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The Sum of Us: A True Story of Love, Land and the Long Road Home
The Sum of A True Story of Love, Land and the Long Road Home
What happens when a childhood shaped by loss meets with a love strong enough to rebuild everything?
Born in Madeira and separated from his family at a young age, Johnny grows up carrying the weight of abandonment. Years later, through chance, courage, and the unwavering love of his wife Elise, he begins an unexpected journey back to the family he thought he had lost forever.
The Sum of Us is a deeply moving memoir that crosses continents and decades. From an orphanage and hardship, through farming life in Zimbabwe, and on to building a home and a future in Australia. Along the way, Elise and Johnny raise eight children, weathering political upheaval, migration, and personal loss, while holding fast to humour, faith, and the firm bond of family.
Written with warmth, honesty, and gentle reflection, this is not only a story of survival, but of belonging. It is a story of how love can mend broken histories and create something beautifully whole.
Rich with memory and illustrated with personal photographs, The Sum of Us is a testament to resilience, devotion, and the extraordinary legacy created when people choose one another again and again.
What happens when a childhood shaped by loss meets with a love strong enough to rebuild everything?
Born in Madeira and separated from his family at a young age, Johnny grows up carrying the weight of abandonment. Years later, through chance, courage, and the unwavering love of his wife Elise, he begins an unexpected journey back to the family he thought he had lost forever.
The Sum of Us is a deeply moving memoir that crosses continents and decades. From an orphanage and hardship, through farming life in Zimbabwe, and on to building a home and a future in Australia. Along the way, Elise and Johnny raise eight children, weathering political upheaval, migration, and personal loss, while holding fast to humour, faith, and the firm bond of family.
Written with warmth, honesty, and gentle reflection, this is not only a story of survival, but of belonging. It is a story of how love can mend broken histories and create something beautifully whole.
Rich with memory and illustrated with personal photographs, The Sum of Us is a testament to resilience, devotion, and the extraordinary legacy created when people choose one another again and again.
232 pages, Kindle Edition
Published February 20, 2026
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March 2, 2026
Absolutely loved reading this book - was an easy and enjoyable read and fascinating story!
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