Good Reading Podcast

A violent workplace attack nearly 30 years ago left Wendy Davis with trauma that has permeated her entire life. The police investigation at the time was woefully inadequate and Wendy found herself virtually ignored while the perpetrator faced only relatively minor consequences. Despite being plagued by anger and guilt, Wendy tried to bury the incident and move on with her life.

The experience resurfaced when Wendy was contacted by police in 2016 in relation to the investigation surrounding the Claremont serial killer, Bradley Edwards, the man who had attacked her. Don't Make a Fuss: It's only the Claremont Serial Killer is a memoir no woman should have to write – a remarkable story of survival and a reflection on the aftermath of violence. 

In this episode Gregory Dobbs talks to Wendy Davis about losing her voice and living with trauma, being drawn into the sinister world of a serial killer, and how speaking up and writing her memoir has helped her come to terms with a terrifying experience.

Dr John Tickell is a medical doctor, health researcher and author who has spent decades studying the health and longevity of people around the world. His formula of Activity, Coping and Eating, draws on his medical experience, extensive international research, and the lifestyle patterns of the longest living people on earth.

Your Best Immunity: Build Resistance the ACE Way is your guide maintaining and increasing your immunity. How the immune system works and the factors that can depress our immunity are explained along with immunotherapy treatments and the best ways to increase our resistance to everyday viruses and to cancer.

In this episode Gregory Dobbs chats to Dr John Tickell about how we all can maintain and improve our immune system beyond what our genetics dictate, how the healthiest people in the world manage to also be the longest living, and how Dr John Tickell's 'ACE way' can improve your immunity through strategies around Activity, Coping and Eating.

Adam Bowman, a second-string journalist at a Sydney newspaper, may be the only person with enough inside knowledge to uncover the links between a murder on the grounds of a private school and the notorious 'Blue Moon Killer'. But Bowman will have to venture into the darkest places of his childhood to piece together a series of shocking crimes.

Detective Sergeant Rose Riley is part of the taskforce desperately trying to find the killer before he strikes again. Bowman may turn out to be her trump card or may just bring the whole investigation crashing down and put her own life in danger.

In this episode Gregory Dobbs chats to Matthew Spencer about why the Parramatta River is the perfect setting for Black River, exploring the fraught connection between police and journalists, and creating great characters from apparently ordinary people.

Margaret Cunneen worked for 30 years as a Crown Prosecutor on cases involving murder, pedophiles and rapists and became a specialist in child sexual assault law. In 2019 Margaret took up practise as a defence counsel.

The Boxing Butterfly is Margaret Cunneen looking in the rear-view mirror. It chronicles an eventful career which included cases such as the Skafs gang rapes, the Robert “Dolly” Dunn pedophilia case and the so-called “Butcher of Bega” for unspeakable medical practice. This is gruesome and confronting work but Margaret Cunneen has proven herself to be no shrinking butterfly.

In this episode Gregory Dobbs chats to Margaret Cunneen about the benefits of being a taekwondo 4th Dan Black Belt, the “reformatting” of her career in the switch from prosecutor to defence counsel, and finding and maintaining empathy and compassion from both sides of the bar.

Carolina Fonçeca is a lonely sixteen-year-old girl confined to a remote Brazilian sugar plantation in the 1850s. Her life changes when the French explorer, naturalist and diplomat, the Count de Castelnau stumbles out of the Amazon rainforest, delirious and near death. With a head full of Balzac and dreams of Parisian life, she nurses him back to health and makes the decision to follow him back to Paris as his lover. What Carolina doesn’t know is that François has a wife and son back in France.

The Natural History of Love is a meticulously researched work of historical fiction based on the lives of the Count de Castelnau and Carolina Fonçeca. From their first meeting in the Brazilian jungle to the Salons of Paris and eventually to Federation-era Melbourne, and against the backdrop of a time when Darwin's theories were transforming society, this is a fascinating story, masterfully told.

In this episode Gregory Dobbs chats to Caroline Petit about recreating a grand love story from dusty files and letters, the collision between religion, black magic and the natural sciences, and giving a voice to a remarkable woman silenced by the annals of 19th century history.

Austria, 1936. Esther Simpson works for a British organisation that rescues academics from the cruel Fascist and anti-Semitic regimes taking hold in Europe. On a dangerous trip to Vienna, Esther falls in love with Harry Singer, a young Jewish academic and musician.

When Harry is detained on the Isle of Man while waiting for news of his parents, Esther pleads with the government for his release. When Harry is eventually liberated, they each face an impossible choice.

In this episode Gregory Dobbs chats to Caroline Beecham about bringing Esther Simpson to life in an epic love story, the real person behind the character, the music and the beauty of the city of Vienna, and the important and continuing work of rescuing academic refugees.

By the age of twenty-five, Sophie Cachia was a happily married mother and digital marketing expert with a very successful business powered by by documenting her every move online. Then, in a single moment, everything changed. Sophie met a woman who prompted her to question her own life and relationship.

'And Then There Was Her' is a frank and deeply honest memoir, documenting Sophie's path to greater awareness, empowerment and acceptance as she navigated identity, sensuality and the true meaning of authenticity as a mother and a woman.

In this episode Gregory Dobbs chats to Sophie Cachia about the momentous event that changed her life, how she now views her privacy differently, and why we should all embrace change in our own search for happiness.

May 1915. As war rages in Europe, Australian nurse, Sister Cora Barker, leaves her home in Adelaide for England, determined to make her own contribution. She arrives at Harefield House – a stately home donated by its expatriate Australian owners. There she helps transform it into a hospital that is also a little piece of home for recuperating Australian soldiers.

As casualties mount, the hospital sends out a desperate call for help. Jessie Chester, a quiet young seamstress from Harefield village steps up as a volunteer. She meets Private Bert Mott, a recuperating Australian soldier, but the looming threat of his return to the Front hangs over them.

Cora’s and Jessie’s hearts and lives hang in the balance as waves of injured and dying soldiers threaten to overwhelm the hospital. This is a war against despair and death, fought with science and love and at great personal cost.

In this episode Gregory Dobbs chats to Victoria Purman about the treasures housed in the Australian War Memorial archive, honouring the stories of real life war heroines within an epic work of historical fiction, and illuminating an important contribution to the annals of Australian history.

When Chloe Hooper's partner is diagnosed with an aggressive and deadly cancer she had to find a way to tell their two sons. Could the news be broken as a bedtime tale? To find out, Chloe Hooper went on a quest to find the book that might help.

From the Brothers Grimm to Frances Hodgson Burnett to Tolkien and Dahl, Hooper followed the trail of the world's favourite authors. The result is a profound and moving exploration of the books and the lives of iconic authors in search of the perfect bedtime story. 

In this episode Gregory Dobbs chats to Chloe Hooper about the revelations she experienced in her exploration of children's literature, how we started avoiding talking about death and loss with children, and how the right language can bring wisdom and light to a difficult subject.

You might know them as Isabelle, Kerry and Emmie Silbery from Foxtel’s and Channel 10’s series Gogglebox, a program where they share their thoughts on the week’s TV offerings. But even from the comfort of the couch it was clear that the Silbery's were a connected, supportive and loving family.

In 'Out of the Box', these three strong, independent women open up, sharing intensely personal stories and thoughtful opinions on the female experience across three generations. Motherhood, infidelity, grief, money, feminism, body hair – and men! No topic is off limits. This is a book to inspire mothers and daughters to start talking and sharing, and having conversations that will bring them closer together.

In this episode Gregory Dobbs chats to Isabelle, Kerry and Emmie Silbery about the gig that was Gogglebox, growing up under radically different social and economic circumstances, and the messages they want men to hear.