Description
Gear Down and Growing Up is the true story of a 21-year-old Brit stuck in a temp job in Berkshire after dropping out of university in Montreal. When he spots a cheap one-way ticket to Hong Kong in 1996, he buys it on impulse. No degree, no plan – just a backpack and a vague hope that life might look different somewhere else.
What follows is a crash course in adulthood: learning to adapt not only to Hong Kong, but to a whole new reality – all against the backdrop of a city on the edge of change. It’s a candid story about getting lost, starting over, and trying to grow up, fit in and figure things out – far from home.
About the author
James Wren was born in Singapore and grew up all over the place – Australia, Devon, Wales and Oman – thanks to his dad’s Royal Navy career. He spent his teenage years in England, tried university twice but never quite settled, and at 21, bought a one-way ticket to Hong Kong to find work, figure things out and start again. That leap shaped the course of his adult life.
After a few years working on cruise ships, he eventually went back to university and graduated in 2004 with a BA in Art and Design. Since then, he’s worked in design agencies across Germany and Austria, and now lives in Graz, freelancing as a copywriter and designer. This is his first non-fiction book.
www.jameswren.org
