Hazel: My Mother's Story by Sue Pieters-Hawke

Book Description

Secondhand. Good condition. Wear to book corners and edges, particularly to right tail front cover, now covered with book tape.

Hazel Hawke (1929 – 2013) is one of our most loved and respected Australians.

As the wife of a prime minister, she brought a down-to-earth warmth to Canberra that influenced everyone she came into contact with. Whether it was working to improve life for the disadvantaged, supporting the arts community or passionately advocating her belief in equality and social inclusion, we all felt her energy, her practicality and her immense capacity for humour and enjoyment.

From the age of eighteen, Bob Hawke was the love of her life, yet their journey from youthful idealism to the political realities of Canberra was, at times, far from easy. The strengths that made Hawke one of Australia's longest-serving and most successful leaders - his passion and commitment, gregariousness and drive - created tensions and issues within the family.

After leaving the Lodge, their marriage famously fell apart. But Hazel's life was undiminished as she continued to build her role as an advocate for tolerance and fairness in the broader community and as a mother and a grandmother within her own family.

Public love and support for Hazel reached a new peak when she publicly announced she'd been diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease.

Hazel's eldest daughter, Sue Pieters-Hawke, writes this intimate, beautiful biography of an extraordinary woman. Candid, revealing and fascinating, it explores Hazel's life as she navigated personal challenges and profound social changes and celebrates her value as a mother, wife, role model and tireless worker for the rights and welfare of others. (back cover)