Synopsis
First trip. First job. First love.
1988. Manchester. Fresh out of college with a backpack and a visa, who knows what the year will bring?
Except I have a plane ticket and a 20 hour flight ahead of me. Destination: Australia.
Within weeks of travelling down the east coast, my funds are dwindling; but I soon find a job, and even better, it comes with furnished accommodation. Life is a riot with the resident student Nurses. Living in hospital digs is all about late nights and pub bands, dodging the Supervisors and hiding illicit boyfriends. Tasmania seems the perfect home, and the perfect place to see-out my year.
But December brings something unexpected.
A fair haired busker. An acoustic guitar. A chance encounter.
On Christmas Eve, within weeks of my visa expiring, I meet Mark. What's strange is that I'm sure I've met him before. There's something familiar about him, and I soon find out that I've been listening to his voice for the last 6 months. He's a rising star in the local music scene, and is living in Melbourne with the rest of his band, The Fish John West Reject.
The countdown has begun towards my departure date, yet I can't ignore what my heart is telling me. Everything has changed. Now I have a compelling reason to stay. But will I be able to? It's going to be hard enough to leave my friends, but how can I walk away from the boy who has captured my heart?
What would you do if you met your first love 15,000 km from home?
This is a truly Australian romance, with a backdrop of incredible landscapes, perfect beaches and endless sunshine. Based on real events, places, and memories of the time I spent with Mark and The Fish John West Reject, this is a non-fiction account of friendship, music and falling in love. With their self-styled 'acoustic rock thrashabilly' this is the story of a little band on their way to the top. It's boy meets girl, with an amazing soundtrack. If you believe in providence and fate, and you remember those simple beginnings, you'll relate to the girl who is trying to make her way in the world, and trying to find a home.
Readers who enjoy reminiscing about Melbourne in the 90's will relish a retrospective look at those days when the world was large, and we only had home phones.
About the Author
Angela J Dawson was born in the north of England, not far from Manchester. She was educated at a girls' grammar school, and then pursued a Grad Dip at College in Salford for the next three years. Despite spending far too much time going to gigs, volunteering on Manchester's Piccadilly Radio station, and hanging around with musicians, she still managed to qualify as a Physiotherapist. However she then annoyed all the tax payers (who had indirectly paid for her education) by zipping-off across the globe as soon as she'd saved enough money for the airfare.
She arrived in Australia in 1988 with a backpack and not much else, but was able to secure work so she could afford to stay for a few more months. A couple of decades have passed and she's still in Australia. Perhaps a bit longer than she'd anticipated.
Not surprisingly her first book is about the boy she met on the Apple Isle when he was busking one day. It's a non-fiction story set in the nineties, about love, music and the band, The Fish John West Reject. Yes, that really was their name. And yes, it all really did happen.
Angela has been writing since the age of 18, and has been part of the Spoken Word and Poetry scene that has been thriving in Melbourne since 2000. She has featured her poetry on the 3CR community radio programme, Spoken Word, performed at several Overload Poetry festivals, and was a finalist in Melbourne's Writer's Festival, Poetry Idol, 2009.
As well as studying Copywriting and Scriptwriting she also completed a Filmmaking short course at Melbourne University in 2002.
In 2012 she finally dusted off the poetry portfolio, entered the national WB Yeats Poetry Prize for Australia, and won first prize with her poem, Restitution.
2016 was the year she launched herself into writing full-time, and although from a pecuniary perspective life is very different, it is also very rich, and she is delighted to be in print at last.
"About this title" may belong to another edition of this title.
