Hi, I'm Mary Kruithof of Melbourne, Australia. I was bitten by the genealogy bug a long time ago, and in researching my family history I have come across many interesting stories and characters. Some of these stories touch many other people outside my own family, and some have quite wide-ranging historical significance.

It has long been my ambition to record some of these stories in the form of books and articles, and my first book finally made it off the presses in September 2002. It's called 'Fever Beach', and tells the story of the migrant clipper 'Ticonderoga' which arrived from Liverpool in November, 1852. Only just over three-quarters of its passengers survived long enough to reach Melbourne.

A second edition was published in May 2005, with typographical corrections, amendments to the passenger lists, and a few more recent photographs.

At present I am working on a book about the life and times of Patrick Fanning, my illustrious great-grandfather who arrived on the 'Ticonderoga' with his parents and two sisters.