Raef Andersen Springfield, a free-thinking independent journalist embarks upon a journey into new dimensions of living and learning. He takes time out from his work commitments to experience solitude to provide the material for his writing in his passionate endeavour to leave the world better off for his having entered it. His one year odyssey alone in a remote shepherd's hut in the mountains of New Zealand yields unforeseen inner insight and unsolvable problems solved. Yet, who Raef is, is a mystery; his actual identity, a light kept flickering in the background, is ultimately revealed; but indirectly. Throughout the novel we are lifted to new levels: discovering a deeper ability within ourselves to interpret the living world around us, as we follow this one man's journey into the wealth that can be found in solitude: listening in time alone. 'A unique New Zealand wilderness experience; uplifting, compelling, transcendent in the fifth element....'