These journeys record the adventures of a woman who isn't afraid to travel alone. They are a mesmerising and immersive read, pulsating with humour and energy. The writing itself is beautiful and extraordinarily vivid. Every place that she visits is brought to life and imbued with a charming atmosphere. The stories are grounded in fact and characterised by a profound honesty. Her unique personal style shines out in the face of an increasingly grey and uniform world. Lifting the Stone and Other Adventures is about the past re-visited and describes a world - in the context of the author's romantic encounters - that is based on appearances. It is a world of male domination and control in which the feminine, the soul, is stored. This piece is the background to the urban adventures, and the reader is invited to view the show, this world of delightful appearances, as a product of repression. Any writing that is worth its salt aspires to the universal, to what touches us all.