Introduction | Into the narrow, quiet, regular life of a child growing up in Toronto in the 1940s -- the overgrown backyard, the alleyway where I bounced my ball against the side of the house, the bus trips to piano lessons -- suddenly there thundered a huge caravan of exotic warriors, heroines and horses, swords flashing, animals bellowing, clouds of dust and incense, the blare of horns calling me to adventure.

Chapter One | Taking the Plunge | ... | Like all mothers, I used to ask my son, when he was six and seven, what he had done in school that day.