Mood - Bellamy Roz

Mood is a memoir that perfectly suits our times, and our collective journey to understand how we are shaped by our identities. It is a testament to hard-won growth through self-knowledge.

Roz Bellamy is a first-generation Jewish Australian who identifies as non-binary. They met their wife, Rachel, as a university student, as the pair made their first tentative forays into queer culture - and fell in love - through a Buffy the Vampire Slayer online message board. As a young teacher, Roz's longstanding anxiety intensified, as past trauma of being bullied in their own schooldays and the creeping toll of antisemitism in the classroom undermined their burning desire to be the 'perfect' teacher.

Therapy to treat their distress became a deeper inquiry. As Roz began to investigate and unfurl the various strands of their identity, and how they intersect to make them who they are, they were handed more pieces of the puzzle.

Mood is a story about love, family and self-fulfilment, while living with mental illness. It's also a candid, absorbing inquiry into the self, and the rewards of embracing who you are, in all its complexity and contradictions. Even - especially - when it's hard.