Kiri Allan's six-year political career spanned some of the most challenging times in recent history.

Events a government might encounter once in a generation stacked up: a terrorist attack, a volcanic eruption, destructive and deadly weather events, a global pandemic . . . And as a highly recognisable figure, Kiri's overlapping personal story also played out under scrutiny: divorce, new parenthood, cancer diagnosis and treatment, and mental health struggles culminating in the car crash that led to her resignation.

Go Hard or Go Home is the story of the person beyond the headlines, from church-going child to charismatic hitch-hiker to precocious law student to former politician. Honest, fierce and deeply moving, Kiri's memoir asks what it costs to keep going when you can't live in half measures, and what it takes to rebuild your life.