The Desert Wall

Perfect for fans of The Theft of Sunlight and the Alanna books, this page-turning fantasy immerses readers in a vivid desert landscape and the mysteries and dangers that lie beyond the Wall. Malenie doesn’t need anyone… By her fourteenth year, Melanie has learned how to survive on her own in the harsh reality of her small town. Bullies. Judgmental neighbors. A broken friendship. She also knows how to hide her secret, the one emblazoned on her skin that she herself barely understands. Then a stranger comes to town, one who knows more about Malenie than she does, and he takes from her the person most precious in the world. Her Papa. To save her father, she must get in touch with her ancestral magic, dare to forge new friendships and confront a deadly villain. Papa's freedom, and her own, are bound up in secrets from the past and Malenie's own courage to face them. The Desert Wall is the first book in a new series about friendship, families and magic.

Desert Diggers: Writings from a War Zone ‘Somewhere in the Middle East’ 1940-1942 draws upon hundreds of soldiers’ letters in a fresh and captivating narrative of the war in North Africa. Desert Diggers follows the first men to volunteer after the outbreak of war in 1939, tracing their adventures in exotic ports before further training in Palestine. A hunger for action grew: ‘Most of the chaps are ... anxious to get into anything that looks like a fight’, one soldier wrote to his brother. From Egypt, ‘the hottest and dustiest place on God's earth’ was the Diggers’ next destination and their ‘blooding’ in the battles for Bardia and Tobruk. After Rommel failed to storm Tobruk in April-May 1941, Nazi propaganda denigrated the garrison, ‘caught like rats in a trap’. Amid frequent bombing and shelling, Berlin’s scornful broadcasts were an unintended tonic. ‘Frequently we laughed and joked until the tears came into our eyes’, a Digger quipped. From Tobruk, to the blunting of Rommel’s attacks at El Alamein, the price of victory was palpably high: ‘some of my best mates didn't come out of it’, lamented a corporal to his sister. Returning to Australia in 1943, some men maimed or traumatised, brought a further test for the Diggers ... Told in the words of the men who served, Desert Diggers offers a new personal perspective on the Western Desert campaign. With immediacy and raw emotion, these skillfully woven letters provide a remarkable and compelling account of the Australian experience of war.

Over 100 archaeological sites lying within the desert area of Rome's eastern frontier are examined with accompanying maps, plans and air photographs. Designed to provide an overview of Roman military works in the Middle East, this work is intended to appeal to archaeologists and military historians.

Includes section "Reviews of recent theological literature".