From the outside, Seana Smith lived an enviable life. An Oxford graduate, a successful career with the BBC and Sydney’s Channel 9, a bestselling author, happily married. But behind this perfect life she had a secret: Seana was a drinker, and alcohol was slowly taking away her life, destroying her health, her emotional well-being, her world. With engaging style and wit, Going Under reveals the true story behind Seana’s lifelong battle with drink. It lays bare a confusing childhood of Scottish sailing adventures and also brutal violence from her bullying, alcoholic father; where punches were thrown, broken bones hidden and her family lived in fear. Learning from the best, Seana drank her way through tutorials at Oxford University (which were held in the pub), through the sexual misadventures of her twenties and through the intensity and mundanity of motherhood. It took the death of her parents and a tree-change to Orange in regional NSW for Seana to find the courage to break free; a new life in a new world. She had finally left the past behind. Growing up with an abusive alcoholic father and finding the courage to escape. Crosses between Edinburgh, Oxford University, Sydney and Orange, NSW. Compelling combination of women’s quit lit and memoir. The intensity and loneliness of motherhood laid bare. Explores the pain of emigration and finding belonging in a new world. This is a memoir long in the making and is a powerful testament to resilience, acceptance and ultimately love.
