In Turkey I Am Beautiful - 2008

After extensive travel in the wilds of the east, Brendan eventually agreed to run a friend's carpet shop in Istanbul. With only the dubious help of his carpet-dealer friend, a lovable but frequently demanding bipolar drug addict, the results were often disastrous, frequently hilarious, a occasionally poignant.

www.inturkeyiambeautiful.com

BUY ONLINE

The Secret Life Of The Gold Coast - 2004

Published by Penguin in late 2004 this is a memoir/travel/sociological study of Australia's fastest growing city. It is also a meditation on my nation's future and cautionary tale of sharing a flat with a pregnant phone sex worker and her violent, schizophrenic boyfriend. The fact that it ended up in "true crime" is a mystery only the publicity department of Penguin books can solve.

Poodles on Prozac or the Incredibly Strange True Story of Rose Hancock-Porteous - 2000

The genesis of this book is a story unto itself, but not one I could be bothered repeating. Suffice to say I was approached by Duffy and Snellgrove in 1999 at the age of 22 to write a biography of Rose Hancock-Porteous (Imelda Marcos meets Anna Nicole Smith, for our non-Australian visitors) and, within a month, was living in her Perth mansion. The book was pulled at the last minute because the publishers could not get insurance. I include here the fifth chapter, my first meeting with Rose, for your enjoyment.