The August Months

‘‘This morning, I want you to think about your drinking and drugging.’

There is an appreciative titter from the group. The counsellor leans forward on her chair looking at the faces of the women who sit in a half-circle around her.

‘I want you to think about what it was like before you were drinking and drugging, what happened, and what it is like now.’ 

Before, during, after. I don’t want to think about my drinking, thinks Em. I want to think about Dylan.

(Chapter 6, ‘The August Months’)

This is Em's introduction to treatment for her alcoholism, coupled with the stark recognition that she has a drinking problem. It is the experience of motherhood which has brought her to her knees; its joyous fulfilment having culminated in heartbreak. 


Her addiction has taken her from a comfortable middle class existence into a women's rehabilitation centre on the outskirts of Melbourne. Here she is faced with a group of women whom she would normally never associate with and is forced to look long and hard at the circumstances which have brought her to this place. As a mother whose life has been devastated by a family tragedy, Em’s life is in chaos; during the six weeks she spends at the centre, she must try and achieve a level of coping where she no longer resorts to alcohol and drugs as a solution to her problems.


In the process, she meets Mar, an artist who is currently employed in an anti-drug advertising campaign at the rehab. Not without her own problems, Mar sustains a dream of eventually living a more creative and rewarding life as a full-time painter. Sensing common interests, Em subsequently introduces Mar to her niece, Phoebe, who is studying art and design. Despite their age differences and diverse personalities, the women bond in a friendship which continues beyond the confines of the treatment centre. Mar, in particular, benefits greatly from her relationship with Em regarding her own personal situation and family issues. Phoebe, as the young student attending a fairly radical art college, eagerly shares her ideas and objectives with Mar, culminating with both exploring new directions based on their individual artistic styles.



Set in Melbourne and Port Douglas in the late 1980s, the story centres round these dissimilar characters and traces their separate journeys over a year-long period through grief and despair to new and positive directions. Em’s family; her husband, Kevin, her brother, Peter, and his daughter, Phoebe, form part of a life which she desperately yearns for to be back on track. At the rehabilitation centre, she has learned of the AA recovery program which offers a solution as well as the recognition of so many factors in her life which have been contributing factors to her alcoholism. More importantly, for the first time, Em is able to see the specific links between what happened to her and what happened to her son, and motivated by optimism, begins to move forward in a new direction. While it brings uncertainty, unpredictability and unfamiliarity, it also offers hope, sustainability and inspiration within the context of a previously unimagined life of happiness and creative fulfilment.


‘The August Months’ provides an affirmative interpretation of a family torn apart through tragedy. Confronting and illuminating, this is a novel which inspires, uplifts, and offers solutions for those who struggle with addiction and its frequently devastating consequences.



About the Author: 

Steffie Wallace was born in Adelaide and has lived in Melbourne since childhood. In addition to being employed in the medical field over a number of years, she has worked as an art journalist, gallery director and marketing manager. Her studies have included fine art, sociology and media studies. Now a full-time artist, she exhibits her landscape paintings in Australia and overseas.

Read more about Steffie at:
www.steffiewallacevisualart.com.