Alone, with children, with husband or with lover, Elinor's journeys 'away from home' take her from awkward adolescence to the uncertainties of middle-age. In and beyond the tourist centres of Europe to wider horizons, the troubles of private life pursue Jner. In different countries we see her from different perspectives, circumscribed by family ties and other relationships, haunted by secret fears.Will she (impeccably British) remain contained and composed, as though the decorum of daily life were bound to win in the end? Will she, divorced, continue to pick up hippies in greasy spoons in Santa Fe? Or will she emerge from the labyrinth of self-doubt and gain control over her life?'Penelope Farmer's fascination with how other people do things allows her to cram German, French, Italian, Israeli, American and Indianlocations into this book without it ever turning into a travelogue ...an uncommonly well-rounded set of characters' THE TIMES