Search results for ""Author Karen Viggers""

Karen Viggers was born in Melbourne, Australia, and grew up in the Dandenong Ranges riding horses and writing stories. She studied Veterinary Science at Melbourne University, and then worked in mixed animal practice for seven years before completing a PhD at the Australian National University, Canberra, in wildlife health. Since then she has worked on a wide range of Australian native animals in many different natural environments, including Antarctica. She lives in Canberra with her husband (an ecologist also passionate about wildlife) and two children. As well as writing, she works part-time in a veterinary practice and provides veterinary support for biologists studying native animals. Visit www.karenviggers.com

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'Essential - and thrilling - reading for all parents.'KATE MILDENHALL'Sidelines is a riveting novel. It takes our jittery, intensely competitive era and unpicks our self-deceptions until they bleed.'JANE CAROWhen a violent brawl erupts at a suburban junior soccer game, some onlookers are shocked. But others saw it coming. Rivalry, parental pressure, coaching bias, inequity, and many other factors have played a part in turning Saturday mornings into a pressure cooker.Thirteen-year-old Audrey is a talented young football player. But does she want to play for Australia or does she just want to please her father, Ben, whose own thwarted sporting career looms large in his ambitions for his daughter? Audrey's mother, Jonica, doesn't know whether to be more concerned about her anxious daughter, her overbearing husband, or the only other girl on the team, Katerina, who is causing trouble on and off the field. And Katerina's mother, Carmen, is so busy looking for opportunities to give Katerina more game time that she fails to notice what is really capturing her daughter's attention.When Griffin, a naturally gifted player with spectacular skills, arrives, the tension within the team reaches boiling point. But who is going to crack first - the parents or the players?'Sometimes a novel comes along that says what you've been thinking.' MALCOLM KNOX'will leave you wondering if perhaps winning and losing are the same thing.' GABBIE STROUD'Viggers shines a light on the ways competition can pull us together or drive us apart.'INGA SIMPSON

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