Intro
Long before I became a book reviewer, I served in the Royal Australian Navy. I've reviewed several military memoirs at Carpe Librum over the years, but today I wanted to shine a spotlight on a powerful memoir coming out this week. Survivor: Life in the SAS by Mark Wales is published by Pan Macmillan tomorrow and you might remember the veteran - and now published author - from the TV show Australian Survivor in 2017. I enjoyed the season immensely and was happy for Wales when he married his on-screen sweetheart Samantha Gash later in 2019.
In 2013, I had the honour of interviewing Major General John Cantwell AO, DSC and in his words, Survivor: Life in the SAS is 'searing, humbling and uplifting... Mark Wales is a true inspiration.'
If you're looking for a moving and inspiring memoir about courage, redemption, transformation and purpose by an honest Australian, look no further.
Blurb
How do you rebuild your life when you've hit rock bottom?Mark Wales thought his life would end in a cornfield in Afghanistan.
Mark and his SAS troops emerged from that scorched battlefield twelve hours later, his mentor gunned down, his dream career now a nightmare. Over four deployments of intense warfighting, Mark watched the line between right and wrong become blurred. When he left the SAS he was adrift, crippled by guilt.
On a mission to rebuild himself, Mark turned his life around. He fought his way into the gates of a US Ivy League business school and into the boardrooms of top-tier international corporations. He spent years navigating failure in a quest to find new meaning in life. With every setback Mark counterattacked, discovering the tactics and tools needed to become more resilient, and to find happiness, belonging and purpose.
Told with gripping suspense, humour and touching warmth, Survivor is Mark's extraordinary life in and out of the SAS, a story of resilience and a testament to the power of transformation.
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| Author Mark Wales |
Bio
As a teenager growing up in the mining towns of Western Australia, Mark Wales had a zealous ambition; to join Australia's most revered military unit, the Special Air Service Regiment (SAS). He achieved his goal, embarking on a professional career that would eventually lead him to Afghanistan. There, as a troop commander in charge of 30 elite soldiers, Mark led combat missions deep behind enemy lines.Today, he is an accomplished corporate speaker, an apparel business founder and owner, and proud family man. Mark lives with his wife Samantha, and young son in the Dandenong Ranges, Victoria. Visit Mark's website for more info www.markwales.com.au
You can seize this book at Booktopia.
