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A relatable sobriety memoir for women, for readers of The Sober Diaries, The Unexpected Joy of Being Sober and Quit Like A Woman.This quit lit book will resonate with grey area drinkers who know they need to make changes to their drinking, to make their lives better."Going Under is funny, insightful and inspiring. This is like hanging out with a really brilliant friend who, you know, will make you a better person.Seana Smith is the real deal - a truth-teller and a writer of immense integrity."Kathryn Heyman, Author of FuryWith engaging style and humour, Seana Smith tells the story of her childhood in Scotland, of sailing around the beautiful Hebrides, of being fearful of her father when he drank. Adult children of alcoholics who have themselves picked up the bottle will relate to the push and pull that Seana describes, and the Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde father she was brought up by.Describing the beautiful hills and lochs of her native Scotland, Seana shows the great beauty of her native country, as well as the terror she experienced as a child. Her studies at Wadham College, University of Oxford, are described with verve and fair. Her drinking too. A move to Australia brought a fresh start, with many ups and down caused by her boozing in her adopted country. Motherhood and four children are described with wit, and then the re-starting of Seana's problem drinking, the mummy wine time that left her feeling panicked and a failure. And finally, the death of her beloved mother in Scotland, and a year that becomes a spiral of dysfinction. Then, miraculosly, she stops... and finds that life is better, stopping boozing changes everything for the better. "With a tender touch, Smith contemplates the two truths of her childhood: the wild island adventures and the brutal eruptions behind closed doors. Standing on the precipice of her own alcoholism, she realizes that reckoning with the past is the only way to shape the future."Jenny ValentishAuthor of Woman of Substances"With sparkling, musical prose and unflinching generosity of spirit, Seana Smith lays bare the facts of a life stalked by alcohol. A life that ricochets ‘between privilege and terror, between adventure and fear.So much more than a book about the booze, Going Under is an intricate, often beautiful mosaic of family, the individuals caught inside its sharp-edged cracks, and the self-yearning to make sense of all it all. The story of a woman emerging from the brokenness of the past and the never-ending pressures of the present to reclaim joy.Honest. Tender. Laugh-cry funny. Walking with Seana through her year of Going Under is to make a new and wise friend."Kim Kelly, author of Ladies’ Rest and Writing Room Read more
