Untethered: A Woman's Search for Self on the Edge of India - A Travel Memoir
A woman's solo adventure around the edge of India on a motorcycle, encountering eccentric characters, grueling conditions, and life-or-death danger. A must-read for fans of Cheryl Strayed, Elizabeth Gilbert, Robyn Davidson, and other female authors writing women's empowerment stories.
A bold and honest memoir of a woman's solo, 7,000-mile, five-month motorcycle journey on the edge of India, seeking to discover her true self.
The end of an editorial position in New Delhi led to the beginning of an impossible journey for C.L. Stambush, and the last chance to break free from a confining identity.
As a girl, she hugged the wall of her grade school hall, afraid of what might happen if she let go; now she clings to a Royal Enfield Bullet motorcycle in a quest to prove to herself she "can go anywhere, do anything, be anyone" she wants.
Never having ridden a motorcycle before, she buys a Bullet and names it Kali after the badass Hindu goddess of rebirth, hoping to gain some of her grrrr. Stambush plans to discover the fifty-one Hindu shakti peetha temples, containing pieces of the goddess-lips, wrists, heart-sacred sites believed to possess the power to transform, in an attempt to rewrite her persona.
Along the way she is reshaped as she encounters friendly families and ominous men, confronts culture clashes, hijras, and bandits, experiences monsoons, scorching deserts, and homicidal drivers, crashing her motorcycle and learning about herself as she loses her camera, her way, and her self-control-crossing lines she never imagined possible.
The suspenseful and honest prose of Untethered immerses readers in India's diverse culture while vividly conveying the harrowing and triumphant journey of a woman alone, in a world where women don't travel alone, discovering her true grit.
Discussion questions in the back of the book with contact information on how to invite the author to participate in your book club's meeting.
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Journalist Stambush recounts her motorcycle adventure around the edge of India in this lively memoir. Over the course of 6,000 miles and 144 days, Stambush planned to locate and piece together the limbs of a sculpture of Hindi goddess Kali, which were housed at temples along her route. Doing so, she hoped, would shake up her "sedate" and "predictable" life and invigorate her with fresh spiritual purpose. It certainly provided plenty of challenges: in Pushkar, she lost her journal and her camera. In Goa, she met and fell for an unavailable restaurateur. Near Madras, she crashed her motorcycle and tore up her knee. Struggling to meet her timeline post-injury, Stambush abandoned her original plan and accepted the journey itself as her final destination: "Being on the road, on my own day after day, was what made me strong and whole." Captured in a confident tone and detail-rich language, Stambush's exploits are moving and memorable. Travel aficionados and those in search of an Eat, Pray, Love-style escape, take note. (Self-published) - Publishers Weekly
"...The prose brings India to life, evoking the beauty and the harshness of the landscape and its people--a mirror image of the author's transformative journey. C.L. Stambush protrays her metamorphosis in easy tones, and the adventure she includes will keep readers engaged until the very end. There is a strong emphasis on independence running throughout--a theme that is echoed in the vivid descriptions of the many sides of India." - BookLife Prize Critic for FINALIST in the BEST BOOK AWARD for Travel
"A woman alone on her trusty Royal Enfield Bullet circling the sub-continent of India...a wild ride as Connie Stambush searches for her identity and encounters unforgettable characters, roadside surprises and even romance along the way. You'll probably need a shower after this read...thousands of miles on dusty roads as you share Connie's untethered quest for self." - David James WNIN FM "Two Main Street" host
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