The Book

A memoir of one improbable life — sequenced the way a life is actually lived.

What you get

Nine parts, sequenced chronologically from a 1967 Johannesburg birth to the Australian barrister years.
Personal scenes recounted as they were experienced, not smoothed over for comfort. Where memory has gaps, the gaps are named.
An honest account of a life carrying late-diagnosed autism, ADHD, and the imposter syndrome that quietly carried both for forty years.
A 5 by 8 inch trim, perfect-bound paperback, designed for long-form reading.

Prologue

Why this book exists, and why an author who is sure he is a fraud sat down to write it anyway.

Part 1 — The Wild Atlantic, 1967 to 1973

Part 2 — The Mexican Jungle, 1973 onwards

Part 3 — Israel, 1978 to 1980

Part 4 — Apartheid, 1980 to 1988

Part 5 — The Traveller, 1988 to 1995

A working life that began in earnest, on the road, in jobs that should not have been survivable.

Part 6 — Citizenship, 1996 to 2003

Australia. A new passport, a new accent, a life rebuilt from the ground up.

Part 7 — The Top Secret Files, 2003 to 2010

Defence work across three continents, the rooms a clearance gets you into, and what they sound like when you walk back out.

Part 8 — XXX Rated, 2011 to 2013

The years that nearly ended the book before it began.

Part 9 — The Barrister, 2013 to 2021

A late career on its feet in court, a robe and a wig, and a man finally with permission to argue back.

Photographs & Closing

A small gallery of the people, places, and vessels named in the chapters — and a closing word from the author.