'A dark, funny and subversive memoir about surviving the very worst that life can throw at you, Rosie Waterland's story of her coming of age is a blackly comic Australian memoir for our times and a clarion call for all anti-cool girls everywhere.
'Rosie Waterland is the survivor of one of the most appalling childhoods since Augusten Burroughs. There were rehab stays and AA meetings. There were overdoses, dramas, suicide attempts. There were narrow escapes from drug dealers, not to mention a numerous round of dodgy men in and out of her mother's life. They endlessly moved houses, countries, schools, squats. There was neglect, endless DOCS workers and the occasional abusive foster parent. Rosie and her sisters became Mormon, Catholic, Wiccan, Christian. There was a second marriage and divorce. Rosie watched as her dad passed out/was arrested/vomited/cried. There were frustrated family members with no time for kids. Rosie had to talk her mum out of killing herself and watched as her dad's coffin was lowered into the ground.
'But Rosie is far more than the sum of her parts.
'The quality that lies at the heart of Rosie's appeal is her straight-up, unaffected directness - her ability to say what she really thinks, to call it as she sees it. She's kind of an Everygirl. the Anti-Cool Girl that we all want to be. She's funny, honest and inspirational. She is our Caitlin Moran, our very own Lena Dunham, and she will tell a uniquely Australian story, in only the way that a straight-talking Australian girl can say it.' (Publication summary)
Dedication:
For Rhiannon, Tayla and Isabella.
She made each of us, and each of
us is an incredible woman.
'Brittany Higgins has signed a book deal with Penguin Random House Australia. Not just any book — a memoir.'
'This article focuses on the trauma memoir as an identifiable type of creative writing. It begins by tracing its popularity, especially in the 1990s, in the process recognising what can be proposed as key works internationally, many of which—but not all—are American, as well as how these texts were received by critics and readers, in order to place the Australian trauma memoir in this broader context. The so-called ‘misery memoir’ is also discussed. As little investigation has focused on the Australian trauma memoir as a form of memoir, this article will profile some (mostly recent) examples of Australian trauma memoir in order to begin to investigate what these texts contribute to our understanding of the trauma memoir as a form of creative writing. This recognises debates over the literary and social value of memoirs.' (Publication abstract)
'Brittany Higgins has signed a book deal with Penguin Random House Australia. Not just any book — a memoir.'
'This article focuses on the trauma memoir as an identifiable type of creative writing. It begins by tracing its popularity, especially in the 1990s, in the process recognising what can be proposed as key works internationally, many of which—but not all—are American, as well as how these texts were received by critics and readers, in order to place the Australian trauma memoir in this broader context. The so-called ‘misery memoir’ is also discussed. As little investigation has focused on the Australian trauma memoir as a form of memoir, this article will profile some (mostly recent) examples of Australian trauma memoir in order to begin to investigate what these texts contribute to our understanding of the trauma memoir as a form of creative writing. This recognises debates over the literary and social value of memoirs.' (Publication abstract)
