In 1978, Evan Pederick, a naive 22-year-old in the thrall of a radical religious movement, Ananda Marga, placed an enormous bomb outside Sydney's Hilton Hotel. Here is his story, told for the first time - an extraordinary tale of guilt, remorse, renewal, and the search for forgiveness.

In the 1960s Dale Kent embarked on a lifelong struggle to fulfil the desire of many women of her generation - to be the most she could be. Her story, both poignant and darkly comical, traces a counterpoint between increasing professional success, a desperate search for a sexual soulmate and a way back to her daughter.

Nothing prepares a person for the job of chief of staff to a Commonwealth Minister. Allen Behm became chief of staff to Greg Combet in 2009, the minister responsible for managing carbon pricing and the pink batts crisis. A seasoned troubleshooter, Behm has an uncanny ability to anticipate and deflect political crises.

The #MeToo movement is overturning a cliche that has forgiven bad behaviour for years: to be creative is to be prone to eccentricity, madness, addiction and excess. No longer can artists be excused from the standards of conduct that apply to us all. But if we denounce the artist, then what becomes of the work that remains?

What seduced publishing trailblazer Hilary McPhee to an exotic writing project in Jordan? Curiosity, political engagement, mad bravery? McPhee's brutally honest memoir traverses wild terrain, from Italy to Amman.