Showing results by narrator "Ella Watson-Russell" in All Categories

Dr Helena is one of the world's leading experts on improving brain function and she draws on three decades of personal and professional experience to offer a new paradigm for enhancing our brain to enrich our life at every age. Filled with groundbreaking scientific insights and laugh-out-loud stories of Dad and daughter's adventure with dementia, Dr Helena reveals that education is more powerful than medication and we can all grow bolder rather than older.

Marija's idyllic early childhood on the beautiful Croatian island of Korčula is brutally disrupted by the invasion of the Italians and then the Nazis in 1941, bringing death and destruction. The devastation has left families struggling to survive years after the war has ended. In 1950 an opportunity arrives for 17-year-old Marija to escape the hunger and despair all around her by committing herself to a complete stranger in faraway North Queensland, through a proxy marriage. Taking the plunge, she leaves her family and friends, her culture, and everything she has ever known.

Following her mother’s death, Dr Helena Popovic puts her medical training and beliefs to the test when she becomes the carer for her elderly father, who has encroaching dementia. A passionate medical practitioner and international speaker, Helena finds herself living out everything she preached.

Smacked is an evocative collection of moments showcasing human nature at its weakest and most vulnerable. Hecq’s poetic prose situates the listener firmly into the lives of her characters, taking them along for the ride as she presents each story with an inimitable flair that retains the realities of addiction and dependency. She handles each moment of fixation with a respect and delicacy that are fitting for such weighty themes, while still doing justice to the physical and mental ramifications and side effects of what some might call mere obsession.