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  • Published: 19 November 2019
  • ISBN: 9781760893637
  • Imprint: Penguin
  • Format: Paperback
  • Pages: 272
  • RRP: $24.99
Categories:

Any Ordinary Day

Blindsides, Resilience and What Happens After the Worst Day of Your Life




THE NATIONAL BESTSELLER

The day that turns a life upside down usually starts like any other, but what happens the day after?


Dual Walkley Award-winner Leigh Sales investigates how ordinary people endure the unthinkable.

As a journalist, Leigh Sales often encounters people experiencing the worst moments of their lives in the full glare of the media. But one particular string of bad news stories – and a terrifying brush with her own mortality – sent her looking for answers about how vulnerable each of us is to a life-changing event.

What are our chances of actually experiencing one? What do we fear most and why? And when the worst does happen, what comes next?

In this wise and layered book, Leigh talks intimately with people who’ve faced the unimaginable.

From terrorism to natural disaster to simply being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Expecting broken lives, she instead finds strength, hope, even humour.

Leigh brilliantly condenses the cutting-edge research on the way the human brain processes fear and grief, and poses the questions we too often ignore out of awkwardness. Along the way, she offers an unguarded account of her own challenges and what she’s learned about coping with life’s unexpected blows.

Warm, candid and empathetic, this book is about what happens when ordinary people, on ordinary days, are forced to suddenly find the resilience most of us don’t know we have.

_____________

'Warm, wise and humble.' ANNA FUNDER
'Masterfully written, revelatory and genuinely uplifting.' BETTER READING
'Asks questions most of us would only dare to think.' THE SYDNEY MORNING HERALD

  • Published: 19 November 2019
  • ISBN: 9781760893637
  • Imprint: Penguin
  • Format: Paperback
  • Pages: 272
  • RRP: $24.99
Categories:

About the author

Leigh Sales

Leigh Sales AM is one of Australia’s most respected journalists. As the anchor of the ABC’s flagship current affairs program, 7.30, she has interviewed dozens of world leaders and celebrities, including Hillary Clinton, Tony Blair, Henry Kissinger, the Dalai Lama, Paul McCartney, Patti Smith, Harrison Ford, Leonardo DiCaprio and Julie Andrews. She has interviewed every living Australian prime minister and also anchors the ABC’s federal election coverage. Leigh is the winner of three Walkley Awards, Australia’s highest journalism honour; the author of the books Detainee 002, On Doubt and the bestselling Any Ordinary Day; and the co-host of the popular podcast Chat 10 Looks 3 with Annabel Crabb.

Also by Leigh Sales

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Awards & recognition

Walkley Book Award

Winner  •  2019  •  Walkley Book Award

Indie Book Awards

Shortlisted  •  2019  •  Indie Book Awards

Discover more

Video
Any Ordinary Day by Leigh Sales (Audiobook)

The day that turns a life upside down usually starts like any other, but what happens the day after? Dual Walkley Award-winner Leigh Sales investigates how ordinary people endure the unthinkable. Buy here: https://www.penguin.com.au/books/any-ordinary-day-9780143792819

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Ordinary endurance

In Any Ordinary Day, Leigh Sales reflects on the toolkits we assemble to help us navigate life’s greatest challenges.

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2019 Walkley Awards

Any Ordinary Day honoured in the 64th Walkley Awards for Excellence in Journalism. 

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Any Ordinary Day book club notes

Investigating how ordinary people endure the unthinkable, Leigh Sales’ latest work will spark conversation at your next book club.

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Leigh Sales Q&A

Rapid-fire questions for the award-winning Australian journalist and author.