Breathe
Charlotte Leverett is fresh out of university. Life, although aimless, is good. She loves her boyfriend Tyson and rocks out with her brazen but brilliant best friend Maggie. The world is her oyster, as soon as she finishes the requisite parade of graduation parties. She is unsure where she wants to go, but she doesn't mind taking her time, revelling in her new freedom. She takes up a job at the local library to pay the rent and delay the full transition to "the Real World". Her mother harrasses her about her future, but Charlotte feels she can handle her through stubborn disregard.
But when the ten-year anniversary of her father's suicide coincides with a catastrophic upheaval of her social circle, Charlotte finds herself slipping towards a dark fate. But the world isn't done with her yet: she meets an enigmatic young man recently made infamous by his news cameo on the bushfires ravaging the countryside. This young man helps Charlotte by opening her eyes to a greater wisdom. But when she begins to make sense of her life, the old issues return to test her newfound philosophy.
Breathe is my first novel and I've been working on it for the last few years. Through the ACT Writers Centre, I got the chance to work with my mentor John Clancy and we've been great mates since. I go on writing retreats up to Varuna whenever I can - my best writing gets done up there in the wonderful quiet environment of the Blue Mountains and a community of writers.