Suzy Zail, a mother of three, was born in 1966 in Melbourne, and has worked as a solicitor specialising in family law. After the birth of her second child, Suzy left the law to concentrate on writing. She has written for magazines and is the author of children’s books published in Australia, Canada and the U.S. Her father-daughter memoir, The Tattooed Flower, the story of her relationship with her ailing father, was published in 2006.

Suzy is the author of All You Need is Love: Fifteen Journeys to Motherhood and Smitten: 12 Stories of Enduring Love.

Smitten is a collection of love stories which intimately explores the enduring love of twelve, very different Australian couples. Smitten casts light on how we find love and hold on to it, through the true stories of couples whose lives have been transformed by their relationships. Some have sustained their love through great challenges, such as separation, illness, infidelity, gender reassignment and family opposition. Others nurture their relationships, despite living in separate homes, or having an open marriage. Another couple, in their eighties, have been together for sixty-three years and are as in love as they were when they met in a refugee camp after WWII.

Beautifully written by Suzy Zail accompanied by absorbing photography by Melanie Faith Dove, Smitten will resonate with anyone who is or ever has been, in love.

All You Need is Love is a portrait in words and pictures of fifteen Australian women and their remarkable journeys to motherhood.

The mothers who share their stories have a diversity of experience – whether single, married, gay, heterosexual, disabled, surrogate, adoptive, multiple birth or foster mother – they tell of a selfless yet fierce love for their children. Their experiences are studded with fear, insecurity and sadness, but also light, laughter and love.

"Motherhood comes in many forms and yet what struck me more than these women’s differences were their similarities," says author Suzy Zail. "Whether raising foster children, a child with a disability, or a child born of egg-donation, all share the same pride over their children’s achievements and the same swell of anger when their children are hurt or threatened."

All You Need is Love: Fifteen Journeys to Motherhood is a celebration of the joys and challenges of motherhood – a reflection of the diverse experience of women in 21st century Australia.

Smitten is available from the 1st of January 2010.

Click on the cover image below for more information or to purchase All You Need is Love.













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