woman travel books

10 Inspiring Travel Books Written by Women

• 2 March, 2023

From personal memoirs to coming-of-age odysseys, these are our favourite women-written travel books to empower and inspire your travels

02 March, 2023

A A good travel book can transport you to the rolling lavender fields of Tuscany , awaken you to the power of prayer in India and inspire you to hike an off-grid trail on the American west coast. Whether we’ve found you lying on a hammock strung between palms or curled up on your sofa with a cuppa to hand, read on to discover the travel reads written by women that will both sate wanderlust and galvanise you for your next adventure.

The next chapter: 10 empowering travel books written by women

Looking for Transwonderland: Travels in Nigeria

by Noo Saro-Wiwa

Growing up, English-raised Noo Saro-Wiwa spent her summers in Nigeria, a place she considered gritty and unglamorous – somewhere that stripped her of all her usual home comforts and routine. When her father, activist Ken Saro-Wiwa, was executed by the country’s military dictatorship in November 1995, she closed the doors on any thought of return. A decade later, however, the writer challenged herself to rediscover her roots. Spanning the chaos of Lagos to the tranquillity of the eastern mountains, Looking for Transwonderland is an enthralling read, combining elements of travelogue with meditations on corruption, identity and religion.

A Field Guide To Getting Lost

by Rebecca Solnit

An investigation into loss, A Field Guide To Getting Lost explores the difficulties of navigating uncertainty. Historian, activist, feminist and writer of more than 20 books, Solnit’s exploration takes in everything from mapmaking to Renaissance paintings and Alfred Hitchcock films. A philosopher at heart, the author begins this dynamic collection of nine essays with a quotation from one of her students: “How will you go about finding that thing the nature of which is unknown to you?”

Islands of Abandonment

by Cal Flyn

Ever wondered what happens to abandoned places? Cal Flyn will cure your curiosity in her Islands of Abandonment. Taking us on a haunting adventure through ghost towns, exclusion zones, no man’s lands and fortress isles, this fascinating book will enlighten you as to what happens when neighbourhoods become silent and nature takes its course. In doing so, the author does much to answer the most pressing question of our times: can we reverse humankind’s damage to nature?

by Jan Morris

Be it Las Vegas or Bombay, Athens or Aberdeen, leading contemporary travel writer Jan Morris has a special power when it comes to conveying the very essence of a place. In Journeys, she gifts us a collection of passionate and evocative travel essays that are both historically and politically astute. Read it and you’ll be in no doubt as to why doyenne of travel writing Rebecca West called Morris “the best descriptive writer of our times” and the equally legendary Alistair Cooke christened her the “Flaubert of the jet age”.

Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail

by Cheryl Strayed

“It was a world I thought would both make me into the woman I knew I could become and turn me back into the girl I’d once been,” states Cheryl Strayed in the uplifting Wild. At the age of 26, Strayed was convinced she’d lost everything. Her mother had suddenly passed away from cancer and her marriage had fallen apart. Thinking she had nothing to lose, she decided to walk 1,700km of North America’s west coast – from the Mojave Desert to Washington state – alone, and with no experience of hiking. Follow her on her incredible journey, during which she pieces her life back together.

Eat, Pray, Love: One Woman’s Search for Everything

by Elizabeth Gilbert

If you haven’t heard of Elizabeth Gilbert’s book Eat, Pray, Love, which inspired the 2010 film of the same name, starring Julia Roberts, we assume you’ve been living under a rock. Telling the tale of her bitter divorce, the author invites us to join her in the pursuit of happiness, as she sets out to nurture her own interests – pleasure, devotion and balance. It is a path that sees her falling head over heels for Italy’s culinary scene, understanding the power of prayer in India and, finally, finding peace in Indonesia, where she meets her soulmate.

The Year of Living Danishly: Uncovering the Secrets of the World’s Happiest Country

by Helen Russell

Eager to get to grips with the secrets of the famously happy Danish, author Helen Russell gave herself a year to uncover the recipe. Embarking on a new life in rural Jutland, she takes us on a beguiling journey that sees her surviving a long, dark Scandinavian winter with the help of cured herring, Lego bricks and pastries. Offering an insightful analysis of the country’s childcare, education, cuisine and design, The Year of Living Danishly shows us how we can all benefit from taking a leaf out of the Danes’ book.

Under the Tuscan Sun: At Home in Italy

by Frances Mayes

Want to escape to the Italian countryside? Under the Tuscan Sun makes for the perfect literary getaway. When Frances Mayes set her sights on an abandoned Tuscan villa, she wasn’t aware of the challenges that lay ahead. Join her in this warm, witty memoir, as she navigates cultural misunderstandings, legal frustrations and the reality of renovating a house that appears determined to remain a ruin.

Travels with Myself and Another

by Martha Gellhorn

After a lifetime spent travelling, American powerhouse Martha Gellhorn – who died in 1998 in London, at the age of 89 – mined her “best horror journeys” for the purposes of this critically acclaimed, 2002-published book. From a journey through rain-sodden, war-torn China, to sailing in the Caribbean and visiting a dissident writer in the Soviet Union, the stories contained in these pages are both gripping and hilarious.

What I Was Doing While You Were Breeding: A Memoir

by Kristin Newman

Your 20s and 30s come with an unspoken amount of pressure. There’s securing and balancing a job, watching friends purchase houses and others start families. Not ready to settle down, Kristin Newman instead chose to travel the world, often alone, for months at a time. In What I Was Doing While You Were Breeding, she introduces us to a colourful array of lovers – think Israeli bartenders, Argentinian priests and Finnish poker players – and equally entertaining landscapes. This one will have you running to book your next flight.

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25 Brilliant Travel Memoirs by Women

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Best Travel Memoirs by Women

Are you looking for travel memoirs by women to read?

Here are some of the best travel books written by women to inspire your wanderlust!

When I was in college, I took a class about travel writing while studying abroad in Paris. Every week we studied different topics in travel writing, and every author we read was male. One week, our topic was “women in travel writing.” That was the only week we read female authors.

So I wanted to use this list to spotlight the best travel memoirs by women.

I have always enjoyed reading memoirs, and travel memoirs are no exception. There’s no better way to travel vicariously through someone else than by reading about their own travel experiences in a memoir. These incredible stories by female travel writers will transport you to faraway places, and have you planning your next travel adventure ASAP!

Here are the best female travel memoirs to add to your reading list:

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1.  Wild   by Cheryl Strayed

This travel memoir follows Cheryl’s journey hiking the Pacific Crest Trail solo. Driven by grief after her mother’s death, she embarked on a hike more than one thousand miles long at age twenty-six for an unforgettable experienced that maddened, strengthened, and ultimately healed her.

2.  Eat, Pray, Love   by Elizabeth Gilbert

This classic memoir was made into a hit movie and is about one woman’s journey through three countries on a mission to eat, pray, and love. After her life fell apart in her early thirties, Elizabeth set off on a pilgrimage to Italy, India, and Indonesia on a journey of self-discovery.

3.  Tracks   by Robyn Davidson

Robyn Davidson completed an epic adventure when she walked alone more than 1,700 miles through the Australian Outback with four camels and her dog at age twenty-seven. Tracks is her memoir detailing the experience and the people she met along the way.

4.  The Year of Living Danishly   by Helen Russell

British writer Helen Russell relocated to Denmark with her husband when he got a job at the LEGO headquarters. She decided to spend a year trying to uncover the secrets of the World’s Happiest Country in this delightful, well-researched, and engrossing book about Danish culture.

5.  Lands of Lost Borders   by Kate Harris

Canadian Kate Harris dreamed of adventures ever since she was young. In between studying at Oxford and MIT, she set off with her childhood friend on the adventure of a lifetime: bicycling the Silk Road. Her memoir follows her journey exploring remote Central Asia by bike.

6.  How Not to Travel the World   by Lauren Juliff

Professional travel blogger Lauren runs the website Never Ending Footsteps, where she shares unfortunate and often hilarious mishaps from the road.  How Not to Travel the World  chronicles some of her funniest travel mistakes from a self-proclaimed disaster-prone backpacker.

7. Travels With Myself and Another   by Martha Gellhorn

Martha was a fearless writer and journalist who covered wars and conflicts around the world. From the Spanish Civil War to Nicaragua to the Vietnam War, she traveled both alone and accompanied at a time when it was uncommon for women to do such things. Her memoir describes her globe-spanning adventures, in a sharp, insightful way.

8.  Under the Tuscan Sun   by Frances Mayes

Frances Mayes, a poet, writer, and gourmet chef, embarked on a life-changing journey when she moved to Italy to renovate an old Tuscan villa. Her evocative memoir has inspired countless others to follow their dreams, whether that is booking a flight to Italy or elsewhere.

9.  Cruising Altitude   by Heather Poole

Have you ever wondered what it’s like to be a flight attendant? While it may seem like a glamorous job that allows you to travel the world, Heather’s memoir  Cruising Altitude  provides an insider look at what it’s REALLY like to be a flight attendant: the good, the bad, and the ugly.

10.  Tales of a Female Nomad   by Rita Golden Gelman

At the age of forty-eight, on the verge of a divorce, Rita left a comfortable life in Los Angeles to follow her dream of traveling the world, connecting with people in cultures all over the globe. She sold all her possessions and set off on an epic journey to far-flung places around the world.

11.  Without Reservations   by Alice Steinbach

Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Alice Steinbach wrote this travel memoir about her experiences around Europe as she set off on a voyage to find her true self and be an independent woman.

12.  The Lost Girls   by Jennifer Baggett, Holly Corbett, and Amanda Pressner

Three friends, each on the brink of a quarter-life crisis, make a pact to quit their high pressure New York City jobs and leave behind their friends, boyfriends, and everything familiar to embark on a year-long backpacking adventure around the world. What followed was an epic journey across four continents in this fun memoir about friendship and travel adventures.

13.  What I Was Doing While You Were Breeding   by Kristin Newman

Kristin spent much of her twenties and thirties buying dresses to wear to her friends’ weddings and baby showers. Not ready to settle down herself and in need of an escape from her fast-paced job, Kristin instead traveled the world, often alone, for several weeks each year. Her memoir chronicles her many experiences (and whirlwind romances) on the road.

14.  The Good Girl’s Guide to Getting Lost   by Rachel Friedman

After playing it safe for most of her life, Rachel buys a one-way ticket to Ireland, where she meets a free-spirited Australian girl. Her new friend spurs her on to turn her trip into a year-long odyssey around the world, with plenty of adventures along the way.

15.  Wanderlust   by Elisabeth Eaves

Spanning across 15 years,  Wanderlust  is a travel memoir chronicling the author’s travels on five continents (and the many romances she had along the way.)

16.  Undress Me in the Temple of Heaven   by Susan Jane Gilman

In this hilarious and harrowing travel memoir, Susan Jane Gilman describes her unconventional gap year in the 1980s with her best friend in the People’s Republic of China.

17.  An Embarrassment of Mangoes by Ann Vanderhoof

This memoir follows Ann and her husband, two forty-something Canadians dreaming of life in paradise, who quit their jobs and moved onto a 42-foot sailboat in the Caribbean.

18.  Miss-adventures   by Amy Baker

Humorist Amy Baker decided to quit her job and backpack South America, where she quickly found herself in many hilarious travel predicaments. Her book  Miss-adventures  chronicles her many travel mistakes, and the advice she should have listened to along the way.

19.  A Thousand New Beginnings   by Kristin Addis

This is a memoir written by travel blogger Kristin Addis, who runs the website Be My Travel Muse. Her book provides a deeper look at her backstory, and the time she left her job, boyfriend, and familiar life at age twenty-six to backpack Southeast Asia alone for a year.

20.  Alone Time   by Stephanie Rosenbloom

Set between Paris, Istanbul, Florence, and New York,  Alone Time  is a memoir about traveling solo and the joys and pleasures that solitude can bring in our hectic lives.

21. Confessions of a Middle-Aged Runway   by Heidi Eliason

Feeling suffocated by routine and longing for adventure, 45-year-old Heidi quit her job, sold all her belongings, and purchased an RV. What followed was a five-year RV journey with her trusty dog Rylie, as she discovered new places and experienced freedom like she had never known.

22. If Your Dream Doesn’t Scare You, It Isn’t Big Enough   by Kristine K. Stevens

For her fortieth birthday, Kristine sold her house, quit her job, and embarked on a solo adventure around the world. She braves a monsoon in Zanzibar, trekking in Nepal, kayaking in Thailand, caves in Laos, lava in Hawaii, and grizzly bears in Alaska in this memoir of her travels.

23.  Wild by Nature   by Sarah Marquis

Adventurer Sarah Marquis chronicles her ambitious journey hiking solo over 10,000 miles around the world, from the Gobi Desert to Siberia, in this travel memoir.

24.  Return to Glow   by Chandi Wyant

In her early forties, Chandi’s world implodes in the wake of a divorce and traumatic illness. Determined to embrace life by following her heart, she sets out on Italy’s historic pilgrimage route, the Via Francigena, to walk for forty days to Rome.  Return the Glow  chronicles it all.

25.  Alone in Antarctica   by Felicity Aston

Felicity Aston, physicist and meteorologist, took two months off from all human contact as she became the first woman, and only the third person in history, to ski across the entire continent of Antarctica alone. With just her cross-country skis, she embarked on an epic journey across the ice.

26.  The Same River Twice   by Pam Mandel

When California native Pam Mandel was sent off on a youth tour of Israel at age seventeen, she didn’t realize she was in for the adventure of a lifetime. What started as a poorly-chaperoned trip turns into a journey leading her from London to rural Pakistan to the Nile River Delta to the Himalayas and back on an adventure that would shape the course of her life forever.

27.  Open Road   by T. W. Neal

On the brink of her fiftieth birthday and stuck in the routines of “normal” life, author T. W. Neal realized she needed a new adventure. She and her husband embark on a 12,000 mile journey through America’s national parks in this travel memoir about rediscovering yourself.

These are some of the best travel memoirs by women.

Have you read any of these travel memoirs by women? Do you have any favorite memoirs that I should add to this list? Let me know in the comments below!

Related:  17 Best Travel Adventure Books

One Comment

Yes! I’d love to add The Locust and the Bird by Hanan Al-Shaykh. It’s a beautiful memoir set in Lebanon about her mother’s life.

Thank you so much for compiling this list. I came across it for exactly the same reasons you wrote it except that I was reading a how-to book on travel writing. The author weaved in lots of “expert” advice, recommendations and quotes, but I was shocked by the lack of female representation. Out of 36 book recommendations for further reading only 4 were by women.

Jane Robinson’s Parrot Pie for Breakfast is another great read for anyone who thinks women travel writers are a rarity.

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Travel Books

Best Travel Books That Inspire You To Embrace the Life You Want

Here at Women’s Travel Fest , the chief mission we embody is to support travelers in all ways. We’re excited to share some incredible resources for everyone to embrace their lives to the fullest, and these inspiring books have sprung from the brilliant minds of these celebrated entrepreneurs, travelers, and leaders—some of whom have been past speakers! 

Enjoy these selections (which, by the way, make great holiday gifts, too!!). 

The Solo Female Travel Book : Available in Kindle | Paperback

The Solo Female Travel Book by Jen Ruiz

A successful travel content creator, Jen Ruiz empowers women to travel more, work remotely, and ultimately live life on their own terms. She was a speaker at the Women’s Travel Fest last year!

Her book, The Solo Female Travel Book , is not only a super fun read but a major confidence boost. Half guide and half memoir, it offers thorough and thoughtful tips on topics like choosing the right destinations, taking great photos by yourself, packing efficiently, and making friends abroad. Relatable, funny, and incredibly insightful, this is the ultimate book for women who want to pursue solo travel. 

Her book, The Affordable Flight Guide , is another great option for travel enthusiasts, with incredible information on finding cheap airline tickets and exploring the world on a budget. And if you’re interested in the freedom of work-from-home lifestyle, her book 25 Ways to Work from Home is a must-read! 

Wander Woman : Available in Kindle | Paperback | Audiobook

Wander Woman by Beth Santos

Another great pick for solo female travelers, Wander Woman by Beth Santos is here to arm women with the knowledge and confidence they need to have the travel adventures of a lifetime. Exploring traditional topics like women’s personal safety, crafting itineraries, and finding community from a fresh and modern perspective, Beth’s book is both a how-to guide and a support system for women. 

Whether you’re planning the solo trip of your dreams, want to feel more prepared for business trips, or anything in between, you’ll leave Wander Woman feeling inspired and so excited to board your next flight! 

Call You When I Land : Available in Kindle | Paperback | Audiobook

Call You When I Land by Nikki Vargas

From imposter syndrome to chasing career dreams to love and heartbreak, Nikki Vargas bares it all in her heartfelt memoir Call You When I Land . Go along with Nikki on a journey of self-discovery and inspiration as she leaves everything behind to pursue her passions, one plane ticket at a time. Her relatable stories and reflections are all told with immense vulnerability as if chatting with a friend. 

If you’re looking for some inspiration to shake things up in life, you’ll definitely find it in this fun and down-to-earth book. 

A previous speaker in 2020, Nikki will be back at this year’s Women’s Travel Fest with an eye-opening talk that you won’t want to miss!

The One-Way Ticket Plan : Available in Kindle | Paperback | Audiobook

The One-Way Ticket Plan by Alexa West

If you’re yearning to pack a bag and hit the road but are worried about finances or the logistics of traveling alone, Alexa West has you covered. Her book The One-Way Ticket Plan will be your ultimate guide to traveling the world while lowering your cost of living, offering real-world advice on common issues like unfamiliar foods, loneliness, tourist traps, and even using strange toilets. 

With hilarious stories and practical strategies, even the most inexperienced of travelers will step away feeling inspired to finally book that flight and make money from anywhere in the world.

Yes, I’m a Woman, and I’m Traveling Alone : Available in Kindle | Paperback

Yes, I’m a Woman and I’m Traveling Alone by Alyssa Ramos

Alyssa Ramos of My Life’s A Travel Movie has spent the last ten years traveling solo, full-time, and for a living, and has compiled this incredible book about how she did it. Going over her initial jump into solo travel, navigating those first few years, the stigma and stereotypes of women traveling alone, and how she became one of the first solo female travel influencers, Alyssa gets real with her readers about solo travel. 

You’ll also get the inside scoop on logistics and itineraries, self-photography, relationships, and more. So, for the bold and independent women out there who are living or are interested in living this lifestyle, Yes, I’m a Woman and I’m Traveling Alone should be your next read.

Brave-ish : Available in Kindle | Paperback

Brave-ish by Lisa Niver

Chronicling Lisa Niver’s courageous path of starting a whole new life at 47, Brave-ish is all about taking small, “brave-ish” steps into the life you want to be living. Armed with the challenge of trying fifty new things before turning fifty, Lisa Niver’s journey turns into one of reinvention and personal growth while traveling to distant corners of the globe and going on some incredible adventures. 

Speaking on the resilience of the human spirit, this book will inspire you to take risks, embrace uncertainty, and dream big. 

She Builds : Available in Kindle | Audiobook | Hardcover

She Builds by Jadah Sellner

She Builds: The Anti-Hustle Guide to Grow Your Business and Nourish Your Life is a source of support for women who want to build success without sacrificing all of their time, relationships, and peace. In the midst of a very prevalent (and toxic) hustle culture, Jadah Sellner’s book is a breath of fresh air for women who want to work on their own terms, sharing a new entrepreneurial model for women to create a thriving business that will allow them to prioritize their well-being. 

After years of helping women create sustainable businesses without burning out, Jadah Sellner has put her personal stories, case studies, helpful exercises, and tons of advice into this empowering book. 

Everything Is Not Enough : Available in Kindle | Audiobook | Hardcover

Everything is Not Enough by Lọlá Ákínmádé Åkerström

With a background in Geoscience and travel photography, Lọlá Ákínmádé Åkerström is a powerful voice in both the travel world and the literature world. Her most recent book, Everything is Not Enough , follows the loosely intertwined and complicated lives of three Black women as they navigate place, prejudice, and patriarchy in the egalitarian society of Sweden. 

Described as absorbing, emotional, and comforting, the journeys of these three characters will fill you up and stay with you long after you finish the book.  

The Catch Me If You Can : Available in Kindle | Audiobook | Hardcover

The Catch Me if You Can by Jessica Nabongo

A travel expert, blogger, and powerful speaker, Jessica Nabongo also boasts the claim of being the first Black woman to travel to every country in the world, and her bestselling book, The Catch Me If You Can , documents her experiences in each country. 

You’ll find thrilling tales of dog sledding in Norway, swimming with humpback whales in Tonga, a late-night adventure with strangers crossing the border in Guinea Bissau, learning to lasso with Black cowboys in Oklahoma, and so many more, plus eye-opening stories from seldom-visited destinations like North Korea, Tuvalu, and South Sudan. Referred to as her love letters to diversity, beauty, culture, and the people she’s met along the way, Nabongo’s own photographs make this book all the more stunning.  

Tell Her She Can’t : Available in Kindle | Audiobook | Paperback

Tell Her She Can’t by Kelly Lewis

A celebration of feminine strength and resilience, Kelly Lewis’s Tell Her She Can’t is the manifesto every woman needs to read. Loaded with the true stories of 35 trailblazing women, this book will show you how to break boundaries, turn challenges into opportunities, and become unstoppable. And, you’ll get to know some incredible women along the way. 

Kelly Lewis is not just a successful entrepreneur, entrepreneurial coach, and world traveler, but she also happens to be the original founder of Women’s Travel Fest ! She was a speaker at last year’s conference too! 

30-Day Stay : Available in Kindle | Audiobook | Paperback

30-Day Stay by Sarah Weaver and Zeona McIntyre

Interested in real estate investments? 30-Day Stay: A Real Estate Investor’s Guide to Mastering the Medium-Term Rental will introduce you to the medium-term rental strategy, which gives you the benefits of investing in Airbnbs without the struggles of high turnover or city regulations. Authors Sarah Weaver and Zeona McIntyre introduce a thorough guide to a powerful yet flexible real estate method that reduces cost, time, and bookkeeping while raising profits!

It’s thorough and engaging, with case studies and a host of valuable information that the authors’ nearly thirty rental properties and decades of real estate investing experience have given them. 

Last year, Sarah Weaver was a featured speaker at the Women’s Travel Fest!

The Vegan Baby Cookbook and Guide : Available in Kindle | Paperback

The Vegan Baby Cookbook and Guide by Ashley Renne Nsonwu

No book list is complete without a cookbook! Ashley Renne Nsonwu’s newest cookbook, The Vegan Baby Cookbook and Guide , makes cooking healthy vegan food for your family amazingly simple and satisfying. 

It’s not only full of yummy and super easy vegan recipes that your baby or toddler is sure to love, but also shares evidence-based nutrition guidelines, parenting tips, benefits of veganism, how to create a vegan shopping list, and how to navigate veganism in school and social settings! 

The Power of Pivoting : How to Embrace Change and Create a Life You Love Available in Kindle | Paperback

The Power of Pivoting by Monica Ortega

Life is full of unexpected changes, and Monica Ortega’s book, The Power of Pivoting , will teach you how to not only deal with them but embrace them and use them to build your dream life. If change is scary to you, then you absolutely need to read this book! 

With wisdom and humor, Monica Ortega will show you how to discover the source of your fear, let it go, shift your mindset, and create opportunities from any situation. You’ll step away from this book excited for everything the universe has in store for you and ready to tackle all of the pivots to come. 

The Art of Unruly Travel on a Budget : Available in Paperback

The Art of Unruly Travel on a Budget

If you’re a frugal adventurer, ethically-minded traveler, or are yearning to see the world but are on a budget, The Art of Unruly Travel on a Budget will be your ultimate guide to traveling on a small budget and leaving a minimal footprint. Every single tip and trick in this book was learned firsthand by traveler, activist, and author Calen Otto after starting their traveling journey with just a bike and a $300 gift card!

This isn’t your ordinary travel-on-a-budget book that recommends hostels and scraping together discounts—it’s full of creative advice, exciting tools, and raw, heartfelt stories of Calen’s experiences. This book will help you turn your travel dreams into a reality, no matter how small your budget may be.

Want to know more about Women’s Travel Fest? Read About Us here . We look forward to welcoming you to Playa del Carmen, Mexico, February 16-19, 2024! And watch out for news on the 2025 conference destination! 

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PLAYA DEL CARMEN, MEXICO

FEBRUARY 16-19, 2024

• 11 Inspiring Solo Female Travel Books That Any Woman Should Read

Disclaimer: This page may contain affiliate links. If you make a purchase using one of those links, I may earn a commission at zero cost for you. Please see my  disclaimer policy  here and my privacy policy here.

If you are hesitant about traveling solo, these solo female travel books will inspire your wanderlust and show you the way.

I have put together this article with the help of amazing solo travel bloggers who shared their favorite books about traveling solo.

You will find stories of adventurous women who decided to leave the comfort zone of their conventional life for an uncertain but exciting life on the road, to learn about new cultures and create new connections, but most of all to find their truth.

Whether you are in a difficult moment in your life and you need some motivation or you just want to enjoy a good reading these books are for you.

Sometimes we just need a little encouragement from others that have already walked their path and shared their experience. Through travel books or solo travel quotes, we may find inspiration to daring greatly as well.

If you are looking for more adventure travel inspiration for couples instead, I have got you covered as well!

Read on and pick your favorite story!

Table of Contents

Inspiring Solo Female Travel Books

1. tales of a female nomad by rita goldman gelman.

Recommended by Julien Casanova of Oaxaca Travel Tips

Tales of a Female Nomad is a true story turned into a book to inspire solo female travel. On the edge of divorce, author Rita Goldman Gelman decides to leave her comfortable life in Los Angeles and set off on a solo adventure.

Only it’s the early 1980s and her nomadic travels look very different than today, which is one of the reasons I think this is an inspiring book for solo female travelers.

There is no internet, no cell phone to stay in touch, and no travel blogs to lead her on her journey.

Instead, she is guided by her intuition and fueled by her desire to experience a different way of life.

Her travels begin with living in a Zapotec village in Oaxaca, Mexico. While initially seen as an outsider, she is quickly embraced by the community.

And this theme continues through her travels as she wanders the globe while learning from individuals and their cultures.

The lessons from her travels are ones that every type of traveler can embrace, though I think they are particularly potent for a solo female traveler following in her path.

2. Wanderlust: A Love Affair with Five Continents by Elisabeth Eaves

Recommended by Martina from  PlacesofJuma

In the book “ Wanderlust: A Love Affair with Five Continents ” by Elisabeth Eaves, the author writes about her travel experiences that span a period of about one and a half decades.

The book is primarily about a journey of self-discovery, about trying to find yourself far away from home and also about searching the feeling of being home.

A situation that spoke very much from my heart personally. Really well written also, entertaining and on a very personal level. 

Inspired by her childhood sweetheart Graham, she too feels drawn to faraway places in her youth. Actually, she started to move from one place to the next.

She spends a year abroad in Cairo and later does a government internship in Pakistan. After that, her wanderlust is unstoppable, and she gets lost in a long list of romances and places.

Actually, each new adventure is also marked by a new man.

What I really liked personally were the parts where the author wrote about the place. Where of course the parts about her love life were also very entertaining.

A nice book, especially if you are suffering from wanderlust.

3. Beneath the Smiling Moustache by Belinda Lara Robinson

By Louisa Smith, Founder of Epic Book Society

In 1990, solo female traveler Belinda Lara Robinson was just 22 years old and eager to leave her small town in Australia to see the world.

The plan was to backpack across Europe and see a new country, with unique history and culture that was different from back home.

When she ends up in Istanbul, something terrible happens; she’s hit by a bus. Far away from home, and in the days without social media and easy access to the internet, Belinda was very much alone.

After being let down by the Aussie government, it was the kindness of the Turkish people that helped her heal – both physically and emotionally.

Beneath the Smiling Moustache  is a comical yet emotional story of one woman’s courage, bravery, and determination to see the beauty in other cultures.

It also offers a unique insight into the life and culture of Turkish people, at a time when tensions were rising in the Middle East.

In 2018, Belinda Lara Robinson was diagnosed with a rare form of blood cancer. It was her dying wish to release this book that tells the story of the most memorable time of her life while solo female traveling.

Throughout her life, Belinda was an avid traveler and always wanted to see, learn about and empathize with cultures outside her own.

Beneath the Smiling Moustache is her legacy and an incredible story of warmth and compassion. Belinda Lara Robinson passed away on February 7th, 2020.

4. Wild by Cheryl Strayed

Contributed by Anu Agarwal of Destination Checkoff

Wild is a remarkable story of a young woman’s journey of hiking more than 1000 miles on the Pacific Crest Trail alone in an attempt to find herself.

The book is a memoir and the story is about the author herself and her quest as a solo hiker and traveler.

It truly depicts the struggles of solo trave l like boredom, and loneliness; as well as the joys associated with traveling alone like courage and discovering one’s own companionship.

Wild is a heartwarming and inspiring read. 

Inspired by Wild, I chose Big Island, the land of volcanoes and rainforests as my journey to explore and experience the power of nature.

In my  Big Island itinerary , I explored the historical Kona region, the lush rainforests of Hilo, the sacred Waipio valley, and the powerful volcanoes of Volcanoes National Park.

The black and green sand beaches were very unique. I did several hikes on the Big Island inspired by the hiking story in Wild.

Traveling solo is a therapeutic experience and allowed me to clear my mind and connect with myself. I felt humbled in front of the immense power of nature. 

5. West with the Night by Beryl Markham

Contributed by Victoria from Guide your Travel

West with the Night is a uniquely inspiring book about an independent woman who takes her destiny into her own hands and sees the world in her own way.

Set in the 1930s, this memoir follows Beryl Markham who breaks records as a pilot and even crosses the Atlantic completely by herself just like Amelia Earhart.

However, Markham’s story isn’t nearly as famous although her story is just as impressive. This book is an exciting read and inspiring for anyone hoping to travel alone for the first time.

Today, it’s easy for women to do just that (or at least it should be) although it was nearly impossible and completely unheard of during the time of Beryl Markham.

Her love for the African continent and many incredible destinations make her and her story truly unique.

6. Tracks by Robyn Davidson

By Emily from Wander-Lush

First published in 1980, Tracks is something of a bible for solo female travelers. The novel had a resurgence of popularity after the film adaptation starring Mia Wasikowska was released in 2013.

Penned by Australian author Robyn Davidson, Tracks is an autobiographical memoir that recalls her epic journey by foot across the Land Down Under.

In 1977, Davidson walked 16,800 miles through the remote Western Australian desert, accompanied by her dog and four camels.

Described as an ‘odyssey of self-discovery, the novel recalls how Davidson pushed her body and mind to the limit during her solo journey, fighting against the elements and overcoming incredible hardships.

Quite incredibly, the walk wasn’t an attempt to seek fame or fortune – Davidson never even intended to write a book about her experience, rather she embarked on the journey to prove something to herself.

Solo travelers will relate to the sense of complete independence and solitude Davidson experiences.

But, as is so often the case, a huge part of the story ends up being about the people you encounter along the way – in this case, photographer Rick Smolan who accompanied Davidson on several stages of the journey, and more consequentially the Indigenous Australians who guided and helped her along the way.

7. Quiet Escapes, by Emma Thomson

Contributed by Carley, Home to Havana

For a unique take on solo female travel, pick up a copy of Quiet Escapes by Emma Thomson.

Sharing unique details about 50 tranquil escapes, from lodges in Guatemala to unique retreat experiences in Italy and the world’s first “quiet park” in the depths of the  Ecuador Amazon  rainforest, Thomson’s inspiring travel tales will inspire wanderlust for any solo female traveler.

Beyond just identifying cool new destinations and experiences in travel, Thomson’s collection of stories has much more to offer solo travelers.

While solo travel can sometimes get a bit lonely, many of Thomson’s travel experiences speak to how to embrace the quiet, zen moments of travel.

Her stories specifically identify destinations perfect for embracing solitary moments and that help you incorporate more of this into your day-to-day life upon returning from travel. 

Whether you follow her destination recommendations or not, you’ll love her book and find it an inspiring read as you plan your next solo trip. 

8. What’s wrong with you? by Ana Bakran

Contributed by Gaby from Under Flowery Sky

Ana Bakran is a Croatian hitchhiker that made alone a splendid adventure from Croatia to Bora Bora. Even more amazing, she did it twice.

The second time she only hitchhiked boats in French Polynesia and explored the islands. It wasn’t the only reason to return as she decided to write the book What’s wrong with you? .

I heard about Ana Bakran through another Croatian hitchhiker. It sounds absolutely astonishing how she doesn’t answer concretely questions about money.

Ana Bakran was a successful bussiness woman and attended University in the USA. When her business company went down, she decided to go into hitchhiking adventure. 

Today Ana Bakran lives in French Polynesia, at Nuku Hiva Island. Her hitchhiking story turned into a love story. She was very cautious about having a relationship during her journey so it was possible when she finally ended it. 

Travelling from Croatia to Bora Bora lasted four years. Ana was travelling slowly, sometimes even finding occasional jobs.

She also became vegan on the road. I was very happy to receive her postcard from French Polynesia after buying the book. 

What’s wrong with you?  is a perfect guidebook for all hitchhikers, especially women. It’s also an invite to follow your dreams, wherever they lead.

9. Nowhere for Very Long: The Unexpected Road to an Unconventional Life by Brianna Madia

This colorful memoir follows Madia, a wanderlusty young woman who buys and moves into a bright orange van with her husband and two dogs.

She chronicles her travels around the beautiful deserts of the American Southwest and her adventures in the van. 

Unlike the recent van life movement, Nowhere For Very Long doesn’t just focus on the glamorous moments of nomadic life, but equally serves up the frustrating or painful ones- from breaking down on the side of South Dakota (… and, also in Wyoming) to sleeping in a parking lot that was so bitter cold, her water jugs froze. 

Throughout the book, she grapples with her relationship and her place in a world she doesn’t quite fit in.

When she transitions from traveling as a married woman to a solo traveler , she discovers that she’s able to find herself, despite the uncertainty of her life, in the slot canyons of Utah and the dusty backcountry roads of the United States.

Madia’s story resonates with me- I long to explore the wide open spaces of my country, living a nomadic life, and focusing more on experiences than material things.

In fact, I had my own solo adventure in Utah, exploring Zion and Bryce Canyon National Park on my own.

I planned the trip specifically because I knew the epic vistas and sweeping landscapes of Utah would be one of the best places to clear my mind and recenter myself after a grueling year at my job. 

But, like Nowhere for Very Long reminds us, the real self-discovery happens along the journey- from figuring out how to change a flat tire by myself on a long stretch of abandoned highway to making friends with another solo traveler, bonding over our tired feet from the day’s hikes, and love of hoppy beers.

10. Eat Pray Love by Elizabeth Gilbert

by Mariellen Ward from BreatheDreamGo

While recovering from a painful divorce, writer Elizabeth Gilbert proposed the idea of a lengthy trip to Italy , India, and Bali to her editor with the intention of rediscovering herself, healing, and writing a book about her journey.

She traveled by herself – though with the financial support of a hefty advance – and wrote Eat, Pray, Love on her return.

Eat, Pray, Love is more than a best-seller, it’s a publishing phenomenon.

The book, published in 2005, has sold more than 10 million copies worldwide and has been read by many millions more.

Women, especially, have found inspiration in author Elizabeth (Liz) Gilbert’s personal journeys across Italy (eat), India (pray), and Love (Bali).

The book supports the idea of a personal (or spiritual) quest – which some people find selfish – and describes how she healed, learned, changed, and found a new love while travelling solo.

Eat, Pray, Love basically gives women travellers permission to do something – travel – for their benefit alone, and to value the healing journey.

The more we are able to heal, and become more aware and conscious, the happier we will be. And the happier we are, the better we will be as lovers, wives, mothers, daughters, and friends. 

Of course, Eat, Pray, Love is also a travelogue, and you will get to eat pizza in India, meditate at a Yoga ashram in India, and live in a villa surrounded by rice paddies in Bali.

Eat, Pray, Love in India is mostly set in a Yoga ashram, though, so you won’t actually learn that much about the country. 

11. What I Was Doing While You Were Breeding by Kristin Newman

Contributed by Rachel Grenis of  Caribbean Uncovered

There’s no more empowering solo female travel book than Kristin Newman’s “ What I Was Doing While You Were Breeding “. 

In her memoir, “What I Was Doing While You Were Breeding”, Kristin Newman, a Hollywood sitcom writer, takes readers through her journey of solo female travel in her thirties.

She candidly discusses the struggles and rewards of this lifestyle choice, inspiring others to follow their heart – even when it doesn’t match societal norms. 

Although solo travel can be tough at times, Newman highlights the ways in which it has enriched her life, deepening her understanding of both herself and the world around her.

Her story is a reminder that life is short and that we should all live in accordance with our own values and desires. 

After reading this inspiring story, I took off on a two-year solo travel adventure and attribute this book to feeling brave and empowered enough to do so.

Whether you’re considering solo travel or simply looking for an empowering read, “ What I Was Doing While You Were Breeding ” is sure to inspire.

Inspiring Solo Female Travel Books: Final Thoughts

Each one of the above-mentioned stories teaches you how to get out of your comfort zone and break social stereotypes about what your life is supposed to be.

They teach you how to own it, instead, to ignore what others expect from you and listen to the inner voice that pushes you through your limiting beliefs, and propels you to go out there and make magic! I hope you will allow yourself to listen!

Before You Go…

To explore more of Solo travel related posts:

• The Ultimate Big Bend National Park Solo Travel Guide
• Is Solo Travel Worth It? The Pros And Cons Of Traveling Alone
• A Day Trip To Santa Barbara – The Perfect Itinerary For A Solo Traveler
• The 17 Best Places To Visit In California In December For Solo Female Travelers
• Traveling Solo Quotes: Inspiration for Solo Adventurers
• Solo Travel in Bali Indonesia: 10 things to do + Tips and Info

Founder and Editor

Isabella is traveler and animal lover, a former tourism professional with an multinational background that includes living and working in Jamaica, Antigua, Seychelles, Egypt, and Mexico, where she spent seven years. In 2017, she took a bold leap, leaving her fancy job in Cancun to embrace a nomadic lifestyle when she founded her travel blog Boundless Roads, with the purpose to help solo female travelers to live their best travel adventure, embracing their fears and choosing the roughed path. Today, she manages three successful travel blogs, balancing her digital ventures while exploring new places and photographing this beautiful world.

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20 inspiring books about women traveling: what to read while waiting for your next big trip.

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There’s nothing like a good travel book to keep you occupied while waiting for your next big trip ! Not only that, but a good travel book can also inspire your future travel destinations – or they can help you to understand a destination you’ve traveled in greater detail.

We’ve put together a list of some of the best books about women traveling the globe to help fill your reading list. For more details on the individual books, scroll past the first section of this post.

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The Best Books About Women Traveling

A Year in the World: Journeys of a Passionate Traveller

by Frances Mayes

Cleopatra's Needle: Two Wheels by the Water to Cairo

by Anne Mustoe

Eat Pray Love

by Elizabeth Gilbert

Grandma Gatewood's Walk: The Inspiring Story of the Woman Who Saved the Appalachian Trail

by Ben Montgomery

How NOT to Travel the World

by Lauren Juliff

Lois on the Loose

by Lois Pryce

Love with a Chance of Drowning

by Torre DeRoche

Maiden Voyage

by Tania Aebi

No Baggage: A Tale of Love and Wandering

by Clara Benson

Radio Shangri-La: My Accidental Journey to the Happiest Kingdom on Earth

by Lisa Napoli

Tales of a Female Nomad: Living at Large in the World

by Rita Golden Gelman

The Best Women's Travel Writing

by Lavinia Spalding

The Good Girl's Guide to Getting Lost

by Rachel Friedman

The Lost Girls: Three Friends, Four Continents, One Unexpected Detour Around the World

by Jennifer Baggett, Holly C. Corbett, Amanda Pressner

Traveling with Pomegranates

by Sue Monk Kidd and Ann Kidd Taylor

Wanderlust: A Love Affair with Five Continents

by Elisabeth Eaves

Without Reservations: The Travels of an Independent Woman

by Alice Steinbach

What I Was Doing While You Were Breeding: A Memoir

by Kristin Newman

Where the Pavement Ends: One Woman's Bicycle Trip Through Mongolia, China & Vietnam

by Erika Warmbrunn

by Cheryl Strayed

Books About Women Packing Light

No baggage: a tale of love and wandering by clara benson.

Ok, this one is right up our alley at Her Packing List. While I haven’t read the book yet, I did read her essay about her incredible trip years ago, which then further inspired me to take that trip where I packed nothing but a 12L handbag !

But Clara has taken the story further. While the tale of going on a 3-week travel date with an OKCupid match (and packing nothing but a tiny purse for the adventure) sings throughout the book – there’s a deeper story involved discussing the struggle to leave both physical and emotional baggage behind.

• Grab a copy of No Baggage: A Tale of Love and Wandering on Amazon .

Books for Solo Female Travelers

Eat pray love by elizabeth gilbert.

You’ve seen the movie, and you may have already read the book… but just in case, this one gets a mention because it’s a story many women travelers can relate to. Raise your hand if you decided to travel after a big, messy break-up!

Eat Pray Love has been reviewed on HPL in the past . Guest author, Nancy, related deeply to the story:

Single again and sitting on a plane to  Toronto , I was scanning the movie selection on my flight. The top pick:  Eat Pray Love . I watched. I cried. I got it. I picked up the book and read it cover to cover when I returned home.

So, go on now… even if you’ve seen the movie, the book deserves a read.

• Read our review of Eat Pray Love on HPL.
• Grab a copy of Eat Pray Love on Amazon .

Radio Shangri-La: My Accidental Journey to the Happiest Kingdom on Earth by Lisa Napoli

When Caroline reviewed this book here on HPL years ago, she considered it the antithesis to Eat Pray Love . This solo female travel book doesn’t seek out love, or talk about the one , but instead searches for purpose – that which the author understood after (unexpectedly) working on a new radio station in a tiny, happy kingdom known as Bhutan .

• Read our review of Radio Shangri-La on HPL.
• Grab a copy of Radio Shangri-La on Amazon .

Tales of a Female Nomad by Rita Golden Gelman

Tales of a Female Nomad was recommended highly in our HPLWorld community , so of course we’re going to share it here!

Rita left her normal life in the ’80s for a 2-month trip to Mexico . Only that spawned a life of being a perpetual nomad with 15 years of her experiences filling the pages of this book.

Gelman immerses herself in the world: living in a Zapotec village in Mexico, adventuring through the Galapagos Islands, exploring Borneo, living in Bali for 8 years, and so on. She has a passion for people, and a knack for overcoming any challenges put in her way.

• Grab a copy of Tales of a Female Nomad on Amazon .

The Best Women’s Travel Writing , edited by Lavinia Spalding

The Best Women’s Travel Writing is an ongoing series offering a collection of inspiring and uplifting stories from women travelers exploring the far reaches of the globe. We like this series because each book has a number of different perspectives, destinations, and themes meaning you’re bound to never get bored or struggle to keep your focus on one long memoir.

• Grab a copy of The Best Women’s Travel Writing series on Amazon .

Wanderlust: A Love Affair with Five Continents by Elisabeth Eaves

Cassie told us that her favorite travel memoir to date is Elisabeth Eaves’ Wanderlust: A Love Affair with Five Continents . Not only does this story (covering 15 years) of the constant need to move and wander resonate greatly with us travel lovers, but Cassie also enjoyed the armchair travel experience it provides.

Sometimes when I feel bored and stuck in my 8-5, I can re-read this book and feel momentarily like I am on a five-continent journey all over the world, and I think that is what a great book can do. It transports you to another time and place, and if that is what you are looking for, I highly recommend  Wanderlust: A Love Affair With Five Continents . You won’t be able to set it down.

• Read our review of Wanderlust: A Love Affair with Five Continents on HPL.
• Grab a copy of Wanderlust: A Love Affair with Five Continents on Amazon .

What I Was Doing While You Were Breeding: A Memoir by Kristin Newman

If the title alone wasn’t enough to draw you in, What I Was Doing While You Were Breeding tells the relatable tale of a woman who decided to explore the world instead of suffer through the monotony of another day in her normal life.

Kristin recounts humorous travel stories and the experience of slowing down. She also masters the “vacationship” through short-term relationships with many attractive locals along the way.

• Grab a copy of What I Was Doing While You Were Breeding: A Memoir on Amazon .

Without Reservations: The Travels of an Independent Woman by Alice Steinbach

Without Reservations lets us into the world of Alice, a woman who takes a sabbatical in order to discover what it’s like to be her own self – a person who’s not defined by her work or role according to others. Of course Alice travels to achieve this goal – and we love her for that! – taking us along on the ride throughout many European cities.

• Grab a copy of Without Reservations: The Travels of an Independent Woman on Amazon .

Travel Books for Women Who Like History

A year in the world by frances mayes.

From the author of Under the Tuscan Sun , Frances Mayes expands her travel writing reach beyond that of her beloved Tuscany and into twelve new destinations across Europe and northern Africa.

A Year in the World takes the reader with Mayes to England, Spain , Portugal, Greece, Morocco and Turkey to name a few. And she does so with her entertaining and informative narrative style that fully immerses us into the local art, architecture, history, landscape and overall culture of each area on her itinerary.

• Grab a copy of A Year in the World on Amazon .

Cleopatra’s Needle: Two Wheels by the Water to Cairo by Anne Mustoe

Cleopatra’s Needle is a book we could have placed in the big adventure category, but it’s Anne’s historical knowledge along her journey that makes this especially interesting for history buffs.

Anne cycled the path from London all the way to the original site of Cleopatra’s Needle at Heliopolis in Egypt. But she decided to do so while sticking close to waterways – the Seine, Venetian Lagoon, etc. – all the way to the Nile.

She takes in the landscapes and the history of Europe and on to the Middle East destinations of Turkey, Syria, Lebanon, and Egypt , making this one big adventure we can all appreciate.

• Grab a copy of Cleopatra’s Needle on Amazon .

Traveling with Pomegranates by Sue Monk Kidd and Ann Kidd Taylor

Traveling with Pomegranates was written by a mother-daughter team who travel, over the years, to some of the sacred places of Greece , Turkey and France.

Written from two different perspectives, this book as a little something for every woman. More than a travel memoir, it’s the story of self-discovery and the connection of mother and daughter.

• Read our review of Travel with Pomegranates on HPL.
• Grab a copy of Traveling with Pomegranates on Amazon .

Travel Books About Women Who Are Scared to Travel (but do it anyway)

How not to travel the world by lauren juliff.

How NOT to Travel the World  is the story of how one scared woman’s desire to travel overpowered her fears and anxieties. Despite her crippling anxiety and panic attacks – and the occasional, almost certain, disaster or two – Lauren shows us that anyone can get out there and travel the world.

• Read our review of How NOT to Travel the World on HPL.
• Grab a copy of How NOT to Travel the World on Amazon .

Love with a Chance of Drowning by Torre DeRoche

Although deathly afraid of water, Torre DeRoche says yes to sailing around the world with a handsome Argentinian man she met in America. After battling sea sickness and constant bouts of fealfulness, Torre finally becomes an “old salt” – learning to enjoy life on the boat but also still dreaming of life on land.

• Read our review of Love with a Chance of Drowning on HPL.
• Grab a copy of Love with a Chance of Drowning on Amazon .

Travel Books About Women Traveling with Friends

The good girl’s guide to getting lost by rachel friedman.

After graduating college, Rachel buys a one-way ticket to Ireland , ends up making friends with a fun Australian girl, and then finds herself on a year-long adventure to 3 continents – totally living for the moment.

Sheryl reviewed this book previously here on HPL , and stated that it inspired her to feel confident with following her own path and setting off on an adventure of her own.

• Read our review of The Good Girl’s Guide to Getting Lost here on HPL.
• Grab a copy of The Good Girl’s Guide to Getting Lost on Amazon .

The Lost Girls: Three Friends, Four Continents, One Unexpected Detour Around the World by Jennifer Baggett, Holly C. Corbett, Amanda Pressner

The Lost Girls follows the story of three friends who left their prominent New York City lifestyles and jobs to spend a year traveling the world across four continents: the ultimate girls’ trip! This book chronicles their journey both into and out of the travel world, all while juggling relationships and jobs in the process.

It’s been a highly recommended travel book since it’s release back in 2010. The interesting part of this story is that each author has their own personal goals/bucket list tasks to tie into the larger picture trip – and they always make it back to each other in the end.

• Read our review of The Lost Girls here on HPL.
• Grab a copy of The Lost Girls on Amazon .

Travel Books By Women Taking on a Big Adventure

Grandma gatewood’s walk: the inspiring story of the woman who saved the appalachian trail by ben montgomery.

From Amazon: “Emma Gatewood was the first woman to hike the entire Appalachian Trail alone , as well as the first person—man or woman—to walk it twice and three times and she did it all after the age of 65.” Wow, what a story!

“Grandma Gatewood” as she became known in the ’50s and ’60s brought a lot of much-needed attention to the Appalachian Trail – helping to inspire other hikers and travelers, and just to incite maintenance of the track itself. This book, although compiled many years after her death, helps to share the story of this strong woman, determination, and willpower.

• Grab a copy of Grandma Gatewood’s Walk on Amazon .

Lois on the Loose by Lois Pryce

One Woman, One Motorbike, 20,000 miles across the Americas.

Lois on the Loose is the story of one woman’s journey on a motorbike from Alaska down to the tip of Argentina . Like many of our other favorite travel stories, Lois decided to quit her job (at the BBC in London) to set off on this adventure of a lifetime – sharing her exciting and unconventional journey with us in this book.

• Grab a copy of Lois on the Loose on Amazon .

Maiden Voyage by Tania Aebi

Tania Aebi was an 18-year-old girl who didn’t want to go to college, so she did the next best thing: circumnavigated the world solo on a sailboat . She wasn’t exactly super-qualified either – she took the learn-as-you-go approach – which makes the story that much more incredible and inspiring for wanna-be adventurers.

The trip took nearly 3 years to complete, she was accompanied by her cat, and somewhere in the middle, she ended up meeting the love of her life. Now how’s that for a story?

• Read our review of Maiden Voyage on HPL.
• Grab a copy of Maiden Voyage on Amazon .

Where the Pavement Ends: One Woman’s Bicycle Trip Through Mongolia, China & Vietnam by Erika Warmbrunn

Erika dreamed of traveling Mongolia , but not just on any Mongolia trip – the kind that gets you out into the areas unexplored by conventional tours. So, she and her trusty bicycle spent 8 months slow-traveling across Mongolia, China and on to Vietnam – letting the spontaneity of the journey lead the way.

• Grab a copy of Where the Pavement Ends on Amazon .

Wild by Cheryl Strayed

After she felt like she had nothing more to lose, Cheryl Strayed made the decision to attempt solo hiking more than 1000 miles of the Pacific Coast Trail – all without any real experience. With an oversized backpack and ill-fitting boots, the trip was full of trials and tribulations but ultimately some healing.

Also… you may have seen the movie adaptation with Reese Witherspoon.

• Grab a copy of Wild on Amazon .

Have a favorite travel read about a female traveler that’s not on this list? Leave a comment below to let us know!

P.S. Looking for more things to do while waiting for your next big trip ?

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Written by Brooke

I run the show at Her Packing List and love packing ultralight. In fact, I once traveled for 3 entire weeks with just the contents of a well-packed 12L handbag . When I'm not obsessing over luggage weight, I'm planning adventures or just snuggling with my pet rabbit, Sherlock Bunz.

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Female Solo Travel: 10 Books to Inspire Wanderlust

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This article originally appeared on December 14, 2020, on our sister site, Lonely Planet . Some info may have been updated to be more current.

Traveling solo as a woman is one of the most life-affirming, enlightening things you’ll ever do. There are always risks involved but it’s quite unlike anything else. Just ask these 10 women who each decided that going on an adventure without a plus-one had to happen, be it for self-reflection, discovery, or to finally write that novel. Their stories are sublime, often hilarious, and frequently heartbreaking — they’ll give you wanderlust in the best possible way.

Best female solo travel books

What i was doing while you were breeding by kristin newman, looking for transwonderland by noo saro-wiwa.

• Wanderlust: A Love Affair with Five Continents by Elisabeth Eaves

How Not to Travel the World: Adventures of a Disaster-Prone Backpacker by Lauren Juliff

Meeting faith: the forest journals of a black buddhist nun by faith adiele, wild: from lost to found on the pacific crest trail by cheryl strayed, elsewhere: one woman, one rucksack, one lifetime of travel by rosita boland, eat, pray, love by elizabeth gilbert, tracks: a woman’s solo trek across 1,700 miles of australian outback by robyn davidson, the valleys of the assassins by freya stark.

This is one of the ultimate single-girl travel guides . Having spent much of her 20s and 30s attending baby showers and weddings, Kristin Newman is not ready to settle down. Instead, she decides to travel, falling in love with the world around her (and one or two intriguing locals) along the way. In her day job as a TV writer, Newman pens a lot of comedy, so you’ll laugh out loud more than once at this refreshing and poignant tale of solo travel.

The female solo travelogue genre may have been rooted in colonial exploration by largely British bon vivants , but Noo Saro-Wiwa turns that genre on its head with Looking for Transwonderland , a memoir that blurs the lines between travelogue and immigration narrative.

Though she was born in Nigeria, Saro-Wiwa was raised in England after her father was killed overseas by the Sani Abacha regime. When she decided to return after many years, she found herself challenged by not only how remarkably different Lagos is from London, but also by the complex feelings she has as a member of the Nigerian diaspora.

Wanderlust: A Love Affair with Five Continents by Elisabeth Eaves 

Eaves’ memoir divided readers. It’s not a typical travel memoir, as she tends to focus more on the people she meets and the relationships she has rather than the adventures themselves. But amidst the romance , travel she does, from trekking through the jungle in Papua New Guinea to navigating the chaos of Cairo . Her writing is engrossing with a melodic quality. She yearns for more — and so will you by the time you reach the end.

It might not seem like a natural choice for the anxiety-ridden , very sheltered Juliff to leave her home in the UK and begin to navigate the world alone, but she goes for it — only it doesn’t turn out to be the adventure she envisioned. Everyone is sure she’ll run into disaster, but she perseveres no matter the obstacle, and you’ll be cheering her on every step of the way. If you feel like you’re not brave enough to go it alone, read this.

What happens when a biracial girl raised in Washington state’s largely white Yakima Valley finds herself adrift at Harvard University and decides the solution is a semester abroad in Southeast Asia? You get The Forest Journals of a Black Buddhist Nun , Faith Adiele’s memoir of unexpectedly becoming an ordained Theravada Buddhist at Wat Phra Singh, the Royal Temple of Northern Thailand.

Adiele arrives “slightly hungover , fighting a losing battle with my clothes,” and continues to struggle with 19-hour daily meditations on a single meal a day. The silence at the temple is even more isolating and mystifying than trying to find her place in privileged Cambridge, Massachusetts. And yet Adiele finds a sense of purpose and of self — a journey of discovery that we all hope our solo travels will unlock.

At her lowest point, age 26, and devastated by the untimely death of her mother, Strayed hiked more than a 1,000 miles of the Pacific Crest Trail from California’s Mojave Desert to the Columbia River Gorge on the Oregon / Washington border. She carries weight, not only in the form of a massive backpack but also the emotional burden and grief of loss . It’s a truly beautiful memoir; she writes about the journey — both physical and mental — while reflecting on her past and present as she attempts to heal her broken spirit. Heart-wrenching and hopeful.

Boland has lived a life well-traveled. From her first solo outing to Australia as a young graduate she had the bug and has since spent the last 3 decades seeking new experiences and adventure on every part of the globe. Documenting nine journeys from nine different moments in time via a series of essays, her words reveal how exploration and journey into the unknown can shape a person’s life. An illuminating, often poetic read.

In Gilbert’s now cult 2006 memoir, the novelist and journalist chronicles her journey across Italy , India , and Indonesia following her divorce .

She’s a self-confessed lazy traveler, prone to dietary woes, and tends to stick out like a sore thumb, but she can make friends with almost anybody, a defining characteristic she hopes will make her journey easier. Her travels have a magical quality; almost every wish and desire she has is fulfilled, but this is a large part of the appeal of what is a heartwarming, hugely likable tale of travel.

In the late 1970s, a young Davidson procures some feral camels, trains them, and walks 1,700 miles across the Outback in Australia . She experiences countless obstacles — the Outback is its own beast — and it’s no easy feat, especially with only camels and a dog for company . It’s a memoir of endeavor, perseverance, and spirit, and has become a revered feminist story of adventure.

Stark is synonymous with solo travel and for good reason. She explored places where few single women would dare venture alone in the 1930s: Syria, Iran, Iraq, Kuwait , and Yemen. She was a trained geographer and cartographer, which makes her travel writing especially vivid and descriptive. Written in 1934 and still as engaging as ever, The Valleys of the Assassins chronicles Stark’s travels into the mountainous terrain between Iraq and Iran , documenting everything from its people to the land around her.

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Six New Travel Books for the 2023-24 JourneyWoman Book Club

by Carolyn Ray | Sep 16, 2023

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Last updated on December 3rd, 2023

Featured image: Travel by Book with these books curated by the 2023 JourneyWoman Book Club | Photo by By   Chayantorn on Envato

Books with a strong sense of place 

By Carolyn Ray, Editor, JourneyWoman

In 2023, the JourneyWoman Travel Book Club has explored Ukraine,  South America, Morocco, Japan, New Zealand, Spain, Nigeria and Italy . To end of the year and to get us started in 2024, w e’ve curated a shortlist of 12 books with a strong sense of place that cover a range of genres, including mystery, thrillers, memoir, suspense and historical fiction.  

For every book selection, we consider the diversity of the author but also the diversity of the story being told. As women, are there themes that connect us, like fear, love and grief? As travellers, are there issues we need to discuss openly, like the impact of war, Alzheimer’s, midlife or servitude? All told, these books help us learn but they also make us laugh out loud at life and our own misadventures. 

A Note About our Book Club

In 2024, our book club will be held quarterly on the third Wednesday of the month at 8 pm ET , hosted by Wendy, Sally and Carolyn. Discussion questions are provided for every book prior to the meeting.  You do not have to read the book to attend as we also talk about the destination and central themes in the book so that all can participate.

To keep the conversations intimate and allow everyone an opportunity to share their thoughts, we are limiting registrations to 50 people . For those who cannot make it, subscribe to our YouTube channel to see recordings, which are generally up within a week of the event. If you would like to support our Book Club, you can make a donation here.

We recommend you sign in a few minutes early to make sure there aren’t any technology issues with Zoom. Learn more on our Book Club page here and sign up for our emails here.  

2023-24 JourneyWoman Travel Books Shortlist 

Based on your votes, here are the top six books chosen for our book club, covering October 2023 to April 2024. (Note there will not be a book club discussion in December 2023).  

October Book of the Month

1. the dictionary of lost words by pip williams.

Set in Oxford, England

Set during the height of the women’s suffrage movement and with the Great War looming,  The Dictionary of Lost Words reveals a lost narrative, hidden between the lines of a history written by men. Inspired by actual events including the women’s suffrage movement, Australian author Pip Williams has delved into the archives of the Oxford English Dictionary  to tell this highly original story.

Find it at your local library 

November 2023 Book of the Month

2.  lady tan’s circle of women by lisa see.

Set in China in the 15th Century

According to Confucius, “an educated woman is a worthless woman,” but Tan Yunxian—born into an elite family, yet haunted by death, separations, and loneliness—is being raised by her grandparents to be of use. Her grandmother is one of only a handful of female doctors in China, and she teaches Yunxian the pillars of Chinese medicine, the Four Examinations—looking, listening, touching, and asking—something a man can never do with a female patient. Lady Tan’s Circle of Women   is a captivating story of women helping other women. It is also a triumphant reimagining of the life of a woman who was remarkable in the Ming dynasty and would be considered remarkable today.

Find it at your local library

February 2024 Book of the Month Book club meeting February 21, 2022, 8 pm ET

3.  the storied life of aj fikry.

Set in the USA

Fikry’s life is not at all what he expected it to be. He lives alone, his bookstore is experiencing the worst sales in its history, and now his prized possession, a rare collection of Poe poems, has been stolen. But when a mysterious package appears at the bookstore, its unexpected arrival gives Fikry the chance to make his life over—and see everything anew.

May 2024 Book of the Month

4.  dust child by nguyễn phan quế mai.

Set in Vietnam

In 1969, sisters Trang and Quỳnh, desperate to help their parents pay off debts, leave their rural village and become “bar girls” in Sài Gòn, drinking, flirting (and more) with American GIs in return for money. As the war moves closer to the city, the once-innocent Trang gets swept up in an irresistible romance with a young and charming American helicopter pilot.

August 2024 Book of the Month

5. the widows of malabar hill by sujata massey.

Set in India, mainly in Mumbai

1920s India: Perveen Mistry, Bombay’s only female lawyer, is investigating a suspicious will on behalf of three Muslim widows living in full purdah when the case takes a turn toward the murderous. The author of the Agatha and Macavity Award–winning Rei Shimura novels brings us an atmospheric new historical mystery with a captivating heroine.

November 2024 Book of the Month

6.  the crimson thread by kate forsyth.

Set in Crete, Greece

In Crete during World War II, Alenka, a young woman who fights with the resistance against the brutal Nazi occupation, finds herself caught between her traitor of a brother and the man she loves, an undercover agent working for the Allies. May 1941. German paratroopers launch a blitzkrieg from the air against Crete. They are met with fierce defiance, the Greeks fighting back with daggers, pitchforks, and kitchen knives. During the bloody eleven-day battle, Alenka, a young Greek woman, saves the lives of two Australian soldiers.

Other shortlisted books 

The christie affair by nina de gramont.

Set in England

Why would the world’s most famous mystery writer disappear for eleven days? What makes a woman desperate enough to destroy another woman’s marriage? How deeply can a person crave revenge?

“Sizzles from its first sentence.” – The Wall Street Journal

2. Even As We Breathe by Annette Saunooke Clapsaddle

Set in North Carolina, USA

Even as We Breathe  invokes the elements of bone, blood, and flesh as Cowney navigates difficult social, cultural, and ethnic divides. After leaving the seclusion of the Cherokee reservation, he is able to explore a future free from the consequences of his family’s choices and to construct a new worldview, for a time.

3. A House Divided/ A Few Right-Thinking Men by Sulari Gentill

Set in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia

Can a house divided against itself hope to stand?

Sydney, 1931. Rowland Sinclair doesn’t fit with his family. His conservative older brother, Wilfred, thinks he’s reckless, a black sheep; his aging mother thinks he’s her son who was killed in the war. Only his namesake Uncle Rowly, a kindred spirit, understands him—and now he’s been brutally murdered in his own home.

4. Anatomy: A Love Story by Dana Schwartz

Set in Edinburgh, Scotland

Dana Schwartz’s  Anatomy: A Love Story   is a gothic tale full of mystery and romance. Hazel Sinnett is a lady who wants to be a surgeon more than she wants to marry. Jack Currer is a resurrection man who’s just trying to survive in a city where it’s too easy to die.

When the two of them have a chance encounter outside the Edinburgh Anatomist’s Society, Hazel thinks nothing of it at first. But after she gets kicked out of renowned surgeon Dr. Beecham’s lectures for being the wrong gender, she realizes that her new acquaintance might be more helpful than she first thought.

7. River Sing Me Home by Eleanor Shearer

Set in Barbados

The master of the Providence plantation in Barbados gathers his slaves and announces the king has decreed an end to slavery. As of the following day, the Emancipation Act of 1834 will come into effect. The cries of joy fall silent when he announces that they are no longer his slaves; they are now his apprentices. No one can leave. They must work for him for another six years. Freedom is just another name for the life they have always lived. So Rachel runs.

5.  The Great Reclamation by Rachel Heng

Set in Singapore

An aching love story and powerful coming-of-age that reckons with the legacy of British colonialism, the World War II Japanese occupation, and the pursuit of modernity,  The Great Reclamation  confronts the wounds of progress, the sacrifices of love, and the difficulty of defining home when nature and nation collide, literally shifting the land beneath people’s feet.

More Travel Books for Women

Never Too Late: Bestselling Women Authors Over 50

by Tina Hartas | Apr 21, 2024

Ten exceptional women authors over 50 who prove that experience and mature reflection is welcomed, showing us it’s never too late to publish.

10 Books to Inspire Travel to South Africa

by Tina Hartas | Apr 8, 2024

In preparation for JourneyWoman’s 30th Anniversary expedition trip in November 2024, we’ve curated 10 books about South Africa for curious travellers.

Literary Adventures: Travel in France and Italy With Best-Selling Authors

by Carolyn Ray | Feb 17, 2024

Loved the book? Now you can join a trip with best-selling authors to France and Italy, curated by Absolutely Southern France.

Carolyn Ray

As the CEO and Editor of JourneyWoman, Carolyn is a passionate advocate for women's travel and living the life of your dreams. She leads JourneyWoman's team of writers and chairs the JourneyWoman Women's Advisory Council and Women's Speaker's Bureau. She has been featured in the New York Times, Toronto Star and Zoomer as a solo travel expert, and speaks at women's travel conferences around the world. In March 2023, she was named one of the most influential women in travel by TravelPulse and was the recipient of a SATW travel writing award in September 2023. She is the chair of the Canadian chapter of the Society of American Travel Writers (SATW), a member Women's Travel Leaders and a Herald for the Transformational Travel Council (TTC). Sometimes she sleeps. A bit.

Sent to me by a friend and fellow book club member. All the titles listed are intriguing and inspiring. They make me excited to read them and find out more about your organization.

Welcome! We’re so glad you found us!

It is so lovely you stopped by. These titles make a really varied and ‘different’ reading list. Hope you enjoy

We always strive to use real photos from our own adventures, provided by the guest writer or from our personal travels. However, in some cases, due to photo quality, we must use stock photography. If you have any questions about the photography please let us know. Disclaimer: We are so happy that you are checking out this page right now! We only recommend things that are suggested by our community, or through our own experience, that we believe will be helpful and practical for you. Some of our pages contain links, which means we’re part of an affiliate program for the product being mentioned. Should you decide to purchase a product using a link from on our site, JourneyWoman may earn a small commission from the retailer, which helps us maintain our beautiful website. JourneyWoman is an Amazon Associate and earns from qualifying purchases. Thank you! We want to hear what you think about this article, and we welcome any updates or changes to improve it. You can comment below, or send an email to us at [email protected] .

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9 Best Travel Books Written by Women

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Best Books About Travel Written by Women

Looking for some great travel books written by women?

Here are some of the best books to check out!

When I studied abroad in college, I took a class about travel writing. Each week, we focused on a different topic related to to travel writing. One week the topic was women in travel writing.

In contrast to this one week where we studied women travel writers, almost every single other text we read throughout the whole class was written by a male author.

I remember being particularly fascinated by the few female travel writers we did study. Especially when reading the travelogue By Desert Ways to Baghdad  written by Louisa Jebb, a woman from Victorian England who set off an adventure around the Middle East with her female best friend at a time when women did not travel much at all, and certainly NOT on their own.

Since then, I’ve read quite a few other travel books written by women.

Related:  How to Read More: 9 Tips That Helped Me Read 70+ Books This Year

These books are funny, entertaining, heartfelt, and enlightening. They’re about women who have traveled on simply incredible adventures around the globe. And they’re the perfect books to pick up whenever you have a serious case of wanderlust!

Here are 9 great books about travel written by women:

1.  Wild  by Cheryl Strayed

Cheryl’s memoir  Wild follows her solo trek on the Pacific Crest Trail, a journey she undertook after the death of her mother. It’s a really heartfelt and honest look at her experience.

Hiking a 1,100 mile trail alone is something I would never do, so I really enjoyed reading about someone else doing it instead! If you’re looking for a gripping story this is a great read.

2.  Eat Pray Love  by Elizabeth Gilbert

Eat Pray Love  is a popular travel memoir that was adapted into a film as well. It follows Elizabeth, a recent divorcee, on her journey through Italy, Italy, and Indonesia as she spends time focusing on something different in each country (hence the title of the book.)

I remember reading this book back in high school while on vacation at the beach, because there was a copy of this book at the condo where I was staying and I needed something to read. This is a great “beach read” and a really entertaining travel story I enjoyed a lot.

Related: 24 Inspirational Books Like The Alchemist

3.  Tracks  by Robyn Davidson

Next up on this list we have  Tracks   by Robyn Davidson, which is another memoir about a woman completing an adventurous solo trek, this one across 1,700 miles of the Australian Outback.

The book follows Robyn’s perilous journey and many adventures of crossing the Outback alone with four camels and a dog, including facing the sweltering heat and fending off poisonous snakes.

4. The Year of Living Danishly by Helen Russell

What is it actually like to live in Denmark? The Year of Living Danishly explores this through the eyes of an expat living in the rural Jutland region of Denmark for one year.

This was an entertaining and enlightening book that I highly enjoyed! Helen is a freelance writer who relocates from England to Denmark when her husband gets a job at the Lego headquarters. This book is part memoir, part nonfiction book about Danish life and culture. I loved it!

5.  Unlikely Destinations  by Maureen and Tony Wheeler

Did you know that Lonely Planet was founded by a couple of backpackers exploring Southeast Asia during the 1970s? Maureen Wheeler and her husband Tony Wheeler published their first guidebook in 1973, founding the now-famous travel brand Lonely Planet.

Unlikely Destinations follows the origin of the origin and growth of Lonely Planet, as well as the Wheelers’ own travels, combining business history with travel memoir.

6.  Lands of Lost Borders  by Kate Harris

Lands of Lost Borders   chronicles Kate’s journey cycling the historic Silk Road in Central Asia with her female best friend after college. It combines two of my favorite things: the fascinating region of Central Asia, and reading about people accomplishing physical feats I could never do!

This book is full of adventure and is overall a great travel read.

7.  Under the Tuscan Sun  by Frances Mayes

Another travel memoir that was adapted into a popular film,  Under the Tuscan Sun   is about an American university professor who decided to buy an abandoned villa in Tuscany and renovate it with her husband. It’s a love letter to Italy, and Tuscany in particular.

This book is no doubt partly responsible for the explosion of tourism to Tuscany in recent decades. If you’re looking for a book that will transport you directly to the Italian countryside, this is it!

8.  Cruising Altitude  by Heather Poole

Have you ever wondered what it’s really like to be a flight attendant? I know I’m always curious about travel-related jobs and what it’s actually like behind the scenes. Cruising Altitude   offers an entertaining inside look at what the profession is really like.

Heather shares tales from her fifteen years of experience as a flight attendant of crazy passengers, overcrowded crash pads, and plenty of crew drama in this fun book.

9.  How Not to Travel the World  by Lauren Juliff

Written by travel blogger Lauren Juliff of the website Never Ending Footsteps,  How Not to Travel the World   is an entertaining look at her many adventures (and misadventures) abroad.

I love reading Lauren’s travel blog, particularly the stories of her many “travel disasters.” Describing herself as an accident-prone backpacker, her memoir details all sorts of mishaps, from scams to injuries to natural disasters and more that she encountered on her travels around the globe.

So these are some of the best travel books by women!

Are there any others I should know about? Any books I missed?

Leave a comment down below if you have a recommendation!

You may also enjoy: 

• 12 Coolest Bookstores Around the World
• 8 Best Bookstores in NYC You Need to Visit
• 25 Inspiring Quotes About Reading

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About Denise Cruz

Denise is a marketing executive who escaped corporate to travel the world… twice. A Brazilian native living in the U.S., she’s lived in 4 countries and visited 35+ others. After side-hustling her way to financial independence, she curates solo destination guides, slow travel tips, and travel blogging advice on Wander Her Way. When she’s not on the road, you can find her in Miami with her dog Finnegan.

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TravelAwaits

Our mission is to serve the 50+ traveler who's ready to cross a few items off their bucket list.

13 Inspiring Books Every Solo Female Traveler Should Read

• Activities and Interests
• Solo Travel
• Types of Travel

Wild: A Journey From Lost To Found By Cheryl Strayed

A woman alone: travel tales from around the globe, edited by faith conlon, ingrid emerick, and christina henry de tessan, what i was doing while you were breeding by kristin newman.

• How Not To Travel The World: Adventures Of A Disaster-Prone Backpacker By Lauren Juliff

Elsewhere: One Woman, One Rucksack, One Lifetime Of Travel By Rosita Boland

A handful of honey by annie hawes, the nomad: diaries of isabelle eberhardt, the valleys of the assassins: and other persian travels by freya stark, full tilt: ireland to india with a bicycle by dervla murphy, my journey to lhasa by alexandra david-néel, tracks: a woman’s solo trek across 1,700 miles of australian outback by robyn davidson, no hurry to get home by emily hahn, a house in the sky: a memoir of a kidnapping that changed everything by amanda lindhout.

Traveling solo as a woman may be one of the most enlightening and even life-affirming things you’ll ever do. A brief online search for “best travel books” will probably suggest books by Paul Theroux, Bill Bryson, Jack Kerouac, or an array of other male authors. But if you are a woman planning on traveling alone, then what you really need is to read books by women who have gone before you and lived to tell the tale. Their stories are heartfelt, often hilarious, and frequently heartbreaking, but all these women have returned home better and wiser for their travels.

Here are 13 books every solo female traveler needs to read, and all of them will give you wanderlust in the best possible way!

Aged 26, Cheryl Strayed thought she’d lost everything. Her mother had died from cancer, her family had disbanded, and her marriage had crumbled. With nothing to lose, she made the impulsive decision to walk 1,100 miles of the west coast of America, and to do it alone. She had no experience of long-distance hiking and the journey was nothing more than an idea and a line on a map. Carrying the weight, both physical and mental, of both her massive backpack and her emotional burden of loss, she hikes from California’s Mojave Desert to the Columbia River Gorge on the Oregon/Washington border, and heals along the way.

There is a film adaptation of the book starring Reese Witherspoon.

This is a collection of stories written by women who have ventured solo across the world. It’s a relatable and inspiring anthology and great for a dose of armchair escapism. Marybeth Bond discovers the “pleasures” of camel-riding in the desert when she decides to follow an ancient Indian trading route. Faith Adiele, a black Buddhist nun, enters a deserted train station at three in the morning in a Thai village controlled by armed bandits. Ena Singh negotiates with the Russian police to visit the blue-domed city of Samarkand.

The book is filled with stories of women who have traveled, on their own, to just about anywhere you can think of. The stories are funny, thrilling, and occasionally terrifying, and will definitely empower you to embark on your own journey.

This is one of the ultimate single-girl travel manifestos. Having spent much of her 20s and 30s attending baby showers and weddings, Kristin Newman is not ready to settle down. Instead, she decides to travel, and falls in love with the world around her. In her day job as a sitcom writer, Newman pens a lot of comedy, so this refreshing and poignant tale of solo travel will have you laughing out loud at times.

Ultimately, Kristin’s adventures led to a better understanding of what she is actually running from and why all life’s challenges seem to put her on a transatlantic flight to the unknown.

A combination of humorous storytelling, thoughtful, candid reflection, and travel inspiring tales, this is a compelling and hilarious book that will have you rushing to renew your passport.

From her first young and solo outing to Australia, Rosita Boland has spent the last 3 decades seeking out new experiences and exciting adventures in every corner of the world, carrying little more than a battered rucksack and a diary. From a death-defying bus journey through Pakistan to witnessing the majestic icescapes of Antarctica, Boland writes about moments of joy and deep personal loss. This is a book that celebrates a life well-traveled, in all its messy and wondrous glory.

Annie Hawes is on a mission to track down a small oasis town deep in the Sahara Desert. Leaving her home in the olive groves of Italy, she sets off along the south coast of the Mediterranean and travels through Morocco and Algeria, where she eats pigeon pie with the family of a cannabis farmer, learns the habits of djinns (spirits able to appear in human or animal form), encounters protesters in Morocco affixing colanders to their television aerials, comes across a still used stone age method of making olive oil, and many more such adventures. Spoiler alert: she ultimately discovers her Saharan oasis, but learns that life in a date-farming oasis is not as simple and uncomplicated as she’d imagined. This is a light-hearted and often hilarious read.

Born in 1877 and dying at the tender age of 27, Isabelle Eberhardt had a short, but adventurous life. Moving from her home in Switzerland to Algeria, she spent almost her brief, adult life traveling across North Africa and through the Sahara Desert, alone and dressed as a man. While she may not be the original solo female traveler, her book is one of the earliest written by a woman traveling alone.

In our age of ever-increasing feminism, it’s easy to forget that women have been traveling alone for generations, long before the trend of gap years and joining the Peace Corps. One of her generation’s most intrepid explorers, Freya Stark was a great example of this fact. In the 1930s, she explored places where few single women would dare to venture alone: Syria, Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, and Yemen. She was a trained geographer and cartographer, and her writing is especially vivid and descriptive. The Valleys of the Assassins chronicles her travels into Luristan, the mountainous terrain between Iraq and Iran, often with only a single guide and on a shoestring budget, documenting everything she sees, from the people to the land around her.

It’s pretty hard to imagine now, but in the 1960s and 70s, the Middle East was the “place to be.” The “hippie trail” ran through Europe, parts of the Middle East and Southeast Asia before ending in India or Nepal, and people from all over the western world were traveling the route. In 1963, Dervala Murphy got on her bicycle and headed off on “the trail.” Starting in Ireland she rode across icy Europe, through Afghanistan, over the Himalayas and through Pakistan into India. Luckily for us, she kept a diary, and this is the tale of her travels.

Originally published in 1927, My Journey to Lhasa is a powerful, entertaining story of danger and achievement, and one that is a remarkable and inspirational tale. Alexandra David-Neel was a French explorer, spiritualist, and anarchist who, disguised as a beggar, became the first western woman to enter the forbidden city of Lhasa and be received by the Dalai Lama. She tackles some of the toughest terrain and climate, suffers primitive travel conditions and frequent outbreaks of disease – lots of treks through chest-deep snow, lots of butter tea, and at one point, a hunger so strong that she ate her own leather boots! This is a story of a truly intrepid female explorer.

Robyn Davidson traveled across Australia’s Red Centre to the Indian Ocean with four camels and a dog in the late 1970s. She endured sweltering heat, fended off poisonous snakes and lecherous men, chased her camels when they get skittish and nursed them when they get injured, and she emerges at the end as an extraordinarily courageous woman driven by a love of Australia’s landscapes, an empathy for its indigenous people, and a willingness to discard the trappings of her former life.

Emily Hahn was way ahead of her time. Born in 1905, she studied mining engineering, walked across Africa, lived alone in the Belgian Congo (aged 25), became the concubine of a Chinese poet in the 1930s (where she became an opium addict for 2 years), and bore a child with the head of the British Secret Service. The 23 essays in this collection are about the people and places she encountered, and were first published in The New Yorker between 1937 and 1970.

Amanda Lindhout mentally escaped a violent household as a child by paging through copies of National Geographic and imagining herself in exotic locations. Working as a cocktail waitress, aged 19, she started saving her tips so she could travel the world. She backpacked through Latin America, Laos, Bangladesh, and India, getting braver with each adventure. She went on to travel through Sudan, Syria, and Pakistan – all before starting to work as a reporter in war-torn Afghanistan and Iraq.

On the fourth day of a trip to war-torn Somalia in 2008, she was abducted by a group of masked men and held captive for 15 months. Her gripping memoir documents her conversion to Islam as a survival tactic, learning how to be a “wife,” her dramatic escape, and how through it all, what kept her spirit from breaking was her memories of the places she’d traveled before. This is a story of courage and resilience in the face of unimaginable adversity. A House in the Sky recounts one of the worst things that could happen to a female traveler and depicts the strength that exists deep within all women.

There’s nothing like a good travel book to keep you occupied while waiting for your next big trip! Not only that, but a good travel book can both inspire your future travel destinations and help you understand destinations you’ve already visited. I hope you’ll agree with my suggestions!

For even more books to inspire travel, check out:

• Check Out These TravelAwaits Authors And The Books They’ve Written
• 11 Audiobooks Perfect For Your 2021 Road Trips
• Find Inspiration: 7 Must-Read Books That Incite Travel

Matador Original Series

20 of the Most Important Travel Books Written by Women

M EN SEEM TO DOMINATE TRAVEL LITERATURE… or at least the popular culture of it. When we think of travel writers, authors like Jack Kerouac, Bill Bryson, and Paul Theroux come to mind. We know them. We respect them. We see them in lists like this and this and this all the time. But what about the women?

Of those specific lists, only 3 out of 25, 1 out of 20, and 0 out of 10 authors are female. In a collection of 55 books, that’s just 4 women travel writers represented.

Despite these lists’ obvious lack of ladies, there are women who are arguably more intrepid adventurers than Steinbeck was (like Alexandra David Neel who ate her leather boots to survive a trek into Tibet), and others who are more eloquent writers than Kerouac or Hemingway (like Beryl Markham… after Hemingway read her work, he said he felt ashamed to be a writer).

So here’s to the ladies. We’ve rounded up some of the best travel writing not penned by men. All books in this selection are non-fiction, and focus on place, experience, or the notion of travel itself. This is by no means a comprehensive list. There are plenty of other women travel writers, and plenty of other books by the authors on this list that are valuable and marvelous reads. But it’s a start.

1. The Nomad: The Diaries of Isabelle Eberhardt by Isabelle Eberhardt

Eberhardt’s story alone is reason to read her writing. She was born in Geneva in 1877, then moved to Algeria, converted to Islam, and before her drowning at 27 in a desert flood, she lived her short life dressed as a man, traveling North Africa extensively and writing stories. This journal chronicles her life and exploration in the Sahara desert as a 19th century woman disguised as an Arab man.

“Now more than ever do I realize I will never be content with a sedentary life, that I will always be haunted by thoughts of a sun-drenched elsewhere.”

2. Full Tilt: Ireland to India with a Bicycle by Dervla Murphy

Based on Murphy’s daily diary, Full Tilt is the gritty Irish woman’s account of her 1963 solo ride from Dunkirk across frozen Europe and through Persia and Afghanistan, over the Himalayas to Pakistan into India, during one of the worst winters in memory.

3. A Field Guide to Getting Lost by Rebecca Solnit

This isn’t a traditional travelogue, but rather a well researched and precisely articulated meditation on traveling through the world. In this field guide, Solnit bounds between topics to explore issues of place, wandering, being lost, and the way the distant horizon blurs blue into the sky, where future turns to present and past on the edge of the unknown.

4. West With The Night by Beryl Markham

Markham was a remarkable woman. She was a bush pilot who also bred and trained racehorses in colonial Africa, and in September of 1936, she was the first pilot to fly solo non-stop from Europe to North America. This is her memoir. After reading her lyrical prose, Hemingway said, “…she has written so well, and marvelously well, that I was completely ashamed of myself as a writer.”

5. Almost Somewhere: Twenty-Eight Days on the John Muir Trail by Suzanne Roberts

Fresh out of college in 1993 and with two girlfriends in town, Roberts set off into the Sierra Nevada, ill prepared, but seeking enlightenment. Through a month of snowy passes, broken equipment, run-ins with bears and strange men, what she found was her own experience of nature, distinctly different from the male version we so often read about.

“Women don’t enter the wilderness in the same way men do; we constantly return to our physical bodies and the ways in which they could be threatened, not by bears or bugs but by men. Our bodies become a filter between us and the landscape, preventing us from enjoying both.”

6. On The Ice: An Intimate Portrait of Life at McMurdo Station, Antarctica by Gretchen Legler

Legler was chosen to spend a season in Antarctica with the National Science Foundation Artists and Writers Program. This book is what came from withstanding -70 temperatures and months of near-total darkness and isolation at McMurdo Station. On The Ice is part memoir, part nature writing, and part nonfiction account of the barren but beautiful landscape while Legler also faces the darkest coldest parts of her soul.

7. Six Months in the Sandwich Islands: Among Hawaii’s Palm Groves, Coral Reefs and Volcanoes by Isabella L. Bird

Bird took a ship from San Francisco bound for New Zealand, and decided to get off at Hawaii instead. She stayed for six months, living among the locals, learning about landscape, horsemanship, vegetation, and Hawaiian culture. (She also approached volcanoes close enough to burn shoes and gloves!) Originally a collection of letters to her sister, this book is valuable not only for her audacity and vivid descriptions, but also for the record of 1872 Hawaii she captured before US subjugation of the islands.

8. Four Corners: A Journey Into the Heart of Papua New Guinea by Kira Salak

Traveling alone in 1995, Salak became the first western woman to traverse the remote island nation of Papua New Guinea and write about it. Four Corners is her account of this trek across the jungle island, called the last frontier of adventure travel, by dugout canoe and on foot. “To Whom It May Concern — Only four words of advice: It can be done.”

9. Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail by Cheryl Strayed

This book has gotten a lot of hype lately, but for good reason. On her own at 26, Strayed hiked more than a thousand miles of the PCT from California’s Mojave Desert to the Columbia River Gorge on the Oregon/Washington border, all the while carrying the weight of a massive backpack and the grief of losing her mother too young. She writes about the journey as a physical feat and a mental one, and braids in bits of her past with reflection on how the journey eventually healed her broken spirit.

10. Miles From Nowhere: A Round The World Bicycle Adventure by Barbara Savage

Barbara and Larry Savage spent two years (from 1979-1980) riding 23,000 miles across 25 countries, just because they felt the need to explore the world. Not everyone they met understood that urge, though…

“The man saw no adventure, no challenge, no conquest, no sweat, and no sense in what we were about to do — only stupidity. There was no way to explain to him our need to explore, to find out about the rest of the world, and to discover and develop ingenuity, endurance, and self-reliance — that pioneer spirit that had been buried under the comforts of modern society.”

11. Travels with Myself and Another by Martha Gellhorn

Gellhorn was one of the most remarkable journalists of the 20th century, covering every military conflict from the Spanish Civil War to Vietnam and Nicaragua. She doesn’t name the “other” in the book, but for nearly ten years, Ernest Hemingway was her travel companion and then husband. This memoir from 1979 chronicles her globe-spanning adventures, both accompanied and alone.

12. Tracks: A Woman’s Solo Trek Across 1700 Miles of Australian Outback by Robyn Davidson

It begins with this: “I experienced that sinking feeling you get when you know you have conned yourself into doing something difficult and there’s no going back.” Then Davidson treks nearly 2,000 miles across hostile Australian desert over nine months. Besides brief periods with a National Geographic photographer and an Aboriginal guide, the journey was a solitary one, consisting of Davidson alone with four camels and a dog. She didn’t intend to write about her experience, but we’re glad she did. Tracks beautifully captures the fleeting moments of clarity Davidson found among the sweltering heat and poisonous snakes of the Australian Outback.

13. Raven’s Exile: A Season on the Green River by Ellen Meloy

Meloy is one of the beloved nature writers of the American West. Along with her other writing and environmental ventures, she spent eight seasons annually floating the 84-mile gorge of Desolation Canyon on the Green River, the Colorado’s longest tributary. Raven’s Exile is a record of observations of the canyon intertwined with the history of the wild river and its people.

14. My Journey to Lhasa by Alexandra David Neel

David Neel was an early 20th century French explorer, and the first western woman to enter Tibet’s forbidden city, Lhasa. Using her fluency in Tibetan dialects and culture, and a disguise of yak hair extensions, she hiked through chest-deep snow and survived for long periods on butter tea to get to Lhasa. At one point she was so hungry she ate her leather boots, but she made it.

15. Trieste and the Meaning of Nowhere by Jan Morris

In this memoir, Morris, a Welsh writer and trans woman, weaves historic detail with personal memories of the Italian seaport town, Trieste. It is a moody and changeable city, somewhat isolated, but a refuge as the author writes with melancholy on topics of growing old, history, and the peculiar concept of nowhere.

16. The Valley of the Assassins by Freya Stark

Stark independently explored places where few westerners, let alone single women, would go in the 1930s: Syria, Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, and Yemen. She was a trained geographer and cartographer, and in her travel writing, she was a vivid describer of scenes and landscape. She also knew how to draw people out of themselves and listen closely when they spoke. Written in 1934, Assassins chronicles Stark’s travels into the mountainous terrain between Iraq and Iran, documenting the nomadic people and the landscape of the Middle East.

17. Travels in West Africa by Mary Henrietta Kingsley

With a small inheritance in 1893, Kingsley traveled alone to remote areas in West Africa as an explorer and scientist. She canoed up ravines and rapids, walked through swamps and mangroves, visited villages and dealt with missionaries, traders, and locals, including cannibals. And if that’s not enough, she also waded through chest deep swamps, collected samples of fish, wrote about her exploration, and climbed Mount Cameroon in a cumbersome Victorian dress.

18. Dirt Work: An Education in the Woods by Christine Byl

Byl began her tenure with the National Park Service on the Glacier National Park trail crew as a brief jaunt in the outdoors before starting grad school. She fell in love with the wilderness and the work, though, and spent the next 16 years as a seasonal park ranger in Glacier and Denali. Broken into vignettes on each region, Dirt Work also explores what Byl discovered about nature, gender, and the value of hard work.

19. A Small Place by Jamaica Kincaid

This is not a travelogue, or even typical travel writing for that matter. But while A Small Place isn’t like most of the other books on the list, it is inherently about place, and the toll of traditional travel (read: conquest) from a local perspective. Kincaid is a native of Antigua, and she writes (with what some call bitterness) on the lasting effects of imperialism, shaping a work that is more like travel literature in reverse that meditates on the darker sides of exploration.

“That the native does not like the tourist is not hard to explain. For every native of every place is a potential tourist, and every tourist is a native of somewhere… But some natives — most natives in the world — cannot go anywhere. They are too poor. They are too poor to go anywhere. They are too poor to escape the reality of their lives; and they are too poor to live properly in the place where they live, which is the very place you, the tourist, want to go–so when the natives see you, the tourist, they envy you, they envy your ability to leave your own banality and boredom, they enjoy your ability to turn their own banality and boredom into a source of pleasure for yourself.”

20. No Hurry To Get Home by Emily Hahn

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11 Books That Make the Perfect Travel Reads

Posted: April 22, 2024 | Last updated: April 22, 2024

Scrolling through your phone as entertainment gets boring sometimes while you’re on the plane or train to your next destination. Why not read a book instead? Sometimes, books are better companions than people, especially during mundane moments in traveling.

1. The Beach by Alex Garland

Since you’re traveling anyway, why not read a book about traveling? The Beach is about a backpacker’s search for the best, legendary, idyllic, and isolated beach untouched by tourism. It talks about his time at this beach with a small international community of backpackers. It is a great book to feed your wanderlust while exploring another country.

2. Kitchen Confidential by Anthony Bourdain

Imagine sitting in a bustling restaurant or cafe with this book right after your meal in a foreign country. It is a great palate cleanser, accompanied by your favorite hot beverage. The sounds of the busy environment mirror the one in the book and quickly transport you into the story and experience as shared by the beloved Anthony Bourdain. This book is a collection of nonfiction anecdotes on the cooking industry and trade as experienced by Anthony Bourdain himself.

3. Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury

A classical read like Fahrenheit 451 is always a great and safe choice when traveling. You will undoubtedly be drawn into its plotline, and the world around you will disappear. With a book like Fahrenheit 451, you might even attract other readers in the wild to come up to you and discuss the book at hand. This title features a dystopian world where books have been banned and outlawed. Any books found will be burned by “firemen. “The protagonist is a fireman caught between his personal beliefs and duty to the government.

4. Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone by J.K. Rowling

We all need wholesomeness and comfort when traveling; Harry Potter gives us just that, and specifically, the first three books. It is a familiar story you can read easily. You don’t have to strain yourself to understand its plotline or themes. It’s perfect to unwind after a long day of sightseeing and touristy activities in a foreign place. Harry Potter and The Philosopher’s Stone details Harry’s first exposure to the magical world at Hogwarts.

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5. Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier

This is another beautiful classical option for those who prefer something more gothic. If you’re visiting castles and historical architecture, bringing this book to sit by a park afterward could help you romanticize the place and infuse your memories with something more positive. We could all add more romance to our lives. Rebecca is about a young woman who gets married to a wealthy widower only to discover that the memories of his dead wife still haunt him and his household.

6. Istanbul: Memories and the City by Orhan Pamuk

Reading a book based on the place you’re visiting would be a great idea. A great example of this would be reading Istanbul: Memories and the City before seeing the actual city in Turkey. It gives you more insight and immerses you in the culture before you get there. Reading it while you’re in the city also adds to the experience. This book is an autobiographical memoir from Orhan Pamuk that talks in depth about the cultural and historical changes the country has gone through over the years.

7. Gai-Jin by James Clavell

Like reading Istanbul when visiting the city, reading Gai-Jin in Tokyo brings an immersive experience to the book and your travels. This is the third and final book from James Clavell, and it delves into the political situation in Japan at the time, as well as the hostility faced by Westerners in the country.

8. A Room With a View by E. M. Forster

It’s a good English classic for those who crave a little romance in their solo travels. The protagonist has to decide between two men in the end. At the same time, the plot is a disguise for its actual theme, a critique of Edwardian English society. Reading this while sitting on a bench in a garden or park is a chef’s kiss experience. A Room with a View follows Lucy Honeychurch, a woman living in the Edwardian era of England. She is torn between being a proper Englishwoman by society’s standards and acting on her desire for independence and love.

9. A Farewell to Arms by Ernest Hemingway

Hemingway always has a way with words and will whisk you away in no time. Farewell to Arms is one of his many captivating works and is excellent for a temporary escape. This book tells the story of Frederic Henry, who serves as a lieutenant in the ambulance corps of the Italian army during World War I, described masterfully by Hemingway.

10. The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon

A novel within a novel best describes The Shadow of the Wind. It is a coming-of-age story about a boy who finds his purpose through reading a book. It is for book lovers everywhere who will resonate strongly with its message and affection, but it is fitting for travelers who bring a book wherever they go, no matter how inconvenient.

11. The Map That Changed the World by Simon Winchester

If you prefer something on the nonfiction route, packing The Map That Changed The World into your backpack could give you more insight into geological maps and the geologist who created them. You’ll better understand the places you’re traveling to and the inventions that make it happen. It is a nonfiction book about the achievements of the geologist William Smith and the first geological map of England, Wales, and Southern Scotland.

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100-Year-Old Woman Mistakenly Identified as Unaccompanied Minor on Flights Due to Glitch with Birth Year, 1923

"I’m going through my second childhood," jokes the centenarian in an Instagram video

Gayle Kirschenbaum

At 100 years old, Mildred Kirschenbaum still enjoys traveling — but since reaching her milestone birthday last August, she’s had an unusual experience flying.

The centenarian, who once owned a travel agency in New York and is still a registered agent,  says she now shows up as an “unescorted minor” due to a glitch in the airlines’ computer systems.

“The code is two digits for the month, two digits for the day, and two digits for the year. I was born in 1923. So I put in 23,” Mildred explains in a video posted on the Instagram account of her daughter, Gayle.

“Soon as I check in, I’m an unescorted minor,” she continues. “The supervisor has to come. And they have to see me right through security. No one seems to know how to correct it.”

Mildred, who’s previously gone viral on social media for sharing advice on life and longevity, adds with her trademark humor, “I’m going through my second childhood.”

While the birth year error requires extra time to sort out at the airport before boarding, she tries not to stress too much over it.

“I allow myself a half hour at the counter,” she tells PEOPLE. “I'm not going to get myself worked up with it.”

The Florida resident shared the video ahead of a May trip to New York, where Gayle lives. But she’s taken multiple flights since turning 100, including traveling to London in September for a transatlantic cruise. And a quick jaunt to New York for an appearance on Sherri, hosted by Sherri Shepherd , just last week.

While the mother-daughter duo often fly Delta, they say the problem isn’t limited to one airline — nor was it caused by a booking mistake on Mildred's part.

“I was busy blaming her, saying, ‘Let me see what you did. You probably put it in incorrectly,’” Gayle tells PEOPLE. 

However, Gayle then called a travel agency her mom is connected to and was told, “That's how it is. It's two digits in the system." 

She adds that it now happens “every time" Mildred flies, no matter how they book the flight.

Delta confirmed to PEOPLE that because of how several legacy, industry-wide back-end booking and ticketing systems are built, the fields for customers' birth years only have the capacity for two digits instead of four.

"While it’s clear this customer is young at heart, she’ll simply have to check in with a friendly Delta agent at the airport to get her boarding pass," a representative for the airline told PEOPLE in a statement. "We appreciate her understanding and we’d love to hear her points on longevity and why she likes to travel as Delta marks our own 100th birthday next year.”

Gayle says she thinks the video she posted of her mom "has woken up the industry,” noting, “I'm hearing from people in the aviation IT area saying, ‘We're working on this.’”

Gayle has also heard from other relatives of centenarians who’ve had similar experiences.

“This happened to my mom too,” one commenter, who said her own mother was born in 1913, wrote on Gayle’s Instagram post.

Gayle says her social media followers also appreciated her mom’s playful take on the frustrating situation.

“They all love her attitude,” she says. “She makes light of everything.”

Never miss a story — sign up for  PEOPLE's free daily newsletter  to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from juicy celebrity news to compelling human interest stories. 

Gayle describes Mildred — with whom she recently collaborated on a book, Mildred's Mindset: Wisdom from a Woman Centenarian — as “incredibly resilient and fearless” and “absolutely not her age.”

“Travel is in our blood, I have to tell you,” says Gayle, a photographer, writer and filmmaker, who made the 2015 documentary Look at Us Now, Mother! “We have had great adventures all over the world.”

“When you don't have this fear, you get to enjoy a lot of things in life and have a lot of adventures,” she adds.

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Who is Rhona Graff, Trump’s Former Assistant Who Is Testifying Against Him?

Few people knew Donald J. Trump like Ms. Graff, a Queens native who made a career serving the defendant.

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By Matthew Haag

• April 26, 2024 Updated 6:23 p.m. ET

For decades, few people had access to Donald J. Trump like Rhona Graff. Now, Ms. Graff, his former personal assistant at the Trump Organization, became the second person to testify against Mr. Trump in his criminal trial in Lower Manhattan.

At Trump Tower, Ms. Graff served as Mr. Trump’s gatekeeper . She had an office right outside his door, placing her within earshot of Mr. Trump’s requests to get someone on the phone. And when someone wanted to reach Mr. Trump, they first had to go through Ms. Graff, often requiring a secret code to be put through.

“Everybody knows in order to get through to him,” she once said, “they have to go through me.”

Prosecutors on Friday spent about 15 minutes questioning Ms. Graff before Mr. Trump’s legal team started cross-examination, which also was short.

Asked about her role at the Trump Organization, Ms. Graff told prosecutors that she compiled records that included emails, contact lists and calendar entries. She said the company’s directory had contact information for Karen McDougal and a “Stormy.”

Ms. McDougal is a former Playboy model who has claimed to have had sex with Mr. Trump. Stormy appears to be a reference to Stormy Daniels, who has also claimed to have had an affair and whose hush-money payment is central to the criminal case against Mr. Trump.

Ms. Graff testified that, even though she left the Trump Organization and was testifying in the trial, the organization was paying her legal fees.

Under questioning by a Trump lawyer, she spoke glowingly about her time working for the former president, calling him “fair” as a boss — eliciting a smile from Mr. Trump in the courtroom. She also spoke fondly about Mr. Trump’s reality show “The Apprentice,” adding that it helped him achieve “rock-star status.”

Ms. Graff heard about a job opening in 1987 at the Trump Organization and cold-called to get the position. The job appeared to raise her profile. Six years later, Ms. Graff’s wedding announcement was published in The New York Times. She married Lucius Joseph Riccio, the city’s commissioner of transportation, in a wedding officiated by Mayor David N. Dinkins.

The roles in which she served for Mr. Trump extended far beyond being his assistant, as reflected in her title: senior vice president. She acted as Mr. Trump’s media liaison, scheduler, sometimes spokeswoman, fund-raising planner, co-star on “The Apprentice” and as a Miss Teen USA judge.

Ms. Graff continued her service during his 2016 presidential campaign and after Mr. Trump moved into the White House.

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What does 'Sapphic' mean? An ancient term is having a modern moment

When people look at images captured by Ty Busey, the photographer says she wants them to know that the pictures and films were captured by a queer woman. Drawing on Renaissance paintings as inspiration, Busey poses her subjects, who are LGBTQ women and nonbinary people, with halos and textured backgrounds in lounging postures. She describes her artistic eye in one word: “Sapphic.”

The term derives from Sappho, a lyrical poet who lived in ancient Greece and created verses about pursuing women lovers that were rich in sensuality and nostalgia — and even libertine at times.

The style of Busey’s work is a fitting way to rectify its namesake’s historical legacy. In the hundreds of years after her death around 570 B.C.E., Sappho was often portrayed in art as heterosexual when her own poetry said otherwise.

When asked what she hopes viewers take away from her visuals, Busey said, “I want the person watching the video to be like, ‘Yes, this is what it feels like to be with a woman.’”

Busey, a Maryland resident who has identified as a lesbian since she was a teenager, first learned about the label “Sapphic” on TikTok in 2021. In the years since she’s embraced the term, it has abounded, appearing on social media meme pages , as a literary genre , as a descriptor for events in brick and mortar spaces and even as a noun for self-identification.

Over two-and-a-half millennia removed from its namesake, the term Sapphic does not have a precise definition that’s agreed upon by all of those who currently embrace it. However, its current use is generally as an umbrella term for lesbians, bisexuals, pansexuals and other women-loving women, and for transgender and nonbinary people who may not identify as women themselves but align with this spectrum of attraction and community. 

While Sapphic may evoke ancient images of romance, it has a lesser-known political undercurrent: The poet Sappho resisted tyranny in her own era by the military general Pittacus, making her a potent queer symbol during a tenuous time for LGBTQ rights.

A rebirth on the internet

Describing herself as “chronically online,” Tyler Mead, 28, said she learned about the term Sapphic “funnily enough, actually, on the internet.”

As a singer, songwriter and producer under the moniker STORYBOARDS , she came across queer artists like Fletcher using the term. 

“It got me intrigued, and I was like, ‘What does this term mean? What does this mean to them? And, what could it also mean for me?’ Because it’s been a bit of a journey for me of coming out in multiple layers,” Mead said.

In 2018, Mead came out as pansexual, then in 2020 as a trans woman. For the past year, she’s identified as a lesbian and as Sapphic, which she said captures a philosophy of “softness” in her approach to romance and dating. 

“An interesting part of being a trans woman who is Sapphic is that, even before I started transitioning, I always knew that I was attracted to women … but not in a straight way,” Mead, who lives in Los Angeles, said.

The expansiveness of the term, she explained, is a strong draw, adding that she knows people who are trans masculine that use it. 

A songwriter since middle school, Mead not only considers her music Sapphic but sums up her entire “energy” on the bio section of her TikTok profile as: “Sapphic fairy.”

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The word “Sappho” appears to have first emerged digitally in 1987 on an early iteration of an email list, according to Avery Dame-Griff, curator of the Queer Digital History Project . 

The Greek poet, it seems, was the namesake of an English language mailing list for LGBTQ women during a time when email would have only been accessible to those in academic or computer-related fields, according to Dame-Griff. 

A name like Sappho, he explained, would have signaled that the mailing list was for queer women without using a term like “gay” or “lesbian,” which would have drawn unwanted attention. 

Since 2004, the first year for which Google Trends provides search data , the term “Sapphic” peaked in December 2005 before steadily declining for the next 15 years. Since 2020, however, it has been on a steady upward trajectory. 

Perhaps nowhere is the term currently more prominent than social media, where Sappho-themed meme accounts —  Sappho Was Here , Suffering Sappho Memes and Sapphic Sandwich , just to name a few — have amassed tens of thousands of followers on Instagram. And, on TikTok, a wildly popular social media platform among those in the 18-29 demo , the term has been hashtagged over 340,000 times.

Some of those hashtags lead to 26-year-old New Yorker Nina Haines. During the pandemic, Haines said, she was craving queer community. Unable to see LGBTQ friends in person because of Covid, she started posting about Sapphic literature on TikTok in an effort to find connection.

Then, in 2021, Haines founded Sapph-Lit , a book club that today boasts 8,200 members from over 60 countries, with members who identify as queer women and nonbinary people. Her book picks have included modern romances, like Casey McQuiston’s “I Kissed Shara Wheeler,” and classics like Audre Lorde’s “Zami: A New Spelling of My Name.”

“At the end of the day, we really want to prioritize Sapphic literature, because Sapphics have been historically rendered invisible throughout history,” she said. 

For Haines, who has a tattoo of Sappho on her arm, the term Sapphic “captures the women-loving-women experience” in a way that is “rooted in history” and that signals “that we have always been here.”

A historical legacy 

Hailing from the Greek island of Lesbos and living from roughly 630 B.C.E. to 570 B.C.E., what is known of Sappho’s life comes from surviving fragments of her poetry and what was written about her by other ancients, according to Page duBois, the author of 1995’s “ Sappho Is Burning ” and a professor of classics and comparative literature at the University of California, San Diego.

Sappho’s queer legacy, duBois added, emerges from an expression of romantic and sexual desire toward women in her poems, often with a tint of nostalgia.

“They are really lovely and project that kind of world of voluptuous, flower filled, scented eros [desire] directed toward women,” duBois said.

But a passive “pink, romantic Valentine” she was not. “An aggressive pursuer of her lover,” Sappho described intimate memories of a far away, beloved woman, according to duBois. 

“She talks about anointing her with beautiful ointments and putting garlands on her, and satisfying each other on soft beds,” duBois said of Fragment 94 of Sappho’s poetry.

There are contradictory interpretations that Sappho was a schoolteacher, an aristocrat or a hetaira (a sex worker who operated like a courtesan or geisha), and that she was perhaps enslaved. In the Middle Ages and Victorian periods, she was presented as heterosexual in art, portrayed as a forlorn woman who threw herself off a cliff after she was rejected by a ferryman she loved.

Finding a new generation

For the past 100 years, an ever-evolving lexicon — and a debate about the best terms to use — has been a consistent feature of LGBTQ culture. 

As far back as the 1920s, there are examples of “Sapphic” being used to advertise sexual entertainment, like sex shows, performed by women for a male audience. The term Sapphic can also be found in 1930s tabloid headlines , and several lesbian publications in the ‘70s and ‘80s incorporated the word Sappho in their names .

It became more common for women to identify as a “lesbian” in the 1960s, though there were earlier exceptions, according to Cookie Woolner, author of “ The Famous Lady Lovers: Black Women and Queer Desire Before Stonewall .”

Of course, butch, femme, dyke, stud and a host of other terms have been embraced by queer women, each shaped by the communities that created them and the social movements of their time. 

“Maybe in some ways, the terms are changing because it’s about a break from a past generation,” said Woolner, an associate professor of history at the University of Memphis.

Though Woolner and others have noted that there are those who eschew certain terms or identifiers, for one reason or another. Some LGBTQ women, for example, don’t identify with “Sapphic” due to a perceived chasteness and the ancient aura.

For the past three years, Busey has organized a “Sapphic picnic” outside of Washington, D.C. For this year, Busey chose the theme “For the Gods,” an ode to Greek gods and goddesses and conducted a photo shoot to match. 

“There’s something about those ancient photos and the way that they’re all falling on each other — I really love them so much,” she said. “I just want to recapture it specifically with women, especially if I could put a Black woman in there.”

More than 2,500 years after Sappho walked the earth, champions of the term Sapphic see the parallels between finding their own power and the erasure and subsequent embrace of the lyrical poet’s queer identity.

“I see her as this reclamation,” Haines said of Sappho. “As this statement of, ‘No, I actually mean the words that I say, and don’t twist them.’”

For more from NBC Out, sign up for our weekly newsletter.

Alex Berg is a freelance on-air host and journalist based in New York City.

Announcing our 2024-2025 Travel Grant Recipients

The Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library is pleased to announce the recipients of the 2024-2025 travel grants. Our research centers annually award travel grants to students, scholars, and independent researchers through a competitive application process. We extend a warm congratulations to this year’s awardees. We look forward to meeting and working with you!

Archive of Documentary Arts

Elizabeth Barahona, Ph.D. candidate, Northwestern University, “Black and Latino Coalition Building in Durham, North Carolina 1980-2010.” (Joint award with the Human Rights Archive)

Diana Ruiz, Faculty, University of Washington, Seattle, “Apprehension through Representation: Image Capture of the US-Mexico Border.” (Joint award with the Human Rights Archive)

Sallie Bingham Center for Women’s History and Culture

Mary lily research travel grants.

Taylor Doherty, Ph.D. candidate, University of Arizona, Department of Gender and Women’s Studies, “Minnie Bruce Pratt’s Anti-Imperialist Lesbian Feminist ‘Longed-for but Unrealized World.’”

Thalia Ertman, Ph.D. candidate, University of California, Los Angeles Department of History, “U.S. Feminist Anti-Nuclear Activism and Women’s Bodies, 1970s-1990s.”

Samuel Huber, Faculty, Yale University, Department of English. “A World We Can Bear: Kate Millett’s Life in Feminism.”

Alan Mitchell, Ph.D. candidate, Cambridge University, Faculty of Art History and Architecture, “Redefining Phoebe Anna Traquair through the lenses of historicism and intersectionality.”

Emily Nelms Chastain, Ph.D. candidate, Boston University, School of Theology, “The Clergywoman Question: The International Association of Women Preachers and Ecclesial Suffrage in American Methodism.”

Ana Parejo Vadillo, Faculty, School of Creative Arts, Cultures and Communications, Birkbeck, University of London, “Bound: The Queer Poetry of Michael Field.”

Carol Quirke, Faculty, American Studies, SUNY Old Westbury, “Feminism’s ‘Official Photographer:’ Bettye Lane, News Photography and Contemporary Feminism, 1969-2000.”

Paula Ramos, Independent Researcher, “Spatiality and gender: spatial circumstances of the creative process of feminist artists in the 1970s and 1980s.”

Dartricia Rollins, Graduate Student, University of Alabama, School of Library and Information Studies, “‘You Had to Be There:’ Charis’ 50-Year History as the South’s Oldest Independent Feminist Bookstore.”

Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick Research Travel Grants

Ipek Sahinler, Ph.D. candidate, University of Texas Austin, “A Portrait of Young Women as Proto-Queer Thinkers: Eve Sedgwick vis-à-vis Gloria Anzaldúa.”

David Seitz, Faculty, Harvey Mudd College, “‘No Less Realistic’ but with ‘Different Ambitions’: Reparative Reading, Human Geography, and a Return to Sedgwick.

Doris Duke Foundation Travel Grants

Olivia Armandroff, Ph.D. candidate, University of Southern California, “Volcanic Matter: Land Formation and Artistic Creation.”

Cameron Bushnell, Faculty, Clemson University, Department of English. “‘The Invisible Orient’ in Orientalism Otherwise: Women Write the Orient.”

John Hope Franklin Center for African and African American History and Culture

Thomas Blakeslee, Ph.D. candidate, Harvard University, History Department, “Domestic Disturbances: The Resistant Masculinity of Black Fatherhood from Anti-Slavery to Civil Rights.”

Mara Curechian , Ph.D. candidate, School of English, University of St Andrews, “Acting Like Family: Performing Kinship in the Literature of the Civil War and Reconstruction.”

Michelle Decker, Faculty, Scripps College, English Department, George Washington Williams’s and Amanda B. Smith’s Appalachian Origins and African Explorations.”

Timothy Kumfer, Postdoctoral Fellow, Georgetown University, 2023-2024 Mellon Sawyer Seminar, “Counter-Capital: Grassroots Black Power and Urban Struggles in Washington, D.C.”

Hunter Moskowitz, Ph.D. candidate, Northeastern University, “Race and Labor in the Global Textile Industry: Lowell, Concord, and Monterrey in the Early 19th Century.”

Summer Sloane-Britt, Ph.D. candidate, Institute of Fine Arts, New York University, “Visions of Liberation: Gender and Photography in the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, 1960-1970.”

Mila Turner, Faculty, Clark Atlanta University, “Bridging Histories: Connecting the Atlanta Student Movement with College Student Activism throughout the Southeast”

Harry H. Harkins T’73 Travel Grants for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender History

Kadin Henningsen, Ph.D. candidate, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, “Walt’s Companions.”

Julie Kliegman, Author, book-length exploration of transgender pioneers.

John W. Hartman Center for Sales, Advertising, and Marketing History

John furr fellowship.

Hannah Pivo, Ph.D. candidate, Columbia University, Department of Art History and Archaeology, “Charting the Future: Graphic Methods and Planning in the United States, c. 1910-60.”

Lewis Smith, Faculty, Brunel University London, Brunel Business School, Division of Marketing, “Marketing the State”: J. Walter Thompson Company and the Marketing of the Public Sector in Britain.”

Alvin Achenbaum Travel Grants

Warren Dennis, Ph.D. candidate, Boston University, “Hard Power Paths: Gender and American Energy Policy, 1960-2000.” (Joint award with History of Medicine with support from the Louis H. Roddis Endowment)

Dan Du, Faculty, University of North Carolina at Charlotte, Department of History, “U.S. Tea Trade and Consumption after the American Revolution.”

Will Mari, Faculty, Louisiana State University, Manship School of Mass Communication, “Selling the computer to women media workers: gendered ads during the Cold War.”

Janine Rogers, Ph.D. candidate, University of California Los Angeles, Theater Department, “Performance, Militarization, and Materialisms: Canned Goods in Asian America”.

Jonathan MacDonald, Ph.D. candidate, Brown University, Department of American Studies, “Psychology Hits the Road: Driving Simulators, Billboards, and Hypnosis on the Highway.”

History of Medicine Collections

Warren Dennis, Ph.D. candidate, Boston University, “Hard Power Paths: Gender and American Energy Policy, 1960-2000.” (With support from the Louis H. Roddis Endowment; Joint award with the Hartman Center)

Ava Purkiss, Faculty, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Department of Women’s and Gender Studies, “After Anarcha: Black Women and Gynecological Medicine in the Twentieth Century.”

Baylee Staufenbiel, Ph.D. candidate, Florida State University, Department of History, “The Seven-Cell Uterus: De Spermate and the Anatomization of Cosmology.”

Brian Martin, Ph.D. candidate, University of Alabama, History Department, “Racial Theory and African American Medical Care in the U.S. Civil War.”

Human Rights Archive

Elizabeth Barahona, Ph.D. candidate, Northwestern University, “Black and Latino Coalition Building in Durham, North Carolina 1980-2010.” (Joint award with the Archive of Documentary Arts)

Diana Ruiz, Faculty, University of Washington, Seattle, “Apprehension through Representation: Image Capture of the US-Mexico Border.” (Joint award with the Archive of Documentary Arts)

Kylie Smith, Faculty, Emory University. School of Nursing, Department of History, “No Place for Children: Disability, Civil Rights, and Juvenile Detention in North Carolina.”

Harrison Wick, Faculty, Indiana University of Pennsylvania (IUP) Special Collections and University Archives, “Examination of Primary Sources related to Social Justice and Latin American Immigration in the Human Rights Archive.”

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Dispatches from the David M. Rubenstein Rare Book and Manuscript Library at Duke University

Women Who Travel Book Club: 9 New Books to Read on Your Winter Getaway

By Meaghan Kenny

As you prepare for that upcoming winter getaway, be it at a ski lodge in Aspen or a cozy cabin in the Catskills , the most important choice is which new book should accompany you. Enter the Women Who Travel quarterly book club—a hand-picked, seasonal list of the most exciting new reads written by women authors. We asked our editors, contributors, and well-traveled bibliophiles in our orbit to share which new books are making it into their carry-on this winter. Suffice to say, their picks have us hoping for a snow day, ASAP.

Read on for 9 new books to pick up at your local bookstore, from a collection of short stories to gripping memoirs, to the true-crime account of an undercover investigation. These books will transport you near and far, from the Everglades in South Florida to the Jamaican countryside and mid-20th century Malaya. We'd love to hear which you're reading—and which fantastic new books we missed—on Instagram or Facebook .

All products featured on Condé Nast Traveler are independently selected by our editors. However, when you buy something through our retail links, we may earn an affiliate commission.

Roman Stories by Jhumpa Lahiri

The wrong accent; the wrong attire; the wrong age: Lahiri returns to her explorations of the other in Roman Stories , a collection of short stories originally penned in Italian. The protagonists here are connected by their sense of sitting on the margins—a husband in an ambivalent marriage, an immigrant family forced into the countryside by racist attacks in the city, a woman facing surgery, which throws her into deep nostalgia for a life past. My favorite story is The Steps , a six-part portrait of a bustling staircase and the breadth of characters that pass through it. It’s all about exploring the feeling of being out of place that has, of course, been central to a lot of Lahiri's storytelling. Previously, those emotional upheavals have traveled from America to India and back again ( The Namesake , Interpreter of Maladies ), but the setting for these stories is the city of Rome, much-cherished but with cracks and frailties exposed. Interesting to me is that even with a strong sense of place, Rome here could well be a stand-in for any large, complex, vital city in the world—Delhi? Paris ?—because these are ultimately universal stories about human afflictions. Lahiri is one of my favorite writers: She is so skilled at plumbing the interior lives of people in the gentlest, even poetic way, and offers no clean closures in the end, which is exactly what the immigrant experience is to me—a lifelong journey of assimilation. — Arati Menon , global digital director

How to Say Babylon by Safiya Sinclair

I’ve heard a lot of chatter about Safiya Sinclair’s memoir, and at just about a hundred pages in I’m hooked. She tells the story of her strict Rastafarian upbringing in Jamaica , reaching back into the origins of Rastas on the island, and her eventual efforts to leave the lifestyle behind. In the same way that I love historical fiction, this book has transported me to places like Montego Bay and the Jamaican countryside, spotlighting pivotal real-life moments—like Haile Selassie’s visit to Jamaica in 1966—with a personal narrative that offers a unique lens to absorb it through. I expect the book to get heavier as I go based on the synopsis, and I can’t wait for an upcoming flight on which I can get totally immersed in it. — Megan Spurrell , senior editor

The Storm We Made by Vanessa Chan

There's a running joke in the literary community that book reviews contain the same stock words and phrases, regardless of title: 'a page-turner,' 'unputdownable,' 'grabbed hold of me and never let me go.' Well, reader, I hate to be part of the problem, but all of that is true (and more) of Vanessa Chan's debut novel. From the moment I read the first passage, I was instantly transported to mid-20th century Malaya (the British territory and ancestor of today's sovereign state of Malaysia ), dropped in the middle of the story of a woman named Cecily, the mother, spy, and protagonist at the heart of this epic historical saga. A fascinating history comes all the more alive with Chan's vivid characters, deft language, and detail-oriented storytelling. The craftsmanship of this book is as astounding as its roller-coaster plot. The Storm We Made is a modern classic. — Matt Ortile , associate editor

The Djinn Waits a Hundred Years by Shubnum Khan

In The Djinn Waits a Hundred Years by South African author Shubnum Khan, two gripping stories unfold in concert, transcending both time and spiritual realms. Her evocative description of summer heat in Durban in the novel's opening pages had me positively transfixed, and I immediately gave up any hope of getting work done as I raced through it in a day. — Sarah Khan , contributor

Jessica Puckett

María Casbas

CNT Editors

Death Valley by Melissa Broder

Melissa Broder's Death Valley had me at grief and then gripped me with its lucidity. Picture this: a woman seeking solace in a Best Western, escaping the heavy emotions tied to the health of her father and husband. Then a massive cactus, defying all logic, acts as a mysterious portal for her solace, self-discovery, and solitude. I needed this book and its take on feeling alone among the absurdity of what life gives you. — Laura Delarato , contributor

A Great Country by Shilpi Somaya Gowda

Gowda’s engrossing fourth novel deals with the aftermath of police brutality toward a 12-year-old Indian-American boy on the spectrum, and how his immigrant parents view themselves differently from other people of color in the United States. I thought this book, which contrasts systemic oppression in our country to the caste system in India , was very well executed. The story is continuously compelling, and uses various points of view to show how a misunderstanding can happen. Gowda presents each character’s viewpoint thoroughly, delving into their histories and making a case for why they believe what they do. — Alexandra Sanidad , research director

Gator Country by Rebecca Renner

Rebecca Renner's book Gator Country caught my eye as I was looking for a new nonfiction read to break up all the fiction I'd been devouring over the holidays. I haven't started this one yet, but the description drew me in right away. Gator Country explores Florida's complicated alligator poaching underworld through the lens of two colorful characters: an undercover fish and wildlife agent and a legendary poacher who looms large in Sunshine State lore. I love a good true crime story, especially one told by a journalist—even better when the tale involves wildlife and conservation, as this one does. I can't wait to be mentally transported to balmy, South Florida while reading what one reviewer described as a, "beautiful love letter to the flora and fauna of the Everglades ." — Sarah Kuta , contributor

Legacy of Orïsha: Children of Anguish and Anarchy by Tomi Adeyemi

June 25th can’t come soon enough as the third and final book in the West African–inspired fantasy series, Legacy of Orïsha , hits shelves. And while I might be a fully grown adult, I will certainly have this YA fantasy in hand the day it drops. The first book in the series, Children of Blood and Bone , was the Nigerian-American author's debut novel and immediately shot to the top of every prestigious reading list, including being an instan t New York Times bestseller. It follows the story of Zélie, a magical being, on a quest to restore magic to the kingdom which has been oppressed by the ruling class. A film adaptation is now in the works at Paramount Pictures—think Harry Potter or The Hunger Games —so it’s the perfect time to reread the first two books. — Eugene Shevertalov, associate entertainment director

A Woman in the Polar Night by Christiane Ritter

In February, Pushkin Press is releasing a new edition of A Woman in the Polar Night, a memoir originally published in 1938 by an Austrian woman, Christiane Ritter, who spent a full year with her husband and another hunter in a hut in Svalbard , the Norwegian high Arctic island group. The physical hardship and risk of this experience is difficult to overstate (setting cold and hunger aside, the stove that constantly fills their tiny living space with smoke would be enough to send me walking home across the glaciers), but Ritter, whose prose manages to be both spartan and, at times, ecstatic, thrives on the challenge. So much is left unsaid in this book—like what , for example, is the deal with this marriage?—but that sense of mystery only adds to its appeal. A beautiful, timeless read. — Maggie Shipstead , contributor

Books | Book review: Conspiracies swirl around ‘Missing…

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Books | book review: conspiracies swirl around ‘missing white woman’.

‘Missing White Woman’ by Kellye Garrett. Mulholland, 336 pages, $29 

Breanna Wright’s life hasn’t turned out as she expected as Kellye Garrett persuasively shows in her insightful “Missing White Woman,” touching on racism, social media and true-crime fanatics.

Garrett shapes Breanna as someone who wants so much from life but has achieved so little, a situation that often makes her angry, fragile and prickly, yet very appealing. Breanna, who goes by Bree, expected to go to law school, to have a successful career, possibly marriage and a family. But an incident when she was a teenager derailed all her plans, or rather, she let things slide.

She still lives in the cheap Baltimore studio apartment she rented while in college and still works at the low-paying, part-time job she had back then.

But her life may finally take a turn. She has fallen in love with successful financial adviser Tyler “Ty” Franklin. He’s “perfect,” she thinks, believing they will have a future. As proof, Ty has rented an upscale Airbnb in Jersey City that has a terrific view of Manhattan. Here, they can have a get-away, even though he has to work part of the time at his company that has a nearby office.

Still, the couple manages to enjoy seeing Manhattan, posting many photos of the sights they visit. They also love the Airbnb’s charming neighborhood, although they are only two of the three Black people on the block. The only hesitation Bree has is the numerous posters and flyers everywhere about the “missing white woman” — Janelle Beckett, a professional dog walker who was well liked. Clusters of residents stand around discussing the case, seemingly tracking how often Ty and Bree come and go. A podcaster talks about Janelle as if they were friends.

“Missing White Woman” takes a turn when Bree wakes up one morning to find the body of a blonde woman lying on the rental’s first floor, and Ty missing. The woman could be Janelle, but the body is unrecognizable.

Garrett weaves a complicated web that ensnares Bree, as the police target the missing Ty. Social media scrutinize area security cameras, targeting the couple’s race as the police investigation ramps up. Garrett also takes a hard look at conspiracy theorists, especially those who have amassed a growing following.

Garrett makes the reader care very deeply about what happens to Breanna, even when her actions can seem irrational. Yet her belief in Ty never wavers. Sharply honed twists, realistic dialogue and a solid setting elevate “Missing White Woman.”

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Watch CBS News

California Governor Newsom launches abortion travel ban ad campaign in Alabama

By Dave Pehling

Updated on: April 22, 2024 / 1:41 PM PDT / CBS San Francisco

California Governor Gavin Newsom is taking aim at states considering abortion travel bans with the launch of a new ad campaign.

Newsom's Campaign for Democracy ad is set to air in Alabama starting Monday. The governor tweeted out the ad in a social media post Sunday morning.

Alabama’s abortion ban has no exceptions for rape or incest. Now, Republicans are trying to criminalize young women’s travel to receive abortion care. We cannot let them get away with this. pic.twitter.com/gHbYJYlEXk — Gavin Newsom (@GavinNewsom) April 21, 2024

The text with the video post reads, "Alabama's abortion ban has no exceptions for rape or incest. Now, Republicans are trying to criminalize young women's travel to receive abortion care. We cannot let them get away with this."

The 30-second commercial shows two nervous young women driving in a car passing a sign that reads "State Line 1 Mile." 

"We're almost there. You're gonna make it," the passenger tells the woman behind the wheel just before they hear a siren and are pulled over by a state trooper.

"Trump Republicans want to criminalize young Alabama women who travel for reproductive care," a voiceover says as the state trooper walks up to the car.

"Miss, I'm going to need you to step out of the vehicle and take a pregnancy test," the trooper says, waving a test stick in one hand. The next shot shows the driver leaning on the hood of her car as the trooper puts her in handcuffs.

"Stop them by taking action at RightToTravel.org ," the voiceover intones as the ad ends.

Alabama is currently weighing a bill that would make it a crime to help women travel outside the state in order to receive an abortion. The ad is part of a larger effort to combat travel bans across the United States. Newsom was behind a similar ad that ran in Tennessee.

The RightToTravel.org website says that those two states and Oklahoma are considering bills that ban minors from traveling out of state to get an abortion without parental consent, even if it's a case of incest or if there is abuse in the family.

It isn't the first action the governor has taken in the political battle over abortion since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in June of 2022. Two days after the ruling, Newsom partnered with the governors of Oregon and Washington to issue a multi-state commitment promising to defend access to reproductive health care, including abortion and contraceptives.

In September of that year, he launched a billboard campaign in seven of the most restrictive anti-abortion states urging women seeking the procedure to come to California for treatment. He also signed more than a dozen new abortion laws  protecting women's reproductive rights and ordered the state to end its contract with Walgreens after the pharmacy giant  indicated it would not sell an abortion pill by mail in some conservative-led states . 

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Dave Pehling started his journalism career doing freelance writing about music in the late 1990s, eventually working as a web writer, editor and producer for KTVU.com in 2003. He moved to CBS to work as the station website's managing editor in 2015.

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