Switchback: An Inner and Outer Journey

About the Book

This memoir explores the beginnings of a long and eventful life, tracing inner and outer journeys that began in England on April Fool's Day 1937.

As a babe in her mother's arms, Gillian was soon travelling on the Orient Express to Istanbul just before the outbreak of World War II. Two happy years growing up in Istanbul were followed by a series of eventful and dangerous wartime journeys. With just her mother, a very young Gillian travelled through Palestine, Egypt, South Africa and the North and South Atlantic Oceans. They managed to slip through the German blockade of the United Kingdom and eventually found themselves back in a war-torn England with its air raids and severe rationing. Her life had become a roller coaster, or Switchback. After the war Gillain, now on her own, experienced the challenges of a journey back to England, boarding school, university and a growing social life.

Gillian shares many of her intense experiences and reflects on their long-term effects, using her expertise as a qualified Jungian analytical psychologist. These unique experiences include people, places and customs; mosques and minarets; donkeys and monkeys; stormy seas and pyramids; desert and iceberg; joy and danger; eight homes, seven schools and university.

As well as Gillian's Jungian theoretical background, this memoir is informed by her somewhat ecumenical Christian faith. These two perspectives have shaped her life so far and have helped to answer some of the whys, wheres, hows and whos of her journey.

Gillian's inner and outer journeys have been full of faith, challenge, interest, love, sorrow, danger and straight-out joy-with no regrets.

About the Author :
After the exciting but challenging years of her childhood and adolescence, Gillian qualified as a speech therapist in London. She began work at the Nuffield Research Unit in a large hospital in Reading, England. At first she worked with children and adults across a wide range of diagnoses. The work involved the early diagnosis of hearing loss in utero and infancy. From this she developed a special interest in early mother-child interaction that led to a later career as an academic, clinician, lecturer and writer.While working in England, Gillian married an Australian and had two sons. A few years later, the family moved to Australia via an adventurous four-month camping trip around North America and New Zealand, no mean feat with a six-month-old, two-and-a-half-year-old, large tent, and even larger Ford Country Squire.After settling in Melbourne, Gillian returned to work as a speech pathologist, eventually specialising in profound hearing loss. It was a surprise to find how few young women were working in the professions in the late sixties-or playing golf, as she and her husband did. Sadly, and with regret after all the happy outer times, the marriage ended for deep inner reasons. Gillian and her boys were happy with their Australian life, work and schools, as she transitioned to a life in academia. The family enjoyed trips back to England to visit friends and family. All three became Aussie citizens with dual nationality.Once her sons had finished school and college, Gillian began travelling for her work as a lecturer. This eventually led to long periods living in the United States and Hong Kong, including an extended WHO rehabilitation project in Wuhan, Central China. In this period, her sons were able to visit for holidays during their vacations, and they all enjoyed life in England after buying a small cottage in Devon, as well as their flat in Melbourne. Then came the joy of her grandson's arrival.During midlife, Gillian began planning for her future. She had had some meaningful personal relationships. None endured, although later in life she developed a deeply enriching and lasting soul relationship.After another twenty enriching years in private practice, she has now retired and is writing, walking and swimming while enjoying life with family and friends in Australia.