High Sobriety: My Year Without Booze

Booze dominated Jill Stark’s social life from her first sip of beer at 13 through the age of 35, when, after a hangover, she made the decision to give up alcohol. This lively memoir charts Jill's tumultuous year on the wagon as she copes with the stress of the newsroom sober, tackles the dating scene on soda water, learns to watch football without beer, and deals with censure from friends and colleagues. In reexamining her habits, she also explores Australia's history of and love affair with alcohol: meeting teens who drink to fit in, beer-sellers in a sporting culture backed by booze, and marketing bigwigs blamed for turning binge drinking into a way of life. This is a funny, moving, and insightful exploration of why and how Australians drink and what happens when they quit.