Every exchange student has a story or two to tell. But Steph McCarthy’s true experience as a Rotary exchange student from Adelaide to the Philippines at age 17 goes WAY beyond.
Hosted by a succession of local families, she is well cared for and enjoys life-enriching experiences as she gets to know the Philippines and meet people. Like any teenager new to foreign travel, she also inevitably makes a few mis-steps, which she relates with equal enthusiasm and candour.
A keen writer even back then, she jumps at the chance to interview then-President Ferdinand Marcos, a seemingly innocent opportunity with - as it turns out - sinister and potentially disastrous consequences. Enough said... just read it!

An interesting and informative read. Stephanie has given us an insight into life in the Philippines in the late 1960’s through the eyes of a young adventurous teenager. Importantly we learn what happens to some of her close friends during Ferdinand Marcos’s rule.

A 17 year old girl, surviving on her wits, playing cat and mouse with a deadly dictator. It’s almost the selling point for a spy novel except it’s true and potentially, as fatalistic.
Steph McCarthy takes the reader from bushfires in an Australian summer to the heat of the tropical Philippines, where she catches the eye of the nation’s leader Ferdinand Marcos, inadvertently putting Rotary foster families caring for her at risk. Steph takes us on her story with a prologue hinting of the malice to come but along our journey with her, she describes the beauty of the country and the people in it.
I had the pleasure of speaking with Steph in a live radio interview about her story. Steph’s personal account of surviving several encounters with Marcos when possibly others did not is a testament to her bravery, making this book a fascinating read, every step of the way.

I was lent this book by a friend and, having returned it to them, I must now buy one for myself and to share with others. Stephanie's story combines the best of people, places, and adventures with the worst a person can imagine. She is one courageous lady now sharing this story that the world needs to know. It has been kept secret too long.

The Tyrant and The Teen: the engaging memoir of author Stephanie McCarthy, tells of her teenage self, an exchange student who scores the opportunity of a lifetime in 1968 to spend a year in the Philippines. Stephanie’s wonderful delivery puts the reader right there with her — every step of the way.
What begins as her exciting cultural adventure morphs into a nightmare following a meeting with President Ferdinand Marcos. With only her wits and good fortune, Stephanie navigates a labyrinth of fear as she fights to survive while not placing her new friends in danger.

This is a memoir of pride, joy, learning and abject terror ending with an epilogue that speaks to those who weren’t as lucky.