by Patricia Ward

My Name is Patricia is a beautiful and evocative tale of one woman's struggle to maintain her independence while striving to live every moment to the full. The author, escaping a bad marriage, emigrates with her children to Australia, only to find herself again in a frustrating relationship. After many misfortunes and misadventures, she turns her back on past sorrows and begins to travel and in the process, finds new strength within herself and an indomitable spirit. A central part of the work is the author's encounters with lovers and friends and the impact these relationships have on her way of life and being. These encounters and the sentiments they elicit give the work a touching human element, a sense of the possibilities inherent in the briefest of encounters. The author's life makes fascinating reading, a free spirit, searching for what happiness she can find, she takes on challenges and faces misfortunes with courage and self-honesty and writes with sympathy and feeling of her own mistakes and triumphs and as she herself states with customary honesty: 'Maybe my story will inspire someone - or maybe they will get enjoyment from reading it. I have enjoyed writing it; I have also shed a few tears recalling the memories.