FROM THE INSIDE LOOKING OUT by Jo Carroll

5 out of 5 stars

Non Fiction travel memoir: Nepal, Laos, Cuba


On Amazon UK HERE

I won this paperback in a competition on the author's blog - such a stroke of luck! Beautifully presented.

Jo Carroll is a traveller. Oh yes, and she's a sixty-two year old grandmother from Wiltshire, whose family are used to her getting itchy feet and strapping on that backpack. I'm so envious! I really liked her account of her time in Cuba, I really really liked the story of her trip to Nepal, and I ADORED the section about Laos, the largest one in the book. I lay in bed reading it for three hours last night and was in another world.

The book is written in a friendly, conversational way, in the present tense, which works very well. It has all the every day feeling and humour of a Bill Bryson travel book, yet told me so much about the history and culture of the countries she's visited. I knew nothing about Laos; now, I want to know more, and have already been Googling images of the places Jo visited - and looking on Amazon to see if she's written any more books about her travels (she has! I've just bought 'Over the Hill and Far Away'!).

Lovely book. Funny, fascinating, flowing, easily readable, touching. If you love Bill Bryson and similar, you'll love this.