AN ACCIDENTAL LIFE The book starts with the day in 1987 that changed my life forever, and as a consequence I had to find a way to support a young family. Adversity accidentally provided opportunities I would never have had if life had been normal, nor would new roads have been travelled and new horizons explored, and I wouldn't have had new dreams to call my own. It is an autobiography that documents the memories of my life as I remember them, and it captures the events, technological developments, social norms and history of the era. In addition, it is a cookbook that recreates food fads through the decades, but with a modern twist, recipes and cuisines of countries I travelled through and the companionship shared at our table at Hurlstone Homestead. It is a book about a very ordinary person who accidentally lived an extraordinary life that could never have been imagined in anyone's wildest dreams.