Layne Beachley's story is about the skinny little girl who overcame a king tide of obstacles, from chronic fatigue and depression to debilitating injury and family tragedy, to become an icon in the male-dominated world of competitive surfing. Winner of a record seven women's world championships, she also blazed trails in the mountainous waves of Hawaii's outer reefs, earning respect where it mattered most - in the water. Beneath the surface of the happy, positive public persona is a story of loss, redemption and the search for identity, revealing the details of how Layne and her birth mother, Maggie, found each other twenty-seven years after her birth, the highs and many lows in their quest for reconciliation and the dark secret of Maggie's past. It is also a love story, describing how Layne fell in and out of love with Hawaiian big-wave rider Ken Bradshaw and found true happiness with INXS rock star Kirk Pengilly.

About the Author

Michael Gordon joined The Age as a 17-year-old cadet and has worked for the paper for more than two decades in roles ranging from surf writer and sports editor to national editor and deputy editor of The Sunday Age. He has also been New York correspondent for the Melbourne Herald and political editor of The Australian. A Walkley award winner, his books include A True Believer, Paul Keating; Reconciliation, A Journey; and Freeing Ali, the Human Face of the Pacific Solution. In March 2006, Michael Gordon won the 2005 Graham Perkin Award for Journalist of The Year for journalistic excellence for his report in April 2005 of the 'forgotten' 54 refugees detained on Nauru. In February 2007, Michael was appointed Saturday editor.

Reviews

Conceived through rape and adopted out, the tomboyish, small-statured champion surfer Layne Beachley had, from the outset, a deep-seated motivation for succeeding: 'When Dad told me I was adopted, that was when I decided I was going to be the best in the world at something, anything ... because that would earn me the love and respect of someone.' In fact, despite being one of the most successful female surfers in the world with seven world titles to her name, a successful clothing line, media career, and a foundation set up to help other girls achieve their dreams, Beachley's life and career have been hard-fought. Her adoptive mother died when she was just six, she lost her stepmother to cancer, and she had to repeatedly overcome potentially career-ending injuries to win the titles. Featuring in-depth interviews with family, friends, mentors, and competitors, Beneath the Waves offers a raw insight into what it takes to make a champion. Its appeal reaches beyond girls interested in surfing to a broader reading demographic and, with Beachley's career not yet over, the journey isn't finished. In the interim, 'the ocean will continue to be her office, sunscreen her make-up, and a bikini her uniform.' Fiona Crawford is a Brisbane-based writer, editor, proofreader, and sports fanatic