The Lullaby Illusion: A Journey of Awakening (Journeys)

This carefully-crafted memoir caroms through a twelve-year period in the life of a young American woman in the Middle East and Europe. Stuck in a loveless marriage, unable to produce the child her husband demands, Susan nonetheless lives a blessed life on the island paradise of Cyprus. Until she doesn’t.From one day to the next, the island nation, divided between Greeks and Turks, goes from bliss to war. Susan, her husband, and friends are stuck in the middle of it, bullets slapping into trees around them, and bombs falling, in a UN Camp unfortunately located in a crucial mountain pass.Later, in Germany, Susan puts back together the pieces of her shattered life after the violent dissolution of her marriage. Creating batik paintings, she has successful exhibitions. Through travels and conversations, she weaves a narrative of extraordinary perception, insights, lucid dreaming, imagination, friends, and lovers. It is a journey of awakening to her own ability to create her life as she wants it, instead of being steered by the demands of others.An absolutely gripping memoir written by somebody who has that rare combination - experience of earth shattering events which turn our stomachs to water, and the writing skills to capture the whole experience … I cannot praise it more highly. There is an immediacy and humanity to it, and a real sense of place.— Zane Stumpo (Scotland)