About:
switchback
Switchback - An Inner and Outer Journey is Gillian Clezy’s debut memoir, focusing on her early childhood and first 20 years of life. It traces both her inner and outer journeys that all began in England, way back on April Fool’s Day 1937.
As a babe in her mother’s arms, and just before the outbreak of World War II, Gillian travelled to Istanbul on the Orient Express. What follows is a series of eventful and dangerous wartime journeys through Palestine, Egypt, South Africa and the North and South Atlantic Oceans, as the young family tried to flee Turkey and return home. As Hitler and the Axis forces marched towards the middle east, Gillian and her family managed to slip through the German naval blockade of Britain and eventually found themselves back in a war-torn England - with all its air raids and severe rationing. Her life had indeed become a roller coaster, or Switchback.
Throughout the unfolding story, Gillian shares many of her intense experiences and reflects on their long-term effects, using her expertise as a Jungian analytical psychologist. These unique experiences include journeys across the sweeping sands of the Sahara; witnessing the devastation of the port of Liverpool after the Battle of Britain; and being bitten by a potentially rabid-monkey in Durban! The innocent depths of a child’s eyes and perspective is all interpreted with Gillian’s profound wisdom and insight.
As well as Gillian’s Jungian theoretical background, this memoir is informed by her ecumenical Christian faith. The book will prove a delight to both lovers of history & memoirs, but also those with an interest in travel, faith or the works of C. G. Jung.