By Marlene Schiwy

This book is a treasure. For me, it was best read slowly, taking the time to reflect upon and absorb its riches. This book nurtures on many levels. Marlene Schiwy has shown a pathway for any of us who know we have a personal story to tell, but somehow hesitate to begin, perhaps due to a fear that we aren’t “interesting” enough, or skilled enough as writers to create something of our own. Don’t we all have a story to tell and voices deep within that long to be heard?

Our stories may not be told as skillfully, but she inspires us to discover them, and just perhaps, to write, paint or dance them.

Marlene has taken her life experiences, her Jungian & other academic studies, her struggles to declare her own authenticity, her dreams, and her curiosity about an image that has pervaded her life (the archetypal gypsy), and she has woven those many threads into a fascinating memoir. She has the courage to take seriously a deep image within, and not only explore it over decades, landscapes and milieu, but then to share her very personal insights with the reader. She has given us a very fine gift in the publication of this book. Read and savour it.

Sally Campbell