A lady once casually remarked on British public broadcasting that a third of society is depressed but no one ever speaks about it. Perhaps, in all seriousness, it is to this third of the population that this book is addressed. However you don't have to be depressed to read it. Potentially it is both amusing and instructive, light and deep. Shocked by the approach of his fiftieth year, an English bachelor makes a desperate attempt to become inwardly aware of his given circumstances. The attempt is sustained as a trial over a complete seven-year cycle in his life, leading virtually to the constitution of a new self. Occasionally enlivened by humour, what is particularly valuable in this account of Hero's manoeuvrings in time is its honesty and sustained sense of hope.