This is a story about finding meaning in the tangle of an extraordinary life.

John Hackwell’s first battle was with a deadly childhood illness. What followed was a lifetime spent navigating tough choices, wrong turns, and quiet victories.

His journey isn’t about changing the world—it’s about surviving it with courage, humour, and heart.

Blending vivid storytelling with sharp insight, Hackwell’s writing captures the beauty and chaos of being human. Honest, compassionate, and deeply moving, this book reveals a man shaped by his flaws and defined by his resilience.

A story of struggle, survival, and self-understanding—sometimes the only way home is to run away.

About the Author

W John Hackwell lives in Tamworth, New South Wales, with his partner Yvonne, sharing a life built on family, friendship, and simple joys—vegetarian cooking, long rides, lazy laps in the pool, and a garden that keeps him humble. He’s proud of four children who forged their own paths, and of Yvonne earning her nursing degree at fifty. From Antarctica to remote desert communities and seasons in France, John’s richest memories remain the people who shaped him—and the stories they left behind.