Celia Sankar has lived the life she writes about.

Journey to Joy (Damascus Press, $19.95) is the Elliot Lake author's musings from a time in her life when she battled back from a flood of setbacks.

"I had reached a very difficult point in my life when I had a very painful end to a relationship, I was at the point in my career when I didn't know what was the way forward, (I was) away from my family and friends and support network and I was taking on new responsibilities of getting my own house."

Sankar is a journalist with 15 years experience in her native Trinidad, Britain and Canada. As well, she has reported from Asia, the Middle East, South America and the United States.

A few years ago, she was working on a novel while living in Vancouver. But she found the city too big for her taste and too expensive for a struggling writer.

Friends told her about Elliot Lake and she moved there with the plan of buying a house and renting out part of it for income while she wrote.

Then the disasters struck, including rejection letters from publishers.

"There were days when I would wake and I didn't want to take the covers off my head and face the world," she says.

She knew instinctively she had to break free of this state and began by writing down her hopes of finding peace, happiness and purpose.

Some of her thoughts had grown from newspaper interviews she had done with older, experienced people -- from religious leaders to psychologists. No matter what the topic, she would ask about their approach to life and what made life fulfilling for them.

In time, she e-mailed her reflections to friends and family, who told her they were inspired. They encouraged her to find a publisher.

Sankar brings her book to London for book-signings at Costco on Sunday and Chapters on Monday and a reading at the Central Library on Tuesday.

Sankar says she's learned the experiences she had are common.

"So many people feel ashamed of it and feel they need to hide it," she says. "And because they feel ashamed and the need to hide, they feel other people never experience this as well."

While on the book tour, she's also collecting stories for a second book on people who have overcome adversity. She is also seeking submissions through her Web site, www.celiasankar.com.

IF YOU GO

What: Book tour by Celia Sankar, author of Journey to Joy

Sunday: Book sale and signing, 9:30 a.m.-2 p.m., Costco, 4313 Wellington Rd.

Monday: Book signing, 7:30 p.m., Chapters, 86 Fanshawe Park Rd. E.

Tuesday: Reading, book sale and signing, 7 p.m., Central Library, 251 Dundas St.