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Carolyn Gilpin lives in Melbourne, Australia with her husband and assorted family of adopted animals: two dogs, two cats & five chooks (chickens for the non-Aussies!).
She presently works full-time as a receptionist in the disability field, mainly with people with ABI – Acquired Brain Injury.
Her previous careers include working with Thoroughbred horses around Australia and in Ireland; working in bookstores and customer service for a major publisher; and working for a fantastic not-for-profit organisation called BrainLink, helping people with ABI and their families.
Carolyn has travelled widely, including all over Australia and New Zealand as a child with her parents; and then Ireland, South America, SE Asia, including a bike tour of Cambodia, and an amazing trip on the Trans-Mongolian railway (think Trans-Siberian but starting in Beijing and crossing Mongolia to reach Siberia!).
She has had many travel stories, non-fiction articles and book reviews published in various magazines and newspapers. She also enjoys writing short stories and children’s picture book manuscripts.
Facing Up is her first young adult novel.
Reviewed by Jack Magnus for Readers' Favorite
Facing Up is a young adult coming of age story written by Carolyn Gilpin. Carly is one of thousands of young adults attending university, but she feels isolated and oh, so different from everyone else. One side of her face is scarred from a disastrous car accident that she was in while at high school. It left her with scars, a crushed cheekbone and hundreds of shards of glass which will work their way out of her skin over time. The plastic surgery that can restore some normalcy to her appearance cannot be scheduled until those shards of glass are gone. Even more troubling for Carly is the guilt she feels over surviving the crash and the visions that keep replaying themselves whether she's awake or asleep. She's not quite sure if she was to blame for the accident, and the uncertainty eats at her.
Carolyn Gilpin's coming of age story, Facing Up, is a joy to read. This may sound odd considering Carly's trauma and emotional suffering, but despite all of the challenges Carly faces, I couldn't help but be delighted to get to know this skeptical and self-effacing heroine. She's a phenomenal character, even with all her prickly self-defensive maneuvers, or perhaps in part because of them. I had such a grand time reading Facing Up. It reads beautifully and the supporting characters are well-defined and real, especially Suzy, Tim, Carly's nurse, Magda, and her therapist, Nina. Gilpin also addresses the potential impact of traumatic brain injuries and PTSD in this life-affirming and very special book. Facing Up is most highly recommended.
