AUSTRALIA AUTHOR · FICTION · GENERAL
Ben Elton
Benjamin Charles Elton (born 3 May 1959) is a British comedian and writer. He has written and produced for television, radio, films, novels, theatre and musicals, and has performed as a stand-up comedian and on screen. One of the major figures in the alternative comedy movement of the 1980s, he used a style of left-wing political satire in his early stand-up comedy. Elton co-wrote the sitcoms The Young Ones, Blackadder and Mr. Bean, and was the sole writer for other sitcoms such as Filthy, Rich & Catflap, The Thin Blue Line and Upstart Crow.
"At ten minutes past eleven our Light Cavalry Brigade advanced...They swept proudly past, glittering in the morning sun in all the pride and splendour of war... At the distance of 1,200 yards the whole line of the enemy belched forth, from thirty iron mouth"
— from The First Casualty, 1975
Most acclaimed
High society
1992
Drawing on his unprecedented access to Grace Kelly, bestselling biographer Donald Spoto at last offers an intimate, honest, and authoritative portrait of one of Hollywood's legendary actresses.In just seven years--from 1950 through 1956--Grace Kelly embarked on a whirlwind career that included roles in eleven movies. From the principled Amy Fowler Kane in High Noon to the thrill-seeking Frances Stevens of To Catch a Thief, Grace established herself as one of Hollywood's most talented actresses and iconic beauties. Her astonishing career lasted until her retirement at age twenty-six, when she withdrew from stage and screen to marry a European monarch and became a modern, working princess and mother. Based on never-before-published or quoted interviews with Grace and those conducted over many years with her friends and colleagues--from costars James Stewart and Cary Grant to director Alfred Hitchcock--as well as many documents disclosed by her children for the first time, acclaimed biographer Donald Spoto explores the transformation of a convent schoolgirl to New York model, successful television actress, Oscar-winning movie star, and beloved royal. As the princess requested, Spoto waited twenty-five years after her death to write this biography. Now, with honesty and insight, High Society reveals the truth of Grace Kelly's personal life, the men she loved, the men she didn't, and what lay behind the facade of her fairy-tale life.From the Hardcover edition.
Blind Faith
A dark, savagely comic novel from the bestselling author of Chart Throb...Imagine a world where everyone knows everything about everybody. Where 'sharing' is valued above all, and privacy is considered a dangerous perversion.Trafford wouldn't call himself a rebel, but he's daring to be different, to stand out from the crowd. In his own small ways, he wants to push against the system. But in this world, uniformity is everything. And even tiny defiances won't go unnoticed.Ben Elton's dark, savagely comic novel imagines a post-apocalyptic society where religious intolerance combines with a sex-obsessed, utterly egocentric culture. In this world, nakedness is modesty, independent thought subversive, and ignorance is wisdom. A chilling vision of what's to come? Or something rather closer to home?
Meltdown
Fourth in a gripping, action-packed sequence of thrillers about Danny and Fergus Watts, from the bestselling author of Bravo Two Zero, Andy McNab, and Robert Rigby, veteran of many successful TV screenplays. Ideal for adventure-seeking readers.A lethal new drug with devastating side effects, known as Meltdown, is threatening to destabilize society. Dudley knows that the security services have to act fast, and when his 4 x 4 arrives at their remote hideout in the Canadian lakes, eighteen-year-old Danny and his grandfather, ex-SAS hero Fergus Watts, are once again sucked into a deadly undercover operation and a race against time.Their search for the mastermind behind a pair of murderous gangland twins takes them from the clubs of Manchester to Spain and Germany, and Danny needs all his newly learned expertise when he comes up against an old adversary - someone he hoped never to encounter again. And this time, when the battle is joined, it is a battle to the end.