Night Journeys

By Raylene Pearce

Why would a woman in her late forties leave her family and friends in the beautiful Adelaide hills and go to live and work in the volatile Middle East? Why, after five years on Cyprus from where she travelled to the far corners of the earth, did Raylene Pearce move to Egypt? In Cairo, why did the landlord of the apartment house she found, lower the rent to allow her to stay there? And when the building emptied why did he say he wanted her to find more tenants and then abruptly change his mind? What really happened on the road back from Alexandria? Why did he tell his lone tenant to leave the morning after 9/11? It’s all there in Night Journeys.....and more. Night Journeys is about connections and re-connections and about a woman who sees the funny side of life, even when the situation she is in, is dire. The mantra: ‘Will I ever be seen again?’ rings throughout this memoir. As a ten-year-old LOCKED in the Unley Oval, Adelaide; as a teenager DRAGGED through the Cannas beside the River Torrens; as a young woman LOST in the thick fog of northern India n a rickshaw; as a tourist WEEPING in a Thai brothel, or a passenger at 3am TRAPPED in a taxi madly racing through the City of the Dead in total darkness. This book tells of the adventures of a lone woman traveller, somewhat naive, but celebrating this trait by preferring to believe people, than not, and taking her through the Indian subcontinent and beyond. The Middle East is her main focus because of her work, and women her main concern. She asks us to share in the lives of the people she writes about, not just as spectators, but as participators, to engage as we read of the struggling ones and their ability to rise up and conquer their worlds. Raylene Pearce relates her Night Journeys to Bible verses she believes will positively augment the text and reveal the heart of God for the oppressed. ‘You will be swept into a world of sensitively drawn characters, heart stopping dead of night desert taxi rides, heart rending kindnesses and pain. To share the abundance of joy, faith and exuberance which is Raylene Pearce’s extraordinary life – read on.’ Jill Baker author: Beloved African . ‘An entertaining, gripping and touching read. The use of imagery to create vivid pictures in the reader's mind enhances the text. This book is really funny!’ Mrs. Janine Bates English Teacher: Emmaus Christian College, Adelaide.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Bookpal Australia
• Release date: Oct 19, 2015
• ISBN: 9781742845333

Raylene Pearce

Raylene Pearce never expected to live an ordinary life. At the age of twelve she knew her future lay in living and working with people in developing countries. She became a nurse. After raising her children, she trained in writing for the media and lived for ten years in the Middle East as a Personnel Director and later the English language Editor for a Christian media company. On return from Egypt, at the age of 60, she went to Flinders University. This book is a result of the course in Creative Writing completed in 2008. She is married to Greg. They have five grandchildren between them, and live in Coromandel Valley in the Adelaide hills. This is her first book.