Nonfiction Book Award Status: Gold
Synopsis
From her carefree early life on a farm in rural South Australia to a marriage that was broken even before it began, then living as a struggling single mother and navigating a string of bad romances – this is the story of a woman whose lessons in life – and love – have been learned the hard way.
Jules Hannaford grew up living an idyllic childhood, full of fun and adventures. She went to boarding school and had the time of her life, excelling at sport, making new friends and getting in trouble due to her risk taking and mischievous nature.
When single motherhood called for her to step up and take charge, she found her passion in her career as a teacher, yet she struggled to find someone to share her life with. One day, the opportunity came for her to move across the world, and she packed her bags, pulled her daughter out of school, and took the risk of leaving her sleepy home city for Asia’s mega city of Hong Kong.
From then on, life was different. Suddenly, she was in a job she loved, and she no longer had to struggle to make ends meet, but there was still one thing missing. Love.
Optimistic, Jules began internet dating, and unwittingly invited a new kind of trouble into her life. Was it her trusting nature? Her naïveté? Or was it simply her desperate desire to share her life with someone that made her take the risks that almost cost her life?
Author Bio:
Jules grew up in rural South Australia before moving to Adelaide, the state’s capital city, where she began her career as a teacher. She is now living in Hong Kong, the setting of her first book “Fool Me Twice”, which details the dangers and pitfalls she experienced in her search for love online.
Jules started writing her book over eight years ago when she was involved in an internet dating scam. She decided that this was an important story to assist other women not to get caught in the same trap and to help them make safer, smarter decisions when using internet dating platforms. It took a significant amount of time for her have the courage to share her own story, after battling with the shame of her own choices, which landed her in a dangerous situation that she counts herself lucky to have survived.
Jules has always had a passion for people and their stories, so she started her own podcast “Hong Kong Confidential” to provide a platform for the interesting and important stories of the people in Hong Kong. Just as she knows the importance of honouring the stories she shares on her podcast, she feels that her story can make an important contribution to the safety of those navigating the complicated – and sometimes illusionary – internet dating world.