The Backpack Years bookcover

The Backpack Years

Two Memoirs, One Story
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Description

Its journey through alcohol, angst, love, and learning carries readers, via a streetwise voice and experiences, far from the beaten path of tired travelogues. -D. Donovan, Senior Reviewer, Midwest Book Review


Stef and James couldn't get it all together-aside from clothes and toiletries to stuff in a backpack. To these adventurous, incident-prone 21-year-olds, carrying their lives with them felt like freedom, and they traveled not just to explore, but to escape. James's father and his job pushed him out of England, and Stef left her old personality and anxieties back in America. What followed was a transcontinental journey of bad choices spanning six years and thirteen countries.


When their paths eventually crossed at an Irish pub in Sydney's red light district, they found the one thing they'd stay put for, but had few options for their international relationship. Attempts at immigration failed until one solution remained-get married so they could keep dating. What was supposed to be the end of their problems was just the beginning, and the time had come to decide whether to keep trying or pack up.


The Backpack Years is more than a dual-narrative travelogue. It begins with Steph and James's experiences before they met-starting the chain of events that led them to the pub and beyond, through the highs and lows of wandering and the attempts at stability in-between. It's a memoir about the doubts of new adulthood and discovering who, where, and with whom you're meant to be.


Product Details

PublisherTucky Buddy Books
Publish DateMarch 23, 2022
Pages280
LanguageEnglish
TypeBook iconPaperback / softback
EAN/UPC9780578386232
Dimensions9.0 X 6.0 X 0.6 inches | 0.9 pounds
BISAC Categories: Biography & Memoir

Reviews

"Its journey through alcohol, angst, love, and learning carries readers, via a streetwise voice and experiences, far from the beaten path of tired travelogues." -D. Donovan, Senior Reviewer, Midwest Book Review


"I would gladly recommend this memoir to readers of true stories and travel. It's delightful and definitely going down as one of my favorite memoirs of the year." -Jadidsa Perez, Independent Book Review


"The best part of this memoir is the frank honesty and rawness of the two authors' feelings at different stages of their relationship and their journey... One thing that shone through on every page was their dedication to each other and their determination to see this journey through to the end - together." ✭✭✭✭✭ -Grant Leishman, Readers' Favorite


"What struck me most about the book is how candid it is... Theirs is a balanced perspective in that they show the fun, the friendliness and the fabulous but also the threat and the strain that can come from a life without ties and familiarity." -Rachel Deeming, Reedsy Discovery

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