{"title":"Alana Valentine","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eAlana Valentine\u003c\/strong\u003e crafts compelling narratives that blend personal insight with broader social themes. Her works offer a thoughtful exploration of human experiences, often shining a light on overlooked stories and voices.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eReaders can expect intimate and evocative memoirs and biographies that deepen understanding and empathy, making each book a meaningful journey into individual lives and histories.\u003c\/p\u003e","products":[{"product_id":"wed-by-the-wayside-by-alana-valentine-9780645818017","title":"Wed by the Wayside","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"book-description\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe fascinating true story of Wayside Chapel in Kings Cross, Sydney – a quiet revolution in Australian history, from a side street of the red-light district. Alana Valentine's mother, Janice, was married by the charismatic and controversial Methodist minister Ted Noffs at the Wayside Chapel in 1969. Not long after that, however, Janice died, leaving behind many unresolved questions for her family.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eYears later, Alana found a photo of her mother on her wedding day, and the longing to speak to her about that day – a day when her mother radiated hope for a new beginning – drove her to seek out and find others who had begun new chapters of their lives at Wayside, an institution that is etched into the folklore of Sydney and this country more generally.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eAs part of the research process for the play that was to become \u003cem\u003eWayside Bride\u003c\/em\u003e, staged at Belvoir Theatre in 2022, Alana set up a website where people could upload stories and photos of their own marriages. This book contains many of the remarkable stories that didn't make their way into the play, stories that reshape our understanding of this country's social history, from a uniquely Australian institution where people have been welcomed for decades in spite of social taboos around race, class, religion and sexuality.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThis book is also a deeply personal and emotional quest, as Alana searches for her own origin story and what really happened on that day in 1969. \u003cem\u003eWayside Bride\u003c\/em\u003e is a celebratory ode to the different, the discarded, the broken and the brave who changed the world from Kings Cross, Australia.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e'Compelling ... evocatively captures why the Wayside Chapel is the beating heart of our community.' – \u003cb\u003eIndira Naidoo\u003c\/b\u003e, Wayside Ambassador and broadcaster\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e'This mosaic of memoir, reportage and social history is – like the man and community at its centre – warm, spirited, inclusive and gently but unapologetically radical.' – \u003cb\u003eEmily Maguire\u003c\/b\u003e, author of \u003cem\u003eLove Objects\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e'Alana Valentine's extraordinary body of work is animated by her big-hearted curiosity and wry intelligence. In \u003cem\u003eWed by the Wayside\u003c\/em\u003e, the voices of Sydney's outliers and heretics join chorus with Alana, as her childhood returns via objects, personal catechisms, a tangy city street. Here is her dry-witted, chain-smoking mother. Here are the oil refinery towers and fragrant local vernacular of her childhood. Poignant and compassionate, this vivid portrait of Sydney's rulebreakers asks vital ethical questions about longing, belonging, belief and love.' – \u003cb\u003eMireille Juchau\u003c\/b\u003e, author of \u003cem\u003eThe World Without Us\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Allen \u0026 Unwin","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":48244824735980,"sku":"9780645818017","price":41.99,"currency_code":"NZD","in_stock":true}]}],"url":"https:\/\/bookhero.live\/collections\/alana-valentine.oembed","provider":"Book Hero","version":"1.0","type":"link"}