Not Quite Ripe: A Memoir
Celebrity Memoir Australian Biography Music Memoir Addiction & Recovery Women's Autobiography Performing Arts Television History
Not Quite Ripe: A Memoir is the unflinching, bestselling autobiography of Australian entertainment icon Debra Byrne—singer, TV star of Young Talent Time, Logie winner and original cast member of Cats and Les Misérables in London’s West End. This 2008 Pan Macmillan first-edition paperback, signed by Byrne herself, traces her rise from a suburban Melbourne childhood to national fame at thirteen, then through the dizzying heights of international theatre and the brutal lows of addiction, rehab and single motherhood. Written with raw honesty and sharp humour, the 496-page narrative captures the glitter and grit of 1970-90s Australian show-business and the resilience required to survive it.
Collectors prize this edition for its author signature and the candid, first-hand account of Australia’s pop-culture golden age. Unlike sanitised celebrity memoirs, Byrne reveals the off-camera battles—media intrusion, record-company politics, and her fight for custody—making the book a touchstone for fans of true-life redemption stories and local music history. The generous page count and larger-size format (200 mm height) give the storytelling room to breathe, while the tight, unread binding ensures the volume feels as fresh as the day it left the warehouse.
Condition notes: faint rippling to the leading corner of the first few leaves (common with this stock), otherwise pristine—no dog-ears, no ex-library stamps, no inscriptions from anyone but the author. For readers hunting a signed, first-hand Australian memoir that combines nostalgia, music lore and hard-won wisdom, this copy of Not Quite Ripe is ready to shelve or gift straight out of the parcel.
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