Great memoirs and autobiographies set around the world

24th November 2020

Here at TripFiction our database of thousands of books can be accessed by searching for a location, a title or an author…or by literary genre.

One of our slightly less searched genres is memoirs and autobiographies. And yet how often is real life more riveting than fiction? Here are ten of our favourite books in this category, each with a very strong sense of place occupied by the author.

Between the Stops by Sandi Toksvig – SOUTH LONDON

‘Between the Stops is a sort of a memoir, my sort. It’s about a bus trip really, because it’s my view from the Number 12 bus (mostly top deck, the seat at the front on the right), a double-decker that plies its way from Dulwich, in South East London, where I was living, to where I sometimes work – at the BBC, in the heart of the capital. It’s not a sensible way to write a memoir at all, probably, but it’s the way things pop into your head as you travel, so it’s my way’.

From London facts including where to find the blue plaque for Una Marson, ‘The first black woman programme maker at the BBC’, to discovering the best Spanish coffee under Southwark’s railway arches; from a brief history of lady gangsters at Elephant and Castle to memories of climbing Mount Sinai and, at the request of a fellow traveller, reading aloud the Ten Commandments; from the story behind Pissarro’s painting of Dulwich Station to performing in Footlights with Emma Thompson; this Sandi Toksvig-style memoir is, as one would expect and hope, packed full of surprises.

A funny and moving trip through memories, musings and the many delights on the Number 12 route, Between the Stops is also an inspiration to us all to get off our phones, look up and to talk to each other because as Sandi says: ‘some of the greatest trips lie on our own doorstep’.

Coins in the Fountain by Judith Works – ROME

Through wit, wry humour, and enticing descriptions of food and travel adventures, Judith takes you on a journey into the heart of what it is truly like to live in the Eternal City.

A combination of Innocents Abroad meeting La Dolce Vita, the author tells stories of her husband’s struggles to cook Italian style, her efforts to learn the arcane rules of working for the United Nations, dogs in the doctor’s office, a fall in the subway, unexploded bombs on a golf course, a countess and her butt-reducing machine, and a sinking sailboat. One thing was sure: the unexpected was always just around the corner.

A Little Bit One O’clock by William Ingram – BALI

In this honest, heart-warming book, William Ingram shares a series of intimate moments that together sketch an illuminating portrait of a Balinese family. With wit and sensitivity, he relates captivating stories including a special ceremony to stop a child’s mischievousness, and a poignant love-match which almost splits the family.

His narrative explores the web of relationships that ties the members of the family to one another, their community and their ancestors. At the same time he candidly discloses a personal cross-cultural journey.

Some of our notions of Bali as a paradise are affirmed by Ingram’s tale. Others are dispelled only to reveal a resilient people who forgive life its tragedies and celebrate its gifts.

The Foremost Good Fortune by Susan Conley – BEIJING

The Foremost Good Fortune is a beautiful story of womanhood, motherhood, travel and loss, written by an author of rare and radiant grace.

In 2007, American writer Susan Conley moves to Beijing with her husband and two young sons. Six months later, she is diagnosed with breast cancer. Set against the fascinating backdrop of modern China and full of insight into the trickiest questions of motherhood and illness, this wry and poignant memoir is a celebration of family and a candid exploration of mortality and belonging.

Treblinka by Chil Rajchman – TREBLINKA, POLAND

Chil Rajchman, a Polish Jew, was arrested with his younger sister in 1942 and sent to Treblinka, a death camp where more than 750,000 were murdered before it was abandoned by German soldiers. His sister was sent to the gas chambers, but Rajchman escaped execution, working for ten months under incessant threats and beatings as a barber, a clothes-sorter, a corpse-carrier, a puller of teeth from those same bodies.

In August 1943, there was an uprising at the camp, and Rajchman was among the handful of men who managed to escape. In 1945, he set down this account, a plain, unembellished and exact record of the raw horror he endured every day. This unique testimony, which has remained in the sole possession of his family ever since, has never before been published in English. For its description of unspeakably cruelty, Treblinka is a memoir that will not be superseded.

Becoming by Michelle Obama – USA

An intimate, powerful, and inspiring memoir by the former First Lady of the United States

In a life filled with meaning and accomplishment, Michelle Obama has emerged as one of the most iconic and compelling women of our era. As First Lady of the United States of America – the first African-American to serve in that role – she helped create the most welcoming and inclusive White House in history, while also establishing herself as a powerful advocate for women and girls in the U.S. and around the world, dramatically changing the ways that families pursue healthier and more active lives, and standing with her husband as he led America through some of its most harrowing moments. Along the way, she showed us a few dance moves, crushed Carpool Karaoke, and raised two down-to-earth daughters under an unforgiving media glare.

In her memoir, a work of deep reflection and mesmerizing storytelling, Michelle Obama invites readers into her world, chronicling the experiences that have shaped her – from her childhood on the South Side of Chicago to her years as an executive balancing the demands of motherhood and work, to her time spent at the world’s most famous address. With unerring honesty and lively wit, she describes her triumphs and her disappointments, both public and private, telling her full story as she has lived it – in her own words and on her own terms. Warm, wise, and revelatory, Becoming is the deeply personal reckoning of a woman of soul and substance who has steadily defied expectations – and whose story inspires us to do the same.

In the Shadow of the Banyan by Vaddey Ratner – CAMBODIA

For seven-year-old Raami, the shattering end of childhood begins with the footsteps of her father returning home in the early dawn hours bringing details of the civil war that has overwhelmed the streets of Phnom Penh, Cambodia’s capital. Soon the family’s world of carefully guarded royal privilege is swept up in the chaos of revolution and forced exodus.

Over the next four years, as she endures the deaths of family members, starvation, and brutal forced labour, Raami clings to the only remaining vestige of childhood – the mythical legends and poems told to her by her father.

In a climate of systematic violence where memory is sickness and justification for execution, Raami fights for her improbable survival. Displaying the author’s extraordinary gift for language, In the Shadow of the Banyan is testament to the transcendent power of narrative and a brilliantly wrought tale of human resilience.

A Year in Provence by Peter Mayle – PROVENCE, FRANCE

Peter Mayle and his wife did what most of us only imagine doing when they made their long-cherished dream of a life abroad a reality: throwing caution to the wind, they bought a glorious two hundred year-old farmhouse in the Lubéron Valley and began a new life.

In a year that begins with a marathon lunch and continues with a host of gastronomic delights, they also survive the unexpected and often hilarious curiosities of rural life. From mastering the local accent and enduring invasion by bumbling builders, to discovering the finer points of boules and goat-racing, all the earthy pleasures of Provençal life are conjured up in this enchanting portrait.

The Glass Castle by Jeanette Walls – NEW YORK CITY & WEST VIRGINIA

This is a startling memoir of a successful journalist’s journey from the deserted and dusty mining towns of the American Southwest, to an antique-filled apartment on Park Avenue. Jeanette Walls narrates her nomadic and adventurous childhood with her dreaming, ‘brilliant’ but alcoholic parents.

At the age of seventeen she escapes on a Greyhound bus to New York with her older sister: her younger siblings follow later. After pursuing the education and civilisation her parents sought to escape, Jeanette eventually succeeds in her quest for the ‘mundane, middle class existence’ she had always craved. In her apartment, overlooked by ‘a portrait of someone else’s ancestor’ she recounts poignant remembered images of star watching with her father, juxtaposed with recollections of irregular meals, accidents and police-car chases and reveals her complex feelings of shame, guilt, pity and pride toward her parents.

The Sun Does Shine by Anthony Ray Hinton – ALABAMA

At age 29, Anthony Ray Hinton was wrongfully charged with robbery and murder, and sentenced to death by electrocution for crimes he didn’t commit. The only thing he had in common with the perpetrator was the colour of his skin.

Anthony spent the next 28 years of his life on death row, watching fellow inmates march to their deaths, knowing he would follow soon.

Hinton’s incredible story reveals the injustices and inherent racism of the American legal system, but it is also testament to the hope and humanity in us all.

We hope that’s given you some ideas for great memoirs and autobiographies set around the world. Just head on over to the TripFiction database to find your own favourite literary genre, also searchable by location, title and author.

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