Journey of a Lifetime was Gillian Tindall's first collection of short stories since The China Egg, which was published in 1982. Eight stories relate to travel and/or foreign lands, while the ninth is about a foreigner in England. The title story, ostensibly very much of the real world, gradually reveals a darker and odder side, as does In A Past Life, originally read on Radio 4. All twelve stories of the collection, while they vary greatly in mood and treatment, explore in one way or another the subject of identity and memory -- with wit, high intelligence and the confidence of a writer whose first book of short stories, Dances With Death, met with universal acclaim on its publication in 1973.