Learning How to Breathe

Learning How to Breathe

"Finely crafted, subtle and tender, Learning How to Breathe is a beautiful tribute to the loving complexity of family. It reminds us that inspiration lies at the heart of both intimacy and art." - Gail Jones, author of Sorry.
"A virtuosos performance" - Amanda Lohrey, author of Vertigo and The Philosopher's Doll.
"A superb memoir- moving, transporting, unforgettable."- Marion Campbell author of Fragments from a Paper Witch.

Shortlisted for the 2008 Queensland Premier's Award for Best Emerging Author, Linda Neil's Learning How to Breath is a raw, compassionate and unexpectedly hopeful memoir about a daughter treating home to visit her mother, who discovers, through doing so, the threads of history, love and care that hold a family together.

Linda is a successful musician and performer when she returns to the family home in Brisbane to visit her mother, Joan, a singing teacher. She doesn't realise that he stay won't be a short one, that the mysterious ailment her mother is experiencing will gradually progress into Parkinson's disease, and that this return will change her life.

Connected by a shared musical passion, Linda finds a new bond with her mother and fresh understanding of their collective past. As Joan's illness progresses, they discover that music helps them to make sense of what is happening.

In Learning How to Breath, Linda intimately describes her mother's and her own confusion as they face Joan's illness. The negotiation with doctors and hospitals, the trial and error and sometimes terrifying side-effects of medical treatment and the anxiety and loneliness that often accompanies serious illness, are beautifully explored and deeply felt.

"Mum and I seem to have left the land of right and wrong. We have left the land of orderly behaviour. We have pushed off together on our little boat and are now lost at sea trying to find a safe shore on which to land."

The issue of relating to loved ones who become vulnerable through illness, age or circumstances is of great concern to the community and a central theme in Learning How to Breath. This lyrical and finely crafted memoir highlights the universality of connecting to parents in need of care and how family relationships we may have taken for granted can be renewed.

The book looks unflinchingly and honestly at some of the most difficult issues that any of us may have to face. "To write about the process of dying", Linda says "is to ultimately write about life and living. It also made me realise that what you think you require for your life to flourish can sometimes be found closer to home that you might realise.

Spending intimate time with her mother, learning about her history and the events that shaped her, helped Linda to better understand herself. She also reconnected with her late father- a former Christian brother who came to marriage and fatherhood late in life- as she explored her parent's relationship and investigated the many stories that created her family history. In doing so she grows to understand how interconnected such family's stories are, as well as the transforming possibilities of love and music.

The final outcome is a moving love song to her mother and family that is also an unforgettable true story. Learning How to Breathe demonstrates what a rewarding, but also harrowing, adventure it can be to reconnect with the past and find home.

Linda Neil is a musician, writer and award-winning documentary producer. Linda recently completed her PhD at the University of Queensland where she taught creative and professional writing, as well as media and culture studies.

She grew up in a musical family and studied classical violin for a Bachelor of Music degree. She has played in orchestras, string quarters and pop and rock bands, and recorded and toured with some of Australia's leading independent artists, including Ed Kuepper, Kev Carmody and The Church.

Along with her musical activities, Linda has written plays and scripts and produced award-winning documentaries for ABC Radio National, among them The Asylum Seekers, which won a gold medal at the New York Radio Festival (NYRF) and was short-listed for the United National Media Peace Prize, and The Sound of Blue which was also awarded at the NYRF.

She is currently the ABC National Radiophonic artist-in-residence for 2009 and is producing a music documentary and a CD called My Year of Signing Love Songs.

Learning How to Breathe