The Allure of Elsewhere: A Memoir of Going Solo

by Karen Babine

One woman’s cross-country journey to explore the hold family history has on our lives, and the power of new stories to shape what lies ahead.


In her mid-thirties and happily single, Karen Babine hitches up her tiny Scamp camper and sets out with her two unenthusiastic cats, Galway and Maeve, on a journey from her home in Minnesota to Nova Scotia to explore the place where her French-Acadian ancestors settled in North America some four centuries ago.

As the miles roll by, she wonders: “Why do we carry this need to belong to an established history? What happens when that can’t—or shouldn’t—happen?” The road reveals more questions than answers about her history, identity, and belonging, about the responsibilities of stories and silence, about her life choices as a solo woman, and what it means to be driven by both a strong sense of kinship to a very close-knit family on one hand and a deep desire for independence on the other.

Capturing the joy, freedom, and powerful pull of the open road, The Allure of Elsewhere is about the stories we’re told, the stories we tell, and the way those stories make us who we are, often in surprising ways. Intimate, curious, and candid, written with wry wit and warmth, this is a courageous and inspiring memoir.

Genres: Travel, Memoir, Nonfiction

240 pages, Paperback

Published May 20, 2025

About the author

Karen Babine is the award-winning author of All the Wild Hungers: A Season of Cooking and Cancer (Milkweed Editions, 2019) and Water and What We Know: Following the Roots of a Northern Life (University of Minnesota, 2015), both winners of the Minnesota Book Award for memoir/creative nonfiction.

All the Wild Hungers chronicles her mother's rare cancer, Babine's attempt to cook for her mother, and the food metaphors of cancer, all the while collecting vintage cast iron from thrift stores. It is described by James Beard Award-winning chef and writer Amy Thielen as "A lush gem of a book, both heartbreaking and heart-making. Karen Babine’s language is the plush dough she kneads, her observations as elastic as gluten bubbles. By the book’s conclusion you will become a child again, standing on a chair to peer into the pot, not wanting the process of making―of cooking, of understanding, of as she says, ‘consuming the knowing’―to ever end.”

Her next book, The Allure of Elsewhere: A Memoir of Going Solo about camping to Nova Scotia to discover her family’s Acadian roots, is forthcoming from Milkweed Editions in May 2025. She lives in Chattanooga and teaches creative writing at the University of Tennessee-Chattanooga.

Reviews

[Brady Tongen · Rating 3 out of 5]

The sections about solo travel, I really loved and resonated with. However, I skimmed the rest.

[Joy]

This was interesting and thoughtful. I’m not rating it, because it was probably a 3 star read for me and I feel like that could unfairly skew the GR ratings.
What I struggled with in this book is that it felt more interesting to people close to the author or to her family. I suspect it’s most likely to resonate with someone who knows the family or who has ancestry from the exact same locations as the author. For outsiders, it was a bit too personal, and a bit too focused on this exact family to really resonate well.
However, I love that she wrote this and I think this will be an amazing gift/legacy for her nieces and nephews. I also really liked how she wrestles with the notion of how we tell stories and which stories we choose to tell, etc. She presents the concept of storytelling really artfully in little snippets scattered throughout the book. I also always really appreciate a memoir by a single woman with no kids, like this one.

[Akkire55 · Rating 4 out of 5]

Reading over the comments and reviews, I’m surprised by the “not relatable” or “too specific, probably only of interest to her family” types I saw therein.

I am not from the Midwest or Nova Scotia, but I could see this related to me and my family. Or how digging into my own family’s history and visiting where we are from could fit into a story of legacy, story, and family like hers.

If people thought this was a book only about solo camping, they must have skimmed the back summary as it clearly states 4 sentences in that she uses the trip to explore her family and the meaning of stories they tell or don’t tell.

My biggest concern is more a question - are readers looking only for stories that directly tie to their own stories or beliefs? Are readers unable and unwilling and uninterested to put themselves in the shoes of others?

She tied her family’s woes to larger, historical events in this country. She explained how a group of people were displaced from their homes and forced all over our country, and that’s not of interest or related to our present times?

[Kathleen · Rating 3 out of 5]

meh

[Mary Fortune · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a book about exploration, ostensibly of the physical world by a woman with the audacity to go solo into challenging landscapes (there are some serious white-knuckle moments on remote roads here), but also of family history and the considerable power of the stories we tell, the stories we uncover, and the ethical responsibilities of a chronically inquisitive family historian to both her living and her dead. There are laughs aplenty -- the author is a trailer-wrangling badass who waxes hilarious on the benevolent sexism of the road, among other things -- and revelations that include a horrifying double murder that scarred the family but remained, like so many dark family stories, undiscussed and undiscovered until the author asked her father the apparently simple question: Why had her great-grandmother and great-uncle died on the same day? And this is what happens to storytellers; they ask a question, they go rooting around in closets and attics, and they come away with even more questions, a new view of a past that had once seemed settled, and a nearly irresistible drive to go in search of answers. In this case, the drive is literal as well as metaphorical, and the trip is absolutely worth taking.

[Amy · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting premise that kind of fizzled for me. I loved the bits about solo camping with cats, Scamping, and Lake Superior. I also enjoyed her ruminations on storytelling, stories about her immediate family (camping, interactions with Dad), and her painful family history (murder + suicide). Other than that, most of this book was just too specific to be a relatable memoir. It will probably resonate with her family and other folks who have relatives from Acadia (or are interested in genealogy in general), but it held no interest for me. By the end, I was skimming a lot and found that outweighed the fun parts.

[Trina · Rating 3 out of 5]

I wanted something reflective for today and this sort of fit the bill. I can see why it has gotten some low ratings (the cover made me think it was going to be Wild but with camping instead of hiking. Instead it is a story of her journey to Acadia and then California to better understand her family, with a few solo camping trips and a few light rants added to the mix.

[Sarah Jensen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Book Review: The Allure of Elsewhere: A Memoir of Going Solo by Karen Babine

A Resonant Antidote to Desk-Bound Wanderlust
Karen Babine’s The Allure of Elsewhere speaks directly to that universal fantasy of abandoning routine for the open road—the daydream we’ve all indulged while staring at spreadsheets or endless emails. As someone who has caught myself romanticizing a life of unencumbered travel during tedious workdays, I found Babine’s memoir both validating and challenging. Her narrative doesn’t merely indulge escapism; it interrogates the very human tension between rootedness and restlessness, revealing how solo journeys can become mirrors for self-discovery.

Emotional Authenticity & Intellectual Depth
What struck me most was Babine’s refusal to simplify the solo travel experience. While she captures the exhilaration of spontaneous detours, she equally honors the loneliness and logistical grit behind the Instagram-perfect moments. One passage describing a roadside diner meal—where the weight of isolation suddenly eclipses the romance of freedom—resonated deeply. It’s this honesty that elevates the book beyond travelogue into a meditation on how physical movement can catalyze internal transformation.

Constructive Criticism

-Privilege Examination: While Babine acknowledges travel’s luxuries, a deeper critique of economic mobility (who can “go solo”?) would strengthen its relevance to desk-bound dreamers.
-Temporal Depth: Flashbacks to her Minnesota roots sometimes disrupt the journey’s momentum; tighter temporal weaving might enhance flow.
-Community Paradox: The memoir could further explore how solo travel both requires and challenges human connection—a tension many office-daydreamers grapple with.

Why It Matters Now
In our era of “quiet quitting” and digital nomadism, Babine’s work offers a nuanced alternative to binary thinking (escape vs. endure). Her travels model how to seek meaning within motion rather than through permanent flight—a lesson for anyone fantasizing about burning their work badge.

Acknowledgments
Thank you to Milkweed Editions and Edelweiss for the review copy. This book is essential for creative writing and cultural geography courses—and for anyone who’s ever mapped imaginary road trips during a staff meeting.

Rating: 4.7/5 (A luminous, grounding read—perfect for the restless professional’s bookshelf.)

[Cesiley · Rating 3 out of 5]

*Strong start, wavers, weak ending*
I love solo camping/traveling and was super excited about this book. It was less than what I had hoped for. I wanted more of her travels (and nature/landscape) and less of the family history. I like that her ancestry fueled the trip but reading so much (often uncertain/hypothesized) detail about someone else’s ancestry isn’t very intriguing or relatable. Many repetitive passages with no strong point which lost me as a reader. By the end I was skimming. Pockets of good stuff but overall a bit dull. Beautiful cover art and great title.

[Craig · Rating 3 out of 5]

It started with so much promise, a lively adventure with a solo female traveler in a Scamp trailer. Looking for her family’s beginnings in this country. But she seemed to lose her sense of purpose and the ending is disappointing for the author. And the reader. Still some good pieces and stories but lost its focus overall.

[Rachael · Rating 5 out of 5]

Most of us fall into the trap of the “allure of elsewhere.” Wherever we are, there must be someplace better. Speaking for myself, I envision myself in different places when life around me gets stressful, tedious, or just plain not fun. It’s easy to fantasize about going somewhere else where no one knows you and you have no obligations except to explore, connect with yourself, and engage in the present moment.

Karen Babine’s third memoir, The Allure of Elsewhere: A Memoir of Going Solo (Milkweed), involves a road trip in her Scamp to Nova Scotia (“elsewhere”) to discover her roots. This elsewhere certainly has an allure, but it’s not home. Home is the place to where we always return and if we’re lucky, we have loving family and friends waiting for us there.

Karen leaves her parents’ driveway, two grumpy cats in tow, and hits the road. Karen is a seasoned camper, both taking trips with her family when young and also as a solo adult. She relishes her role as an independent single woman, backing the Scamp into campsites like a pro while befuddled campsite managers watch. We need more stories like Karen’s, written from the perspective of women who have eschewed traditional roles, whether that be wife or mother. I have a partner but have spent the last 30+ years answering “no” to the never-ending question, “Do you have kids?”

The main narrative arc is the road trip across the eastern swath of Canada, but interspersed in the timeline are meditations and information about family, history, and genealogy. Some of the ideas I enjoyed engaging with included those about what you hope to find when you search for your ancestors. What drives us to do this? What are we looking for? I read this book when I returned from a trip to Ireland, where I spent a day in my ancestral homeland. I walked the streets of tiny Rosenallis, getting chills whenever I thought of my Fitzpatrick forebears doing the same. It felt important to me to go there, though I cannot quite articulate why.

She mentions throughout the book the responsibility one has when acting as family historian. What are the ethics involved? What happens when you come across stories that were meant to be private? Karen’s own family kept a family secret, but searching through records she can piece the story together. One must weigh the education such information can provide against the wishes of those who stayed quiet. But it’s those secrets that can help us shed light on our own lives and perhaps even help us.

I’ve known Karen for twenty years. We first connected through a fellow taphophile (cemetery lover) so I was pleased to read scenes in this book where Karen visits cemeteries and other memorial sites. There’s something we taphophiles share and it’s gratifying to see those interests filtered through the lens of another.

Overall it’s a book about the place you’re from. I’m reasonably well-traveled but I’ve always lived 30 miles from where I grew up. I’ve been made to feel provincial by others, especially since I work at a university where almost all faculty have lived in multiple other places. So I especially was drawn to something Karen writes in the preface: “It felt so good to read—and be reminded—that I didn’t need to go elsewhere, to more important places, to know something true and real.”

[Dawn Duncan]

To be honest, I am not usually one to read a memoir, but I am certainly glad that I decided to read The Allure of Elsewhere: A Memoir of Going Solo by Karen Babine. I trusted this author because I had read two of her previous creative nonfiction works, both of which won the Minnesota Book Award. This memoir goes far beyond the bounds of Minnesota, beyond any straightforward memoir. It is a fascinating combination of history (personal, familial, and North American), geology, geography, philosophy, and travel writing. Babine starts out in search of answers to family secrets long held, to a genealogy that lives in her bones and in the spaces her travels take her on her journey of discovery. The book is also an anthem to the power of women who choose to move through life without a partner, who learn how to navigate the challenges of traveling alone even when feeling deeply connected to others as well as to the natural world. In many ways this memoir is a meditative musing on how we know the stories, the people, the places that shape us. Perhaps these are the “chords” that send vibrations through her and her writing. To quote one of my favorite passages, found at the end of chapter 7, “History isn’t a melody line—it’s a chord. It’s always the accumulation of moments that don’t seem to have meaning in themselves adding up toa moment that tells us everything.” It is the little truths along the line of Babine’s memoir, not any large mysteries answered, that add up to everything this book comes to mean.

[Stephanie Stoneback · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thanks, Milkweed Editions, for the ARC!

*Read, reviewed, and submitted for IndieNext List May 2025*

As the self-proclaimed "family historian," thirty-something Karen Babine embarks on a solo road trip across Canada and New England to uncover the stories of her ancestors and negotiate their influence in her present lifestyle. Choosing a different path than many women in her lineage, Babine has proudly, and arguably radically, chosen to remain single, childless, and indulge in camping, travelling, and exploring on her own. In what feels like an answer to recent misogynist rhetoric of "childless cat ladies," Babine's story proves that this choice does not render her pure reverence and deep love for family moot. Woven into her tales of moving forward on the road are tales of moving through her memories with her family. This memoir was dripping with independence, dedication, and true appreciation for who came before us and how we can honor them in the present. Babine's writing is also abundant with nature imagery that I just adored basking in! This memoir will inspire many to engage in their own projects of ancestral discovery, and how special is that in a time when physical artifacts of our present moment will be unavailable to the generations after us.

[John Benson · Rating 3 out of 5]

I recently read Karen Babine's other two memoirs, and decided to finish off with this her latest book. The book combines a road trip she took in 2014 with her two cats and pulling a Scamp trailer to visit some of the places in her father's family history. The book combines his history as the family moved from France to Nova Scotia to California and finally with her father ending up in Minnesota. Karen Babine travels from Minnesota to Nova Scotia in this book with a final chapter in California. I found this to be her weakest book because both sections (the family history and road trip parts) did not mesh well until she arrived in Nova Scotia. The lack of maps and family trees hurts the book overall. American publishers seem reluctant to add maps even if the underlying theme is of geography. Like her other books, the writing is beautiful but the themes don't mesh that well.

[Brian · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Allure of Elsewhere: A Memoir of Going Solo by Karen Babine is a book which, on the surface, is Babine's travels in her Scamp camper with her two cats from Minnesota to Nova Scotia. At its core, though, 'Allure' is the story of family; even though Babine is "going solo," she's never alone, whether it's her cats, her immediate family who guide and inspire her travels, or her ancestors who are the target of her search. The writing is thoughtful and detailed and often lyrical, as is expected of her work (her previous books are also highly recommended), leading to a truly delightful reading experience.

[Travis Cook · Rating 5 out of 5]

So many threads here - family, being a woman in the modern/contemporary world, being a solo traveler, the illusion of permanence in memory, the sense of living history, the construction of identity, how to travel thousands of miles with two cats, a jeep and a Scamp. Excellent read, excellent memoir and interior travelogue.

[Kate B. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Parts of this book were really captivating. She ties her family history in with a road trip and North American history. I learned some things about Canadian geography, as well as about Acadians (which I believe are also some of my ancestors). I kind of ran out of steam towards the end, but this is a major undertaking and I appreciate the effort and craft that went into it.

[Renee Hilgren · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Allure of Elsewhere was a perfect read while we were camping. Our first camper was a Scamp, and it brought back fond memories as I read about Karen’s adventures on the road. I loved how the stories of traveling with the Scamp were intertwined with her family history and the search to locate ancestors. I thoroughly enjoyed this book.

[Jen]

I liked this book a lot, but I do feel like it's niche. I am a Minnesotan who loves traveling outdoors up the north shore/Lake Superior, studying my Swedish genealogy, and rock hunting. So for me, all of that was interesting. Although there are lessons and insights about travel and family generally, it's also very specific into the authors family history - so I skimmed a lot.

[Laurie Krosch · Rating 1 out of 5]

Literally one of five books in the past 20 years that I refused to finish. The author was completely self absorbed. By chapter 9 I was over the whining and te “self reflection” that mainly consisted of the author complaining about the weather and her own inability to grasp the beauty around her.

[Vickie Pondell · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great book about independence and finding your roots.

[K Jones · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent, thought-provoking book! On the surface about camping, in actuality about the power of stories and the messy beauty of family history.

[Joan M. · Rating 3 out of 5]

A single woman's journey with her camper. Enough details to carry the story.

[Katherine · Rating 5 out of 5]

Well-written book about solo camping while searching for roots. The storyline alternated between the present and musing about the past, keeping the reader interested in what would come next.

[Helen Jacoby · Rating 3 out of 5]

I picked up this book hoping to read a fun account of a single woman traveling with her camping trailer from Minnesota to the Canadian Maritimes. There is a decent amount of this in Babine's narrative, but much of the book is taken up with a discussion of the author's family history and her longing to find more information. This is unfortunate, because for me the sections of the book devoted to musings about Babine's family were much less interesting than reading about her camping adventures. I can understand Babine's desire to know as much as possible about her family history, but unfortunately that history is not particularly interesting to those of us not related to her. I would have preferred a balance much more tipped away from family details and towards Babine's own experiences.