Gina Stoner is a British writer who has spent a lifetime studying systems of self-development with extraordinary teachers. She has summarized much of what she has learned in the deceptively simple "Talks with Al" which uses the 'young adult' format as a medium to open the way to a radical way of living.
A teenage boy discovers that the local handyman, is actually an intimidating sage - someone who knows more about life and living than a parent or teacher could ever understand.
Although Birdie is a smart kid he's no match for a guru! And, as his benign but terrifying guide explains the rudiments of inner awareness, he enters a new world where he can't go back - and can barely go forward.