In At The Deep End

"A fresh, funny, audacious debut novel about a Bridget Jones-like twenty-something who discovers that she may have simply been looking for love -- and, ahem, pleasure -- in all the wrong places (aka: from men)"--

A quick–witted, contemporary romance about losing your cool. What woman doesn't love a real–life hero? Harriet Scott, for one. The fiercely independent daughter of famous adventurers, she grew up travelling the world on the environmental flagship The Watch. So when Harriet's ship sinks in Antarctica and she has to be rescued by Commander Per Amundsen, an infuriatingly capable Norwegian naval officer and living breathing action hero, her world is turned upside down. Like their namesakes, the original Scott and Amundsen who competed to reach the South Pole first, Per and Harriet have different ways of doing things. Per thinks Harriet is an accident waiting to happen; Harriet thinks Per is a control freak. But when Harriet realises that Per is the only one who can help her fund the new ship she desperately wants, she is forced to cooperate with him. Per refuses to assist unless Harriet allows him to teach her to swim. But there is more to Harriet's terrible fear of water than meets the eye. Can Harriet face her fears and come to terms with the trauma and loss of her past? And will she begin to appreciate that some risks are well worth taking–and that polar opposites can, in fact, attract?

"For as long as Jake Tilson can remember he has always been scared of fish. Mysterious ice-laden market stalls have been sidestepped and intimidating seafood recipes left safely on the shelf, while the few occasions he has attempted to cook it have met with disaster. In at the Deep End sees the award-winning artist, designer, writer and cook finally overcome his last culinary taboo by travelling the globe on a quest to buy, prepare and cook fish and seafood. An evocative, marvellously layered and wonderfully illustrated exploration of Jake's many experiences with fish, this delightful food memoir and recipe book catalogues his journey from fish-phobic to seafood obsessive. Whether cooking mussels in Sydney or sprats in Sweden, visiting the fish markets of Tokyo or snorkelling on the Great Barrier Reef, Jake's unquenchable interest in every aspect of the sea and fish cookery is unstoppable. His acute eye and enticing culinary experiments and recipes make In at the Deep End a book to be read, savoured, used and, above all, enjoyed."--Publisher's description.

Twelve-year-old Martin, teller of tall tales and other untruths, cannot understand his sister's objections to the family's move to small-town Ontario. With Dad in the military, moving is a fact of life. Martin is intrigued by a deserted house across the street and by an unfriendly neighbour, who seems to be waiting for something to happen.

With the heartfelt prose of a loving daughter, Patti Davis provides a life raft for the caregivers of Alzheimer’s patients. “For the decade of my father’s illness, I felt as if I was floating in the deep end, tossed by waves, carried by currents, but not drowning,” writes Patti Davis in this searingly honest and deeply moving account of the challenges involved in taking care of someone stricken with Alzheimer’s. When her father, the fortieth president of the United States, announced his Alzheimer’s diagnosis in an address to the American public in 1994, the world had not yet begun speaking about this cruel, mysterious disease. Yet overnight, Ronald Reagan and his immediate family became the face of Alzheimer’s, and Davis, once content to keep her family at arm’s length, quickly moved across the country to be present during “the journey that would take [him] into the sunset of [his] life.” Empowered by all she learned from caring for her father—about the nature of the illness, but also about the loss of a parent—Davis founded a support group for the family members and friends of Alzheimer’s patients. Along with a medically trained cofacilitator, she met with hundreds of exhausted and devastated attendees to talk through their pain and confusion. While Davis was aware that her own circumstances were uniquely fortunate, she knew there were universal truths about dementia, and even surprising gifts to be found in a long goodbye. With Floating in the Deep End, Davis draws on a welter of experiences to provide a singular account of battling Alzheimer’s. Eloquently woven with personal anecdotes and helpful advice tailored specifically for the overlooked caregiver, this essential guide covers every potential stage of the disease from the initial diagnosis through the ultimate passing and beyond. Including such tips as how to keep a loved one hygienic, and careful responses for when they drift to a time gone by, Davis always stresses the emotional milestones that come with slow-burning grief. Along the way, Davis shares how her own fractured family came together. With unflinching candor, she recalls when her mother, Nancy, who for decades could not show her children compassion or vulnerability, suddenly broke down in her arms. Davis also offers tender moments in which her father, a fabled movie star whom she always longed to know better, revealed his true self—always kind, even when he couldn’t recognize his own daughter. An inherently wise work that promises to become a classic, Floating in the Deep End ultimately provides hope to struggling families while elegantly illuminating the fragile human condition.

"Acquire the knowledge and resources necessary to achieve true success as a leader and enact strategic change and school improvement. In Swimming in the Deep End, author Jennifer Abrams dives deep into the four foundational skills required of effective leadership and change management: (1) thinking before speaking, (2) preempting resistance, (3) responding to resistance, and (4) managing oneself through change and resistance. Throughout the book readers receive ample guidance for building these vital skills and leading school initiatives and implementation plans that face 21st century challenges head-on." --

Confined in a small space for months on end, subject to ship's discipline and living on limited food supplies, many sailors of old lost their minds – and no wonder. Many still do. The result in some instances was bloodthirsty mutinies, such as the whaleboat Sharon whose captain was butchered and fed to the ship's pigs in a crazed attack in the Pacific. Or mob violence, such as the 147 survivors on the raft of the Medusa, who slaughtered each other in a two-week orgy of violence. So serious was the problem that the Royal Navy's own physician claimed sailors were seven times more likely to go mad than the rest of the population. Historic figures such as Christopher Columbus, George Vancouver, Fletcher Christian (leader of the munity of the Bounty) and Robert FitzRoy (founder of the Met Office) have all had their sanity questioned. More recently, sailors in today's round-the-world races often experience disturbing hallucinations, including seeing elephants floating in the sea and strangers taking the helm, or suffer complete psychological breakdown, like Donald Crowhurst. Others become hypnotised by the sea and jump to their deaths. Off the Deep End looks at the sea's physical character, how it confuses our senses and makes rational thought difficult. It explores the long history of madness at sea and how that is echoed in many of today's yacht races. It looks at the often-marginal behaviour of sailors living both figuratively and literally outside society's usual rules. And it also looks at the sea's power to heal, as well as cause, madness.

In this follow-up to "Diving In," Coll has just about forgiven Art for assuming that she'll sleep with him. He's promised her that they can take things slowly, that the time has to be right for her. But just when is the right time?