This fascinating autobiography is the story of a stubborn struggle against unjust regimes and the transcendental power of music.

Eva Mayer Schay's early childhood in Mallorca was an idyllic one. Her parents had immigrated to the island following the Nazi party's rise to power but in 1936, during the Spanish Civil War, the family was repatriated to Germany. Her father was arrested and given the choice of concentration camp or departing for Italy. They managed to leave Mussolini's Italy for South Africa before the race laws were implemented.

Born in Germany, Eva went through all her schooling and university in Johannesburg, continuing her musical studies in London.

After returning to Johannesburg, Eva became a member of the SABC Symphony Orchestra. Defying apartheid, she was fired. Appalled at the increasing harshness of the nationalistic government, she and her mother finally immigrated to England in 1961.

In London, Eva joined the orchestra of Sadler's Wells Opera at the Coliseum Theatre, later renamed English National Opera, where she remained for almost thirty years.

"Eva Mayer writes beautifully: her style is elegantly simple and very evocative. I feel as if I have lived the whole story with her. Overall the book is very moving and has considerable power." - Jessica Duchen, novelist and music journalist for The Independent.