Text Publishing imprint: 415 books

A funny, sad and serious memoir, How to Be Happy is David Burton’s story of his turbulent life at high school and beyond. Feeling out of place and convinced that he is not normal, David has a rocky start. He longs to have a girlfriend, but his first ‘date’ is a disaster. There’s the catastrophe...

How does work shape our values, our citizens, cultures and communities? As our work changes, how will it change us? How does the blurring of work and leisure through ‘access anywhere’ technology affect our attitudes to work? How are older Australians going to find consistent and flexible work...

Richard Mahony is a restless man. Ballarat, England, Melbourne, Europe, the bush: elsewhere is always better. Searching for a place, a meaning, a life, Mahony and his wife Mary journey from wealth to poverty, order to chaos, sanity to the asylum. The Fortunes of Richard Mahony is a towering novel. This...

Henry Nissen was a champion boxer, the boy from Amess Street in working-class Carlton who fought his way up to beat some of the world’s best in the 1970s. Now, he works on the Melbourne docks, loading and unloading, taking shifts as they come up. But his real work is on the streets. He’s in and...

In the year that marks the centenary of the battle at Gallipoli and the seventieth anniversary of the end of World War II, Griffith Review 48: Enduring Legacies switches the focus from the battles to the long shadow of the great wars of the twentieth century. In Enduring Legacies, eminent Australian...

‘This is a strong, character-driven story from a talented playwright and novelist, which tackles some hefty issues with lightness and humour. It is an impressive debut.’ Books+Publishing Since Ava lost Kelly, things haven’t been going so well. Even before she gets thrown out of school...

'Helen Garner writes the best sentences in Australia.' Bulletin Janet is a skeptic, a journalist; Maxine revels in New Age fantasies; and Ray, a drifter, is a born-again Christian. The common ground is the house they share. But their fragile domestic balance is about to explode amid the smashing...

Esther Prescott has seen little of life outside her wealthy family's Rose Bay mansion, until flashy Stan Peterson comes roaring up the drive in his huge American car and barges into her life. Within a fortnight they are living in his Kings Cross flat. Moody and erratic, proud of his well-bred...

The classic thriller by the five-time winner of the Ned Kelly Award. Introduction by Les Carlyon. When Mac Faraday's best friend is found hanging, the assumption is suicide. But Mac is far from convinced, and he's a man who knows not to accept things at face value. A regular at the local...

'For many years it was assumed that poetry came from England. Research now clearly demonstrates, however, that a great many of the world's most famous poets were actually Australians.' Possibly the most important anthology ever published. The definitive collection featuring key works by such...

Meet Cliff Hardy. Smoker, drinker, ex-boxer. And private investigator. When the wealthy Bryn Gutteridge hires Hardy to help his sister, it looks as if blackmail is the problem. Until the case becomes more brutal, twisted and shocking than even Hardy could have guessed. 'A quintessentially...

Winner of the Miles Franklin Award 1976. Introduction by Nicolas Rothwell. Meat Man is a regular at the Southern Cross pub in Sydney. With his tribe he sits and drinks and watches as life spirals around him. David Ireland’s novel tells his stories, about the pub, its patrons and their...

Wake in Fright tells the tale of John Grant's journey into an alcoholic, sexual and spiritual nightmare. It is the original and the greatest outback horror story. Bundanyabba and its citizens will forever haunt its readers. This edition includes an introduction by Peter Temple and an afterword...

Jack, Scarlet and Mr Doyle return for their next action-packed adventure. When the world's deadliest assassin, the Chameleon, escapes from prison, Jack begins his most dangerous investigation yet. With only the scantest of clues, the team travels from London to New York, a bustling metropolis...