'<i>Overland</i> is a brilliant domestic tragedy <b>played out along the dangerous thrills of the grand trunk road,</b> and a <b>biting critique of the orientalist, gender and class attitudes that shape Britain today</b>. I loved it.'
- Preti Taneja,
The <b>road-trip novel to end all road-trip novels</b>... so <b>wise about the beautiful dream that is youth </b>and so <b>honest</b> about what happens when the dream ends.
- Junot Díaz,
An intelligent holiday read... will fill you with gratitude for your creature comforts as well as a regret that the journey it documents so vividly is now impossible.
- Daisy Goodwin,
Witty, thought-provoking and <b>compulsively readable</b>. Joyce is one of the best unreliable narrators I’ve encountered... will <b>stay with me for a long time</b>.
- Elodie Harper,
A <b>vivid, haunting</b> portrayal of 1970s counterculture, and what can happen when the dark underbelly of wanderlust meets youthful exuberance.
- Clare Whitfield,
<b>A modern odyssey</b>, alive with adventure and the relentless quest for belonging.
- Defne Suman,
<b>Taut and urgent</b>... an absorbing story, told without sentimentality.
- Andrew Whitehead,
As the characters set off on their adventure, they unsettle the dregs of Empire, as the embers of old family secrets are ignited... <b>atmospheric and intriguing.</b>
- Elizabeth Chakrabarty,
A mesmerizing road-trip story that sweeps through a lost 1960s world of open borders to India... and the elusive hope of a new truth at the end of the path.
- Elleke Boehmer,
'Brilliant... a biting critique of the orientalist, gender and class attitudes that shape Britain today. I loved it.' Preti Taneja
It was supposed to be the trip of a lifetime: the open road, London to Kathmandu, just three young people looking for adventure. No one could have predicted the way it ended, and for fifty years the truth has been buried. But now, Joyce is ready to tell her story.
London, 1970. Fresh out of a dead-end job, Joyce answers an ad in the local paper: Kathmandu by van, leave August. Share petrol and costs. Joyce is desperate to escape life in suburbia, and aristocrat Freddie looks like he can show her a wild time.
Together with Anton, Freddie’s best friend from boarding school, they embark on the overland trail from London to Kathmandu in a beaten-up old Land Rover. But as they cross the borders into Asia, Freddie can’t outrun his family’s history, leading to devastating consequences for everyone.
Overland is a novel about youth, privilege, class and the sharp echoes of British imperialism from one of the most exciting new voices in literary fiction.