The Price of Life by Nigel Brennan

In August 2008 Bundaberg photojournalist Nigel Brennan travels to Somalia, along with Canadian reporter Amanda Lindhout. What happens next could happen to anyone.You have a brother with a taste for adventure, who you haven't heard from in a while. You get a phone call on a Sunday morning from a journalist telling you he's been kidnapped and held hostage for money – a lot of money.After official government negotiations grind to a halt, Nigel's family – his sister, Nicky, and sister-in-law, Kellie – take matters into their own hands. With Nigel's life at stake, the family navigates uncharted territory, doing anything and everything to bring him home. Nicky becomes an expert negotiator and Kellie effectively an international money launderer. Meanwhile, Nigel and Amanda survive separation, isolation, relocation and brutality. The fight to free Nigel takes its toll on all of them in different ways – loss of income, putting their own family lives on hold – but they discover what tough stuff they are really made of.In the end, they could answer the question we all hope we never have to ask: What price do you put on a family member's life? And Nigel knows the real value of freedom, and the true meaning of family.

Radar technician Evan Johnson and his colleagues stare, transfixed, at the moving images on the console -although his glossy young wife, Linda, seems distracted. Meanwhile the people of Port Badminton have gathered to watch Armstrong's small step on a single television sitting centre stage in the old theatre. The Kelly family, a crop of redheads, sit in rare silence. Roo shooters at the back of the hall squint through their rifles to see the tiny screen.

I'm in my cage on the Kelly's back verandah. I sit here, unheard, underestimated, biscuit crumbs on my beak. But fate is a curious thing. For just as Evan Johnson's story is about to end (and perhaps with a giant leap), my story prepares to take flight...