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Four and a half months after her boyfriend Kev becomes a paraplegic in Northern Canada, Emma accompanies him to Australia, where they embark upon a 18,000 kilometre camping and backpacking trip; travelling across the continent with Emma’s anxious overprotective mother, through the remote north west with a free-spirited British backpacker and down the verdant east coast alone, their relationship hanging by a thread.

A unique travel memoir, this story takes the reader on a whirlwind trip around Australia guided by a young woman struggling to accept her boyfriend’s paralysis, and a paraplegic man backpacking during a time many spinal injured patients remain in hospital.

Written from Emma’s perspective with dark humour, she examines the dynamics of their relationship and the impact of the injury, difficulties faced as Kev struggles to learn to live in a wheelchair in harsh and challenging country, and encountering perceptions of the disabled they had recently held themselves.

Written with honesty both heartbreaking and humorous, this story will appeal to anyone with a love of adventure and dreams of leaving it all behind during difficult times.

 

Broken is available online from Melbourne Books .  Available worldwide from Booktopia, The Book Depository and as an e-book

Read about Broken in The Guardian

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