Lil and I had been friends for ages. We spent most of our schooling years together. We were very close and as all friends have their differences, we used to work through ours and they made our friendship stronger. So when I started sleeping with her brother I felt like the worst person in the […]

I’d already had quite a gruelling year. I’d travelled overseas, had a good dose of measles, turned eighteen and there was the sudden death of my best friend — so career choices certainly weren’t on my list of priorities. Once things settled down I began seriously thinking about what I ought to be doing — […]

I had been envious of my friend Susan for years. No matter what I did in life it never managed to measure up to whatever she was doing. My family was good, her family was great; I was fairly attractive, she was drop-dead gorgeous; I did well academically, she did better. You get the picture. […]

A number of years ago I found out my husband was having an affair with his secretary. I was devastated; we had been married for 15 years and had four delightful children — three girls and a boy. We had a lovely home and good friends. We had both been overseas together to Europe, England […]

My whole life I have been jealous of my identical twin sister. Ever since we were little she has been better than me, smarter and more popular. At high school she got red house captain while I got vice. In our VCE results she got the perfect score that she was hoping for while I […]

I had started a new job and had only been there two days when Phil walked past me in the hall and smiled. He was absolutely handsome and my heart melted there and then. I knew I was going to enjoy this job. After my third day, he e-mailed me and asked if I was […]

It all started at a cocktail party at my boss’s house. Rob (who is about seven or eight years older than me) had about 30 guests over to his apartment for what was meant to be a quiet birthday party. I didn’t know most of the people there and, as usual, I spent too much […]

My friend and I had a very close friendship throughout school and beyond. A few years ago we both attended the same training course, at the end of which only five employment places were given. Being a bit cocky and thinking I was a natural success in anything I set my mind to, I sailed […]

Tom and I dated for only four weeks before we married. It didn’t seem to matter at the time as we were soul mates. However, a few months into the marriage I wondered about the wisdom of this. Night after night he would return home late from work explaining that he’d been visiting his elderly […]

I first met Thomas at work. He was handsome, flirtatious and oozed charisma. He was also married. My friendship with Thomas started innocently enough. We’d have coffee or a drink together after work. Sometimes we went out with work colleagues, sometimes alone. I enjoyed our conversations and his casual flirting but figured he was married […]

As a single mum studying part-time making ends meet had become nearly impossible. I tried every home-based job going around — from stuffing envelopes to Internet marketing. I couldn’t afford childcare and my family lived interstate. All my friends were too busy with their own children to mind my twin pre-schoolers, so working outside the […]

I met John and everything was perfect. He was handsome, kind, loving, giving — the list just went on. That was until I met his mother, Marion. Oh, she was just lovely to me in front of John but behind his back it was another story. She constantly told me I wasn’t good enough for […]

My best friend Sara and I had been friends for years. We went to high school and university together and shared all our secrets with each other. My friend was always falling in and out of love with guys. So I thought nothing of it when she met Ed and said that she had fallen […]

One day, shortly after I had ended my seven-year marriage, my best friend sent a group e-mail and I noticed that her brother’s e-mail address was on there. Her brother and I had been attracted to each other since the age of 15 and flirted outrageously whenever we saw each other. I decided to send […]

I had been working for the same company for approximately seven years. It was always a bit of a boy’s club and I had to work hard to prove myself and move up the ranks. Working in information technology, there is always fresh blood coming through and this tends to make everyone competitive and insecure […]

When we were younger my sister and I were like chalk and cheese. She was beautiful and admired by all the boys while I struggled with acne and my weight. I was insanely jealous of her but immersed myself in school and university. My hard work soon paid off when I was offered a job […]

A few years ago I had a great job working for a small business owner. I was also playing rugby, hitting the nightclubs and generally having a blast being young and single. Playing rugby on the weekends was definitely a highlight of my week and I was playing so well and improving so much that […]

I’ve always loved wearing the latest fashions. I love the reaction I get from friends when I wear a new outfit and I love looking in the mirror and seeing a stylish woman. It doesn’t matter whether the latest fashion is thigh-high boots or thongs, low-cut jeans or mini-skirts — I’ll buy them all. My […]

I was working in a boring, underpaid job as a receptionist. Every day the building manager would come and visit me to chat and to see how things were going on our floor. I would get him free coffee and biscuits and just enjoy his lovely company. The only thing was, he was 52 and […]

There was an ongoing joke in my family that I had been adopted. Neither my older sister nor I looked like either of my parents, however it was my flaming red hair and pale, freckle-less skin that definitely made me an original in the family. My long-legged limbs also stood out when surrounded by short, […]

When I was at university a close friend of mine, Kylie, got engaged. Not only was I to be a bridesmaid at her wedding but I also had the pleasure of organising her hen’s night. We were typically rowdy 23-year-olds and of course the night — complete with three male strippers — got completely out […]

Ever since I was a teenager, I have had a thing for country music stars. Well, musicians in general. I suppose I like the idea of fame and fortune. There is something that makes them stand apart from normal guys. This never translated into my love life, however, and I have never gone out with […]

I’ve never been very lucky in love. I’ve gone from one failed relationship to the next, which is definitely not a good way to be. One year I made a New Year’s resolution to go without men for six months. I made it to two before I was back to my old bad habits. This […]

Some years ago our family decided to buy a computer. It was funny, really. None of us had ever used one before yet somehow we got a very quick grasp of the Internet. I was particularly delighted at being able to chat to men from interstate and overseas. It was all good fun and much […]

We were young and had what others perceived as the perfect relationship. Within 18 months of meeting, Tom and I married. Both of us had great careers, we’d purchased our own home and on the outside, everything looked perfect. Inside, things were so much different. I was diagnosed with depression after Tom and I had […]

Growing up, my sister and I were close but very different. I was really into partying and the social scene. However, my sister had really low self-esteem and locked herself away with her school books for company. She used to tell me how sad she was and I took this to heart. I hated seeing […]

I have always liked writing mystery letters to handsome strangers. Some people like to jump out of airplanes, some people bungee off bridges, but there’s nothing like the suspense of posting a cheeky letter off and seeing what happens next. It’s always been a fun way to pass the time for me. Anyone that happens […]

I’ve never known a lot about wine. My wife is something of a connoisseur and early in our marriage I committed what is considered a cardinal sin among the wine set. My wife was out with the girls and I had a mate over for a few drinks. We had worked through our case of […]

During the 80s I worked in Italy with a company that hired Bulgarian artists to work in nightclubs. My job was to travel to Sofia, the capital of Bulgaria, and engage singers, dancers, jugglers and other performers and arrange the necessary papers with the Bulgarian government so they could come and work in Italy on […]

My new flatmate seemed friendly enough on our first few meetings so my boyfriend Tom and I were happy to invite him into our home. We were under the false impression that Mark was a decent, honest and respectful person. As it turned out, we were very wrong. Our flatmate Mark was selfish and without […]

Like many young Australians in their 20s, my mate Rob and I wanted to do some serious travelling before we settled into career mode. We had just finished uni and spent all our holidays working and saving our pennies to finance the trip of a lifetime. We had big plans. First we would backpack through […]

My husband and I always worked hard for the comfortable life. Neither of us had any problems with 12-hour days and no weekends. This all changed, for me at least, when I fell pregnant with my first baby. I worked until two days before I gave birth and decked out the spare room as the […]

I spent many long, hard hours over the first five years of my marriage trying to build a business for my husband and myself. Unbeknown to me, he had been bankrupt twice and had few employable skills, so I established a business using mine. He was to do the selling. After mortgaging, pawning and losing […]

It was just another beautiful weekend; waking up beside my man of a year-and-a-half — except something was different now. Every morning that I woke up with him from this day on would now be a lie. I had done the worst thing. Tom and I met through a mutual friend and we hit it […]

Three weeks after our engagement party I saw my fiancé Tessa in the arms of another man outside her work. I had planned to surprise her for lunch. When I pulled up I saw her talking to a well-built man with blonde hair and sunglasses on. A few seconds later I realised it was her […]

I went back to work after six months of maternity leave, although the company I worked for had relocated to a suburb about a half hour’s drive from home. I soon loved working there. There was a gym located next door to the new office and the majority of their staff were good-looking males. Most […]

Just married and embarking on our own business, my husband Jack and I were excited and optimistic about our future. Jack and I bought a panel shop in the suburbs since this was his previous occupation and lifelong dream. I wanted the job of receptionist so I could be with my husband every day. But […]

I worked for some years for a freight company in the city. I had taken the job more out of necessity than anything else and I didn’t really like it. My boss was a lady by the name of Jenny, who enjoyed socialising with the male staff — if you know what I mean. It […]

Suzy and I have been friends since high school. We complement each other perfectly and the only subject that we had ever really disagreed on was boyfriends. Hers in particular. Ever since she started noticing guys, she has been attracted to the “bad boys” and the worst of her boyfriends was Jeff. He drank too […]

I had always had a problem with my weight but managed to keep it under control throughout my teens and until I was 23. After a four year relationship, my fiancé Mike and I split up for minor reasons and I was devastated. I lost contact with a lot of my friends and food became […]

I had just moved to the city, found myself a cute little apartment and begun the tiresome chore of unpacking. While cleaning out the drawers in the main bedroom, the bottom drawer base slipped out to reveal a secret hiding spot containing two shoeboxes and a diary. They’d been left behind by the last tenant […]

A while back in my early 20s I was working in a very large corporation headed by a very serious and uptight CEO. Thomas was a distinguished looking man in his mid 50s and seemed like the type of person that had never done anything out of line or remotely spontaneous in his life. He […]

At school I was skinny with braces on my teeth and fairly average in looks. I wasn’t even able to find a date for the school dance, so I feigned illness and didn’t attend. Secretly I longed for one particular guy, Mike. He was a super-cool surfer type and lived quite close to me. Although […]

I had been going out with a guy for a few months when he asked to borrow about $500 from me. Being smitten, I gladly lent the money, sure that I would see it again. When he hadn’t called after a few days, I tried to get in contact with him. As he was living […]

Rearing a child alone is no easy task. By the time my daughter reached school age, I realised I had to find a way to earn a decent living, so I returned to university to gain a teaching qualification. As part of the course I was placed for a number of weeks at a secondary […]

Several years ago, when I was single, I had just enough money each payday to pay my rent, bills and buy food. A friend of mine, Jill, was doing really well in her job and I was envious of the income she was earning compared to my measly amount. The fact that she was several […]

I have been brought up in a strict Italian Catholic family. My whole life has been organised from day one, including my arranged marriage. When I was growing up I was always the one to miss out on fun activities with my friends and fellow students, as my father thought a young lady should be […]

I had known David for years; not well, but well enough to know a lot about him and his lifestyle. He was a man I could not respect, a well-heeled, very social, party-loving type. Good looking and free living, he was very popular. He had an established professional career, an income to die for and […]

I had always been fairly lucky in love. I would end up with nice guys, ultimately not “the one”, but good guys. My girlfriends warned me that one day I was sure to get burnt, that my winning streak in love couldn’t last. They were right. When I met Tom in April, very quickly I […]

After graduating from university with honours, I decided to head overseas for a year’s break before starting work at a law firm. My choice of destination: New Zealand. I had no idea what I would do when I got there, apart from having fun and letting loose. After several months of travelling around, my savings […]

When I innocently swapped e-mail addresses with my best friend’s boyfriend to plan a surprise birthday party for her, I never dreamt things could turn out so wrong. Tom soon contacted me to discuss Trish’s birthday, which was fine. However, as e-mails flowed back and forth, we found ourselves generally chit-chatting about anything and everything. […]

Everyone has a thrill seeker inside. There are many extreme sports, but my favourite is rock-climbing. I love introducing people to this fun activity, which is why I became an instructor. Some might say I’m a stickler for the rules, but I always have more fun when I know that nothing will go wrong. What […]

When my daughter was 19 she met a charming guy named Jeff. He took her out every Friday night and spoke to her on the telephone every other day. They spent hours on the phone because he lived too far away to just drop in. She was glowing with happiness. She said he was “the […]

When I got married more than 20 years ago, I had a good career in the city and just assumed my life would continue that way. My husband Brian had grown up in the country and was overjoyed when he received a transfer in his job to a small country town near his home town. […]

My husband and I had decided to return with our two teenage children to my country of birth, Australia. There had been problems with my husband’s visa, so he was staying in England to tie up loose ends, such as selling the house. It all started at my leaving party; I met this really nice […]

Suddenly, only a few weeks after my father died, my mother started to receive phone calls from some of his workmates. She confessed she was extremely uncomfortable about it. Most of the people ringing she did not know and a few calls were invitations to go out for a drink — these were from people […]

Sally and I have been best friends since we were in year one together. We were next to each other in roll call as both of our last names begin with “t”. We shared everything — dolls, sandwiches and secrets, the way little girls do. We told each other everything and promised to be best […]

As I grew up, there was little stability in my life and I had little confidence in what the future would bring. My father left my mother and me for another woman when I was just two. My poor mother never came to terms with the devastation of losing the family for which she had […]

Fifteen years ago I married a wonderful man who already had one child. He had lost his wife in an accident a few years earlier. A year after the wedding I gave birth to our son. I don’t know if I was prepared for a ready-made family. Having my own baby made me realise how […]

When I was 18 years old I had an unplanned pregnancy. I had been with my boyfriend for three years and like all girls at that age, I thought he was the one. When I found out I was pregnant, I was devastated. I was shocked by my boyfriend’s response. He was elated and on […]

I am the eldest child of four and a fraternal twin in a loving Italian family. However, it always annoyed me that Anna (my younger twin by three minutes) was deemed the “beautiful” one out of all the children. Anna was definitely Dad’s favourite; spoilt by him and encouraged by him to take modelling, singing, […]

I was feeling down one Monday and decided to take a drive across town to visit my girlfriend Debbie. I wasn’t sure whether she would be home, as I hadn’t rung to find out. I just thought I would lob up on her doorstep for a coffee and chat. To my surprise, when I arrived […]

Five years ago I met a wonderful man who literally swept me off my feet, and in a matter of months we were engaged to be married. It was the most wonderful and busy time of my life. Every waking moment was spent organising the wedding, which was going to be a large “event” with […]

My younger sister Sandy and I had always been close. When she was 18 she ended a relationship with her high school sweetheart and fell straight into the arms of Joe, a 31-year-old man. At first she seemed really happy, but then I noticed her changing for the worse. She told me she had started […]

I was 16 and had fallen pregnant to a guy who I thought would support and love me forever — he didn’t and left when I was eight months pregnant. After being a single mother for a long time, I found a beautiful guy who was not only loving to me but also to my […]

I had just moved from the city to the outer suburbs and was looking for work in my chosen profession. I found the salaries offered to be less than adequate and accepted a position offering a paltry salary with the written promise of a wage increase if all targets were met within the next 12 […]

Moving into a rental property while we were looking for a new house to buy, I found in the backyard what I believed to be a very sick stray cat. Its coat was all matted; it walked with a limp and was incredibly thin and frail. Feeling sorry for the cat, I looked for a […]

Rob and I married in 1994 and were happy raising our three daughters. But a few years ago Rob began to change. He bought a motorbike, shaved his head, covered himself in tattoos and started to hang around with a mob of rough bikies. I knew he was smoking marijuana but as he never did […]

I met my girlfriend two years ago while holidaying in Bali. We connected immediately and I found myself spending most of my time with her. When my two weeks were up I found it difficult to leave and I knew I wanted to see Beth again, and she felt the same. When I got back […]

I was 21 years old and a happy young woman. I had a dream job at a television station and great friends and family. I had previously had several boyfriends and flings, but nothing that was serious and that was the way I liked it. However, one night I was at the pub with some […]

Jeff, my boyfriend, was a very talented painter and was held in great esteem at our high school, where he had already won many awards. But it was the end of year arts festival competition that he wanted to win the most. The prize was $5000! More importantly, Jeff knew that winning would be the […]

I am 29 years old. I have four children from my marriage, which ended six months ago when my husband decided he preferred the company of men. I always felt and stated that he was more like my best girlfriend than a husband and provider. Got to love those gut instincts! As a high-profile couple […]

One of my closest friends got married a year ago. Mark had been dating Kate for three years and he always spoke about her so clumsily, you could see how happy he was to have found her. Two nights before the wedding, I was out with work friends at a private party. When I walked […]

I was ecstatic when Andrew agreed to go out with me. I had been crazy about him ever since our boss Lucy had introduced me to the new boy at work two weeks before. I tried every trick to let him know I was interested, yet he seemed oblivious to my flirting. Finally, out of […]

A large number of people would have heard stories of employees getting back at their employers, but this really tops it all. The story starts a few years ago when I had just enrolled in a Master’s course at Uni. Everything was like a new beginning to me, a brand new chapter in my life. […]

I’ve always been a fair-skinned girl. I’ve tried the solarium and used every fake tan under the sun but nothing has given me the golden brown I desire. One of my friends, Kate, always made jokes about my tanning disasters. She’d constantly bring up the “nasty streak on my leg” or my likeness to an […]

My mum and I have always been close. We look very similar, sound alike and share the same name. So from a young age, I had asked her questions about her younger days. In particular, I knew about “the love of [her] life” — as she always called him — Henry. While my dad has […]

My sister had recently bought a brand new, expensive laptop computer after months and months of saving. I couldn’t wait to get on it, so when she was out one day I slipped into her room and went on the Internet. I was searching for some information on a project I was doing at uni, […]

My mother and I are very close. She’s 40-years-old and I’m 20. We have gone through a lot together, and do fight, but we still remain the best of friends. One day, she splurged on a fantastic top, which she bought from Myer for $150. It was the most beautiful thing I had ever seen. […]

A year ago, I traveled to America to become an au pair, where you live in another’s home and care for their children. I was lucky to be working for a lovely family, who owned a nice house and a car that I was allowed full use of. One day, I was asked to pick […]

I met Matt about six months after I had fled Adelaide. When we were introduced, I was still giddy with the excitement of leaving my past behind to begin a brand new life. I loved his bright, cheeky smile and blue eyes, but it was his manner that impressed me the most. He was sweet, […]

When I left my job and moved in with my boyfriend, our cash flow began to be a bit of a problem. Going from two incomes to one wasn’t as easy as we planned. So when a family member offered me the opportunity to clean her house twice a week for extra money, I jumped […]

Each day I worked hard at my low-paying job, trying my best to make ends meet. Then the credit card bills arrived. I owed more than $500 and the payments were long overdue. I took a walk to let it slowly slip my mind. I walked around to my Grandma’s place, which is often a […]

For a Brit, arriving in Australia is like arriving in a parallel universe where everything is better. The weather, the people, the cities, the food are all amazing and so much better than back home. I had always wanted to travel Down Under but never seemed to be able to get the savings together. But […]

Ten years ago, after my first marriage had broken up, my self-esteem was in tatters. Not only had my husband spent 14 years putting me down by saying I was unattractive, but after having had three young children, my breasts looked like two shriveled-up balloons. I couldn’t imagine ever showing my body to another man. […]

My sisters and I and some friends all went on a big shopping spree in Melbourne a few years ago. On the second last day of our week in Melbourne, we all decided to split up and go our separate ways to score the bargains we’d each had our eyes on. I had my heart […]

A few years ago, a friend who had to attend a work party asked me if I would mind taking care of her children for the night. I gladly said yes, unaware of what I was getting myself into. Her two children, aged nine and seven, turned out to be real horrors and I had […]

I once was employed as the cleaner of a big holiday home that was near where I lived in the country. It was a pleasure to look after such a nice place. The owners from the city would spend their weekends there. The house had spacious lounge rooms with enormous paintings on the walls, bedrooms […]

My grandmother on my mother’s side passed away before I was born, so I never had the privilege of meeting her. She died after a long battle with cancer and my mother and her siblings were devastated by her death. Just six months later, my grandfather remarried. The woman he married was a lot younger […]

My sister and I are two years apart in age so we have always had the same group of friends. When she was 18 she started seeing my boyfriend’s best friend and we spent even more time together. My sister and her boyfriend, Will, had been together for about six years when she confided in […]

Eight years ago my long-term boyfriend and I broke up under amicable circumstances. He seemed to move right on to a new relationship but I sat around the house wondering how I was ever going to meet anyone new. At the age of 40 I felt I was past my prime and I didn’t have […]

My main ambition in life is to become a TV newsreader or presenter — maybe the next Sandra Sully or Catriona Rowntree. I’m dedicated to achieving my goals. I recently graduated from Griffith University in Brisbane after completing an art and communications course. And what an eventful four years I had! I was forced to […]

Through my eyes, my sister Lisa had it all. She was beautiful, with a perfect figure, shiny blonde hair and an amazing, committed boyfriend, Harry. I’d always been jealous of Lisa while growing up, always wondering why I had not been blessed in the way she was. Compared to her, I was ordinary. I had […]

Just before World War II, I married my sweetheart, Daniel. We had a small ceremony and shared two weeks of wedded bliss before he was sent off to the war. I would get letters from my love nearly every week and I missed him terribly. Four months after Daniel had left, I received a telegram. […]

After going straight from university to a career in information technology, I was looking for a bit of a change in my life. I was making good money and had lots of friends, but something was missing – adventure! I’d always had a romantic fascination with the outback. With dreams of working hard on the […]

My boss Peter was a good-looking man. Forty years old, tall, muscular and with honey blond hair that hadn’t yet greyed, he had gorgeous sapphire blue eyes that made you buckle at the knees. He had plenty of charm and wit to match – a real ladykiller. Supposedly happily married, Peter had managed – at […]

Ever since I was a little girl I’ve dreamt of meeting the man of my dreams and having four children. When I met Nathan through my work he was everything I wanted – funny, intelligent, sophisticated. But most of all, he wanted me too. Nathan and I had been dating for three years, and I […]

When those little voices inside your head tell you what you’re doing is wrong, you’d think you would listen to them. Your conscience is obviously trying to tell you something for a reason, so why is it we choose to ignore these voices? Being 23 and in love, I had followed my boyfriend Zack to […]

Studying art for my HSC was challenging, but I found I enjoyed painting so much that I knew it was what I wanted to do for the rest of my life. After finishing school I began an art course at the local TAFE. Just two weeks into the semester I could already tell I was […]