Eva Rottenanger

Life up to now … here's a synopsis

* born in Germany, migrated to Australia aged 8,

* interested in language, (MA in Applied Linguistics)

* taught at secondary & tertiary level

* raised three children

* worked as an Academic English instructor, copy editor and artist

* lived in various countries

* travel extensively for six months each year

* love photography, painting, developing life skills and studying philosophy

* current job: writer/author

There's a fuller Bio on my website, and a recording of me reading it to you (just for fun). www.evarottenanger.com

But you won't learn who I am from a string of facts. Far better for me to tell you about my driving passion, travel, that led me to write "Going Solo." That way, you'll get some idea of my values and how I think, both of which define me.

The memoir explores travel as a search for meaning, belonging and identity, which is relevant especially to those with immigrant roots, and to members of the boomer generation transitioning into retirement, and others, wanting to redefine themselves.

I started the book in response to my contact with many women in my age group (boomers) who are in transition. They may be recently retired, widowed, divorced, or have undergone other life events that require a resetting of aspects of their life including their worldview, concept of self, priorities, or their spiritual equilibrium. Many of those women want to travel, but fear of the unknown stops them. The book aims to give readers the confidence to travel solo and explore more deeply where they're at, and to become more intentional about the direction they want their life to take.

By exploring 'the art' and benefits of travel, along with the personal traits that ensure we travel as the best version of ourselves, the book suggests that each journey can be a stage on which to redefine who we are after the roles we may have played loosen their grip (mother, carer, wife, employee). Written as a memoir, the book takes my travels and years of living as an expat as an example through which to explore what journeys have to offer and teach us.

Although the book is a 'conversation' between the author and her boomer peers, it has, surprisingly, been well-reviewed by male readers and millennials, probably because it explores so many themes ignited by exposure to issues, sights and experiences encountered on the road that are of common, human interest. Among those issues are racism, human rights, totalitarian versus democratic governance, the growth of AI, particularly surveillance, and gender equity.

In each place explored, I delve a little into history, culture or topical issues. The nature of the book is best explained by the following example. I explored gender equality in Switzerland after learning that women were banned from voting there until fairly recently (in one county women couldn't vote until 1995). While there, I also visited a church/convent built in the Middle Ages to house unmarried women from aristocratic houses who were excluded from family inheritance due to their gender. They were cast out. This discovery then led me to explore the inequity in statistics on global female leadership and the role some religions play in this inequality. The 'why' that drives such research is the desire to become more intentional in my actions and decisions and to share how exposure to new environments wakes us up – to observe and think – perhaps more than we would when surrounded by the comfort and familiarity of home.

The last chapters are meditations that tie together the issues generally, and personally, encountered while travelling.

I believe the book inspires not only the desire to travel, but the courage to go solo. It also encourages the reader to be a more aware traveller and conscious of their 'why' – the deeper purpose of taking any trip.

Wishing you many rewarding journeys,

Eva

contact@evarottenanger.com

www.evarottenanger.com