The mother of three young children, Susan Maushart holds three degrees in communication arts and sciences, including a PhD from New York University. She migrated to Australia from the United States in 1986 where, among other positions, she has worked as a communications consultant, stand-up comedy writer, and academic. In 1994, her first book, Sort of a Place Like Home, a history of the Moore River Native Settlement, won the Festival Prize for Literature (nonfiction) at the Adelaide Writers Festival. Her second book, the bestselling The Mask of Motherhood, was hailed by The Sunday Times of London as a feminist classic. Maushart is a senior research associate in the School of Social Sciences at Curtin University, and her essays and reviews have appeared in a host of Australian and international publications. She is currently a featured columnist in Parents and Australian Magazine, and is writing a book about marriage.