Press Escape

Getting away was always a driving ambition for Shaun Carney—from an outer-suburban house in the 60s and 70s, from a family with a secret: a father with a double life and a borrowed name.

Journalism gave Shaun that escape, to another life, to becoming a different person. For 34 years he took every opportunity it offered, flourished and knew success even while dealing with the personal struggle of his own child battling cancer. But a greater sense of freedom came when he forgave the people he'd wanted to flee and, unexpectedly, let go of the life that he'd worked so hard to create.

In this beautifully crafted memoir one of Australia's leading political journalists writes movingly about discovering the one story that really matters.

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Shaun Carney has been a journalist, editor and columnist with The Herald, The Age and The Herald Sun. He is an adjunct associate professor with the School of Social Sciences at Monash University.