For many of us, our travels over the past year have come through the pages of books. Here are three recent titles that we highly recommend.
The Flightless Traveller
By Emma Gregg (Quercus Books)
The airline industry has come under the spotlight in recent years, and this timely book from award-winning travel writer Emma Gregg shows that overseas adventure is still perfectly achievable without getting on a plane. You’ll find 50 different ideas for ‘modern adventures by land, river and sea’, ranging from green city breaks and European bike itineraries to epic trips that incorporate Africa, Asia and even Australia. It’s just the thing for shaping future travel plans.
Quondam
By John Devoy (Quondam Books)
When a book gets endorsed by travel writing doyenne Dervla Murphy, you know it’s worth taking notice. Irish author John Devoy turns 90 this year, but the journey he recounts so vividly in Quondam takes place in the mid-1980s, when he cycled across Europe to reach North Africa. The book recounts his subsequent 6,500-kilometre bike journey between Cairo and Nairobi, at a time when much of the technology we now take for granted was unheard of. A rich, immersive read.
Wanderland
By Jini Reddy (Bloomsbury)
London journalist Jini Reddy became the first writer of colour to be shortlisted for the prestigious Wainwright Prize last year, thanks to the thought-provoking journey she undertakes in Wanderland. In search of a deeper connection with ‘magic in the landscape’, she writes with clarity and honesty about the places and characters she encounters as she travels around the UK, on a quest that leads her everywhere from a remote Cornish labyrinth to the Scottish island of Iona.
