My Last Drink

Edited by Ross Fitzgerald & Neal Price, Connor Court, $29.95

Reviewed by Steven Carroll

A common thread running through these 32 confessions of recovering alcoholics is that they had to reach rock bottom before taking decisive action in rehab and/or AA. Interestingly, their memories of their last drinks vary from the vivid to the vague.

For Ross Fitzgerald it’s crystal clear – he had his last drink in the Melbourne pub where, as a schoolboy, he’d had his first. For Gail, who hid her drinking from most people (including her young daughter), it’s a blur. Her ego would not let her go to AA, but when she wound up in rehab, she met a man in his late 70s who proved to be an unlikely saviour.

These tales, by people from all walks of life, can get a bit rugged, but they are also a testament to the resolve that the participants eventually mustered to stand up to the power that alcohol had over them and take control of their lives.

The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald, Saturday January 28, 2023, Spectrum p 13.