aussiemathematician.io
— Paula Tretkoff · Mathematician · Professor Emerita, Texas A&M, College St, TX, USA.
My Books
The Overlife
A Tale Of Schizophrenia
I am an Australian-born research mathematician who lives with paranoid schizophrenia, a severe brain disorder, as did my mother. The title, ‘The Overlife,’ suggests that a
diagnosis of schizophrenia can be the beginning of a new, worthwhile life
and not simply the death of the hopes and dreams that preceded the
diagnosis. This book gives a fictional account of a mother and daughter
living with paranoid schizophrenia. We follow the widely disparate effects of
this brain disorder on Sarah, the narrator, and her mother, Jodie. We also
meet Dalaigh, Jodie’s husband and Sarah’s father, with his violent
resentment at being trapped in a marriage he doesn’t want. By age eight,
Sarah is Jodie’s caregiver and must negotiate her mother’s rapidly worsening
mental health and her father’s white-hot fury. The weight of these adult
conflicts on the shoulders of one so young seems impossible to bear.
THREE kIDNAPPED
THREE SIBLINGS
THREE FURIES
When three teenagers vanish in a small Texas town and body parts begin arriving at their families’ doorsteps, the horror runs deeper than any crime; it’s a myth reborn.
Through alternating perspectives, Diana weaves a chilling psychological thriller that merges Greek mythology with modern trauma, exploring sibling abuse, vengeance and the fractures that form within families.
Scholar of the Greek Myths Isabel Morse, a survivor of paranoid schizophrenia herself, unravels a case where madness, justice and mythology collide. What unfolds is a gripping examination of how pain echoes across generations and how darkness can sometimes mirror our most human truths.
Both novels embody Diana’s signature style: raw honesty, lyrical storytelling and a fearless dive into the human psyche. Together, they form a powerful literary statement, one that reclaims narratives about mental illness, trauma and identity from stereotype and silence.
