An Adventure in Grief
2009. Published by The Collins Press, Cork.
An unflinching account of Catherine’s husband remarkable life, his post traumatic stress disorder, suicide and her recovery.
Perhaps because I was immersed in travel writing in the year after John died, I had the idea of writing a grief manual to help other people through it.
In 2000 Catherine’s husband shot himself on their property in the mountains outside Melbourne. John Johnson was an outgoing, cheerful, successful man but was also harbouring post traumatic stress from his service in Vietnam with the Australian army in 1968-69. He planned and executed his suicide to minimise trauma for Catherine. The book follows his story and the events leading up to his death, and traces Catherine’s multifaceted approach to recovery from the shock and grief. The title, which provoked some discussion, was deliberately chosen.