Jess made a promise to a woman she would never meet, the mother of her daughter Noelle.

Baby Noelle was found in the arms of her dead birth mother on the streets of Kinshasa in The Congo, she lived in an orphanage until she was four. Now, she’s 16 and living in Melbourne with Jess and her sisters, but she’s never known another Congolese person.

Will a trip to Shepparton to meet the Congolese community take away that emptiness that she feels inside? Will it fulfil the promise that Jess made all those years ago?

A Promise Fulfilled | Love is not enough

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Charlotte was a deeply religious teenager -  she prayed, served, and saved herself for marriage. Marriage, she was promised, would bring fireworks, fulfilment. After 5 years of dating, Charlotte married Casey. But as she got older, Charlotte began to question those promises made to her about marriage and happy-ever-after.

A Promise Renegotiated | For the love of God

Full of hope, botox and impossible dreams, beauty queens are judged on their beauty, sincerity and smarts. They promise world peace in exchange for fame, fortune and adoration. That’s the pact contestants make with the faceless owners of glittering pageants.

An Unattainable Promise | Beauty queens who want to save the world

Oscar Berry is 24 and has a rare genetic disorder, speech disability, epilepsy and cerebral palsy. He might have a “dodgy chromosome” as his mum Kim says, but he’s gregarious, lives for the gym and his weekend activities, and is dying to move in with his mates. But when Oscar got his new NDIS plan in April, those dreams blew apart.

A Promise Frayed | When Oscar was promised the world

Imagine facing death with no next of kin and no funds to pay for your funeral.  In Victoria you’ll end up in the care of Alan Barr at the Old Ballan Cemetery. He’s made a promise to people like this, who often become State Trustees, to provide a dignified end to their lives.

When Miyuki Jokiranta finally finds her friend, Monika, a State Trustee who died during the pandemic, she meets Alan, the keeper of the forgotten souls

A Silent Promise | The keeper of forgotten souls

Promise me you won’t walk out of our restaurant, quit on our kids, run from our poverty, ignore our autism, ADHD or alopecia, or be defeated by our pandemic-induced loss of home and income.

If author Naomi Hart had known the marriage vows that had tripped off her tongue so easily 14 years ago would come to mean all this, would she ever have said them in the first place?

You will laugh, cringe and cry as Naomi and her husband Gregory share the story of their marriage.

A Promise Fulfilled | Love is not enough

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