This is essentially a memoir of childhood and youth. The author's childhood is an unsettled one, including family bankruptcy, a period in an orphanage for the children, and then only three years as part of a "normal" family before the war breaks it up again. Yet, thanks largely to the mother, it is not an unhappy childhood; and the memoir gives an affectionate look back at life in pre-War London.
After a year as an evacuee, the author rejoins his mother and sister in Wales and enjoys a period of great growth and happiness, fostered by his love of family and by his passions for reading, music, climbing, and flying. As a result, although poorly educated, he confidently makes the transition from office boy to aircrew training.
Following his demobilization, the author emigrates to Canada and spends four seasons in the Klondike goldfields. Then, having completed school by correspondence, he enters university and in his third year becomes married. This period, which he terms "Phoenix Rising", ends with two shattering blows within the space of less than three months. He subsequently has a successful teaching career - but at the cost of later breakdowns and a life of solitude.
This memoir is no mere narrative. With echoes of Dickens' Pip, Wordsworth, Bunyan's pilgrim and Mr. Chips, among other things it takes a glance at climbing, flying, gold-mining, teaching, recurrent dreams and dissociation. This is a tale of perseverance in spite of repeated disappointment - and it is a testament of love.
A self-confessed loner and romantic introvert, the author is a graduate of the University of British Columbia and has spent half his working life as a teacher of senior English in a comprehensive school. Respected by both students and colleagues, he is now retired and lives in a rented house on a friend's hobby farm. His main interests have been climbing, flying, music, history, poetry and metaphysics.