In 1974, fifteen-year-old Sandie escaped from the Kamballa institution, formerly known as the infamous Parramatta Girls Home. On the outside she soon discovered that police and justice are not the same. Forty years later, during a heartbreaking family crisis, Sandie experienced a mental breakdown inside a men's protection prison where she worked as a teacher. She felt helpless while other unknown parts of her personality took over. Finding herself unemployed, she embarked on the difficult quest to find healing by reclaiming the other selves buried deep within her. Girls who were still trapped in the horrors of her troubled childhood. As part of her recovery Sandie visited the derelict buildings that she had once been imprisoned in. Kamballa was the gateway between herself and childhood. To find the lost girls within her and bring them home, she knew had to cross that threshold and let them finally tell their stories. The voices of a troubled child, a rebel teenager, a witch, a teacher, and a wild fighter join forces in a raw, gritty and ultimately uplifting memoir that shines a light on the complexities of mental illness, the injustices and cruelty of juvenile incarceration and, above all, the determination and strength of character to overcome them both. AUTHOR: Sandie Jessamine is a writer, transpersonal art therapist and writing mentor who lives in Sydney. She spent fourteen years teaching creative writing to inmates in New South Wales prisons. She has also worked as a health educator, an alcohol and other drugs counsellor, and a Dru Yoga teacher specialising in trauma yoga. She is a strong advocate for the rights of Forgotten Australians and people living with mental health conditions. She believes personal stories are the history of our time and her passion is digging up hidden Australian narratives.
