As a journalist, Leigh Sales often encounters people experiencing the worst moments of their lives in the full glare of the media. But one particular string of bad news stories – and a terrifying brush with her own mortality – sent her looking for answers about how vulnerable each of us is to a life-changing event. What are our chances of actually experiencing one? What do we fear most and why? And when the worst does happen, what comes next?
In this wise and layered book, Leigh talks intimately with people who have faced the unimaginable, from terrorism to natural disaster to simply being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Expecting broken lives, she instead finds strength, hope, even humour. Leigh brilliantly condenses the cutting-edge research on the way the human brain processes fear and grief, and poses the questions we too often ignore out of awkwardness. Along the way, she offers an unguarded account of her own challenges and what she's learned about coping with life's unexpected blows.
Warm, candid and empathetic, this book is about what happens when ordinary people, on ordinary days, are forced to suddenly find the resilience most of us don't know we have.
Author Biography
Leigh Sales is one of Australia's most respected journalists. As the anchor of
the ABC's flagship current affairs program, 7.30, she has interviewed dozens of
world leaders and celebrities, including Hillary Clinton, Tony Blair, Henry
Kissinger, the Dalai Lama, Paul McCartney, Patti Smith, Harrison Ford, Leonardo
DiCaprio and Julie Andrews. She has interviewed every living Australian prime
minister and also anchors the ABC's federal election coverage. Leigh is the
winner of two Walkley Awards, Australia's highest journalism honour; the author
of the books Detainee 002 and On Doubt; and the co-host of a popular podcast
called Chat 10, Looks 3 with Annabel Crabb.