AustLit

'A candid and compelling memoir about getting through the darkest days with grace, dignity, humour, beauty and sanity.

'After completing seven months of gruelling treatments for breast cancer Jessica Jones travelled to Sydney to begin a celebratory three-month holiday with her boyfriend only to find herself D.O.A. - Dumped On Arrival! Marooned half a world away from her current home in London, with little money she faced a decision: return immediately, heartbroken and defeated or step forward into the unknown. Jessica made the decision to stay, to undertake a new adventure.

'Told in the first person, Jessica s book relates her encounter with cancer, mental breakdown and hospitalisation in Australia and her return to London. As the story unfolds it is interspersed with vignettes that delve into the past, mining the rich vein of her life s experience: a life studded with what self-help writers euphemistically call 'opportunities for growth.'

'THE ELEGANT ART OF FALLING APART tells how Jessica learned to cope with whatever life threw at her and she did it all with style, grace and a smile on her face.' (Publication summary)