The Virago Book Of Women Travellers

'A volume in which rich and unexpected seams of precious materials await discovery' Guardian

Three hundred years of wanderlust are captured in this collection as women travel for peril or pleasure, whether to gaze into Persian gardens or imbibe the French countryside, to challenge the fierce Sahara or climb an impossible mountain.

The extraordinary women in this collection are observers of the world in which they wander; their prose rich in description, remarkable in detail. Mary McCarthy conveys the vitality of Florence while Willa Cather's essay on Lavandou foreshadows her descriptions of the French countryside in later novels. Others are more active participants in the culture they are visiting, such as Leila Philip, as she harvests rice with Japanese women. Whether it is curiosity about the world, a thirst for adventure or escape from personal tragedy, all of these women are united in that they approached their journeys with wit, intelligence, compassion and empathy for the lives of those they encountered along the way.

Also includes writing by Willa Cather, Joan Didion, Vita Sackville-West, M. F. K Fisher, Christina Dodwell and more.

LIST:

Gertrude Bell
Ella Maillart
Isabella Bird
Beryl Markham
Box-Car Bertha
Lady Mary Wortley Montagu
Willa Cather
Robin Morgan
Alexandra David-Neel
Mary Morris
Joan Didion
Dervla Murphy
Isak Dinesen
Kate O'Brien
Christina Dodwell
Maud Parrish
Isabelle Eberhardt
Vita Sackville-West
Amelia Edwards
Freya Stark
M. F. K. Fisher
Frances Trollope
Sarah Hobson
Rebecca West
Mary McCarthy
Edith Wharton
Rose Macaulay
Mary Wollstonecraft