Media Bites August 2020

AUGUST 2 02 0 – NON - F ICT ION

Lawyer X ANTHONY DOWS L E Y & PATR I CK CAR LYON

Melbourne’s Gangland War was an era dominated by murders, stings, hits, drug busts, corruption and greed. It took the police a decade to curtail the violence and bring down criminal kingpins Carl Williams and Tony Mokbel, and their accomplices. When the police finally closed the case file, just how they really won the war, with the help of an unlikely police informer, would become a closely guarded secret, and its exposure the biggest legal scandal of our time.

The Altar Boys SUZ ANN E SM I TH

Glen Walsh and Steven Alward were childhood friends in their tight-knit working-class community in Newcastle, NSW. Both altar boys at the local Catholic church, they went on to attend the city’s Catholic boys’ high schools. Steven became a journalist; Glen a priest. But when Glen discovered another priest was sexually abusing boys, he reported the offending to police, breaking canon law and his vows to the Catholic ‘brotherhood’ in the process. Just weeks before he was due to give evidence against the highest cleric to ever be charged with covering up child abuse, Father Glen Walsh was dead. Two months later, his friend Steven also died. Ensuing investigations revealed they were among at least 60 men in the region who had taken their own lives. The Altar Boys is a powerful expose of widespread and organised clerical abuse of children in one Australian city, and how the cover- up in the Catholic Church extended from parish priests to every echelon of the organisation.

Released: 20/08/20 TPB | 304pp AU $34.99 NZ $36.99 Imprint: HarperCollins

The Golden Maze R I CHARD F I D L E R Beloved ABC broadcaster and

bestselling author of Ghost Empire and Saga Land , Richard Fidler is back with a personally curated history of the magical city that is Prague. Following the story of Prague from its origins in medieval darkness to its uncertain present, Fidler does what he does so well – curates an absolutely engaging and compelling history of a place. You will learn things you never knew, with a tour guide who is erudite, inquisitive, and the best storyteller you could have as your companion.

Released: 20/08/20 TPB | 320pp AU $34.99 NZ $36.99 Imprint: ABC Books

Released: 20/08/20 NSH | 304pp AU $39.99 NZ $45.00 Imprint: ABC Books

richard-fidler.com

NON - F ICT ION