A Time of Light and Shadow: Crisis Work and Solo Travels in Asia and Africa

(Paperback, New edition)

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An inspiring travel adventure memoir that explores a young womans quest to live life on the front lines, chasing adventure, and confronting the harsh realities of crisis work in Asia and Africa.

In 1975, a time of new freedom for women, Ella Harvey lived in Paris, worked as a nurse in war-torn Lebanon, and fell in love in Istanbul. Jostled between cultures, between love and loss, she found her way home. A year later, restless once again, she set off alone for India, a land of unsettling contradictions. A solo trek in the Himalayas completed that Asian journey.

By 1980 Ella was working for the International Red Cross, immersed in the heart-wrenching tragedy of a Cambodian refugee camp, and later that same year with the nomadic Issa in the drought-ridden desert of Djibouti, Africa. Faced with the immensity of poverty and suffering, her commitment to service was shaken.

Four decades later, in 2019, Ella returned to India, asking herself as an older woman, Would I dare do now what I readily did then A Time of Light and Shadow explores one womans complicity in privilege, a troubled past with her mother, and reflections on solitude and friendship, youth and aging, longing and belonging.

Reviews

In her powerful memoir A Time of Light and Shadow, Ella Harvey reveals her experiences as a nurse in high-conflict zones, a traveller in search of spirituality and love, and a daughter seeking to understand her mother. She brings to life the people she meets with clear, sharp brushstrokes, humility and respect. Claire Mulligan, Giller-nominated author of The Reckoning of Boston Jim and The Dark; award-winning screenwriter of The Still Life of Annika Myers; story consultant and editor; university instructor in creative writing

A Time of Light and Shadow is a courageous story of compassion, self-discovery and cross-cultural immersion amidst a backdrop of some of the worlds most fascinating wonders and devastating humanitarian crises. Ella Harveys expansive journey seamlessly weaves the exploration of the external together with the internal, opening new perspectives into the depths of the human spirit and what it means to live a meaningful life. Michael Schauch, author of A Story of Karma: Finding Love and Truth in the Lost Valley of the Himalaya

This courageous book is a journey into the restless nature of travel itself, both in contemporary times and long before cellphones, Google maps and Tripadvisor, when foreign worlds were farther away and it was rare for a single woman to travel alone, especially as an aid worker. Ellas willingness to be touched and changed by the people she meets both as a young woman and as an older woman still on the go decades later is a wonderful tonic for cynicism. Reading A Time of Light and Shadow reminded me of how to walk through our beautiful, wounded world: open-eyed, open-hearted, mindful of both gifts received and debts incurred. Karen Connelly, author of The Lizard Cage, Burmese Lessons and Touch The Dragon

This lyrical, big-hearted book is about a woman living in the moment, whatever that particular moment is. Ella lives large, recklessly falls in love a few times and takes us on the ride. A Time of Light and Shadow is multi-layered, combining sobering experiences of humanitarian work with wanderlust and the vivid intensities of life on the road. Louisa Waugh, nomadic humanitarian, author of Hearing Birds Fly and Meet Me in Gaza

Author Bio

Ella Harveys diverse career and her adventurous spirit have taken her to remote regions of the world, with experiences in Asia and Africa contributing to her world view.She has lived on five continents and worked on four. Along with A Time of Light and Shadow, she is also the author of Encounters on the Front Line: Cambodia A Memoir. Ella lives in beautiful Victoria, on the west coast of Canada, yet is frequently found dreaming of elsewhere.