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The
Governor, His Wife
And his Mistress

He promised he’d return to his convict mistress and their two children, and he did – but he brought with him a shocking secret that would destroy lives and change the course of Australian history forever

Released by Allen & Unwin January 2025.

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Historical Fiction

All Historical Fiction

Elizabeth & Elizabeth

The two leading women of the new colony on the other side of the world form an unlikely  friendship despite their husbands being bitter enemies

That Bligh Girl

The daughter of notorious Bounty mutiny survivor William Bligh battles to head off yet another rebellion against her father

The Governor, his Wife and his Mistress

A courageous woman convict becomes embroiled in the tangled love life of a powerful man with everything to gain – and lose

Australian Lives

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Run For Your Life

The amazing true story of a family forced to flee Russia after falling out with the most powerful men in the country, and forced into hiding on one of the last frontiers of the remote Australian outback.

Under Her Skin

Venerated skin surgeon Professor Fiona Wood, the inventor of spay-on skin for serious burns victims and the saviour of so many lives after the Bali bombing, reveals her personal and professional battles to end up a world-leading innovator.

Healing Lives

Australian medical icon Dr Catherine Hamlin travels to Ethiopia and sets up a hospital for women who’ve sustained terrible injuries in childbirth, and ends up training a local peasant woman, Mamitu Gashe, to become a world-leading surgeon.

Daughter of the River Country

Dianne O’Brien was taken from her Aboriginal birth mother and grew up believing she was Irish, like her adoptive parents. But when the only mother she’d ever known died, she was cast aside and endured rape, horrific domestic violence, alcohol addiction and cruel betrayal before recovering her fighting spirit and becoming a community leader.

No Time For Fear: Paul de Gelder

Navy diver Paul de Gelder was attacked by a bull shark while on a training exercise in Sydney’s harbour, losing a hand and part of one leg. But nothing could take his spirit.

The Girl who Climbed Everest

Teenager Alyssa Azar became obsessed with the idea of climbing Everest and pursued her dream despite tremendous obstacles and difficulties, all the time drawing inspiration from others who’d tried, and the mountain itself.

Father Bob the Larrikin Priest

Melbourne’s Father Bob Maguire was a man of passion, creativity and enormous humour. Part angry Old Testament prophet, part compassionate Mother Teresa and part comedian Billy Connolly, his is a story that challenged all conventions.

Mean Streets, Kind Heart Father Chris

This is the story of the much admired priest Father Chris Riley who grew up with the dream of helping Australia’s forgotten streetkids, and then dedicated his life to giving them a second chance through his Youth Off The Streets foundation.

World Beyond Tears Father Chris

When the 2003 Boxing Day tsunami hit Asia, Father Chris Riley saw the footage of children who had lost their parents in the deluge and immediately went over to Indonesia’s Banda Aceh, along with some of his streetkids, to set up the first tented orphanages in the country.

Peter Ryan: The Inside Story

When top British cop Peter Ryan came to Australia to take charge of the NSW Police in 1996 – at one stage described as the most corrupt police force in the world – he knew it was going to be a tough job. But he had no idea how devastating it would prove.

The Outback

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Women of the Outback

Drought, flood, harrowing isolation and horrific accidents – the Australian outback is no place for the faint-hearted. But this book looks into the lives of some of the extraordinary women who live in some of the most remote spots on earth, and salutes their courage, their daring and their humour.

Outback Spirit

When there’s a need in the outback, there are many ordinary people who, against seemingly insurmountable odds, rally to help. And their stories are as varied, and moving, as the circumstances they find themselves in.

Welcome to the Outback

City-slicker Sue Williams abandons her high-rise, high-octane lifestyle to explore the outback. She ends up boxing in Fred Brophy’s Outback Boxing Tent, competing in an outback ironwoman championship and taking part in a cattle drive, even though she’d never been on a horse before … with hilarious results.

Heroines of the Outback

Sue Williams travels to the furthest reaches of our country to bring to the world 16 more inspirational stories from some of the toughest, hardiest women in the wildest areas of Australia.

Fred Brophy, the Last Showman

This is the inspiring tale of a truly great Australian, a man who beat poverty and a lack of schooling to become a legendary outback character, running one of the last outback boxing tents in the world.

Run For Your Life

The amazing true story of a family forced to flee Russia after falling out with the most powerful men in the country, and forced into hiding on one of the last frontiers of the remote Australian outback.

Everything Else

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Getting There

Abducted at gunpoint in Uganda, at the very bottom of a cycle pile-up in Beijing and hurtling down a mountainside in an out-of-control railway cart … Sue Williams was, at times, lucky to survive her ten-years series of travels around the world.

Apartment Living with Jimmy Thomson

After Sue Williams and her partner Jimmy Thomson bought a new apartment off the plan, they encountered every problem possible. As a result, they wrote this comprehensive guide to buying and living in apartments – a must have for vertical living.

Growing Great Kids

Child expert Father Chris Riley, the founder of kids’ charity Youth Off The Streets, explains how he’s successfully helped raise over 15,000 youngsters, and offers his advice for dealing with even the most complex problems..

Love, Obsession, Secrets & Lies

A selection of delicious short stories from some of the biggest names in Australian popular fiction, including Sue Williams, which makes thrilling, tender and occasionally disturbing reading.

Love is in the air

The uplifting, heart-warming tale of The Merry Makers, a unique group of dancers who all have an intellectual or physical disability, but who have achieved so much success and sparked intense joy in everyone whose lives they’ve touched.

Gene Genius

If you’ve ever wondered why someone can lose weight so much faster, or stresses less, or doesn’t crave a sugar fix every day at 4pm, then you should know: the answers are all in your genes!

Everest Dreaming

A charming and uplifting children’s book about a little girl with a disability who refuses to allow that to crush her dream of climbing the world’s highest mountain.

Powering Up with Anthea Green

How can you recognise stress when it’s happening, and how can you use it to benefit you, rather than letting it inflict damage? A simple how-to book that could change your life.

The Spirit of Australia with Selwa Anthony

A celebration of everything Australian, this little book is an inspirational guide for the nation, and shows how people can make a real difference – to themselves, their community and their country – to keep the can-do spirit of Australia alive.

About Sue Williams

Sue Williams is a best-selling author and an award-winning journalist and travel writer. She’s been writing all her life and is passionate about telling people’s stories in the most compelling way she can, bringing their worlds, and their words, vividly home to readers.

Sue is a masterful writer of historical fiction, praised for both her meticulous research and her empathic treatment of characters, particularly women, brought back from the shadowy reaches of the past into the spotlight. Her Australian series, Elizabeth & Elizabeth, about the Elizabeths Macquarie and Macarthur, That Bligh Girl about Mary Bligh the daughter of notorious governor and mutiny survivor William Bligh, and now The Governor, His Wife and His Mistress about the tangled love life of Philip Gidley King, have all proved best sellers.

She’s also written a huge swathe of non-fiction books, from biography to true crime, from travel to a number of books about the Outback. At the same time, she continues her career as a newspaper and magazine journalist, and travels widely to report on life in some of the most far-flung corners of the earth.

Originally from England, but now calling Australia home, she lives in Sydney with her partner, crime novelist James Dunbar otherwise known as Jimmy Thomson, and their cat, who remains steadfastly unimpressed by anything they do.

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