Belinda Hawkins will launch her new book, Every Parent’s Nightmare —the harrowing true story of an Australian’s father’s fight to save his son from a life sentence in a Bulgarian prison.

In 2009, young Australian traveller Jock Palfreeman was found guilty of the murder of Andrei Monov. Monov was the son a family well connected in the Sofia legal fraternity. Palfreeman claimed he went to the defence of gypsies being attacked by Monov and a bunch of soccer hooligans. The Prosecution claimed what Palfreeman did to Monov was cold-blooded murder.

Belinda Hawkins follows this case of many twist and turns, where vital evidence was kept out of court and crucial witnesses never called. She also reminds us of the dangers we all confront when travelling into worlds very different to our own. But it is the attempt by Jock’s father, Simon, to get justice for his son that is at the heart of Every Parent’s Nightmare.

Belinda Hawkins is a Walkley Award winning senior journalist with ABCTV’s Australian Story. This is her first book.

Free, bookings are not required.