Woman Alone: A Six-Month Journey Through the Australian Outback
About this ebook
At twenty-seven, Laine Cunningham seemed to have it all: tons of friends, a college degree, plenty of all-night parties, and a secure job. Yet every morning she dragged herself through a life that was corporatized and overly industrialized, a life that falsely glamorized everything she was supposed to want.
Guided only by a map pulled from an old copy of National Geographic, she camped in the Australian Outback for six months…and she did it alone.
Traveling in a time before Expedia or Travelocity, and without any guidebook or travel guide from Lonely Planet, the trip was never intended to be a vacation. Instead, it was a search for something deeper, something that lay inside. Cheap plane tickets or the cost of the airfare were far less important than the investment Laine made in herself.
The self-guided adventure tour around the country covered nearly 17,000 miles. Hostels were preferred to hotels, and then only when camping under the stars wasn’t an option. Otherwise, her best accommodation was the red sand and her only travel guide was her instinct about where on the map to explore next.
Told with warm humor and sparked with suspense, the search revealed a woman's most important discovery: herself.
For fans of Under the Tuscan Sun by Frances Mayes, Down the Nile by Rosemary Mahoney, Tales of a Female Nomad by Rita Golden Gelman, A Year by the Sea by Joan Anderson, Three Weeks with My Brother by Nicholas Sparks, Now is the Time to Open Your Heart by Alice Walker, This is the Story of a Happy Marriage by Ann Patchett, No Place Like Home by Brooke Berman, A Thousand Days in Venice by Marlena de Blasi, Gorge by Kara Richardson Whitely, My Paris Dream by Kate Betts, What I Was Doing While You Were Breeding by Kristin Newman, and Graduates in Wonderland.Review from Writer's Digest Ebook Award Judge, Jan 2018
Many people fantasize about getting away from it all a la EAT PRAY LOVE. At the relatively tender age of 27, author Laine Cunningham walked the walk, scrapping her restrictive but high-paying corporate job and seemingly secure lifestyle, camping for six months in the Australian outback.
WOMAN ALONE is the product of that adventure and is a fine addition to the woman on her own category of memoirs. Each short chapter is an unpretentious, entertaining and well-preserved slice of life, whether they be misadventures with Australian cuisine, animal mishaps or the many questionable characters she meets along the way.
Lively, pithy characterizations and descriptions put the reader right on the scene. The Outback is also full of hidden dangers, as she readily acknowledges but has the good sense to mostly avoid. “It would take me ten years to circle back and close out the last of the Outback’s lessons,” she writes at the end. As a travelogue and as an impetus “to launch you onto your own path,” to use the author’s words, it succeeds.
Reviews for other works by Laine Cunningham
"Laine Cunningham combines tenacity and courage along with profound insight. Her bravery is contagious. I keep Laine’s books on a special shelf in my library, referring to them when I need inspiration.” Pamela King Cable, Author, The Sanctum and Televenge
“The fact that Laine Cunningham spent six long months on her own in the Australian outback before writing this book leant a rich authenticity to her voice as she shared from her abundantly full, and talented, heart.” Leah Griffith, Author, Cosette’s Tribe
“Demonstrates a mastery of psychological introspection and an uncanny feel for the spirit of place.” James Jones Literary Society
“Mesmerizing and meaningful an inspiring.” Grady Harp, Vine Voice
“An exceptional writer as well as a master storyteller.” Edmund R. Schubert, Author and Editor for Tor
"An affirmation of life.” Shirley, Goodreads Reviewer
“I thought this book would be a quick read, but I found myself lingering, absorbing the message ... I found this book to be both entertaining and informative, one I will probably reread quite a few times.” Dena Harris, Author
About the author
After Laine Cunningham’s debut novel manuscript won a national literary award, Jack Scovil became her agent. Mr. Scovil worked with Norman Mailer, Carl Sagan, Morris West and Arthur C. Clark. Their ten-year relationship ended when he passed.
Her novels include The Family Made of Dust: A Novel of Loss and Rebirth in the Australian Outback, which won two national awards.
Beloved, a noir thriller, follows an FBI agent who must access the dark power of the goddess Kali to bring down two serial killers. Beloved has been compared to Stieg Larsson's The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo.
In Reparation, a Lakota Sioux man must save a sister from a sinister peyote cult.
As a publishing consultant with twenty years of experience, she has written Writing While Female or Black or Gay: Diverse Voices in Publishing.
Also look for Seven Sisters: Spiritual Messages from Aboriginal Australia.
More information can be found on LaineCunningham.com and WritersResource.us.
