AustLit

'All There Was is an honest and astonishing insight into one man’s lifelong struggle with manic-depression. As a comic actor and a languages teacher he thrived on performance: the adrenalin boost it supplied often controlled and moderated the darker side of his nature. A flawed individualist who mismanaged the promising life that was his to nurture, he lost all confidence in the decision-making process and stumbled from one family crisis to another, from one relationship to another, one marriage to another, one school to another. Escape became his obsession and his failure, until his only recourse appeared to be silent reclusiveness. His story is about one of life’s loneliest afflictions and one sufferer’s battle to keep the Black Dog at bay.' (Publication summary)