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Mood: A memoir of love, identity and mental health
Mood is a memoir that perfectly suits our times, and our collective journey to understand how we are shaped by our identities. It is a testament to hard-won growth through self-knowledge.
Roz Bellamy is a first-generation Jewish Australian who identifies as non-binary. They met their wife, Rachel, as a university student, as the pair made their first tentative forays into queer culture - and fell in love - through a Buffy the Vampire Slayer online message board. As a young teacher, Roz's longstanding anxiety intensified, as past trauma of being bullied in their own schooldays and the creeping toll of antisemitism in the classroom undermined their burning desire to be the 'perfect' teacher.
Therapy to treat their distress became a deeper inquiry. As Roz began to investigate and unfurl the various strands of their identity, and how they intersect to make them who they are, they were handed more pieces of the puzzle.
Mood is a story about love, family and self-fulfilment, while living with mental illness. It's also a candid, absorbing inquiry into the self, and the rewards of embracing who you are, in all its complexity and contradictions. Even - especially - when it's hard.
Roz Bellamy is a first-generation Jewish Australian who identifies as non-binary. They met their wife, Rachel, as a university student, as the pair made their first tentative forays into queer culture - and fell in love - through a Buffy the Vampire Slayer online message board. As a young teacher, Roz's longstanding anxiety intensified, as past trauma of being bullied in their own schooldays and the creeping toll of antisemitism in the classroom undermined their burning desire to be the 'perfect' teacher.
Therapy to treat their distress became a deeper inquiry. As Roz began to investigate and unfurl the various strands of their identity, and how they intersect to make them who they are, they were handed more pieces of the puzzle.
Mood is a story about love, family and self-fulfilment, while living with mental illness. It's also a candid, absorbing inquiry into the self, and the rewards of embracing who you are, in all its complexity and contradictions. Even - especially - when it's hard.
230 pages, Paperback
Published October 13, 2023
1 person is currently reading
44 people want to read
About the author
Roz Bellamy
7 books21 followersRoz Bellamy is a writer, editor and researcher. Roz’s debut memoir, ‘Mood: A Memoir of Love, Identity and Mental Health', was published in 2023 by Wakefield Press. 'Mood' was shortlisted for the 2024 Shalom Australian Jewish Book Awards.
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
October 14, 2023
A courageous glimpse at life and love through the lens of depression and mental illness. Bellamy will make you laugh, give you hope, and gut you with their honesty. Mood pulls you in to shine a light on our own dark spaces and as a reader you’re better for it.
January 26, 2024
In this vital memoir Roz Bellamy recounts their coming to terms with mental illness and mood disorder. It begins in 2016 as Roz starts teaching at a public high school in Melbourne after years of study and training. While facing new job jitters and excitement, the experience is also fraught with anti-Semitism and inadequate support. Some of the students draw swastikas on desks and saying that Hitler “should have killed all of them”. Meanwhile Roz’s mental health worsens. “I’m losing a sense of control,” they write. In the frightening passage that opens the book, Roz finds themselves driving into the city with little idea of where they’re going or how they got there. Read more on my blog.
November 21, 2025
Mood is a deeply intimate, beautifully reflective memoir that speaks directly to the heart of what it means to grow, to question, and to ultimately embrace one’s full self. Roz Bellamy writes with a tenderness that feels both courageous and disarming, inviting the reader into the layered intersections of love, identity, and mental health.
From the early days of falling in love with Rachel through a Buffy the Vampire Slayer message board adorably nerdy, achingly human to navigating the hostile undercurrents of antisemitism and the relentless pressure of teaching, Roz captures life’s complexities with raw honesty. Their exploration of queerness, gender, trauma, and self understanding unfolds like a slow exhale, a release of long held weight.
What makes Mood so powerful is its blend of vulnerability and clarity Roz doesn’t shy away from the messy truths, the confusion, the therapy breakthroughs, or the transforming realization that identity is both a refuge and a frontier. It’s a memoir that feels like being trusted with someone’s truest self. Candid, thoughtful, and deeply moving, this book is a testament to the strength found in owning every piece of who we are.
A tender, resonant, and beautifully written work that lingers long after the final page.
From the early days of falling in love with Rachel through a Buffy the Vampire Slayer message board adorably nerdy, achingly human to navigating the hostile undercurrents of antisemitism and the relentless pressure of teaching, Roz captures life’s complexities with raw honesty. Their exploration of queerness, gender, trauma, and self understanding unfolds like a slow exhale, a release of long held weight.
What makes Mood so powerful is its blend of vulnerability and clarity Roz doesn’t shy away from the messy truths, the confusion, the therapy breakthroughs, or the transforming realization that identity is both a refuge and a frontier. It’s a memoir that feels like being trusted with someone’s truest self. Candid, thoughtful, and deeply moving, this book is a testament to the strength found in owning every piece of who we are.
A tender, resonant, and beautifully written work that lingers long after the final page.
October 28, 2023
A raw and honest examination of one’s past experiences and infuses wit and insight at the same time. A triumph and a very brave piece of writing.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews