Synopses & Reviews
Nina Sovich had always yearned for adventures in faraway places; she imagined herself leading the life of a solitary traveler. Yet at the age of thirty-four, she found herself married and contemplating motherhood. Catching her reflection in a window spotted with Paris rain, she no longer saw the fearless woman who spent her youth travelling in Cairo, Lahore, and the West Bank staring back at her. Unwittingly, she had followed lifeand#8217;s script, and now she needed to cast it out. Inspired by female explorers like Mary Kingsley, who explored Gabonand#8217;s jungle in the 1890s, and Karen Blixen, who ran a farm in Kenya during World War I, Sovich packed her bags and hopped on the next plane to Africa in search of adventure. To the Moon and Timbuktu takes readers on a fast-paced trek through Western Sahara, Mali, Mauritania, and Niger, bringing their textures and flavors into vivid relief. On Sovichand#8217;s travels, she encounters rough-and-tumble Chinese sailors, a Venezuelan doctor working himself to death in Chinguetti, indifferent French pensioners RVing along the coast, and a close-knit circle of Nigerien women who adopt her into their fold, showing her the promise of Africaand#8217;s future. This lyrical memoir will transport you to the breathtaking landscapes of West Africa, whose stark beauties will instill wonder in even the most experienced traveler. Sovichand#8217;s journey reveals that sometimes we must pursue that distant glimmer on the horizon in order to find the things we value most.
Synopsis
One of the best travel books [of the twentieth] century.
Norman Sherry
Journey Without Maps and The Lawless Roads reveal Greenes ravening spiritual hunger, a desperate need to touch rock bottom within the self and in the humanly created world.
The Times Higher Education Supplement
Synopsis
His mind crowded with vivid images of Africa, Graham Greene set off in 1935 to discover Liberia, a remote and unfamiliar republic founded for released slaves. Now with a new introduction by Paul Theroux, Journey Without Maps is the spellbinding record of Greene's journey. Crossing the red-clay terrain from Sierra Leone to the coast of Grand Bassa with a chain of porters, he came to know one of the few areas of Africa untouched by colonization. Western civilization had not yet impinged on either the human psyche or the social structure, and neither poverty, disease, nor hunger seemed able to quell the native spirit.
Synopsis
Feeling directionless in Paris and inspired by the explorers of another era, Nina Sovich packs her bags and hops on the next plane to West Africa in search of adventure, where a fast-paced trek through Mali, Mauritania, and Niger prove that itand#8217;s the travelerand#8217;s journey, not the destination, that is the reward.
About the Author
GRAHAM GREENE (19041991) worked for the British secret service in Sierra Leone during World War II. Afterward, he began wide-ranging travels as a journalist. As well as his many novels, Greene wrote several collections of short stories, four travel books, six plays, two books of autobiography, two biographies, and four books for children.
Paul Therouxs highly acclaimed travel books include Riding the Iron Rooster and The Great Railway Bazaar.
Table of Contents
and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;I. ?????
1.and#160;Hotel in Dakhlaand#8195;3
2.and#160;Connecticut Childhoodand#8195;8
3.and#160;First Freedomand#8195;15
4.and#160;Oak Treeand#8195;20
5.and#160;Breadcrumbs in Parisand#8195;22
6.and#160;A Victorian Travelerand#8195;27
7.and#160;Nowhereand#8195;33
8.and#160;My Fishesand#8195;39
and#160;and#160;and#160; II. WESTERN SAHARA
9.and#160;Coffee in Casablancaand#8195;45
10.and#160;The Cold Atlanticand#8195;51
11.and#160;The Bleak Desertand#8195;60
12.and#160;The Love of Homeand#8195;65
13.and#160;Trumping Comfortand#8195;70
14.and#160;Slow Fearand#8195;75
15.and#160;Hitchhiking at the Borderand#8195;83
16.and#160;Death and Dyingand#8195;88
and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160; III. MAURITANIA
17.and#160;A Boy from Bordeauxand#8195;97
18.and#160;Mood on the Streetsand#8195;103
19.and#160;Nouakchottand#8195;107
20.and#160;Slate Mountainsand#8195;112
21.and#160;The Lothario of Chinguettiand#8195;118
22.and#160;Fortune Tellersand#8195;126
23.and#160;The Good Doctorand#8195;134
24.and#160;The Good Doctorand#8201;and#8212;and#8201;Part IIand#8195;147
25.and#160;Gnostic Lifeand#8195;156
and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;IV. MALI
26.and#160;Bamakoand#8195;163
27.and#160;Boubousand#8195;177
28.and#160;Campari by the Riverand#8195;184
29.and#160;The Talismanand#8195;192
30.and#160;Patienceand#8195;197
31.and#160;Tyranny and the Mosqueand#8195;201
32.and#160;The Road to Timbuktuand#8195;206
33.and#160;Whatand#8217;s in a Name?and#8195;212
34.and#160;Faking Devotionand#8195;220
35.and#160;Dogon Countryand#8195;227
36.and#160;Madness and Cocoa Butterand#8195;236
and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160; V. PARIS
37.and#160;The Quietand#8195;243
38.and#160;A French Doctorand#8195;250
39.and#160;Panicand#8195;256
and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160; VI. NIGER
40.and#160;Niameyand#8195;263
41.and#160;Women of the Bookand#8195;271
42.and#160;Fashion Showand#8195;283
43.and#160;Free from Loveand#8195;294
44.and#160;Homeand#8195;299
and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160; Acknowledgmentsand#8195;305
and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160; Bibliographyand#8195;307
and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160; About the Authorand#8195;309