Always the Outsider

In this deeply introspective and offbeat memoir, Colin Amery reveals much of his non-conformist personality from Cold War spy in Germany to articled clerk in London, from toilet-cleaner in Sydney to wandering poet and tarot reader, Colin has travelled a colourful path, which he describes with candour.

Born in England into a well-to-do family, Colin was a dreamer who escaped from difficulties at home and school into books of far-off places. He later made his own way to those places he had read about, as his search for spiritual enlightenment and mystical Atlantis carried him across the world from England to Spain, Greece and Egypt in the seventies.

A fateful meeting at a poetry evening with artist Yvonne Gatton marked a crucial change of direction for Colin, resulting in a happy marriage and his coming full circle back to the law. His criminal law practice has seen some of his cases make headlines both nationally and internationally, such as his prosecution of the Rainbow Warrior saboteurs and championing the rights of refugees. This is an account that, like Colin’s life, is never predictable and always fascinating.