In early 2000, Mary Venner gave up a secure job and travelled to the other side of the world to work in foreign aid. She found a new career providing advice to politicians and government officials on how to manage their country's finances. Where Are You This Time? is her account of the challenges of working in these difficult and dangerous countries and the problems of economic development. She describes the strange living conditions, the daily security challenges, and the lively social life of expats living in places that tourists avoid.

For over a decade and a half, her work took her to places that are now daily headline news, including Ukraine, Afghanistan and Somalia. She provides a first-hand account of what life is like in these countries, the devastation caused by war, the hardships created by corruption and incompetence, and the problems that need to be solved to make life better for the locals who live with the consequences after the foreigners have moved on.