In the second series of Big Brother (2001), the author of ‘A River Through My Desert’, Penny Ellis had participated. Big Brother was a British reality television show that ran non-stop from 2000 to 2018. Then 33 years old, Penny was the second ever teacher to have appeared on a series of Big Brother. “The exposure from Big Brother has given me the chance to do things I thought I would never do,” she was saying, quoted in The Guardian.

Below are some of the highlights from the show.

The writer took 20 years to write her phenomenal work, A River Through My Desert. It teaches us how to find our way out of our fears and terrors; how to surpass the barriers installed in our way and how to overcome destructive thoughts. God listens to all of us—he listens to the cries of our hearts, not just our prayers—and it is he that brings out of us what we see as impossible to change. There is a river under God’s throne in heaven, open to all of us. By diving in this river, we can untangle our lives. Building upon the journey of her own life, the writer shows us how to let that river of God flood our barren and dry desert.  

Penny Ellis was born in 1968 and spent her childhood in Singapore and Cyprus. While in Cyprus, she became Christian along with her family in 1974. She graduated from London University with a degree in theatre studies and started a children’s theatre company. Having battled OCD and self-destructive behaviour, she hopes to help others find that there is a life worth living.