Genre: Memoir/Narrative
Nonfiction
Description:
“What happens when the path you choose leads far from everything you
thought you knew?
Shannon O’Brien leaves behind a life of routine to chase adventure
across South America and Asia. With only a backpack and a restless heart, she
dives into landscapes as beautiful as they are unpredictable. But what begins
as a journey to explore the world soon becomes a deeper quest to explore
herself.
She finds herself lost and dehydrated in Peru’s Colca Canyon, nursing
an injured spider monkey in the Bolivian jungle, and inside a high-altitude
jail. A crude hospital in Cambodia tests her limits, while encounters with a
shaman in Vietnam and a dangerous brush with Moroccan drug lords challenge
everything she thought she knew about trust and survival.”
Author:
“For over 15 years, Shannon O’Brien has made the world her
classroom—immersing herself in cultures and discovering how every journey
transforms the traveler. A writer, educator, and lifelong adventurer, she
crafts vivid, character-driven stories that explore identity, change, and the
emotional landscapes of travel. Her debut travel memoir, Stray: Breaking Free,
Falling Hard and Growing Stronger, blends raw honesty with rich cultural
detail, capturing both the external journey and the inner one. Originally from
California but now based in Malta, Shannon teaches at an international school
and continues to write.”
For more visit the author’s website.
Appraisal:
I’m an avid traveler although the vast majority of that travel has
been in the US rather than to places all over the world like the author,
Shannon O’Brien, chronicles in this book. I also love travel memoirs. Since I
can’t be on the road all the time reading these gives me the chance to
experience places I’ve never been vicariously as well as seeing places I have
been and travel experiences in general through someone else’s eyes, giving me a
chance to compare. This book was incredible. I enjoyed reading it as much as
some of the classics of the genre I’ve read over the years. If you like travel
memoirs, giving this one a try is a no brainer.
Buy now
from: Amazon US Amazon UK
FYI:
A small amount of adult language.
Format/Typo
Issues:
Review is based on an ARC (advance reviewer copy) and thus I can’t
gauge the final product in this area.
Rating: *****
Five Stars
Reviewed
by: BigAl
Approximate word count: 80-85,000 words
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