Testimonials
"This book is a must read! It covers all details of what happened, when it happened and why. Some details in this Bali Bombings book sent a cold chill down my spine but it also really touched my heart and has left a story I'll always remember. Buy this book!"Passages2002 Bali Bombings
- Oct 12, 2005: Four explosions rock popular tourist spots on the Indonesian resort island of Bali killing at least 32 people, including several foreigners, and injuring 101.
The explosions occur less than two weeks ahead of the third anniversary of blasts in 2002 that left 202 people dead. - August 25, 2005: Seven people are wounded when a home-made bomb explodes at a market in the religiously divided eastern Indonesian city of Ambon.
- July 14, 2003: A bomb explodes at Indonesia's parliament building, just days after the arrest of Jemaah Islamiah suspects. The blast shatters windows and a door in an office area but no-one is hurt.
- April 27, 2003: A bomb rips through a restaurant area at Indonesia's main international airport, wounding 11 people. The blast happened near a Kentucky Fried Chicken outlet.
- December 5, 2002: A blast at a McDonald's outlet and a car showroom in the eastern Indonesian city of Makassar kills three people and wounds 11.
The Book
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I am a surviving victim of the Bali bombings of October 2005. My son (16), daughter (13) and I had just sat down in a Kuta Square restaurant when the suicide bomber detonated himself, we were only a matter of 3 to 4 metres away. My daughter and I suffered burns and shrapnel wounds, I also received internal and spinal injuries; unfortunately however my son who was sitting next to me did not survive the blast.
Almost immediately two holidaying Australian nurses attended the scene and assisted us as well as other victims, arranging first aid and transport for us to hospital as best they could.
The following day a holidaying Australian paramedic and his fiancé (also a Nurse) attended the hospital and assisted my daughter, myself and other victims.
Without their assistance I clearly would not have survived.
We were also lucky enough to have family friends in Bali at the time who took turns in staying beside our hospital beds until our medical evacuation to Singapore.
This book is about this event (“A Beautiful Boy”) which begins with our holiday and travels through to the first anniversary. The Victorian nurses and paramedic have each contributed a chapter as have the family friends; members of my family and my sons best mate, all from their point of view from the moment they received the news .The Australian Federal Police have also contributed a chapter.
Due to shrapnel partially severing my spinal chord I am now confined to a wheelchair in the main and I spent some months in Shenton Park Rehabilitation Hospital. The Physio assigned to me has written a chapter in which she discusses her first knowledge of me , the medical expectation versus my own expectation which were very different, as well as my progress. The final chapter is about my regrets as a father who looses a child, things I wished I had said but didn’t, things I said that I wished I hadn’t.
The result being a 365 page 34 chapter book which is quite graphic in parts , but importantly a multi-dimensional account of how an act of terrorism affects all people involved for years to come, not only those that were injured/killed in the attack but those that assisted at the time or along the way.
Terry Fitzgerald
Retail price of $39.95 is inclusive of postage and handling for Australian purchasers.