Long Road to Dry River

'D'you think you might've got the MS because you can't forgive your dad?'

That wasn't Jennifer Severn's doctor asking--or her psychologist. It was her lawyer, but it was a good question.

When Jen, aged 22, settled into a cab at Sydney Airport one rainy night in 1988, she'd taken pains to create a safe, sensible life for herself after an unhappy childhood. But that was about to take a turn. The driver was a follower of Bhagwan Sri Rajneesh, and the conversation that night set her on a new, dual existence--Jen the medical sales rep and Marga Sahi the Rajneesh disciple. Was it the strain of maintaining this double life that brought on an episode of visual disturbance--double vision, no less--in 1994?

Family dysfunction, inappropriate relationships, life as an 'Orange Person', a diagnosis of multiple sclerosis ... Jen bounced between Australia, India and Amsterdam before circumstances conspired to land her in Quaama, a small rural village on Dry River on the far south coast of New South Wales.

Will an unrestored 1840s shearer's cottage and a quirky rural community be her salvation?

Long Road to Dry River was shortlisted for the Finch Prize for Memoir in 2018.

About the Author

Jennifer Severn grew up in Sydney and has also lived in Melbourne and India. She's been writing as long as she's been reading. As a child she wrote poems, short stories and book reviews ... no blank piece of paper was safe in her childhood home. She completed a science degree then worked in medical diagnostics and sold medical equipment, later diversifying into jewellery and gemstones. After an MS diagnosis in 1997 she looked for something she could do sitting down and found contract work in technical, scientific and commercial writing before she started a web design business ... and continued to write.

Jennifer's manuscript Long Road to Dry River was shortlisted for the Finch Prize for Memoir in 2018. She lives with her husband and two dogs in Quaama, a small village on the far south coast of NSW, where she still works in web design, volunteers with a community newspaper and writes short stories and non-fiction.