On a dull Tuesday morning in early October 2008, I lost my battle to save our business and property—a French provincial styled restaurant and homestead on a vineyard estate—and with it my job, my reputation, my balance, my clout, my life’s savings, my mind—my life as I knew it. Afterwards, I began writing like a madwoman, and in time a book took shape describing a myriad of experiences and the long journey back to just being me.

After our epic loss, we lived for a year in one of the highest houses in Christchurch with an unparalleled view of the Pacific Ocean and the curved coastline. That house of Up Above Down Under and those mercurial skies saved my life. We now live in The House of Cluck-Cluck where I still spend endless hours in our rambling country garden as I dig in the soil tenaciously for answers about my life.