At 19 we all argue with our parents thinking we know better so it is of little surprise that the young Robinson Crusoe back in 1651 ignored the well-meaning advice of his father, and joined a ship heading from Hull to London. During this voyage, however, fate struck a nasty…
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“I have been many things in life… But nothing has shaped my life as much as surviving the Pol Pot regime. I am a survivor of the Cambodian holocaust. That’s who I am.” (page 1) In this emotional retelling, Haing S. Ngor relives the brutal treatments he was exposed to…
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Hugues Viane lost his wife five years ago, five long lonely years ago. “He whiled away some of the time by reading magazines and old books, smoked a great deal and, lost in his memories, lingered at the window opening onto the grey weather outside.” (Page 17*) Since his beloveds…
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Would you move half way across the world for love? That is exactly what Sarah Macdonald did. She uprooted her life, moving from Australia and leaving a very successful career as a journalist behind, to join her boyfriend in New Delhi. The contrast between the two worlds really could not…
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Having never read any of Victoria Hislop’s other novels, I really didn’t know what to expect when I was gifted a copy of The Thread. I had heard murmurings of her other books and had always considered picking up a copy of The Island because I was intrigued to find…
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There are very few countries in the world that are as diverse and at times as inhospitable as Russia. Imagine one day being able to wander around a city, brimming with life, only to find yourself in absolute wilderness just hours later. Would you relish these changes? Would you be…
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Fiona Barton’s The Suspect was published on the 24th January 2019 and is the fourth crime novel from The Sunday Times and New York Times best-selling author. The Suspect: The Story Alex had been planning her trip to Thailand with her best friend Mags for months. It was meant to be…
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It is not very often that I distinguish a book as being ideal for a particular gender, but The Thing Is by Andrew Carter is definitely, in my opinion, written with a male perspective in mind. That’s not to say that it was not an enjoyable read but, as a female,…
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Do you consider yourself an explorer? If the answer is ‘yes’ and you haven’t yet read The Lost City of Z it really should be on your list. Likewise, if you are someone that has been obsessed with something; wanted so much to discover the answer to a as yet…
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Even today, if someone, especially a female travelling alone, tells me they are off to explore the tumultuous area around Afghanistan and Pakistan, I would question their sanity but imagine a solo female traveller heading off to Central Asia back in the 1980s. Someone who was not there to cover…
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