Julie Goodwin was catapulted into our hearts as the first-ever winner of MasterChef Australia. In many ways her win was unlikely. When she was a child Julie adored music and art, and her career began in youth work, including in a juvenile detention centre where she dealt not only with troubled boys but also a problematic all-male staff. After her three sons were born, she and her husband started their own IT business.
Then came MasterChef - a record-breaking juggernaut of a show. The attention and opportunities that flowed from Julie's win were thrilling and overwhelming. She became a columnist for Australian Women's Weekly, a presenter on Today, published numerous cookbooks and made appearances on a wide range of shows including facing off with snakes and alligators on I'm A Celebrity ... Get Me Out of Here! For years she co-hosted an award-winning breakfast radio show, and she opened a thriving cooking school.
It was by all appearances, a successful, busy, rewarding life. But under the surface relentless pressure from both Julie's outer and inner worlds began to take its toll. Struggling with depression, anxiety and addiction, with bushfires blazing and lockdowns looming, Julie found herself hospitalised in a mental health unit.
Her recovery, bumpy and circuitous, is an ongoing process that Julie tackles with tenacity. In this gloriously funny, candid, deeply moving memoir, filled with beautiful food, astonishing people, humour and heart, Julie also writes with brutal honesty about her struggles. We are brought into her story, into her unravelling and quest for healing as she seeks to resume a richly lived life.
