Kate Holden

Kate Holden recounts her descent into heroin addiction and prostitution, describing how she managed to fight her addictions and demons to reclaim her life and find happiness once again.

A Memoir

In My Skin

An epic true story of greed, power and a desire for legacy from an acclaimed Australian storyteller. July 2014, a lonely road at twilight outside Croppa Creek, New South Wales: 80-year-old farmer Ian Turnbull takes out a .22 and shoots environmental officer Glen Turner in the back. On one side, a farmer hoping to secure his family's wealth on the richest agricultural soil in the country. On the other, his obsession: the government man trying to apply environmental laws. The brutal killing of Glen Turner splits open the story of our place on this land. Is our time on this soil a tale of tragedy or triumph - are we reaping what we've sown? Do we owe protection to the land, or does it owe us a living? And what happens when, in pursuit of an inheritance for his family, a man creates terrible consequences? Kate Holden brings her discerning eye to a gripping tale of law, land and entitlement. It is the story of Australia.

The Winter Road; a Killing at Croppa Creek

Na Minha Pele é obra de uma escritora de talento impressionante. A beleza de sua narrativa vai muito além do material que tem em mãos, subvertendo assunções populares sobre vício e prostituição, ao fazer o extraordinário parecer comum, e o comum, profundamente atraente. O tema, embora fascinante, é secundário. Kate Holden conta sua história com detalhes sórdidos suficientes para torná-la autêntica; mais importante que isso, sua vívida voz narrativa confere uma poesia áspera a essa jornada de vício em heroína, reabilitação hesitante e prostituição. Imperdível.

A história de uma jornada

Na minha pele

I watched the glaze of headlights, the windscreens of oncoming cars: a series of trapezoids with the silhouette of a single male driver. One pulled up in front of me; I reached over and opened the door, slid in. The smell of an unfamiliar car. A middle-aged man looking at me. 'Hi,' I said. 'How are you'.Kate Holden is accustomed to being summed up at a glance: arts graduate, history buff, middle-class daughter, dreamer, innocent. But she is a young woman who understands better than most the secrets that people keep hidden.In My Skin follows her journey from her reputation as a 'good girl' in the safe and leafy suburbs of Melbourne to the all-consuming attractions of heroin and the sex industry.This is a story of survival and resourcefulness; an unflinching look at the consequences of addiction. Holden's journey leads her from a sheltered life in her loving family home to a world of sex for money - a seedy netherworld of back lanes, backseats and brothels.More than just a fearless and compelling narrative, In My Skin is a triumphant announcement of a major new literary talent.

This is the spellbinding follow-up to Kate Holden’s memoir In My Skin, but it has a different story to tell. The Romantic describes Kate’s journey from Melbourne to Rome and Naples, from romance and sex to love, from loss to understanding—and back again. This is a book about everything from sex with strangers to the heartbreaking realities of being in love. It's about the pride of fierce independence and the crushing weight of loneliness. It’s about losing yourself in love and then finding yourself through your lover. But most of all, The Romantic is the story of one woman’s pilgrimage to discover who she really is. And to learn to like what she finds.

Italian Nights and Days

The Romantic

I made money I’d never imagined and I wore velvet dresses and shone in lamplight. I walked tall in crowds, knowing myself to be desired. I told people I was a prostitute, and smiled as I said it, and dared them to turn their gaze...The smile that I give when I talk about it now is, I can feel, nostalgic, provocative. A brightness comes into my eyes. And, I’m told, a hard look too. In My Skin describes an extraordinary journey through an often hidden world of heroin and prostitution. Kate’s story is one of survival and resourcefulness, and an unflinching look at the consequences of addiction. More than just a fearless and compelling narrative, In My Skin is the triumphant announcement of a new talent in Australian writing.

Hoe belandt een doodgewoon meisje uit een nette buurt in Melbourne in de wereld van prostitutie en drugs? In de verbluffende autobiografie ‘Onder mijn huid’ vertelt Kate Holden openhartig over hoe ze veranderde van uitmuntende kunstgeschiedenis student tot een verloren meisje in de greep van heroïne, schimmige figuren en de seksindustrie. Ondanks alles wat Kate heeft meegemaakt, weet ze haar verhaal zonder enige schaamte en met een goede dosis humor en relativering te beschrijven. Hoe heeft de jonge, afgedwaalde Kate haar leven weer in het gareel gekregen? De Australische Kate Holden (1972) heeft met haar autobiografie ‘Onder mijn huid’ haar naam op de internationale kaart gezet als talentvolle debuutschrijver. Haar boek omvat een unieke vertelling over hoe ze als nette student in de schimmige wereld van seks en drugs in Melbourne belandde. Naast de dramatische gebeurtenissen is het haar gelukt om een literair meesterwerk te schrijven waarin ze haar memoires op een persoonlijke en soms humoristische manier met de wereld deelt. Intussen is haar boek in elf landen verschenen en heeft ze drie internationale reizen achter de rug om haar unieke verhaal te vertellen, en met succes. ‘Onder mijn huid’ is genomineerd voor meerdere prijzen, waaronder beste debuut in 2005 en beste Australische bestseller in 2006. Haar schrijfcarrière nam een plotse vogelvlucht, en geeft haar een hoopvolle toekomst.

Kate Holden

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