Gina Rinehart is not just the richest person in Australian history, she is fast becoming one of the richest people in the world. The daughter of Lang Hancock - legendary arch-conservative, secessionist, mining millionaire and discoverer of the world's largest iron deposit in the Pilbara - Gina has grown up in a family known as much for its front-page legal stoushes as for its business acumen and toughness.

With her reported wealth more than doubling in the last twelve months, Rinehart is beginning to flex the enormous power her money gives, buying large shareholdings in television's Ten Network and newspaper group Fairfax Media. They are moves that will give Rinehart and her controversial views a major place in Australian life and public affairs.

Based on painstaking research and a wealth of interviews with Rinehart's colleagues, friends, family and former employees, award-winning journalist Adele Ferguson has written the definitive biography, shining a light into the private world of Gina Rinehart, her family, her feuds and the iron determination that has driven her relentless rise.

Shortlisted for ABIA Awards' Biography of the Year 2013