Product Description

Two girls went travelling in search of adventure, in search of 'real life'. Only one came back ... A chilling, gripping novel about the backpacking holiday of a lifetime with utterly devastating and unexpected consequences, this is a dazzling andassured first novel destined to become an instant classic.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #311429 in Books
• Published on: 2003-09-04
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 320 pages

About the Author
Katy Gardner teaches social anthropology at the University of Sussex. She lives in Brighton with her husband and three children. This is her first novel.

Customer Reviews

An entertaining, plot-driven "exotic" read
As much as I know I overuse this phrase to describe books I like, I'm going to use it again anyhow; this is a page-turning read that you can't put down. It's a gripping story about two young English twenty-something backpackers who journey to India on an "adventure of a lifetime" yet only one comes back alive. The two female travellers have been friends since childhood; Gemma lacks confidence and is somewhat frumpy and bookish while Esther, the main narrator of the story, is headstrong, pretty and successful. Unfortunately, during their travels the cracks in their friendship begin to appear and both wrestle with the unexpected emotions this causes. This is by no means an "intellectual" read but it has an intriguing undercurrent of menace which propels the plot along at a cracking pace. As one strange thing after another occurs to the girls on their trip, it's hard not to wonder what will happen next. Of course, we are told right at the beginning that Gemma dies and despite the fact that you know this Gardner holds your attention by not revealing the means of death until the very last moment. The book also has an interesting twist at the end (although I guessed it fairly early on) while the descriptions of India and the intricacies of the backpacking lifestyle add an exotic flavour. And if you can bear the often whiny, self-obsessed voice of the narrator, this is a book to enjoy in just one or two sittings.

Loved it
I only bought this book because it kept coming up as one of my recommendations. I wasn't a fan of The Beach and haven't backpacked around India so didn't know what to expect.

Apart from the italics which were hard to read, it was a well written book. Esther is annoying but that makes her relationship with Gemma all the more understandable.

The first 200 pages are about what happened in India with Esther trying to find out what happened in the last 100. I was so into the book, I was totally unprepared for the twist at the end. I could actually imagine this being a 2 part tv drama.

Although I like travel chick-lit, this is much more of an Emily Barr style novel than a Belinda Jones one.

A jolly good read!
In this intriguing and gripping novel, Katy Gardner explores the themes of friendship and jealousy from childhood to young adulthood, and from both viewpoints.

The story begins retrospectively, and unfolds with excellent, graphic descriptions of India from the viewpoint of Esther, who has taken her childhood friend Gemma along on a backpacking adventure. We know from the outset that Gemma never returned from the trip - what we don't know is why.

Esther has a tendency to be bossy and strong-willed, always expecting the quieter Gemma to follow her lead, as appears to have been the case throughout the many years of their friendship. We travel along with Esther as she looks back on their trip, wondering what went wrong, and trying to make sense of it all with her. The strange characters, and mysterious and sometimes sinister situations, are introduced like the pieces of a puzzle, keeping the reader guessing, and wondering if all is not quite as it seems, all the way through until the author skillfully fits all those puzzle pieces neatly into place.

I loved this book, I loved the detailed descriptions of India so well written that I could see, hear and almost even smell the places Gardner writes about. I loved the central characters, self-assured, attractive, confident Esther, the rather more mousy, plump Gemma and the rather odd, somewhat enigmatic Coral. It's the kind of story you just have to keep on turning the pages of until you've reached the end, a conclusion that brings home the fact that maybe two people don't always share the same view of their friendship.