Robyn Davidson

An unforgettable memoir from the author of the sensational international bestseller Tracks: the story of a mother and daughter, of love, loss and the pursuit of freedom

It'd been a long time since I claimed some solitude in this blessed landscape; since I've done without lifes little props. Here I have no friend, no dog, no radio, no clock, no phone, no roof, no body pollutants. The clackety-clack of the typewriter travels out into the valley and gets lost in expanses of forest and paperbark swamp. I'm the only soul around. For ten years Robyn Davidson has been travelling light. Across the desert, across America on a Harley-Davidson, or walking through the bush of ghosts by night. In these articles that make up Travelling Light, the bestselling author of Tracks takes us into wilds of many countries - as well as countries of the mind. 'A born writer.' - Daily Telegraph 'A perceptive and sensitive observer.' - Sydney Morning Herald

A revised, reissued fortieth anniversary edition of this prize-winning, bestselling account of one woman's solo journey across 1,700 miles of Australian Outback'I experienced that sinking feeling you get when you know you have conned yourself into doing something difficult and there's no going back.' So begins Robyn Davidson's perilous journey across 1,700 miles of hostile Australian desert to the sea with only four camels and a dog for company.Enduring sweltering heat, fending off poisonous snakes and lecherous men, chasing her camels when they get skittish and nursing them when they are injured, Davidson emerges as an extraordinarily courageous heroine driven by a love of Australia's landscape, an empathy for its indigenous people, and a willingness to cast away the trappings of her former identity. Tracks is the compelling, candid story of her odyssey of discovery and transformation.WITH A NEW POSTSCRIPT BY THE AUTHOR AND A STUNNING COLOUR PICTURE SECTION

'In every religion I can think of, there exists some variation on the theme of abandoning the settled life and walking one's way to godliness. The Hindu Sadhu, leaving behind family and wealth to live as a beggar; the pilgrims of Compostela walking away their sins; the circumambulators of the Buddhist kora; the Hajj. By taking to the road we free ourselves of baggage, both physical and psychological. We walk back to our original condition, to our best selves.' Robyn Davidson has spent a good part of her life with nomads. In this fascinating and moving essay she evokes a vanishing way of life, and notes a paradox- that even as classical nomads are disappearing, hypermobility has become the hallmark of contemporary life. In a time of environmental peril, she argues, the nomadic way with nature still offers valuable lessons. No Fixed Address is part lament, part evocation and part exhilarating speculative journey.

Unable to escape the ancestral ghosts that haunt her, Lucy returns home to the Australian rainforest and the loving, eccentric aunt that raised her in order to confront the hauntings of her past. Raised an orphan in the rainforest of North Queensland, Lucy McTavish grew up as a wild child. Independent, intelligent, and bored with her one-teacher school, Lucy would do anything to satisfy her desire for adventure. When she escapes the rainforest and the ghosts that haunt her within it, Lucy continues on with her rebellious life of experimenting as she engages in communal counterculture living, casual sex, time as a gangster's mistress, and sudden success as a tightrope artist in the circus leading her to fame, parties, and world travel. But even as her world grows beyond her imaginations, Lucy is unable to escape the ancestral ghost of her past. Returning to the enchanted forest where she was raised, Lucy abandons the elaborate parties and her fame to spend her days in long therapy sessions with the ghosts of ancestors, finding herself on a journey for peace as she reconnects with the people of her past.

After many thousands of years, the nomads are disappearing, swept away by modernity. Robyn Davidson has spent a good part of her life with nomadic cultures - in Australia, north-west India, Tibet and the Indian Himalayas - and she herself calls three countries home. In this Quarterly Essay, she draws on her unique experience to delineate a vanishing way of life.In a time of environmental peril, Davidson argues that the nomadic way with nature offers valuable lessons. Cosmologies such as the Aboriginal Dreaming encode irreplaceable knowledge of the natural world, and nomadic cultures emphasise qualities of tolerance, adaptability and human interconnectedness. She also explores a notable paradox: that even as classical nomadism is disappearing, hypermobility has become the hallmark of modern life. For the privileged, there is an almost unrestricted freedom of movement and an ever-growing culture of transience and virtuality.No Fixed Address is a fascinating and moving essay, part lament, part evocation and part exhilarating speculative journey.

A cult classic with an ever-growing audience, Tracks is the brilliantly written and frequently hilarious account of a young woman's odyssey through the deserts of Australia, with no one but her dog and four camels as companions. Davidson emerges as a heroine who combines extraordinary courage with exquisite sensitivity. 16 pages of photos.