Your Own Kind of Girl

Clare Bowditch

Format
Paperback
Publisher
Allen & Unwin
Country
Australia
Published
28 October 2019
Pages
352
ISBN
9781760528959

Your Own Kind of Girl

Clare Bowditch

This is the story I promised myself, aged twenty-one, that I would one day be brave enough – and well enough – to write.

Clare Bowditch has always had a knack for telling stories. Through her music and performing, this beloved Australian artist has touched hundreds of thousands of lives. But what of the stories she used to tell herself? That ‘real life’ only begins once you’re thin or beautiful, that good things only happen to other people.

Your Own Kind of Girl reveals a childhood punctuated by grief, anxiety and compulsion and tells how these forces shaped Clare’s life for better and for worse. This is a heart-breaking, wise and at times playful memoir. Clare’s own story told raw and as it happened. A reminder that even on the darkest of nights, victory is closer than it seems.

With startling candour, Clare lays bare her truth in the hope that doing so will inspire anyone who’s ever done battle with their inner critic. This is the work of a woman who has found her true power - and wants to pass it on. Happiness, we discover, is only possible when we take charge of the stories we tell ourselves.

Review

by Chris Gordon

Melbourne is a town of connections. I’m sure many of us have heard of Clare Bowditch, perhaps we have heard her on the radio, seen her on television, or follow her on Instagram. Perhaps you have sung with her, seen her perform, seen her down the street, or just seen her laughing at a bar surrounded by friends and family. She’s that type of woman. Vivacious. Talented. Generous. And, as this deeply personal story tells us, anxious. Some of this disquiet is due to trauma, some due to compulsion and, surely, some due to the agony of being alive.

Many readers will tell you how brave Bowditch is for sharing her life story. They will tell you how inspirational it is to read about a woman who has suffered and shone. Honestly though, Bowditch’s story has more to it than that. There is a fragility to this story. Behind it is real pain that has caused grief to the author and to her family and friends. This is the book you buy because you admire any woman who is genuine.

This is the book you buy for a friend that needs to know all small steps matter. This is the read you seek when you need an easy, empathetic insight into another person’s life. This is the book that will give you a sweet, friendly little nudge on your way.