All Over the Map

Publisher's Summary. On a trip to Oaxaca, Mexico, to celebrate her fortieth birthday, Laura Fraser confronts the unique trajectory of her life. Divorced and childless in her thirties, she found solace in the wanderlust that had always directed her heart—and found love and comfort in the arms of a dashing Frenchman. Their Italian affair brought her back to herself—but now she wonders if her passion for travel (and for short-lived romantic rendezvous) has deprived her of what she secretly wants most from life: a husband, a family, a home.

When her Parisian lover meets her in Oaxaca and gives her news that he’s found someone new, Laura is stunned and hurt. Now, it seems, she has nothing but her own independence for company—and, at forty, a lot more wrinkles on her face and fewer years of fertility. How is Laura going to reconcile what seem to be two opposite desires: for adventure, travel, great food, and new experiences, but also a place to call home—and a loving pair of arms to greet her there?

And so, she globe hops. What else is a travel writer to do? From Argentina to Peru, Naples to Paris, she basks in the glow of new cultures and local delicacies, always on the lookout for the “one” who might become a lifelong companion. But when a terrible incident occurs while she’s on assignment in the South Pacific, Laura suddenly finds herself more aware of her vulnerability and becomes afraid of traveling. It seems as if she might lose the very thing that has given her so much pleasure in her life, not to mention the career she has built for herself as a world traveler and chronicler of far-flung places.

Finding herself again will be both more difficult and more natural than she imagined. Ultimately, Laura realizes the most important journey she must take is an internal one. And the tale of how she reaches that place will captivate every woman who has ever yearned for a different life.

Review. Travel has always satisfied author Laura Fraser in a way that no man ever has. During her nearly four decades Fraser has accrued thousands of frequent flyer miles crammed with global adventures. However, after a lover’s rejection and a disturbing event, Fraser, single and childless, reconsiders settling down.

On the eve of her fortieth birthday Fraser is riding high in Oaxaca, Mexico waiting for her Parisian boyfriend, the Professor, to join her to celebrate. His arrival is a mixed blessing as he informs her that he is in love with another woman. True to form Fraser responds by setting out on more globe trotting. While traveling an event happens that causes Fraser to fear solo travel. During the span of years between forty and forty six, Fraser details her quest in All Over the Map to find a boyfriend to settle down with and create a home.

Part travel memoir and part personal memoir All Over the Map explores how the farthest journey is sometimes finding one’s place in the world.



Publisher: Harmony (June 1, 2010), 288 pages.
Review copy provided courtesy of the publisher.