Our Green Change by Australian author Sandra Radice is her first published memoir.
Breaking away from the stress, rush and pressures of modern city life and escaping to a sunny tropical island sounds like an idyllic fantasy.
Most people acknowledge that it’s just a fantasy and would never pursue the idea. But, Sandra Radice, her husband Tyron, and daughter Taylor did just that on their quest to live an eco-friendlier way.
Relocating from Sydney to Green Village in the sacred Ayung River, surrounded by the rich Balinese forest, to a serene and undisturbed hamlet that consists of bamboo houses and villas including a reputable Green School was no easy task.
The family discovered there were a lot of lessons to be learned. Not only was it a different way of living but also adapting to the way of Indonesian life such as language, healthcare, the roads and traffic, weather, food, and the spiritual culture.
Sandra Radice offers an insight to climate change while brilliantly weaving together warm and funny stories with her family in Bali. Amongst all the positives there were also the negatives especially when the global pandemic hit and the quest to return home.
Relocation to another country is certainly done through self-discovery, your personality, interests, skills, and strengths, to do this with a family I commend her. Whilst it may not have worked out as she envisioned Sandra and her family have gained so much about themselves and the environment.
The story is a good focus on what is happening in the world today and the future for generations to come. It gives you enough ideas on what you can do now to help. It is an uplifting novel that doesn’t focus on doom and gloom but rather on ways you can make the planet a better place.
The climate crisis is the biggest challenge of our time, and we all have a unique role to play. I loved her attention to help people see how their small part can still make a bigger impact because you are always influencing the people around you and this will pay forward to the people around them, and so on, in the long run.
I am a frequent traveller to Bali, and have visited the world-famous Green School, Green Village, it was an eye-opener, and I was very impressed. What I liked the most is that it is very feasible for those wanting a change, it has a remarkable community with sustainable living and housing. If Bali is in your future travel, I highly recommend visiting this place.
If you are passionate about making a change this book is insightful and a captivating read.
Thank you, Beauty and Lace and Shawline Publishing for the opportunity to read and review.
A selection of our members are reading Our Green Change by Sandra Radice. You can read their reviews below, or add your own thoughts.
My love of books started at a very young age. My mum has always been a reader and encouraged me to read, buying me endless book from classic fairy tales advancing to the world of Enid Blyton, CS Lewis, Louisa May Alcott, Kathryn Kenny, Carolyn Keene, Francine Pascal. In my adult years the list of authors is endless and every room in my house is filled with books.
One of my favourite novels is Narnia which has always has a special place in my heart. I was diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes in 1978 and when I was given this book to read it let me escape to another world where I felt like I was in the book with all the characters, it wasfun and exciting to escape from reality and eased the ups and downs of the disease at such a young age.
In books nothing is impossible and there is endless potential and hundreds of places to explore or being taken to places that are only made up from the authors’ great minds, the past and future to navigate, characters lives you step into taking you on an emotional rollercoaster ride or being scared out of your wits. I can experience things that I can’t in real life because they’re not possible or real. It challenges my perspective and mindset expanding my worldview.
I find joy, comfort and peace with books, many people may not get it, but I know bookworms like me truly understand. Reading makes my heart happy.
Our Green Change by Sandra Radice is a fascinating exploration of the author’s experiences when she, her husband Ty and daughter Taylor decide to move to Bali.
Moving from their busy lives, where they live in an apartment in the convenient cafe society of Bondi, to the jungles of a third world country is no small undertaking. And the one who feels it most is probably Taylor. Not only has she been uprooted from her mainstream school and friends to attend a new, ‘green’, environmentally focused jungle school, she unfortunately begins the family adventure with a broken foot!
This is a touching and endearingly realistic account, filled with humour and self reflection as it chronicles the family’s attempts to try a culturally different and greener way of living. I thoroughly enjoyed it.
Thanks so much for your review Lyn. I’m so pleased you enjoyed learning about all the wonderful aspects of Bali and Green School. With gratitude, Sandra
When Sandra and Ty discovered a school in Bali, aptly name Green School focusing on being eco friendly, they decided to move their with their daughter for 12 months. A costly exercise but one they believed worth experiencing. The school didn’t focus on academics but on the natural environment and all it offers. Living in open air type accommodation in Green Village they get to experience the many facets of different critters who like to merge into the family home in the humid environment. Comforts of leaving Bondi in Sydney to Bali refreshes their energy and they look at option on how to live sustainably. It’s a hard change for theory daughter, Taylor who struggles to settle and finds the schooling tough as she appears more academic than what the school offers.
Pandemic hits after their 12 month time, and when they had signed on for another 12 months. Do they stay and perhaps get locked out of Australia or do they quickly return and look at options here? A sometimes funny, but frustrating story and also a good reality check for us all.
Our Green Change had me at times annoyed at actions being taken but then proud of other things learnt and done.
Hi Denise, thank you for taking the time to read and review my memoir. It means so much to new authors like myself. Feel free to post it to other review sites such as Good Reads and Amazon. Warm regards, Sandra
Our Green Change by Sandra Radice,
What a captivating story to read something fresh and new .
The story is about a small family living in busy Bondi in Sydney , when Sandra comes across an advertisement for a better greener life ln Bali and giving there daughter a whole new concept of living and going to school and being eco friendly.
Sandra and Ty apply to see if they can enrol there daughter Taylor in the Green School and they finally get the news that she is accepted and can start this year .
So the family pack up and leave to start a new life in not so busy Bali and adapt to sustainable living
But everything is different the culture and the way they live will Taylor adapt to her new school will they stay on for another year or will they come back to Sydney Australia..
I really enjoyed reading this story and is a real eye opener to what sounds like a great idea moving to a new country and adapting to live a more sustainable life means .
Dear Lyn, thank you for taking the time to read and review Our Green Change! It means so much to me. I’m so happy you enjoyed it! With gratitude, Sandra
Thanks for your comments Pauline. Knowing you took the time to read and review it means so much. As with any new author, I’d love you to post your review on Good Reads or Amazon if you have time. With gratitude, Sandra
Our Green Change by Sandra Radice is a memoir which follows Sandra, her husband Tyron (Ty) and their 9 year old daughter Taylor from August 2018 until May 2020 as they experience a sea-change from trendy Bondi to Bali. Green School, an ecologically focussed alternative school set in 8 hectares of semi-jungle, 30 minutes southwest of Ubud, lured them with the promise of an exciting change in educational focus for their daughter, and a life experience in a difference country and culture which Sandra and Ty had spoken about in the years prior.
The book describes the highs and lows of the experience for all of them, the learnings and insights from their exposure to Green School and immersion in a very different culture with its colourful festivals and complicated synergy between the simplicity and hardships of life in Bali. Whilst making a 12 month commitment to the change, all three agreed to extend for another year, although the arrival of COVID-19 forced these plans to change and the family returned to Australia in May 2020.
This was an easy to read and enjoyable book. Whilst recounting their own experiences it shone a light on the necessity of being ecologically aware and the importance of living a more thoughtful and “greener” lifestyle for the longevity of planet Earth.
Thank you Beauty and Lace and Shawline Publishing for the opportunity to read and review Our Green Change, which I highly recommend.
Hi Kerry, I so appreciate you taking the time to read and review Our Green Change. It was such a labour of love to put this story on the page…and it means so much to me that you enjoyed it. It would mean so much for me (as with any new author) if you could review the book on Good Reads of Amazon. With gratitude, Sandra
Hi Kerry, I’m so pleased you enjoyed learning about Bali beyond the usual stereotypes, along with some of the environmental aspects of my memoir. It means so much to me that you took the time to read and review it. Feel free to post your review to other sites like Good Reads and Amazon. It really helps emerging writers! With Gratitude, Sandra
Thank you to Beauty and Lace and Shawline Publishing for the opportunity to read and review Our Green Change by Sandra Radice.
This is an unusual story in that the family decide to take a green change to allow their daughter Taylor attend the famous Green School near Ubud in Bali. For me the most unusual part of it was that Taylor is seemly not that invested in the idea of leaving her life and friends in Sydney and moving to Bali to attend the school. However in the end Taylors experiences of living in Bali (after previously being a tourist with her parents and staying at a hotel or resort) make Our Green Change such a compelling story.
The challenges and experiences of Sandra and her husband Ty also make for interesting reading. I am not sure if I could have coped with open-ness of the housing they lived in and the local wildlife and insects! As the family approaches late 2019 and early 2020 things change… we all know why!
Overall I found this to be an interesting and thought provoking book – well worth the read!
Thanks again!
Sending you much gratitude, Deborah, for reading and reviewing Our Green Change. Please pass on your recommendations to friends and family. Word of mouth is so important for new authors. Thanking you kindly, Sandra
Our Green Change is an engaging personal journey to Bali, where the author and family not only learn about their new location, but also themselves and their surroundings.
Green School, the reason for the move, is a school like no other, and this book gives a privileged insight into something the vast majority will never experience.
I liked the way the author took the reader on the journey with her, not only sharing the what but explaining the why. I especially enjoyed learning more about the various festivals and customs that the family engaged in.
The unexpected shortening of the experience due to COVID was a disappointing but unavoidable finish to the journey. I’d love to read a follow on story that details how the family have adapted since their return.
This is an empowering memoir that encourages the reader to step outside of the box and give things a go, who knows, you may end up eating self grown rice for your own dinner.
Hello Jodie, I feel honoured to have my work read and reviewed, thank you kindly! Please pass on your recommendations to family and friends. And feel free to post your review on other sites like Good Reads and Amazon – it means the world to emerging writers like myself. With Gratitude, Sandra
Thank you for choosing me to read Our Green Change. I didn’t think I would like it but I was wrong and found it very interesting to read about the different life the family had to get used to in Bali. The school sounds very different to other schools we’re used to and I hope their daughter enjoyed and benefited from it.
I really enjoyed reading the book ‘our green change’. Its like I was living my own dream of living a sustainable life away from all the chaos we live in now.
The story is a teal eye opener which teaches how a simple yet drastic change can change perspective and our needs.
What impressed me most was how their daughter who was reluctant at first to leave her ‘fun’ life in Sydney behind and how she was all game with this idea at the end.
It was a very interesting read and really enjoyed reading this book.