The Illustrated Virago Book of Women Travellers - Hardcover

In this newly illustrated edition, 300 years of wanderlust are captured as women travel the world for pleasure and peril. Women move through the world differently than men. The constraints and dangers, the perceptions of others, and the complex emotions women journey with are different, and for many, the inner landscape is as important as the outer. Among the extraordinary women whose writing is included here are Gertrude Bell, Rose Macaulay, Mary McCarthy, Vita Sackville–West, Freya Stark, Edith Wharton, and Mary Wollstonecraft. Whether it is curiosity about the world, a thirst for adventure, or escape from personal tragedy, all these women are united in approaching their journeys with wit, intelligence, and compassion for those encountered along the way.

Some of the extraordinary women whose writings are included in this splendid collection are observers of the world in which they wander, their prose rich in description, remarkable in detail. Others are more active participants in the culture they are visiting. Often they are storytellers, weaving tales about the people they meet. Whether it is curiosity about the world, a thirst for adventure, or escape from personal tragedy, all these women are united in approaching their journeys with wit, intelligence, and compassion for those encountered along the way.