A novel way to travel: Books set in the desert

A novel way to travel – Books set in the desert

The desert is usually a dry arid place, no water, miles to journey before your next village….but full of interesting literary travel tales. I’m all for wanting a change from a city break or a visit to the beach when I read so how about the desert?

So what are the books you might automatically think of?  Tracks? Where Robyn Davidson walks across 1700 miles of Australian desert with only four camels and a dog for company? The White Masai of a woman’s true story of meeting and living with a Masai tribe? Both true stories but what about these desert delights?

OMAN – The English Girl –  Booktrail your literary journey here

For the depiction of the heat and the struggle for woman to survive in the 1950s culture and conventions, The English Girl really portrays that well. Joan is there to meet Maude, the first woman to cross the desert back in the early 1900s…

TRAVEL TIP – Best take your chisel and your hiking boots. There’s a lot of adventure treks and archaeology work going on.

LAS VEGAS – Shopaholic to the rescue –  Booktrail your literary journey here

If you fancy driving recklessly across the Las Vegas desert in an RV with Becky of Shopaholic fame then this is the book for you. It’s not really one of the Shopaholic series as Becky is different here although the chaos surrounding her is still there. If you haven’t read the others in the series though I think a lot will be lost on you.

TRAVEL TIP – Don’t go to the desert in an RV with people like Becky

SAHARA DESERT -The Heat of Betrayal – Book your literary journey here

A husband goes missing on a holiday in Morocco and his wife is trapped, alone in the vast, humid and daunting landscape where danger is watching..

I really loved this book but if you think too much and put your self in Robin’s position you get a very unique and disturbing view of what it must be like to be stuck in such an environment you have no control over. A world where being a white woman on her own is not advised and one who is afraid, looking for her husband and worrying.

This is the desert where you feel lost, hopeless afraid and at the mercy of those you meet. It’s a novel with grit  and some very tough challenges but a really gripping read

Travel Tip – Don’t trust your travel companion completely.

SASKATCHEWAN SANDS -Cool Water – Booktrail your literary journey here

There is actually a large expanse of sand in Canada which is not really a desert as such but well nearly, and if you go there, you’d be well advised to take this book, as the name alone could refresh you.

There are sand hills here and places with magical names such as Moose Jaw, Medicine Hat and Maple Creek. The stories are about life on the prairie in western Canada – each grain as important as the next but it’s the mix which is the most interesting of all.

Travel tip: Don’t let the funny sounding names make you think your heads gone funny in the heat. There’s a town called Swift Current and Success to see you through

So pick up that sunscreen , pop on  a good hat, shades and good walking shoes and off you go to the literary landscape of the desert. Happy travelling!