Voyager Travel Writings

“Banks's narrative seductively juxtaposes rambles through lush volcanic mountains, white sand beaches and coral reefs with a barrage of memories of the hash he's made of his private life.” —The New York Times Book Review

Russell Banks has indulged his wanderlust for more than half a century. This longing for escape has taken him from the “bright green islands and turquoise seas” of the Caribbean islands to peaks in the Himalayas, the Andes, and beyond.

In each of these remarkable essays, Banks considers his life and the world. In Everglades National Park this “perfect place to time-travel,” he traces his own timeline. Recalling his trips to the Caribbean in the title essay, “Voyager,” Banks dissects his relationships with the four women who would become his wives. In the Himalayas, he embarks on a different quest of self-discovery. “One climbs a mountain not to conquer it, but to be lifted like this away from the earth up into the sky,” he explains.

Pensive, frank, beautiful, and engaging, Voyager brings together the social, the personal, and the historical, opening a path into the heart and soul of this revered writer.

What happens when a lifetime of wandering leads back to the self?

• Wanderlust and Wanderings: From the turquoise seas of the Caribbean to the high peaks of the Himalayas and the Andes, a celebrated novelist's lifelong quest for escape.
• Marriage and Divorce: A frank and unflinching look at the author's relationships with the four women who would become his wives, and the connections between love, loss, and travel.
• Adventure Travel as Self-Discovery: Whether in the Florida Everglades or on a remote mountain, Banks finds that the quest is always inward, asking what it means to be lifted away from the earth and up into the sky.
• A Writer's Reckoning: A deeply honest collection of essays where the acclaimed author dissects his own life with the same sharp, empathetic eye he turns on his fictional characters.