A Treacherous Coast recounts the tragic struggle for survival by the crew and passengers of the Peruvian in 1846. Only one man survived to tell their story after living among the Aborigines for 17 years. In 1851 two intrepid sailors saved the Countess of Minto from being lost in a ferocious tropical storm while their shipmates were stranded on a small coral island.After running aground on the Great Barrier Reef in 1859 the crew of the Sapphire spent an agonising five months battling starvation, thirst, hostile Torres Strait Islanders and contrary winds to return to port. The Maria's calamitous voyage in 1872 is a testament to what can go wrong when you go to sea ill prepared.The loss of the Gothenburg in 1875 and the Quetta in 1890 are two of the worst maritime disasters to have taken place in Queensland waters. Those fortunate enough to live left harrowing accounts of their struggle for survival. The book concludes with the loss of the small coastal trading schooner Orete in 1918. A sole survivor was washed ashore on an uninhabited island where he spent three weeks effecting his escape.

1796. Pearce and his wife Emily are living in Bath, when Minister of War Henry Dundas turns up and suggests a second mission to the Vendee, this time as a liaison between the French émigrés intending to land in Brittany and the British naval and military commanders who will accompany them. The proposed expedition looks promising and Pearce takes the bait. Once at sea, however, Pearce and his crew encounter a French fleet and an indecisive battle ensues off the Ile de Groix. Pearce, accompanied by his faithful Pelicans, must go ashore to check where the forces of the Republic are gathering to crush the rebels ...

From the internationally acclaimed author of the Wallander crime series, a dramatic new standalone novel set in turn-of-the-century Sweden and Mozambique, whose indomitable female protagonist is awoken from naiveté by her exposure to racism, and by her own unexpected inner strengths. Cold and poverty define Hanna Renström's childhood in remote northern Sweden, and in 1905, at 19, she boards a ship for Australia in hope of a better life. But none of her hopes--or fears--prepares her for the life she will lead. After 2 brief marriages, she finds herself a widow twice over, and the owner of a bordello in Portuguese East Africa, a world where colonialism and white supremacy rule, where she is isolated within society by her profession and her sex, and, among the bordello's black prostitutes, by her colour. As Hanna's story unfurls over the next several years, we watch her in this "treacherous paradise," as she wrestles with a constant, wrenching loneliness and with the racism she's meant to unthinkingly adopt. And as her life becomes increasingly intertwined with the prostitutes, she moves inexorably toward the moment when she will make a decision that defies every expectation society has of her, and, more importantly, those she has of herself.

Written from first-hand experience, it brings to life the early years of Karekare and neighbouring farming and logging settlements, at a time when car and air travel were starting to end the isolation of these stunning locations.

Illustrations, photographs and satellite imagery enhance a narrative that presents hard science and makes it accessible and very human. This is a book that investigates the changing face of the coastline through erosion, hurricanes and climate change. This is a book that matters.