Departures and Arrivals [Idioma Inglés] - Tapa dura

More episodes from the life and travels of one of our most celebrated travel writers.

This latest book demonstrates exactly why Newby has become a national treasure – his love of the unknown, the unusual and the totally absurd, combined with his sharp observation and glorious wit, are here for both his loyal audience and new admirers to relish.

Like this book, Newby’s life has been episodic, a string of situations into which he has thrown himself with verve, humour and fortitude. With pieces about England, India, Italy, Yemen, Turkey and Holland, among many other places, Departures and Arrivals will be hailed as another triumph of travel literature.

From Barnes to Beijing, Syria to Shekhavati, Purbeck to Palio, Newby and his most faithful travelling companion and wife, Wanda, never fail to delight and inform.

Highly observant, with a keen sense of the incongruous, Eric Newby is always entertaining in this recollection of highlights from an eventful life. He transports the reader around the world, from his earliest childhood adventures among the shops, streets and eccentrics of darkest Barnes, to an elephant fair in India; from the faded glamour of days and nights on the Orient Express, to the flies, heat, grandeur and chilled beer of the Australian outback (where a can of beer every twenty miles is the norm, rising to one every five miles in extreme conditions, if supplies allow).

Whether he is putting heart and soul into building the perfect grotto in his Devon garden together with his wife Wanda and Mr Perring the stonemason, rambling around a semi-abandonded and despoiled Calabria, attempting to escape from the tourist trail in China or wrestling with the logistics baby-rearing, both existing admirers and new readers will enjoy the exuberance and humour that distinguishes Newby’s best work.

As Evelyn Waugh put it: “Fall to and enjoy this characteristic artefact.”