'A philosophical, often off the main tourist beat travel book based on the author Lyn Drummond's seven years' travel experiences working mainly in central and eastern Europe. The book's title is based on a Jung philosophy that seven years of our lives represent a particular cycle and she has just completed such a cycle.
The seven years began when she left Sydney in 2002 to work in Chuuk in the Federated States of Micronesia as a volunteer for an aid agency. The journey continues in 2003 to Hungary and a three year contract at the Australian embassy in Budapest, and later as a teacher and journalist in other parts of the region, such as Montenegro, Croatia, Slovenia and Albania. It is not a travel book in the sense that it lists places and contact details, but an exploration of a region she previously had no particular interest in, a renewed discovery of her European heritage, a strong relationship with a city (Budapest) she has no traditional or family connection to and a contemplation of the strong feelings she once had for Australia. The book also examines elements of exile, and anonymity in foreign countries which can create a rather contented bubble of living, sometimes immune from more deeper emotions - including in the context of her long friendship with the late Australian writer Randolph Stow, who settled in her home town in England and whose books dwelt on these themes.' (Publisher's website)
