AustLit

'My father's last words to me? 'You're out of control, Jan, heading towards a red light.'

'What happens when you're in the all the wrong places, with all the wrong people, making all the wrong choices? It may look like that from the outside. But these are the real questions: who and what is right, and who gets to decide?

'The mid-70s. Needing to escape the ghosts of her tortured past, Jan turns to dancing in the seedy underbelly of Australia's notorious Kings Cross in order to fund her way out. Spirited, brave, and very, very broken, she travels throughout Sumatra, Indonesia and Nepal, her strength returning day by day. Fast forward a year or so to Delhi and Jan is desperate for money, selling her blood just to get by. Reconnecting with a former associate, she is propositioned with a tempting offer and faces what turns out to be a life altering decision. But returning home is not an option, so the dice is rolled but little did Jan know, these dice were loaded.

'Transporting contraband through the shifting sands of Pakistan and northern India's deserts; to the lush rainforests of Madagascar and the devastated, poverty-stricken cities in Bangladesh, Jan becomes a key player in some major, age-old political conflicts raging through these blood-soaked lands.

'Determined to take control and find her independence, Jan finds love; not once, but twice - at the same time - and the battle for her heart and life begins. Things seemingly take an upward turn for Jan: holidays on houseboats in Kashmir, opulent dinners and penthouse suites in five star hotels, designer clothes and so much cash! But these men, whilst offering her the world, are placing Jan in very real danger; and when all goes to hell, as it inevitably does, she is alone again and learns the hard way that no one is coming to save her.'

'“In that moment I knew the meaning of milk-blood. Desperate addicts will decant some of their own blood while the drug is still pumping through their veins to save as ‘insurance’ to inject later.”

'Adrian Simon, 38, is the son of Warren Fellows, the infamous heroin smuggler who was imprisoned in Bangkwang Prison in Bangkok for 12 years and published the bestselling memoir “The Damage Done”. But Warren wasn’t the only one affected by the experience. In his searing autobiography “Milk-Blood – Growing up the son of a convicted drug trafficker”, Adrian tells his side of the story; growing up in suburban Australia the son of two unconventional parents, while trying to make sense of his father’s terrible decisions and witnessing his mother being shunned by society at every turn.

'“It was his decisions that led to me having a nervous breakdown as an innocent child, and like a disease that experience clung to me throughout my life. And just like my arthritic condition, I had a bandaid solution but no cure. In a small way I could never be completely free of the past, he was my damage within that I would never be able to eradicate completely.”

'Refusing to give in to the dark shadow his father casts over his life, Adrian lives life to the full, and always on his own terms, right from the get-go. His inherent drive and thirst for adventure sees him abandoning school in favour of chasing the good times, wherever they may lie.

'Later, this morphs into a deeper search for meaning and purpose, which sees him travel around the globe in a non-stop whirlwind of run-ins and adventures. But it’s here, on the road, where he begins to make sense of his fractured life, righting the wrongs of his past and starting the painstaking task of restoring the damage done to his family chi.

'“People rarely knew my story and how my emotions were like a river, a wild torrent boring through my soul. I grew to understand that we all have our own storm within, that we share the same path to find happiness and self-expression. Deep down, I knew one day I would tell this story. I just had to wait for more chapters to play out. I never thought of myself as a writer, rather as someone with a big story to tell.”

'This raw and honest work tackles complex issues and themes, such as mental health, addiction, and coming-of-age, but ultimately, it is a story of hope, strength of spirit, humanity and self-determination, told with universal themes and the wit and candour of a seasoned story-teller.' (Publication summary)