The struggle to be yourself is theme of Judy Metliss’s travel book, ‘Lifting the Stone and Other Adventures’

Bottisham-based author Judy Metliss’ new book is titled Lifting the Stone and Other Adventures, and it charts the “adventures of a woman who isn’t afraid to travel alone”.

Unflinchingly honest and authentic, and not overly-romanticised, the book recounts Judy’s visits to various cities and countries, including Cyprus, Seville, Naples, Copenhagen, Marrakech and Naples, between 2012-13 and 2018.

“It’s about my travels before Covid,” explains Judy, who studied for a degree in English literature while in her 40s at Anglia Ruskin University (ARU).

“I visited different cities on my own, for about four days, and then came back and wrote a story about my experience – and I think they’re all funny.”

She notes that in the book “every word is true” and adds: “I like all foreign cities; I mean now everything’s changed – the world has changed so much.

“It’s all the god of technology, isn’t it? And I suppose everything was just much more direct and pleasurable really.”

Oysters in Antwerp, one of the stories in the book, came from a visit to the Belgian city in 2018, and Judy reveals that she hasn’t been abroad since then.

The intrepid traveller, who also lived in Corsica for nearly two years – where her house was blown up by the National Front for the Liberation of Corsica (FNLC) – says that prior to each trip, she “didn’t really have any ideas at all” about what to expect.

“In the Marrakech one, I remember sitting on the plane and everybody was talking about who was going to pick them up at the airport from their hotel – those lovely Riads – and I thought, ‘Oh God, nobody’s meeting me!,’ recalls Judy. “And I got off the plane and I was just there in Marrakech.

“A really nice lawyer from Fes, he took me to the Riad and there was nobody there either, so I was just left on the street...

“So it’s just like going out on your own, which I’ve always done – even as a child. It’s all a bit risky, really.”

Looking back, does Judy feel that in hindsight some of her trips abroad were “a bit risky”?

“Yes, it was,” she replies, “I don’t think a woman should go to Marrakech on her own…

“But I think anything you read, you just want it to be a good read, don’t you? I know I do write well, I’ve always written well – but these weren’t written for publication.

“I’ve always written, just for myself, because it’s all about the struggle to be yourself, to be free, and I suppose that’s why it links in with the second part, Lifting the Stone, which I wrote during Covid.

“It’s about how I came from a background where everything was about appearance and success, and there was no personal freedom really at all.”

Judy notes that there’s also “a kind of loneliness” behind the different stories.

“There’s not just superficial travel,” she explains. “There’s a lot of humour and exuberance, but there’s also quite a lot of sadness and loneliness.”

That said, Judy quotes French author Françoise Sagan, who said: “Every time you go out, it should be an adventure”.

“And I think that’s every time you go out just anywhere,” says Judy, “and that’s why it’s called Lifting the Stone, which isn’t an adventure – that’s why it’s kind of ironic.”

She adds: “I think it’s just my interest in meeting people, and I don’t think any place has the same allure now, because everywhere I think is sort of the same…

“I like Copenhagen very much – I like the Danish, I think they’re very human. But I see myself as a thinker, they’re not just superficial travelogues.”

Judy observes that when she wrote the stories, she wasn’t thinking about ever having them published.

“I thought these stories, nobody will ever see them and they’ll just always be in a drawer – that’s the standard cliché,” she says.

“So it’s not to please an audience, or thinking of who will be reading them – I don’t know if they’re more aimed at women than men…”

She adds: “I think it’s because I like history so much as well; I just like being in these old places and seeing old places – I find that really stimulating.”

Other stories in the book include A Moment in Istanbul, Breakfast in Bilbao, Sadness in Seville, and Door Slamming in Dublin.

Lifting the Stone and Other Adventures by Judy Metliss, with a front cover painted by her daughter, is available now.