I love to read,  write & travel. Sharing the joys and disappointments of all three is what makes life good.

The long version

I have spent most of my working life as a social researcher studying how people live their lives and what makes life good. My research has resonated with the public’s thirst for knowledge about how to live a more balanced life and I have been interviewed for newspaper, magazine and radio.

I am co-author of the book ‘Time Bomb: Work, Rest and Play in Australia Today’ (with Barbara Pocock & Natalie Skinner), published in 2012 by NewSouth Press. I have also published a handful of academic chapters and more than thirty peer reviewed academic papers in the fields of psychology, sociology, public health, medicine, work and family, and community development.

A few years ago I became thoroughly bored with academic writing and developed an unhealthy cynicism about its worth. The only logical thing to do was give it up and drag the whole family to the other side of the world to work as labourers on organic farms.

Since then I have published travel articles, book reviews for radio and press, and flash fiction.

My second book, One Italian Summer, was published by Affirm Press in April 2017. It is a work of narrative non-fiction and it tells the story of my family’s journey through Italy in search of the good life.

My third book and first novel is The Dictionary of Lost Words. This book has been a joy to spend time with over the past few years. If you pick it up, I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I have enjoyed writing it.

I live with my partner, two children and an assortment of animals on 5 acres in the Adelaide hills.