Short & Sometimes Sweet reflects a long and varied life: from childhood memories of the Second World War to the travails and pleasures of old age. Born in England in the Great Depression years, Mary Jenkins’s education was basic, interrupted by the war and her evacuation to Wales. Gough Whitlam gave Mary her life-changing educational opportunities. She completed a PhD in Tasmania in her seventies after living and travelling in France, Switzerland and Sweden. Her varied life experiences include work as an au pair, a policewoman, a matrimonial court officer, as a model, a casual university lecturer, an associate builder in Cohousing and a home builder…amongst other things. Mary Jenkins now lives and writes in Tasmania.