Bücher von Margaret Simons

For far too long it has been assumed that women over the age of 55 just fade away. They buy wine, adopt cats, fight depression, or discretely buy vibrators. The stars do not align for middle-aged women. The world largely ignores these accomplished women who have endured five decades of education, work, marriage, divorce, the trials of motherhood, and years of celibacy. But being overlooked is decidedly not in Rosie's future. After her divorce, Rosie is learning how to navigate middle age alone. She finds excitement on the small barrier island of Seabrook, just south of Charleston, with an attractive sailor whom she meets at Bohicket Marina. Before long, an old Yankee boyfriend reappears. Despite Rosie's active love life, a gnawing feeling of depression and self-doubt lingers and manifests into a presence she calls, The Hag. The Hag is always belittling Rosie, leaving her feeling insecure. But Rosie has an ally in her pet Chihuahua, Hades. With Hades unconditional love, Rosie is empowered to make the most of life. Infused with humor and warmth, Sunset in the Lowcountry: Bohicket, illustrates how with a little wit, self-exploration, and perhaps some vodka, women can survive and even thrive in middle age.

A revelatory portrait of one of the most talented, poised and respected Australian politicians, written by one of Australia's foremost biographers. Senator Penny Wong is an extraordinary Australian politician. Resolute, self-possessed and a penetrating thinker on subjects from climate change to foreign affairs, she is admired by members of parliament and the public from across the political divide. In this first-ever biography of Penny Wong, acclaimed journalist Margaret Simons traces her story: from her early life in Malaysia, to her student activism in Adelaide, to her time in the turbulent Rudd and Gillard governments, to her key role as a voice of reason in the polarising campaign to legalise same-sex marriage. What emerges is a picture of a leader for modern Australia, a cool-headed and cautious yet charismatic figure of piercing intelligence, with a family history linking back to Australia's colonial settlers and to the Asia-Pacific. Drawing on exclusive interviews with Penny Wong and her Labor colleagues, parliamentary opponents, and close friends and family, this is a scintillating insight into an Australian politician without precedence.

Award-winning journalist Margaret Simons journeys through the troubled Murray-Darling Basin exploring the politics of water, drought and food.The Murray-Darling Basin is the food bowl of Australia, and it's in trouble. What does this mean for the future - for water and crops, and for the people and towns that depend on it?In Cry Me a River, acclaimed journalist Margaret Simons takes a trip through the Basin, all the way from Queensland to South Australia. She shows that its plight is environmental but also economic, and enmeshed in ideology and identity.Her essay is both a portrait of the Murray-Darling Basin and an explanation of its woes. It looks at rural Australia and the failure of politics over decades to meet the needs of communities forced to bear the heaviest burden of change. Whether it is fish kills or state rivalries, drought or climate change, in the Basin our ability to plan for the future is being put to the test."The story of the Murray-Darling Basin ... is a story of our nation, the things that join and divide us. It asks whether our current systems - our society and its communities - can possibly meet the needs of the nation and the certainty of change. Is the Plan an honest compact, and is it fair? Can it work? Are our politics up to the task?" Margaret Simons, Cry Me a RiverThis issue also contains correspondence discussing Quarterly Essay 76, Red Flag, from Amy King, David Walker, John West, Richard McGregor, Henry Sherrell, Wanning Sun, Caroline Rosenberg, Sam Roggeveen, and Peter Hartcher