Sonia Harford hooked one of the biggest assignments of her journalistic career when she covered Milosevic's war crimes trial in The Hague. Like many other Australians who move overseas to live and work, Harford was on the journey of her life.

Leaving Paradise is in part the story of Harford's five-year expatriate adventure in Amsterdam and Rome. It also investigates the experiences of a host of other Australians including best-selling author Peter Carey, East Timor human rights campaigner Katrina Langford and lawyer and deputy registrar at The Hague International Criminal Tribunal, John Hocking. Frank and intimate interviews reveal why they—like almost one million of their compatriots—have uprooted their lives, families and careers to join the global community.

In this entertaining and thoughtful personal investigation, Harford explores the boom in Australian expatriatism—the ideals, reality and dislocation of being an Australian living abroad—and the often heart-wrenching decision to return home.

Regardless of whether you're a business professional, artist, waiter or student, this book is an exploration of the glamour and the grumble, the lure of the bewitching big city and the pain of nostalgia.