Imagine a single visit to a psychic completely changing your life. Or rather, imagine you turn your life completely around to chase what the psychic foresees.

Linda, a 41-year-old musician, decides to visit a psychic, as her mother did before her, when she sees her relationship not progressing anymore. Although skeptical at first, Linda follows up on the predictions that she will meet “a tall man with glasses” in Europe, takes faith in her hands and moves across the ocean to meet her future.

Although it feels like Linda went to Europe because the psychic told her to instead of being lead by her own decision, there is something admirable, inspirational and incredibly brave about the story itself.

The journey itself, though, feels like a heavy-handed, less spiritual version of “Eat Pray Love” with the goal being not finding a balance, but a search for a tall man with glasses. Meeting countless people along the way is just a driving force of the story. I am sure it is difficult to cut people out of one’s true story, but the number of characters with flat personalities caused a lot of confusion. I couldn’t keep up with who is who.

What didn’t need cutting out on the other hand were scenes actually central to the plot. When something important was happening between the author and her love interests, the reader only got to find out retrospectively, looking back, making the important information sound like a sidebar.

As a European, I find highlighting European stereotypes unnecessary and also a cliche. Hungary is obsessed with non-committal sex. Gypsies are thieves. But then, I may not be the right audience—if it startled the author, I am sure it will other readers as well. I just have a hard time believing that someone is still surprised that Europeans take shoes off indoors and households lack dries.

The memoir may and hopefully will serve as an inspiration for many women out there, thinking they lost a chance for a fresh start at their age.

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ARC | Discovery | Tulipan Press