When expatriate novelist Nikki Gemmell had her three children in London, she chose to give them Aussie citizenship over British.

This Is Why

Why You Are Australian is a treatise about what it means to be Australian.

Honest, moving, provocative, uplifting - an exile's story, a mother's story, an Australian's story.

A letter to my children

For anyone who needs reminding.

From the sun and surf of the coast to the gum trees and red sands of the continent's Centre, Australia has stayed in the writer's psyche despite her years in exile. Observing her children growing up in a crowded metropolis, she recalls her own, much more carefree childhood. What do the children know of the land of their parents and grandparents - and are her own memories realistic? She decides to take them on an experimental Australian journey to introduce them to her country - she takes them out of their London school and puts them into a local primary two hours north of Sydney. But can you ever go home again? With characteristic candour, Nikki Gemmell looks at what it means to be Australian - in the past and right now.