Readers' Choice Spotlight - Non-Fiction

Remember to vote for your pick in each category and to enter the giveaway on this page.

Junkie Love by Joe Clifford

Review

From the cow fields of Connecticut to the streets of San Francisco, Joe Clifford's Junkie Love traverses the lost highways of Americas to the dead ends of addiction. Based on Clifford's own harrowing experience with drugs as a rock 'n' roll wannabe in the 1990s, the book draws on the best of Kerouac & the Beats, injecting a heavy dose of pulp fiction as it threads a rollicking narrative through a doomed love triangle, lit up by the many strange characters he meets along the way. Part road story, part resurrection tale, Junkie Love finds a way to laugh in one's darkest hour, while never abandoning its heart in search of a home. 

No One's Child by Judith L. McNeil

Review

No One’s Child is the moving memoir of Judith McNeil’s childhood, growing up in outback Queensland, alongside the railway tracks that her father worked on. No easy life for these kids who were often referred to as ‘railway-brats’ as they continually moved from one small town to another following their father’s work.

Judith’s life was one of hardship and poverty. The eldest of six children she soon took on the role of provider and carer, while desperately craving affection from a mother too tired to give it and a father who resented her because she wasn't a son. Yet there was still joy to be found: in the vibrant Gypsy camp, full of laughter and love; in the eyes of Tom, the engine driver who believed in her and fed her thirst for knowledge; and in the friendship of Billy, the boy who could see into her soul.

No One’s Child is an unforgettable portrait of Australian life in the 1950s. With a vivid cast of characters and set against the backdrop of the ever-changing outback landscape, it will leave you marvelling at the indomitable spirit of one little girl who was determined to forge her own destiny.

Nowhere Like Home by Jaimie Alexander

Review

What kind of student would go halfway across the world to stir up an independence movement in his summer break?


At nineteen, Jamie was nicely on track to becoming one of the most boring people in England, but an impulse trip to the jungles of Kalimantan changed all that. Spurred on by what he encountered among the tribespeople of the Krayan, he made a decision to discover the truth of the world around him, however uncomfortable that truth would turn out to be.

From the killing fields of Indonesia and the refugee camps of Palestine, to the girly bars of the Philippines and beyond, this is the remarkable true story of how this decision came to define his life, seeing him visit some of the least accessible and most volatile places on earth, often armed with little more than a set of disarmingly rosy cheeks and a quirky sense of humour. But this is more than just another travel book; it is a story of global change, seen through the eyes of someone who never knew any better.