What a brilliant and innovative idea for a book.

I’m sure it will appeal to all who love literature and share a desire to learn about the stories behind some best-loved authors. It combines two of my favourite interests, reading and travelling.
Meticulously researched. Filled with maps and illustrations throughout, it is both a reference book and one to dip into when time is short.

It will prompt you to find out more about some of the writers and their works. Fortunately, there is an extensive reading list to get you started on this venture.

For me the most interesting aspect, beyond the simple accounts of long and at times arduous journeys, was the mood music at the time, the historical setting.
How travel, the sights and sounds, the views and the people themselves influenced the creative process.
How ideas germinated and developed in new locations. How talking to residents and listening to their own stories, personal accounts of myths and legends in their countries.

A book, I felt would perhaps only be relevant for the authors I was already knew, ended up being read from cover to cover. I wanted more and value its place now in my library and subconsciousness.
It will make reading books more fun in the future and promote more research into the process of ideas into print, especially of writer’s work from before my own lifetime.
To reflect upon the author’s own experience, their travels and the social and contemporary references for them.

It reminded me that earlier classics perhaps are too quickly dismissed as not being “modern ” and easy to read.

This book has opened my eyes and reading pleasure, demonstrating through its subject matter that, there is more to a book than its cover!

This was such a great idea for a nonfiction book. I've read so many stories about famous authors who went to live in faroff places where they produced masterpieces, and it always sounded so exciting and romantic.
This book tells the stories of many writers and their travels and relationships with foreign lands. There are short sections of text explaining the history, accompanied by maps showing the routes, and beautiful photographs of the amazing lands. My only criticism is that I wanted more, especially about specific works related to the places.
This would be a wonderful book for high school literature classes.
Thanks to NetGalley for letting me read this

Readers who wonder about the whys of authors' writerly choices would do well to look at their journeys in life - and Travis Elborough does exactly that in his The Writer's Journey: In the Footsteps of the Literary Greats .

Thirty-five writers' journeys and Mr. Elborough's considerations on the effects of those footsteps spent on the subject writer / journey are provided for the reader's further study. These essay-ish offerings are accompanied by a simple styled illustration of the landmark points of the journey, and general photographs of the area visited. Few of these photos are specific to the writer being considered or the visit or even the time. However, many of these locations earned their popularity by the expectations of those who've read of them, enshrouded by time, invested capital and entrepreneurial locals who ensure a consistent presentation with pages published.

This book would be a good way for those beginning their literature studies to acquaint themselves with the subject writers.

*A sincere thank you to Travis Elborough, Quarto Publishing Group - White Lion, and NetGalley for an ARC to read and review independently.* #WritersJourneysThatShapedOurWorld #NetGalley

Okay so the idea was there, but the content just didn't meet with the expectations. I found the essays to be droll and under researched. I am familiar with a lot of the writers and their stories as I am big on non-fiction history, the earlier the better.

As I am ADHD I found this to be very hard to focus on, thus making it really unfriendly for a lot of readers. I am lucky to have autism which makes it easy to study and research subjects I am interested in and this still didn't help me

I have a question... Are the images supposed to be connected to the stories or are they just generalized? Just something to think about.

Nice idea, needs some work, though.

This beautifully illustrated book chronicles 35 significant journeys undertaken by authors who left an indelible mark on literature. Each chapter examines how these travels inspired works ranging from "Moby Dick" to "Murder on the Orient Express," "Dracula" to "Harry Potter." Elborough dives into the personal and professional consequences of these adventures. While the essays are succinct, they are balanced by the accompanying maps, photographs, and navigational notes.

For instance, readers learn how Arthur Conan Doyle’s trip to Switzerland not only provided him with a dramatic location to kill off Sherlock Holmes but also transformed his perspective on the character’s longevity. However, while the context of Conan Doyle’s journey is detailed, the broader emotional struggle he faced with Sherlock Holmes is left somewhat unexplored--although that has been covered elsewhere. And of course, it's no substitute for reading "The Final Problem." This book seems like a companion piece to reading, teaching, or research, not the main course. But it is a useful one.

Thank you to the publishers and NetGalley for the opportunity to review a temporary digital ARC in exchange for an unbiased review.

Writers' Journeys That Shaped Our World
In the Footsteps of the Literary Greats
by Travis Elborough
Pub DateNov 05 2024
Quarto Publishing Group – White Lion |White Lion Publishing
Biographies & Memoirs| Nonfiction \(Adult\)| Travel




Quarto Publishing Group - White Lion publishing and Netgalley have sent me a copy of Writer's Journeys That Shaped Our World to review:




This beautiful illustrated atlas traces the journeys that inspired some of the world's most famous authors.


There are 35 influential journeys undertaken by literary greats in this book, from epic road trips and arduous treks into remote regions to cultural tours and sojourns in luxury hotels. They reveal the repercussions of these journeys on the authors' personal lives and the broader literary landscape.


Each trip is brought to life by award-winning author Travis Elborough, as he provides fascinating insights into the stories that inspired some of the world's most famous literary works, including Dracula, Moby Dick, Murder on the Orient Express, Madame Bovary, The Talented Mr Ripley, and Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone.


Discover how some of the greatest literary minds of all time were influenced by these journeys, including Herman Melville's first whaling voyage in 1841, from New York to Liverpool, and Jack Kerouac's Odyssey, which has become an iconic drive.


Featuring navigational notes, color photographs, and commissioned maps, the book provides fresh insights into some of the world's greatest minds' places, work, and personalities.


I give Writer’s Journey’s that Shaped Our Lives five out Of five stars!

Happy Reading!

Edited to add: this is a new edition of a book originally published in November, 2022. It’s not clear in the publisher’s description what, if anything, has been updated.

The premise of this book is fascinating: a collection of short essays by beloved writers about their pivotal travel experiences, accompanied by maps illustrated just for this book and photographs of some of the locations being described. Unfortunately, for me the book failed to live up to its promise. Each of the essays is short (3-4 page), and describe the writers’ travels in some detail without spending too much time digging more deeply into the ways that travel affected their writing. An example is the essay on Arthur Conan Doyle. We learn that Doyle was ready to move on from Sherlock Holmes and traveled to Switzerland to try to rid himself of the pressure to create more Holmes stories. What he found instead was a convenient way to kill off Holmes (dropping him off a mountain). After his return to England he gave in to the pressure and wrote more Homes stories. The end. I was dying to hear more. What about Holmes so irritated the author that he went to such lengths to kill him off? Why did he relent and bring him back? Did the stories change after his Alpine journey? Did the author change? What could we take away from this essay that would enhance our reading?

As noted above, each essay was accompanied by a map and pictures. The majority of the pictures were just standard photos of (for example) downtown Paris or the Saharan desert, not necessarily images of sites that were meaningful to the author’s stories. And the maps were very confusing. On most of the maps, we see a blob of yellow outlining the general area of the writer’s travels, but the only points marked on the map are the places the author visited - other landmarks, borders, street names, surrounding cities and natural features like rivers are simply missing.

I did enjoy reading many of the excerpts. I do wish the author had made a more compelling case for the book. Thanks to Quarto/White Lion and NetGalley for the opportunity to read this eARC in exchange for my honest review.

This book is built on a curious concept; how the trips they made, their stays in new places had an impact on the covered writers’ work and lives.
It is generally well-researched, presented and composed.
Quite many of the photos included did not seem relevant in my opinion.
I wish this were slightly more layered, but otherwise, certainly an important topic and book.