Jenny Valentish's Books

Woman of Substances

A Journey into Addiction and Treatment

By: Jenny Valentish

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Woman of Substances

A Journey into Addiction and Treatment

By: Jenny Valentish

Journalist Jenny Valentish investigates the female experience of drugs and alcohol, using her own story to light the way. Her travels around Australia take her to treatment facilities and AA groups. Mining the expertise of leading researchers, she explores the early predictors of addiction, such as childhood trauma and temperament, and teenage impulsivity. Drawing on neuroscience, she explains why other self-destructive behaviours - such as eating disorders, compulsive buying and high-risk sex - are interchangeable with problematic substance use. Valentish follows the pathways that women, in particular, take into addiction - and out again. 'Valentish mixes her own careening story with some truly fabulous research. This book taught me things I wasn't expecting about the landscape of substance use.' -Kate Holden 'A fabulous read. Raw, revealing, at times heartbreaking, but searingly honest and clearly aimed to support anyone who is wondering if they will ever recover from addiction. Yes, says Jenny, you can- just don't expect unicorns to visit immediately. Beautifully written, it prompts a broader discussion around the role women's (little-discussed) hormones can play in one's 'addiction and recovery story', and how rarely this has been considered when it comes to models of recovery. Jenny tells a truly hopeful story about one woman who has come to terms with who she is. She looks the beast in the eyes. Well done. '-Clare Bowditch 'A compelling blend of the sociology, psychology and physiology that drives female addiction, seasoned by the author's self-serrating humour and remarkable skill.' -Professor Marc Lewis, Ph.D., Professor Emeritus, University of Toronto. Author of The Biology of Desire (2015) and Memoirs of an Addicted Brain (2011) 'Jenny Valentish takes us on a field trip through her vulnerabilities and then, like a tour guide in a foreign land, flag aloft, she provides a path back from the abyss. This is an enormously compelling, confronting and informative piece on addiction and recovery from a female perspective. I know a lot of people I want to give this book to.' -Deborah Conway 'We need books like this, and writers like Valentish, to give voice to our frustrations and concerns, to help legitimise and mobilise.' -Kylie Maslen, Kill Your Darlings '(Woman of Substances is) a startling and thorough investigation into the relationship between gender, trauma and addiction, and the women who fall through the gaps - with the writer offering herself up as the case study.' -Steph Harmon, Guardian Australia 'Employing expert interviews and research, each rich personal episode is contextualised within the under-examined issue of women's substance abuse. Detailed, insightful and told with a feature writer's narrative flair.' -Bookseller and Publisher

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Page Count

249

Publisher

Black Inc.

Published Date

ISBN 10

1925435571

ISBN 13

9781925435573

Your Mother Would Be Proud

True Tales of Mayhem and Misadventure

By: Jenny Valentish,Tamara Sheward

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Your Mother Would Be Proud

True Tales of Mayhem and Misadventure

By: Jenny Valentish,Tamara Sheward

Whether it's cartwheeling naked across a rugby field in front of an audience of one billion (including your dad); playing eleven-minute soft rock tracks on night-shift radio as cover for some adult magazine fumblings; getting your appendix removed to avoid an English lesson; or stealing KISS's groupies and charging the champagne to Gene Simmons'...

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Page Count

586

Publisher

ReadHowYouWant.com

Published Date

ISBN 10

1459613406

ISBN 13

9781459613409

Woman of Substances

By: Jenny Valentish

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Woman of Substances

By: Jenny Valentish

Journalist Jenny Valentish takes a gendered look at drugs and alcohol, using her own story to light the way. Mining the expertise of 35 leading researchers, clinicians and psychiatrists, she explores the early predictors of addictive behaviour, such as trauma, temperament and impulsivity. Drawing on neuroscience, she explains why other self-destructive behaviours – such as eating disorders, compulsive buying and high-risk sex – are interchangeable with problematic substance use. From her childhood in suburban Slough to her chaotic formative years in the London music scene, we follow her journey to Australia, where she experiences firsthand treatment facilities and AA groups, and reflects whether or not they are meeting the needs of women. Woman of Substances is an insightful, rigorous and brutally honest read. In Australia it was nominated for a prestigious Walkley Book Award. 'Employing expert interviews and research, each rich personal episode is contextualised within the under-examined issue of women's substance abuse. Detailed, insightful and told with a feature writer's narrative flair' Bookseller and Publisher. 'Engages readers with storytelling while presenting scientific findings and theories in a way that is accessible to a broad audience' Broadsheet. 'Part monograph, part memoir, part Ginsbergian howl of outrage at a culture in which gender bias is a tenet. It is a work of compellingly articulate anger' The Australian. 'In straightforward, lively prose she relates even her darkest moments without self-pity or aggrandisement, and often with a streak of gallows humour, leading to more laugh-out-loud lines than you might expect' The Saturday Paper. 'We need books like this, and writers like Valentish, to give voice to our frustrations and concerns, to help legitimise and mobilise' Kill Your Darlings. 'Valentish's passion lies in exploring the underlying causes and their effects and, in the most female of ways, offering companionship and reassurance for her readers' The Monthly. 'Doesn't mince her words' Sydney Morning Herald.

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Page Count

261

Publisher

Bloomsbury Publishing

Published Date

ISBN 10

1788541626

ISBN 13

9781788541626

Cherry Bomb

By: Jenny Valentish

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Cherry Bomb

By: Jenny Valentish

Nina Dall is as singular and mercurial a character as I've ever been charmed and terrified to meet.' TIM ROGERS Nina Dall has seen it all by her twenty-first birthday, including her own meteoric rise to fame and its inevitable aftermath. She created teen band The Dolls to escape suburban hell. Now she needs to prove she's not a one-hit wonder and convince veteran producer John Villiers to be her own personal svengali. But he's got his own problems. Rose Dall craves adoration, and through The Dolls, she gets it. But with the band's every move coming under media scrutiny and cousin Nina going off the rails, she's pushed to breaking point. Can The Dolls survive each other? Alannah Dall had a pop career in the 1980s before disappearing from public view. She's resurfaced to steer her nieces away from the same scandals, but with her own comeback on the cards, The Dolls start to become a threat. A mesmerising ride into the heart of love, fame and rock'n'roll. You have to risk everything to get to the top-and even more to stay there. But how do you get back what's been lost along the way? Cherry Bomb is a brilliant debut novel that will grab you tight and never let you go.

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