Novel set in 1971 – an overland trip from Turkey to Afghanistan

3rd June 2025

The Travellers’ Tales by Alastair Cairns Hull, novel set in 1971 – an overland trip from Turkey to Afghanistan.

Last year one of my top rated books was Overland by Yasmin Cordery Khan, which takes the reader on a fictional trip from England, through Europe, Afghanistan, and to the final planned destination of Kathmandu. I therefore was interested to read The Travellers’ Tales by Alastair Cairns Hull, which perhaps promised a similar adventure.

The Travellers’ Tales is a novel “based on the extensive travels by the author” back in the early 1970s and it is full of description and hook-ins to the era. The opening chapters are set in Istanbul where, of course, travellers used to pop into the Pudding Shop, which was the quintessential stop off – the famed ‘hippie hangout‘ – for anyone trailing South and East from England.

Harry has travelled in a camper van to this city on the cusp of Europe and Asia, in the company of his chum Rolly. Once Harry’s girlfriend, Lucy, turns up, Rolly decides to head back home, as life on the road, he discovers, is not for him. Warning tales of woe and danger that have beset travellers, coupled with a dreadful bout of sickness, have all really put him off.

This autofiction relies heavily on description, and plumps up the feel for the era by giving several of the characters a backstory and voice, which sometimes feels a bit irrelevant to the main thrust of the narrative. There are also diary entries from some of the protagonists, a device to add some level of context and depth. There are anecdotes and stories passed on by word-of-mouth between the travellers, which inform Harry’s journey going forward.

Generally, when a novel is over-reliant on description, with some dialogue (and inner musings), the absence of character development becomes particularly evident – and that is the case here.

The sense of place in this story is captured by simple means – the mention of a street name or a visit to the Pudding Shop, for example – but this isn’t sufficient to bring the real colour of the setting to life: the sights, sounds and smells need to be evocatively captured in order to transport the reader and take them on a journey. The setting could be so vibrant here but feels relatively lacklustre.

The journey here essentially is the road trip itself (as Lucy says: “Jut a trail to a destination…” (p143) – and, yes, it should be “just”). There are plenty of adventures on the road as the couple picks up hitchhikers, learning of their run-ins and stories. Harry and Lucy squabble, they listen to contemporary music, they help out in an earthquake and generally get stuck into their trip. I was left wondering where “Cappridocia” was and, even though I looked it up, I didn’t get beyond Cappadocia (my ignorance, perhaps); thence it is on to Iran and finally Afghanistan.

I did check that I had the final version of this book and indeed I did. It is such a flat, meandering piece of prose, peppered with innumerable errors that really discredits this whole publishing undertaking. Harry and Lucy pick up Jürgen (who throughout is referred to as Jurgen-without-an-Umlaut – this German chap really is nothing without his Umlaut, he could even be Juergen at a push…). Jürgen quips that he is ‘the wrong cow” in his family (meaning black sheep; however, black sheep is the same in German – das schwarze Schaf –  nothing to do with cows, therefore this just feels rather weird and random and an effort to garner a titter). Already on page 2 there is mention of a three-story building. Harry and Lucy meet a new person: “..he was Chalky..” and 16 lines later “..he told us his name was Chalky..“. There are errors aplenty that could so easily have been picked up by a competent proofreader… I could go on.

This kind of finished book is a real disservice to the self-publishing industry. It bothers me that a publishing house (specialising in self-published books) would take on an author, who can then choose their level of service and publisher input, and who can then ultimately opt to simply get their book published, without collaboratively addressing the core, problematical issues; this inevitably leads to a dismal and substandard product. (Surely there must be some kind of contract requirement to hone a text that is suitable for publication?). To cap it all, the novel is sent out to bloggers and reviewers in the hope of a positive review. It feels like a business model that isn’t really working and, in a case such as this, ultimately reflects poorly on both the author and the publisher. It actually feels a bit insulting as a reviewer that anyone would see fit to send out something in this dire state and expect someone to read it.

Every author really must do copy edits and get a proof reader/editor on board, and if the author chooses not to do this (or the publisher isn’t sufficiently persuasive), it is a wasted opportunity and a truly desultory and dispiriting experience for the reader.

Tina for the TripFiction Team

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