I STARE DEATH IN THE FACE AND THINK, 'I HAVE ALWAYS FELT A YEARNING TO BE THE WIND'.

Theresa Byrnes is a woman marked by genius and grave adversity. At the age of seventeen, already a full-time Sydney artist, Theresa was diagnosed with Friedreich Ataxia (FA), a rare and fatal degenerative disease of the nervous system for which there is no known cure.

Theresa faces death and life head on. Her inexhaustible quest for truth has led her into accomplishment but has also thrown her against the wall time and again. Candid, insightful and beautiful, she has painted the landscape of her experiences from grunge Newtown to exotic South America, from New York digs to an Aboriginal community in Arnhem Land and exhibited her work both nationally and internationally. She has married, divorced, explored and experimented with sex. She has established a foundation that has already made inroads into developing a cure for FA, been appointed as an Australia Day Ambassador and received a Young Australian of the Year award.

The Divine Mistake is Theresa's life story; a book that vehemently breaks away from common preconceptions about life shadowed by a fatal disease.

Vibrant, passionate, honest, Theresa shares her most illuminated moments and her seediest sagas. Hers is a raw account of struggle and triumph that redefines the significance of tragedy and will inspire you to live your dreams without excuses.