Journeys Without a Map

Fascinating and evocative, letting us in to the world of a writer - perceptive, intelligent, writing mostly in later life ... one who has a rich, multicultural set of personal experiences to draw on in her writing ... and who - for better or worse, and frankly quite unbelievably - has not been part of today's mega publishing business.  Easy to read, written in bite sized chunks that's a gift for those of us juggling today's busy world of work and kids. It's packed full of insights into the processes of writing - all the research that has gone into creating these stories - the love for the arts and languages, music and poetry, that adds a richness to her work - her very own map-less organic writing style. Also of publishing and promoting her books - the trials of independent publishing, the world of literary festivals across the U.K, in India and Pakistan. It's written with her characteristic openness and honesty - her amazement at being nominated for a prize - how she reacts to getting negative feedback on plots and characters - being lost and nervous in a strange, chaotic city, travelling solo to a literary festival in India at seventy rather than twenty-seven. It explores why she writes, and how her values are at the core - her growing recognition that she can ‘tell stories in a way that helps those who read them empathise with situations other than their own.'

I loved this book, an absorbing and illuminating account of a writer's life. It weaves the author's inner journey as writer with that of her real journeys through the world - and through history - very skilfully. The writer shares her open-minded thirst for adventure and her deep interest in the people and events around her. The account of what has been involved in publishing and publicising her novels is riveting and will be of interest to all writers - and aspiring writers! A compelling read!!

As with all Marion Molteno's book, I find myself inside the very "real" experience of a thoughtful humanitarian whose values and sensibilities are badly needed in the world today. This book recounts her personal story as a writer. Not to be missed. She's one of the finest writers working today, and this book is a treasure in that it offers insight into the making of her fiction.

This is a gem of a book, and like no other. Molteno describes how, as a novelist, she set out on multiple journeys to help her books to find readers, taking in literary festivals and opportunities to speak in places familiar, and places unknown to most of us. The journeys are deeply flavoured and spiced, intensely coloured, and full of various scents and perfumes and personalities in countries in Africa and the East. In embroidering her canvas, interweaving the beauty of Urdu and Persian poetry, Molteno also takes the reader with her, through the rigours of writing, the disappointments of manuscripts rejected by publishers, the extremes to overcome that, and then the jubilation that goes with becoming a literary prize winner. It is a book full of multifarious insights. Take the journeys with her, without a map!

What a fascinating story about the journey of a writer of fiction. Ironically it is the interplay between the writer's real life and her imagined characters and situations which is unpacked in this completely intriguing book. I read the first 115 pages without pause and then was so worried that there weren't going to be enough pages still to read because I didn't want the book to end so I parcelled out my dips into the rest of the book to make it last. A completely "edible" book! Well done Marion Molteno!