THOMSON, Deborah

ISBN 978-1-923088-31-3
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Tasmanian Voices

The Family Violence Epidemic, 2nd Edition

A handy reference guide that answers questions people may be too uncomfortable (or afraid) to ask.

ISBN 978-1-922527-96-7
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Whose Life is it Anyway?

Leaving a Violent Abuser

Deborah left Wayne after eighteen years of his violence, taking their children with her.

She thought they were now free from abuse. Not so. This is the sequel to Whose Life Is It Anyway? Recognising and Surviving Domestic Violence.

Deborah looks closely at the pitfalls of Family Law court as experienced by an abused parent, while attempting to keep her children safe from harm.

It is a story that will resonate with every parent engaging in a fight for the rights of children.

Does the Family court act ‘in the best interests’ of the child? You be the judge.

Deborah Thomson, self-published author of Whose Life is it Anyway? Leaving a Violent Abuser

About the Author

Deborah Thomson, with her daughter, moved to Tasmania in 2010. She now lives here with her partner of nine years and a parrot.

Deborah escaped domestic violence and, inspired by her now partner, she wrote her first book Whose Life Is It Anyway? Recognising and Surviving Domestic Violence to help others recognise abuse (in particular coercive control) in the home and to increase their motivation to leave earlier.

After publishing her first book, Deborah became a trained advocate through Engender Equality, for survivors of family violence. As part of the advocacy, she speaks at domestic violence events across Tasmania, through media channels and podcasts. Link to an example of her advocacy work Choking, non-fatal strangulation to become standalone offence in Tasmania under planned law – ABC News

Deborah has recently completed her second book, a follow up to the first which detailed lived experience with domestic violence by her then-husband; spanning seventeen years from 1985 to 2003. This book is now used in Tasmania as an information resource for family violence counsellors and students on practicals.

The new book, soon to be published, is the final chapter in Deborah’s life with a perpetrator of family violence. Whose Life Is It Anyway? Leaving a Violent Abuser is a complex yet engaging depiction of her personal journey as a parent in a custodial battle with an abusive husband, and father of their children.  It is a story that will resonate with every parent engaging in a fight for the rights of children to feel safe and free from harm…

In her spare time, Deborah writes regularly for Forty South magazine, in the column entitled Tasmanian Voices Deborah Thomson The Family Violence Epidemic.

 
 

Testimonials

‘This confronting book reveals that we all have a role to play in preventing and responding to family violence – read it and be inspired.’

Emeritus Professor
Kate Warner

‘Accessible and practical, this collection of essays is a critical addition to the growing dialogue of family violence in Australia. This book will make a difference to the lives of victims/survivors by challenging the systems that are currently failing so many.’

Alina Thomas
CEO of Engender Equality
Tasmania

WESTFIELD, Drew

ISBN 978-1-922527-43-1
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Until The End

Set on the beaches that stretch along the far north-eastern reaches of Tasmania, ‘Until The End’ is a story of the bond between two brothers that has been forged on family separation. They journey together through personal disappointment, teenage wildness, emotional struggle, and eventually the loss of the older brother’s life to suicide.

A gripping read that delves into the depths of the aftermath, the devastation that it has on the family, and the distance it takes the younger brother on his own journey.

About the Author

 
This is the first story written by Drew Westfield, who grew up in suburban Launceston, Tasmania. This story follows Drew around with a move to Brisbane, a return to Launceston, Hobart and eventually Melbourne. Drew has since dedicated his life and work to improving the physical and mental health of himself and now those around him after the experiences that he shares in this novel.
 

NEWNHAM, Janice

ISBN 978-1-922527-72-1
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From the Inside

The first nine weeks of the Black Summer fires in the Upper Murray

A personal view of the impact of the 2019/20 Green Valley Bushfire on the Newnhams’ home, family, and community from inside the fire zone in Walwa, Upper Murray, Australia.

Isolated from friends and family and enmeshed in the fight to defend her family’s farm from the 2019/2020 Black Summer fires, Janice Newnham was moved to document and communicate the situation to the outside world via Facebook posts.

It started as a need to quickly reassure worried friends and family, but soon became a mental health exercise, a necessity to unload by uploading to Facebook!

This book represents the first nine weeks of an ongoing story of the impact of bushfire disaster on a small rural community and is representative of many Australian farmers and rural communities during an unprecedented bushfire season: The Black Summer.

ISBN 978-1-922890-57-3
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White Lies

Where there is smoke

Based on a true story, White Lies (Where there is smoke…) is set in ‘God’s Own Country’, in Walwa, Northeast Victoria.

A fiery car wreck extinguishes the life of Raymond (Dickie) White’s devoted wife and catapults him to the attention of enthusiastic police investigators and newspaper journalists and simultaneously reignites the local rumour mill.

Is he the victim of small-town gossip, ultimately hounded to death by misinterpretations of his actions? Or is he a cunning, scheming individual who manipulates situations and takes advantage of innocents to achieve his ambition of owning his own farm?

His plans unravel as his web of lies is unpicked by the persistent, dedicated investigations of police utilising innovative forensic techniques and insightful deductions. As the net closes around him, he is left with only one option for escape.

Janice Newnham author

About the Author

Janice Newnham is a veterinarian by profession, a farmer by passion and is easily distracted by cows, dogs, family and the environment! She is a time-poor would-be creative with ambitions to indulge in her love of writing, art, and photography to capture images and stories of her environment, family and community. Imbued with a strong community spirit, she advocates for- and supports her community by serving and supporting several community organisations. Family is her number one priority, and she is devoted to her husband, Crundle (Robert), and their growing family of two sons, Connor and Sasha, (step-) daughter Bianca and their partners and children. The Newnhams own a small piece of paradise in Walwa in the Upper Murray and breed Angus cattle.

 

BIHAMBA, Immaculate

ISBN 978-1-922452-81-8 PAPERBACK

Everywhere Umbrella

From Congo to Australia (and everywhere in between) comes a testimony of God’s everlasting love, grace and guardianship.

Immaculate’s very existence was challenged from the day she was conceived.

A baby girl born into the Democratic Republic of the Congo, disappointment surrounded her birth despite many attempts to terminate.

Immaculate is a women who perhaps should not have survived. This book recounts the many events that played against her and the divine intervention that persistently saved her.

God is Immaculate’s Everywhere Umberella.

KING, Kerry

ISBN 978-1922527-41-7
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The Longest Goodbye

A daughter’s journey caring for a parent with dementia. 

Experience the high and lows of a mother and daughter’s dementia journey, from diagnosis to aged care. In a world where nearly every person I meet knows someone or has a loved one with dementia, this book has been written from first hand experience to provide insights and lessons learned into the world of dementia. This book isn’t about having all the answers, if only dementia was that simple.

It is my hope that the information in this book will assist people to understand and communicate more effectively with their loved ones and most importantly, cherish every moment.

When people asked Kerry what she did for a career, she always answered ‘I change people’s lives,’ referring to her role as a facilitator and corporate trainer for over 35 years. After documenting her mother’s 10 year dementia journey as a cathartic way to deal with the highs and lows of the unknown around dementia, she realised this was another way she could change people’s lives. Having said goodbye numerous times over the years, ‘The Longest Goodbye’ was created.

FIGG, Marcia

ISBN 978-0-648490-53-1
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The Battle Within: Chapter One

In Aukland, 1974, a baby girl is handed out of a hospital window to an old man in a taxi. Her name is Marcia, not a Maori name like her sister’s, which often made her wonder. But then, there were to be many more occasions that made Marcia wonder.

Based on the first thirteen years of Figg’s life, The Battle Within is an evocative collection of memories. Reflecting on the events that shaped her, Figg produces immersive moments-in-time, balancing the innocence and lightheartedness of a child with the harshness of society.

“Strikingly deft in its tale, the piece has the opportunity to grab the reader by the scruff of the neck and force them to listen, such is its sadness and portrayal of familiar abuse in a hermetically recognisable environment. Still, there are fine words, crafted with care as the storm settles down and courage resurges once more. Memorable.”
– Austin Macauley Publishers