The Hopeful Traveller
And Other Stories
Published on 2. September 2021
Book
Paperback/Softback
232 pages
978-1-8381720-5-3 (ISBN)
Description
WRY TALES FROM ENVELOPEBOOKS
In France, Mattie feels twenty again. In Poland, Magda revisits her impoverished family. In Uzbekistan, Diana lets a fellow tourist kiss her. In Germany, Lynn loses her luggage on the Dusseldorf train.
The Hopeful Traveller is a collection of short stories about-and told by-single women who have put the past behind them but are still looking for their anchor in the present. The stories include bitter-sweet accounts of the freedoms of postwar life, foreign travel, the rekindling of old friendships and the search for new ones. They speak of cosmopolitan, self-confident, well-heeled characters, in an era just before the birth of feminism, conventional in their expectations of men, always just a step away from displacement and alienation.
Set variously in Paris, Kalisz, Samarkand, Hong Kong, Melbourne, Erfurt, Singapore and London, these stories, from a much-admired veteran writer, offer a teasing mix of realism and fantasy, wish-fulfilment and regret. Some of these stories have appeared in translation in overseas annuals and collections.
In France, Mattie feels twenty again. In Poland, Magda revisits her impoverished family. In Uzbekistan, Diana lets a fellow tourist kiss her. In Germany, Lynn loses her luggage on the Dusseldorf train.
The Hopeful Traveller is a collection of short stories about-and told by-single women who have put the past behind them but are still looking for their anchor in the present. The stories include bitter-sweet accounts of the freedoms of postwar life, foreign travel, the rekindling of old friendships and the search for new ones. They speak of cosmopolitan, self-confident, well-heeled characters, in an era just before the birth of feminism, conventional in their expectations of men, always just a step away from displacement and alienation.
Set variously in Paris, Kalisz, Samarkand, Hong Kong, Melbourne, Erfurt, Singapore and London, these stories, from a much-admired veteran writer, offer a teasing mix of realism and fantasy, wish-fulfilment and regret. Some of these stories have appeared in translation in overseas annuals and collections.
More details
Language
English
Place of publication
United Kingdom
Dimensions
Height: 200 mm
Width: 126 mm
Thickness: 15 mm
Weight
286 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-8381720-5-3 (9781838172053)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
Janina David
The Hopeful Traveller
E-Book
06/2024
1st Edition
Envelope Books
€10.99
Available for download
Person
Janina David (born 19 March 1930 in Poland; died 22 October 2023 in London) is a Holocaust survivor and a British writer and translator. She escaped from the Warsaw Ghetto in 1943, hiding in a Polish Catholic household and a convent until she was able to reach Paris in 1946 and then emigrated to Australia, alone, in 1948.
A year after moving to London in 1958, she started work on a three-volume autobiography, the first volume of which-A Square of Sky-went on to be a best-seller in Germany, a set text in German schools, a play and a film. In 1982 she was awarded Germany's Goldener Gong together with the film's director, Franz Peter Wirth, and its lead actor, Dana Vavrova. Since 1978, she has worked as an author and translator of children's and young people's books, and of radio plays, for the BBC and others. Her other titles include A Touch of Earth and Light over the Water.
A year after moving to London in 1958, she started work on a three-volume autobiography, the first volume of which-A Square of Sky-went on to be a best-seller in Germany, a set text in German schools, a play and a film. In 1982 she was awarded Germany's Goldener Gong together with the film's director, Franz Peter Wirth, and its lead actor, Dana Vavrova. Since 1978, she has worked as an author and translator of children's and young people's books, and of radio plays, for the BBC and others. Her other titles include A Touch of Earth and Light over the Water.
Content
Introduction: Pari Perspectives 1; On the Terrace 5; The Way to the Park 20; Trees 27; The Hopeful Traveller 49; Nothing to do with the Moon 75; In the Heat of the Sun 96; Pearl of Wisdom 121; A Visit to Erfurt 137; Ghosts 147; Hothouse 155; The Babysitter 179; Sauce for the Goose 193; The Overcrowded Inn 220.