High Sobriety: my year without booze - Softcover

Jill Stark is an award-winning journalist and author with a career spanning two decades in both the UK and Australian media. She spent ten years on staff at The Age covering health and social affairs as a senior writer and columnist, and now works as a freelance journalist, media consultant, and speech writer. Her first book, High Sobriety, was longlisted for the Walkley Book Award and shortlisted in the Kibble Literary Awards.

‘We all have something to gain from reading this book ... Jill describes this year where her "outer and inner worlds" collide in intimate detail, with total honesty and with courage.’

‘Stark made me think about the cultural role of alcohol, and the things we take for granted that are actually a bit messed up.’

‘A sobering, and distinctly inspiring, glimpse of what Australia might look like without a hangover ... Stark writes with honesty and unnerving clarity. Over its pages, the reader gradually comes to understand not just that Aussies don't like to give up the drink, but that we don't like it when our mates do, either.’

‘A genuinely thought-provoking read with something worth contemplating for everyone’ Four-and-a-half Stars

‘Stark is wise in how she tells her story ... I had a eureka moment with this book.’

‘insightful, funny, challenging and interesting ... I highly recommend this for a book club. It’s a subject that would get people talking.’

‘I was completely engaged ... Her approach is fresh and funny, artlessly open, and most importantly, accessible. She’s not interested in preaching to the masses but rather is on a mission to decipher her own complicated feelings ... It is this candidness that makes her book so enjoyable.’ Book of the Week

‘A fun, fresh look at one woman's battle to commiserate, celebrate, relax and party without the help of one of the last legal recreational drugs ... Jill Stark is a cool sober chick and it's a joy to go along for the dry ride’

‘Jill Stark certainly believed in immersing herself in her work ... Stark stuck with her sobriety plan, concluding "I know now that alcohol does not define me".’

‘What gives this book resonance is Stark’s ability to balance a serious agenda, backed by her interviews, statistics and the inside information to which a health reporter has access, with a personal narrative that is equally earnest in its intent but lighter in its execution ... High Sobriety is an entertaining and informative read about one woman’s year of online dating, family reunions and beer gardens without a drink, and her account of the nation’s attitude towards the thing she denies herself.’