Fifteen years ago I married a wonderful man who already had one child. He had lost his wife in an accident a few years earlier. A year after the wedding I gave birth to our son. I don’t know if I was prepared for a ready-made family. Having my own baby made me realise how […]

When I was 18 years old I had an unplanned pregnancy. I had been with my boyfriend for three years and like all girls at that age, I thought he was the one. When I found out I was pregnant, I was devastated. I was shocked by my boyfriend’s response. He was elated and on […]

I am the eldest child of four and a fraternal twin in a loving Italian family. However, it always annoyed me that Anna (my younger twin by three minutes) was deemed the “beautiful” one out of all the children. Anna was definitely Dad’s favourite; spoilt by him and encouraged by him to take modelling, singing, […]

I was feeling down one Monday and decided to take a drive across town to visit my girlfriend Debbie. I wasn’t sure whether she would be home, as I hadn’t rung to find out. I just thought I would lob up on her doorstep for a coffee and chat. To my surprise, when I arrived […]

Five years ago I met a wonderful man who literally swept me off my feet, and in a matter of months we were engaged to be married. It was the most wonderful and busy time of my life. Every waking moment was spent organising the wedding, which was going to be a large “event” with […]

My younger sister Sandy and I had always been close. When she was 18 she ended a relationship with her high school sweetheart and fell straight into the arms of Joe, a 31-year-old man. At first she seemed really happy, but then I noticed her changing for the worse. She told me she had started […]

I was 16 and had fallen pregnant to a guy who I thought would support and love me forever — he didn’t and left when I was eight months pregnant. After being a single mother for a long time, I found a beautiful guy who was not only loving to me but also to my […]

I had just moved from the city to the outer suburbs and was looking for work in my chosen profession. I found the salaries offered to be less than adequate and accepted a position offering a paltry salary with the written promise of a wage increase if all targets were met within the next 12 […]

Moving into a rental property while we were looking for a new house to buy, I found in the backyard what I believed to be a very sick stray cat. Its coat was all matted; it walked with a limp and was incredibly thin and frail. Feeling sorry for the cat, I looked for a […]

Rob and I married in 1994 and were happy raising our three daughters. But a few years ago Rob began to change. He bought a motorbike, shaved his head, covered himself in tattoos and started to hang around with a mob of rough bikies. I knew he was smoking marijuana but as he never did […]

I met my girlfriend two years ago while holidaying in Bali. We connected immediately and I found myself spending most of my time with her. When my two weeks were up I found it difficult to leave and I knew I wanted to see Beth again, and she felt the same. When I got back […]

I was 21 years old and a happy young woman. I had a dream job at a television station and great friends and family. I had previously had several boyfriends and flings, but nothing that was serious and that was the way I liked it. However, one night I was at the pub with some […]

Jeff, my boyfriend, was a very talented painter and was held in great esteem at our high school, where he had already won many awards. But it was the end of year arts festival competition that he wanted to win the most. The prize was $5000! More importantly, Jeff knew that winning would be the […]

I am 29 years old. I have four children from my marriage, which ended six months ago when my husband decided he preferred the company of men. I always felt and stated that he was more like my best girlfriend than a husband and provider. Got to love those gut instincts! As a high-profile couple […]

One of my closest friends got married a year ago. Mark had been dating Kate for three years and he always spoke about her so clumsily, you could see how happy he was to have found her. Two nights before the wedding, I was out with work friends at a private party. When I walked […]

I was ecstatic when Andrew agreed to go out with me. I had been crazy about him ever since our boss Lucy had introduced me to the new boy at work two weeks before. I tried every trick to let him know I was interested, yet he seemed oblivious to my flirting. Finally, out of […]

A large number of people would have heard stories of employees getting back at their employers, but this really tops it all. The story starts a few years ago when I had just enrolled in a Master’s course at Uni. Everything was like a new beginning to me, a brand new chapter in my life. […]

I’ve always been a fair-skinned girl. I’ve tried the solarium and used every fake tan under the sun but nothing has given me the golden brown I desire. One of my friends, Kate, always made jokes about my tanning disasters. She’d constantly bring up the “nasty streak on my leg” or my likeness to an […]

My mum and I have always been close. We look very similar, sound alike and share the same name. So from a young age, I had asked her questions about her younger days. In particular, I knew about “the love of [her] life” — as she always called him — Henry. While my dad has […]

My sister had recently bought a brand new, expensive laptop computer after months and months of saving. I couldn’t wait to get on it, so when she was out one day I slipped into her room and went on the Internet. I was searching for some information on a project I was doing at uni, […]

My mother and I are very close. She’s 40-years-old and I’m 20. We have gone through a lot together, and do fight, but we still remain the best of friends. One day, she splurged on a fantastic top, which she bought from Myer for $150. It was the most beautiful thing I had ever seen. […]

A year ago, I traveled to America to become an au pair, where you live in another’s home and care for their children. I was lucky to be working for a lovely family, who owned a nice house and a car that I was allowed full use of. One day, I was asked to pick […]

I met Matt about six months after I had fled Adelaide. When we were introduced, I was still giddy with the excitement of leaving my past behind to begin a brand new life. I loved his bright, cheeky smile and blue eyes, but it was his manner that impressed me the most. He was sweet, […]

When I left my job and moved in with my boyfriend, our cash flow began to be a bit of a problem. Going from two incomes to one wasn’t as easy as we planned. So when a family member offered me the opportunity to clean her house twice a week for extra money, I jumped […]

Each day I worked hard at my low-paying job, trying my best to make ends meet. Then the credit card bills arrived. I owed more than $500 and the payments were long overdue. I took a walk to let it slowly slip my mind. I walked around to my Grandma’s place, which is often a […]

For a Brit, arriving in Australia is like arriving in a parallel universe where everything is better. The weather, the people, the cities, the food are all amazing and so much better than back home. I had always wanted to travel Down Under but never seemed to be able to get the savings together. But […]

Ten years ago, after my first marriage had broken up, my self-esteem was in tatters. Not only had my husband spent 14 years putting me down by saying I was unattractive, but after having had three young children, my breasts looked like two shriveled-up balloons. I couldn’t imagine ever showing my body to another man. […]

My sisters and I and some friends all went on a big shopping spree in Melbourne a few years ago. On the second last day of our week in Melbourne, we all decided to split up and go our separate ways to score the bargains we’d each had our eyes on. I had my heart […]

A few years ago, a friend who had to attend a work party asked me if I would mind taking care of her children for the night. I gladly said yes, unaware of what I was getting myself into. Her two children, aged nine and seven, turned out to be real horrors and I had […]

I once was employed as the cleaner of a big holiday home that was near where I lived in the country. It was a pleasure to look after such a nice place. The owners from the city would spend their weekends there. The house had spacious lounge rooms with enormous paintings on the walls, bedrooms […]

My grandmother on my mother’s side passed away before I was born, so I never had the privilege of meeting her. She died after a long battle with cancer and my mother and her siblings were devastated by her death. Just six months later, my grandfather remarried. The woman he married was a lot younger […]

My sister and I are two years apart in age so we have always had the same group of friends. When she was 18 she started seeing my boyfriend’s best friend and we spent even more time together. My sister and her boyfriend, Will, had been together for about six years when she confided in […]

Eight years ago my long-term boyfriend and I broke up under amicable circumstances. He seemed to move right on to a new relationship but I sat around the house wondering how I was ever going to meet anyone new. At the age of 40 I felt I was past my prime and I didn’t have […]

My main ambition in life is to become a TV newsreader or presenter — maybe the next Sandra Sully or Catriona Rowntree. I’m dedicated to achieving my goals. I recently graduated from Griffith University in Brisbane after completing an art and communications course. And what an eventful four years I had! I was forced to […]

Through my eyes, my sister Lisa had it all. She was beautiful, with a perfect figure, shiny blonde hair and an amazing, committed boyfriend, Harry. I’d always been jealous of Lisa while growing up, always wondering why I had not been blessed in the way she was. Compared to her, I was ordinary. I had […]

Just before World War II, I married my sweetheart, Daniel. We had a small ceremony and shared two weeks of wedded bliss before he was sent off to the war. I would get letters from my love nearly every week and I missed him terribly. Four months after Daniel had left, I received a telegram. […]

After going straight from university to a career in information technology, I was looking for a bit of a change in my life. I was making good money and had lots of friends, but something was missing – adventure! I’d always had a romantic fascination with the outback. With dreams of working hard on the […]

My boss Peter was a good-looking man. Forty years old, tall, muscular and with honey blond hair that hadn’t yet greyed, he had gorgeous sapphire blue eyes that made you buckle at the knees. He had plenty of charm and wit to match – a real ladykiller. Supposedly happily married, Peter had managed – at […]

Ever since I was a little girl I’ve dreamt of meeting the man of my dreams and having four children. When I met Nathan through my work he was everything I wanted – funny, intelligent, sophisticated. But most of all, he wanted me too. Nathan and I had been dating for three years, and I […]

When those little voices inside your head tell you what you’re doing is wrong, you’d think you would listen to them. Your conscience is obviously trying to tell you something for a reason, so why is it we choose to ignore these voices? Being 23 and in love, I had followed my boyfriend Zack to […]

Studying art for my HSC was challenging, but I found I enjoyed painting so much that I knew it was what I wanted to do for the rest of my life. After finishing school I began an art course at the local TAFE. Just two weeks into the semester I could already tell I was […]