Get your copy of Kate Halfpenny's new book Boogie Wonderland
In a special deal for subscribers, you can order a copy from Booktopia for the discounted price of $24.26 plus postage with the code WONDERLAND10. This offer is available until August 31.
Description: When Covid lockdowns hit Melbourne, metropolitan midlife couple Kate and Chris decide to make a sea change and move to a small coastal town to ease financial pressures and live out the beach lifestyle many of us dream of. But they didn't give much thought to just how different it would be.
With late night drinking sessions in Melbourne's coolest suburbs replaced by the disconcerting peace of a summer destination largely quiet for the rest of the year, they're suddenly rattling around in their beautiful new home without kids, friends or a real community.
And when a disturbing truth about their marriage becomes unavoidable, it's time to face up to reality and ask what's really important. Should they stay or should they go? And what's next when your whole world seems to come crashing down around you?
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9 News
2 hours ago
- 9 News
From BookTok to New York Times bestseller: How Aussie teacher defied the odds
Your web browser is no longer supported. To improve your experience update it here She'd spent the last few years working part-time while pursuing a writing career that had landed her on bestseller lists around the world. Passionate about education as well as authoring, she worked hard to juggle both careers. That ended in early 2025. Once a primary school teacher, now you can find Stacey McEwan's name on bestseller lists around the world. (Stacey McEwan/Facebook) "Due to the critical teacher shortage , I was told 'you either need to come back to teaching full time or you need to quit,'" McEwan told "So I quit the department altogether, and just went full throttle on authoring." Have you got a story? Contact reporter Maddison Leach at mleach@ Fortunately, her latest release A Forbidden Alchemy released to rave reviews in July and even earned a spot on the New York Times bestseller list. But McEwan is painfully aware that her success (and income) as an author is not guaranteed, even with one of the most powerful online communities behind her. Born and raised on the Gold Coast, McEwan spent 11 years in the classroom. She wrote fantasy novels on the side and tried getting a few published but was rejected again and again. "I didn't really know what I was doing," she admitted. McEwan spent years writing books and being rejected by publishers before her debut novel was picked up/ (Instagram/@staceymcewanbooks) The Australian publishing industry is highly competitive and the odds of a debut author's unsolicited submission actually being purchased for publication are low. Knowing that, McEwan focused on teaching until the COVID-19 pandemic hit. Like millions of Aussies, she downloaded TikTok as a way to pass the time during lockdown and was immediately sucked into BookTok, the app's reading community. There she racked up thousands of followers "almost overnight". It was her husband who suggested she leverage that budding internet fame to self-publish her first novel, a fantasy book she'd already written. Instead, British-based publisher Angry Robot "swept in" and offered to buy it. McEwan planned to self-publish her first novel, Ledge, until a publisher "swept in" and offered her a book deal. (Stacey McEwan/Facebook) McEwan signed her first book deal and published her debut fantasy novel, Ledge , in 2021. Two sequels followed in 2023 and 2024. The Aussie mum of two admits she owes a lot of her initial success to TikTok and timing. "I'm not too proud to say that if I hadn't have put my idiot face online, that this wouldn't be happening right now," she said. There's no doubt the Angry Robot book deal was influenced by her BookTok popularity and the fact that she was pushing a romantasy (romance and fantasy) novel right as the genre was exploding. And romantasy is its hottest subgenre right now. "It was really just a case of perfect timing," McEwan said. Her first three novels became bestsellers, boosting her social profile even more. But in the age of online hate mobs and celebrity 'cancellations', being a big deal on social media doesn't always have a happy ending. All it takes is one move – legitimate, or perceived – for an author to get 'cancelled' these days. It can make the career feel precarious, especially for breakout authors like McEwan who owe so much of their fame to online popularity. McEwan signed her first book deal during the pandemic and is now a bestselling author. (Instagram/@staceymcewanbooks) "Being of any kind of public figure on social media feels a lot like putting your head on a chopping block and just hoping that no one swings the blade," she said. "It's the wild, wild west out there and one certainly does have to be careful." It's up to most authors to run their own social media accounts, promoting their books and interacting with fans while also making sure they don't say or do the wrong thing. Because being 'cancelled' can tank book sales and slash an author's income in an instant and most don't have huge advances or established fortunes to fall back on. "I got an advance for [my first book], but it was a small amount and it certainly wasn't anything that was going to set me up for the future," McEwan said. "I really had to rely on how well the book was going to sell." Back then she had her teaching career to fall back on but that's gone now. While she was still teaching part-time, McEwan landed a global deal with publishing powerhouse Simon & Schuster for her next duology. The advance alone was enough to finance her for a year, so she took unpaid leave from teaching to write A Forbidden Alchemy. The novel follows Nina Harrow and Patrick Colson, childhood friends who find themselves on opposite sides of a war fuelled by class inequality. "I like the idea of the lower classes questioning why it is that they must remain so," McEwan said. McEwan took unpaid leave from teaching to write A Forbidden Alchemy. (Simon & Schuster) Months before it hit shelves, McEwan was told she had to go back to teaching full-time or quit altogether. She chose the latter and so far, it's been the right choice. McEwan just returned from the very successful US leg of her A Forbidden Alchemy book tour and you can walk into bookstores all over Australia and find her name staring back at you from the 'bestseller' shelves. "I have a lot of people that I went to school with, that I used to work with, past teachers, students, [and] employers going, 'what's happening?'" McEwan said. "'Is this you, or is this just someone with your name?' ... those reactions only fuel me." 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7NEWS
a day ago
- 7NEWS
What lies beneath this real-life horror story
The 2000 Hollywood thriller What Lies Beneath might not have been Robert Zemeckis' finest work — a few cheap jump scares, quickly forgotten. But the real horror playing out beneath South Australia's normally pristine waters is far from fiction. It's truly terrifying. Aside from the COVID-19 pandemic, it's hard to recall a crisis in our state of this scale and gravity. A kilometres-long stretch of coastline is blanketed in thick brown foam and sludge. Entire beaches — usually teeming with swimmers, walkers, frolicking dogs and kids building sandcastles — now sit empty (because, let's face it, most of us are avoiding them like the plague). But dive deeper and the true devastation emerges. Below the surface, marine life is suffocating. Choking. Dying. Our ocean has become an underwater graveyard. Marine ecosystems so devastated, any sign of recovery seems to be drifting further away by the day. The images pouring into the Channel 7 newsroom in Adelaide are nothing short of heartbreaking. Our cameras are documenting the carnage and South Australians are sending us more every single day. Photos and videos of fish, dolphins, rays, crabs, penguins and even sharks washed up lifeless on our shores. And don't get me started on that poor fur seal found slumped gasping for air on the footpath in Brighton. Was it was trying to flee rough seas or was it another casualty of the algal bloom? We're told it's a natural event. We know it's a disaster. But somehow, in this case, one plus one doesn't equal two. Canberra still refuses to formally declare this crisis a natural disaster. The mind boggles. The blood boils and what about the South Australians whose livelihoods depend on the ocean? Our tourism operators, commercial fishers, fishmongers. They're not just watching the environment collapse, they're feeling the financial impact. And they're hurting. Will it get worse? Will our beaches be off-limits this summer? Can we safely eat what's left of the catch? Will government inaction today haunt us tomorrow? Past mismanagement, present crisis and a community demanding answers. What lies beneath? The truth, still buried.
Perth Now
2 days ago
- Perth Now
Margaret Qualley felt 'lonely' in relationships before Jack Antonoff
Margaret Qualley felt 'lonely' in relationships before falling for Jack Antonoff. The 30-year-old actress and the 41-year-old musician got married in August 2023 on Long Beach Island after first meeting 'right as COVID was ending' and Margaret knew Jack was the one because she always felt 'safe' with him. She told Cosmopolitan magazine: 'Falling in love with Jack was the biggest feeling I've ever felt. We met right as COVID was ending, at the first party I'd been to. We saw each other on a roof, and we just started talking and never stopped. We went on a series of walks throughout the city that summer. 'In every other relationship I've ever been in, I still felt really lonely because I wasn't with my person, and it's like I was seeking something. I don't feel like that anymore. Jack makes me feel safe and comfortable. 'I spent so many years trying to be someone's perfect girl, and that girl changed over and over again. But I can't lie to Jack. I can't be that for him - he'd see through it. So, I just have to be myself. He's been the person I've pictured my whole life. And I'm not even saying that metaphorically. My first crush was Adam Sandler in Happy Gilmore and Big Daddy, and I've been looking for that essence my whole life. I'm like, 'That's Jack.'' And Margaret's sister Rainey Qualley, takes full credit for them getting together. She said: 'I was recording at Electric Lady, where Jack Antonoff works. We'd heard he was looking for forever love. So, when there was a small party on the roof and I had a bit too much to drink, I proceeded to tell Jack that he needed to date my sister!' Margaret also revealed Jack said 'I love you' first. She said: 'I'm very old-school about stuff like this. I would never put myself out there first. I never text twice. I mean, now we're married and I can text him anything at any time. We're always having a conversation; he's like my human diary. But before we were together, at the beginning, I would always follow Southern girl etiquette.' And, she shared her hopes of having children with Jack, saying: 'I want kids. I'm not there this second - I know there's a lot of stuff I don't know - but I've always wanted kids. Even as a little kid, I would imagine having babies.'
