One Woman, One Rucksack, One Lifetime of Travel

Elsewhere

Exhilarating, brave and full of wonder, Elsewhere is the story of a life lived in search of meaning. It will make you want to rush out to explore the world, to savour every moment and to hold close the people you love.

Beautiful. A rucksack of memory gems that left my heart sore and full of wanderlust.

Ruth Fitzmaurice, author of I Found My Tribe

Elsewhere is the perfect title for a travel book that is about more than just destinations. It’s about location and dislocation. And it is the sense of being away from the mundane world that makes the book special.

Michael Harding, author of Staring at Lakes

Beautifully authentic writing, full of humanity and gumption

Outstanding … this is without a doubt my book of the year. Exquisite, courageous, captivating

Boland brings us on a journey worth taking…strikingly candid…she certainly makes a thoughtful and engaging tour guide

Stunning … this multi-faceted book about travel, words, the heart and fate is, above all, a witness to the power of the human imagination

A stunning memoir, uplifting. Cannot recommend it highly enough

Vividly written, wryly humorous and most of all honest, Elsewhere is a tonic of a travel book

Rosita Boland is a senior features writer at the Irish Times, specialising in human interest stories. She was a 2009 Nieman Fellow at the Nieman Foundation for Journalism at Harvard University. She won 'Journalist of the Year' at the 2018 Newsbrands Ireland journalism awards.

'Utterly engaging.' - Sunday Times 
 
From her first life-changing solo trip to Australia as a young graduate, Rosita Boland was enthralled by travel. In the last thirty years she has visited some of the most remote parts of the globe carrying little more than a battered rucksack and a diary. 
 
Documenting nine journeys from nine different moments in her life, Elsewhere reveals how exploring the world – and those we meet along the way – can dramatically shape the course of a person’s life. From death-defying bus journeys through Pakistan to witnessing the majestic icescapes of Antarctica to putting herself back together in Bali, Rosita experiences moments of profound joy and endures deep personal loss. 
 
In a series of jaw-dropping, illuminating and sometimes heart-breaking essays, Elsewhere is a book that celebrates the life well-travelled in all its messy and wondrous glory.

Rosita Boland

'Fascinating and warm-hearted essay collection...a moving meditation on friendship and the deep-seated need to find and retain human connections.'

'Boland says she endeavours as a journalist to be as empathetic, responsible and ethical as possible. Comrades is an exceptional example of all three. She writes with a lightness of touch and robust integrity. Reading her book has been an immensely enjoyable experience, like getting into a bubble bath that's the perfect temperature. It's one that I will re-read and give as a gift to many friends of my own.'

'Comrades is a wonderfully constructed, moving and honest book.'

'Chatty, thoughtful and entertaining - an absorbing journey along life's tracks and trails.'

A Lifetime of Friendships

'My dictionary's first two definitions of 'comrade' are: 
 
A close companion. 
An intimate associate or friend. 
 
The third one is: 
A fellow soldier. 
 
My friends have been all those things to me.' 
 
In this stunning essay collection, award-winning journalist Rosita Boland explores the many friendships that have shaped her life. Surprising and beautiful, she writes about the imaginary friends of early childhood, books that have provided companionship and joy, kindred spirits met while travelling, the friend she hoped might become something more, and also the friendships that become lost over time. 
 
Life-affirming, affecting and wise, Comrades is a powerful exploration of what it is to live, to connect, and to be human in this world.

Rosita Boland

Praise for Comrades

'Fascinating and warm-hearted essay collection...a moving meditation on friendship and the deep-seated need to find and retain human connections.'

'Boland says she endeavours as a journalist to be as empathetic, responsible and ethical as possible. Comrades is an exceptional example of all three. She writes with a lightness of touch and robust integrity. Readi ...

'Comrades is a wonderfully constructed, moving and honest book.'

'Fascinating and warm-hearted essay collection...a moving meditation on friendship and the deep-seated need to find and retain human connections.'

'Boland says she endeavours as a journalist to be as empathetic, responsible and ethical as possible. Comrades is an exceptional example of all three. She writes with a lightness of touch and robust integrity. Readi ...

'Comrades is a wonderfully constructed, moving and honest book.'

'Fascinating and warm-hearted essay collection...a moving meditation on friendship and the deep-seated need to find and retain human connections.'

'Boland says she endeavours as a journalist to be as empathetic, responsible and ethical as possible. Comrades is an exceptional example of all three. She writes with a lightness of touch and robust integrity. Readi ...

'Comrades is a wonderfully constructed, moving and honest book.'

Books by Rosita Boland

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