Edited by Lucy McCauley
This 2009 anthology of 35 true stories from around the world offers a rich and impressive feast.
As editor Lucy McCauley puts it, "these writers and travellers didn't travel to the same places or in the same way or for the same reasons." Each woman recounts her experience with wanderlust, with all its varied thrills and inconveniences.
And in spite of each traveller's desire to go, see, and in some cases stay, the homeward pull always won and each woman returned to her place of origin in the end.
In Ringer, Jenny Williams watches people playing soccer in Kenya on a beach.
The girls are fully-clad, unlike the scene on a beach in a western country.
She feels an irresistible urge to join the game even though soccer is an exclusively male domain in Kenya. After an initial shock and novelty to the players and the spectators, the lone white girl is accepted in the ranks.
In Perfect Sitting, Marisa Pereira brings out quite successfully the pain she feels during long sittings and harsh upright postures in a meditation centre in Japan, because before going there she hadn't exercised regularly.
She eagerly looks forward to the last day. Finally when she leaves, she heads for a pub, gets drunk, then she finds a bath house where she soaks and soothes her aching body.
Her Zen teacher always emphasized the need for 'perfect sitting.' While sitting in the tub, she feels, "Well this is Perfect Sitting."
In Al-Ajnabiya, Stacey Lee Tuel, a college drop-out, goes to Jordan. Being a young girl she notices how most men ogle her, thinking of her more of a sex object than a curious foreign tourist. One man especially tries to be aggressive till she manages to escape and run. She comes across a group of young girls returning from school.
They try to communicate through signs and gestures. Finally one girl insists on taking her home where she feels safe, and enjoys their hospitality for a number of days.
The two grown-up girls ask her, through signs, how she removes hair from her legs. Then they share their own girlish secret.
In that joint family she is surprised to notice how they look after the old with full care and attention, whereas in the west, a person like their old, dependent grandmother, would be lodged in a care home. The writer, a complete stranger, is treated and cared for as one of the family.
In Ylli's Gifts, Jann Huizenga and her friend, Monica, visit a deserted Albanian beach where they find a lone goat shepherd who offers them walnuts after shelling these on a rock and also pomegranates after peeling and cleaning these.
He doesn't eat anything when asked. They don't understand each other's language. So they talk in signs.
The shepherd is just a young, simple, innocent boy. When the girls offer him a flashlight and a Tootsie Roll, he feels very happy playing with the light. On departing from there, Monica asks her friend, "Do you ever fantasize about a man like that?" They erupt in giggles. They know the enchantment is not physical. It is magical.
They seem to have travelled back in time to Lotus Land.
Each story in this anthology offers a new experience. Without worrying about a passport, currency exchange, delays or jet lag, readers can enjoy these travels from the comfort of their cosy beds or cushioned sofas.
reviewed by Bal Sethi, trustee for the Prince George Public Library Board
Bright Young Things
by Anna Godberson
It's the Roaring 1920s and best friends Cordelia and Letty yearn for something more than their dreary, dusty lives on their families' farms in rural Ohio. With stars in their eyes, the best friends leave it all behind and secretly run away together to the Big Apple, New York City.
What was supposed to be the adventure of a lifetime soon turns ugly as Cordelia's and Letty's friendship turns sour.
Cordelia is bent on discovering the whereabouts of her long lost father, who also happens to be a rich bootlegger. Meanwhile, Letty is dazzled by the glitz and glamour of the stage. Ultimately, neither girl is willing to give up her dreams to help her friend. When a bitter fight ensues, Cordelia and Letty part ways.
The author of the wildly successful Luxe series -a period series set in the early 1900s -Anna Godberson has written a delicious account of two young gals in the big city that readers of historical fiction will eagerly devour.
The excitement and newness that characterized 1920s America permeate this story, making it very real and believable. But despite its historical detail, Bright Young Things is ultimately a story of friendship and all its complications.
The way that both Cordelia and Letty hide their unhappiness with a mask of carefree, playful youth will resonate with teens.
Findcopies of Bright Young Things in the teen section at the Bob Harkins Branch of the Prince George Public Library.
reviewed by Amy Dawley, Teen Librarian at the Prince George Public Library
