History is rarely a clean, linear progression of events; it is a messy, visceral tapestry of human ambition, survival, and the shadow of the law. For me, the past is a fertile ground for exploring the darker, more complex corners of the Australian experience. From the lawless frontiers of the colonial era to the seismic shifts of World War I and its aftermath, These books capture a nation in the throes of self-discovery through hardship, toil and torment, love and lust.