Melinda Edwards Announces SAVING VIRGINIA

Virginia Goodall is a control-freak lawyer who quickly realizes she doesn't have it all figured out. So was Melinda Edwards. The only glaring difference is that Virginia Goodall is a fictional book character while Melinda Edwards is the author who created her in the new book "Saving Virginia."

"As a perfectionist, control-freak lawyer myself, I found the experiences of self-destructive teenagers, my own divorce, a suddenly empty nest and a forced career transition challenging," Edwards said. "The experiences Virginia has and the realizations she comes to are similar to my own life story."

Edwards began her career as a litigator at a Brisbane, Australia, law firm before entering academia as a professor of law at Queensland University of Technology where she taught courses in mediation, negotiation and conflict resolution. In 2013, Edwards retired from teaching to focus her attention on her social enterprise business and new career as a writer and professional speaker.

"The personal search for meaning that I embarked upon as a result of some major life changes-and the unexpected places that search took me-are all themes for this book," Edwards said. "When the rubber hits the road in your life and your relationships, being brave enough to make yourself vulnerable and surrender entrenched habits of control is a really hard thing to do."

"Saving Virginia" finds the main character confronting the realization that she, like all of us, actually has very little say over anything in the universe, except herself. The story follows her journey to find happiness, which eventually takes her to the Kingdom of Bhutan, renowned for being one of the happiest places on earth.

"Through this book I hope to encourage people to look for their new definition of happiness within, rather than without, by connecting with their inner wisdom, not the 'achieve, compete, acquire, consume' treadmill we are bombarded with in the modern world," Edwards said. "You'll be happier if you stop trying so ridiculously hard to achieve someone else's idea of happiness."

For more information, visit http://www.mewise.com.au.

Saving Virginia
By Melinda Edwards
ISBN: 978-1-4525-2409-2
Available in softcover and e-book on Amazon, Barnes & Noble and BalboaPress online bookstores

About the author
After 20 years of authoring legal textbooks, "Saving Virginia" is Melinda Edwards' first novel, fulfilling her lifetime goal to, "write a book that people actually want to read." Melinda is also managing director of MeWise Pty Ltd, a social enterprise company teaching conflict resolution around the world. When she is not teaching or consulting, she lives with her husband on the Gold Coast of Queensland, Australia.

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