DESTINY IN SYDNEY is an epic, multicultural novel of convicts, Aborigines, and Chinese embroiled in the birth of Sydney, Australia. Adventurous and opportunistic, Scottish marine Lieutenant Nathaniel Armstrong is in charge of convicts on one of eleven ships sent in 1787 on a perilous voyage from England to the other side of the world to establish a British penal colony. He lusts after fiery Irish convict Moira O Keeffe and surprises himself when he falls in love with her. Together they nearly starve in Sydney Cove while learning to farm the harsh land and deal with the Aborigines, whose lot is disease and unequal warfare. Armstrong descendants deny their convict heritage and oppose the Chinese who come for the gold rush. Three Fong brothers suffer violence and despair as they fight to forge a place for themselves. Duncan Armstrong, rich and powerful, helps pass the White Australia Policy in 1901 to keep out the Chinese, while his cousin Eleanor works for women s suffrage and a fair go for the Aborigines. Impeccably researched, this gripping dramatization of the true history of Sydney, Australia, is drawn from the writings of Australian leaders, soldiers, explorers, and settlers. Richards has mined Australian history for its action-adventure and applied his incomparable storytelling skills for a powerful, fast-paced read. The sequel novel A GIFT OF SYDNEY, available in late 2013, will continue the story of the Armstrongs and Fongs, and add the Hudson Aboriginal family, ending with the Summer Olympic Games held in Sydney in the year 2000.

GIFT OF SYDNEY is an epic novel of the struggle to forge the multicultural, world-class city of Sydney, Australia. It is the second in the series of novels about the history of the city and Australia. In 1903, the wealthy and powerful Armstrongs are concerned about their "convict stain." The Fongs rail against the White Australia Policy that is driving Chinese out of Australia and preventing their relatives from immigrating. The Hudsons suffer under government programs that manage them as part of the vexing "Aboriginal problem." The country is rich from wool and gold but insecure. Its principal protector and trading partner, Britain, is 15,000 miles away. The three families all suffer in the world wars and the Great Depression, but experience a profound change when the racist White Australia Policy is finally rejected and a humanitarian policy opens the doors to accept the desperate Vietnamese boat people. Once again, Richards's storytelling is impeccably researched, fast paced, action-adventure driven, and full of family saga emotion and drama. His two extraordinary novels together have the authenticity and authority of the finest historical fiction that strike a resounding chord of hope for all humanity.

After a near fatal accident, Reegan McGrath is warned never to come back to Willows Bluff. For years she stayed away despite the haunting nightmares. Now, with her grandmother dying, Reegan returns to find an evolving second sight, a man she is fated to fall in love with, and an overwhelming reaction to an old foe. Well aware that the people in Willows Bluff still believe she murdered her father, Bernadette Howard is reluctant to open up to anyone, least of all Reegan McGrath. But fate has other ideas when the two women uncover their connection to a decades-old curse. To unravel the mystery that’s destined to destroy them, Reegan and Bernie need to put aside their mutual distrust. They must “see what was unseen, learn what was unknown, right what was wronged, or suffer the same.”

A history of the role of biological theories in the construction and "protection" of whiteness in Australia from the first European settlement through World War II.

This unprecedented biography of Hawke includes an exclusive series of interviews with him – the last that he gave – as well as unfiltered access to his extensive trove of personal papers. It features new interviews with more than 100 people who knew and worked with Hawke, including his family and friends; political and union colleagues, and rivals; advisers and public servants; and journalists; along with international contemporaries of Hawke such as George H.W. Bush, John Major, Brian Mulroney, James Baker and George Shultz. It also brings together an extraordinary array of never-before-seen archival documents: family diaries, notes, letters and scrapbooks; school and university reports; cabinet, departmental and vice-regal papers; party strategy documents, polling and caucus minutes; and secret correspondence and meeting records between Hawke and other Cold War leaders. Troy Bramston, an award-winning and best-selling author, tells the remarkable story of Hawke’s upbringing and education, the people and events that shaped him, his rise through the union movement, his complex personality and personal life marked by womanising and the demon drink, his nine-year government from 1983 to 1991, plus his post-prime ministerial life and legacy. This book is about the real Hawke, chronicling the stunning triumphs and shocking failures, a life riddled with huge flaws and great virtues marked by redemption and reinvention, which changed Australia and shaped the world. Revelatory and compelling, it will shock and surprise those who think they know the story of Australia’s most popular prime minister.

Book 3 in the bestselling Australian Destiny Series Taste of Victory returns to the turbulent story of Cole Sloan and Smantha Connolly which began in the bestselling Code of Honor. Sloan's sugar plantation lies in ashes, and both must seek a new future. Turn-of-the-century Australia presented them with many choices and both would seek success in the Riverina, the heart of the wool industry, agriculture and forestry in Victoria and New South Wales. Sloan uses the money he can salvage from Sugerlea to open up a brokerage. Investing other people's money with no personal risk promises to be lucrative, Samantha soon finds work as a clerical assistant to the dock master at Echuca, and becomes the real business manager behind the operation. Meanwhile Samantha's sister, Linnet, has found her way to the University of Adelaide where she develops her music. All goes well until Sloan tries to use his friendship with Samantha to work a good deal moving wool and timber, despite her refusal to compromise. The problems that erupt for each character will ultimately push them toward personal victory or defeat. Will it be the taste of victory?