The Yellow-Lighted Bookshop

In 2010 Stephen Fabes rode away from his career as an emergency doctor in London, on a journey that would see him ride the length of six continents; a cycling circumnavigation which took six years. ‘Signs of Life’ is his story of a world of challenges – from Tajik camel spiders to camping on a frozen lake in Mongolia, to coaxing another few kilometres out of ‘Ol’ Patchy’ (his faithful inner tube), and of fascinating interactions with the people of 75 countries; from hospitable nomads and curious children to vindictive border guards and gangsters. It is also a story of medicine calling Stephen back. All the while, he reflects on how societies treat their most vulnerable and draws comparisons with the lost souls he had treated back home in London; people who he resolves to truly listen to, when he returns to his vocation.