Overland

by Yasmin Cordery Khan, Joan Walker (narrator), W.F. Howes Ltd. (publisher)

It was supposed to be the trip of a the open road, London to Kathmandu, just three young people looking for adventure. No one could have predicted the way it ended, and for fifty years the truth has been buried. But now, Joyce is ready to tell her story.

London, 1970. Fresh out of a dead-end job, Joyce answers an ad in the local Kathmandu by van, leave August. Share petrol and costs. Joyce is desperate to escape life in suburbia, and aristocrat Freddie looks like he can show her a wild time.

Together with Anton, Freddie's best friend from boarding school, they embark on the overland trail from London to Kathmandu in a beaten-up old Land Rover. But as they cross the borders into Asia, Freddie can't outrun his family's history, leading to devastating consequences for everyone.

Genres: India, Fiction, Contemporary, Historical, Historical Fiction

Audible Audio

Published September 5, 2024

About the author

Yasmin Cordery Khan is a British historian and novelist, and teaches at the University of Oxford. She is the author of the Great Partition, The Raj at War (also published in the US as India at War) Edgware Road and Overland. She has been long listed for prizes including the Orwell Prize, the Authors' Club of Great Britain First Novel Prize, the PEN Hesell-Tiltman and won the Gladstone Prize for history.

Reviews

[Alwynne · Rating 4 out of 5]

Historian and novelist Yasmin Cordery Khan’s vivid recreation of the 1970s “Hippy Trail” the overland route to India followed by close to a million young people in the late 60s and early 70s. The story’s narrated by Joyce, a no-nonsense working-class woman looking back from a distance of nearly fifty years. In her early twenties Joyce is living in English suburbia, desperate to find a way out of her mundane existence. An advert leads her to Anton and Fred. Anton, mixed-race, queer, is sombre and reserved, fascinated by history and languages; his close friend Fred wants to flee his destiny as a child of the English upper-classes, an ethereal, hedonistic musician he’s ready to fully embrace everything the counterculture has to offer.

Crammed inside a dilapidated land rover, the unlikely trio travel across Europe, through Iran, Turkey, Afghanistan and onwards to India. Although they count themselves not as hippies but overlanders. But their journey won’t lead them to knowledge or to other forms of enlightenment but instead embroil them all in unanticipated tragedy.

Khan’s novel’s convincing, beautifully-observed and meticulously researched, making it hard sometimes to remember Joyce is a purely fictional creation. This isn’t a nostalgic glimpse at lost innocence, instead Khan’s narrative gradually constructs a damming portrait of a newly post-colonial world, casually racist, steeped in orientalist attitudes. A place where, for people like Joyce and Fred, nation, the myth of empire, class and identity are still tightly intertwined. Khan’s exploration of these connects to an oblique, underlying series of reflections on history, memory and the legacy of imperialist atrocities – and above all the failure to take responsibility or atone for the evils of the past. But despite the complexity of Khan’s themes, it’s highly readable. An absorbing, fluid piece.

Thanks to Netgalley and to publisher Head of Zeus for an ARC

[Kate O'Shea · Rating 4 out of 5]

A song of the seventies when the overland route to India was doable and lots of people did. Disillusioned by their circumstances this is the story of three of them.

Joyce is running from a bad marriage and her life set out in Suburbia; Fred wants to get away from family obligations to take over the family pile, get married and have babies and labradors; and Anton is after adventure before university. The Overland is a well worn route - hippies, adventurers, the curious and the escapees are all on the trip of a lifetime in a hodge podge of transport. Fred, Anton and Joyce have Vera, an ancient Land Rover, not much money and a loose bond that could spin apart at any time.

The characters vie with the journey in this novel that feels almost like a travelogue at times. It certainly has a ring of authenticity to it which is hardly surprising given the nature of the author and her sources. There are also some surprises along the way as the three travel through countries that no longer have such lax entry requirements. This is the era of free love, endless drugs and a horror of war.

I really enjoyed the whole journey and highly recommend it.

Thankyou to Netgalley and Head of Zeus for the advance review copy.

[Claire · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was interested to read this to observe some of this particular overland route that many took in the late 60's early 70's, including both my father (in 1966) starting from Northern Ireland (but working his way overland) and my mother in the early 70's, by boat from Dubai to Iran and then overland. Both travelled solo and reading this has made me want to know more about their experience.

I enjoyed the novel for the way it depicted the journey and places they stopped, unfamiliar until they got to India and then it awakened my own overland journey mostly via those local night buses, with 3 per seat (no headrest) and trucks/buses driving in the middle of the road, (We soon understood what "HORN PLEASE" referred to). The all night loud music playing to keep the driver awake, stopping for roadside chai, meeting young Indian astronomers on their way to view a total solar eclipse in Fatepar Sikri.
The story follows the Land Rover trip of two friends Fred and Anton and the young woman who responded to their advertisement to join the voyage.

I enjoyed less the depiction of the dysfunctional character of Fred and the obsessive, slightly unreliable narrator Joyce. Anton was the more interesting character for me due to his interest in the culture and languages and people, so from that perspective it was something of a disappointing ending.

And yet, I also get the significance of the roles each of them played, their own histories, that of their families, the different social class they issued from and how that figured in the way they behaved.

[Daniel Myatt · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thanks to Netgallery for my advanced copy,

I really enjoyed this tail of excess and adventure! I felt as if I knew there was going to be a clash of characters at some point, but the excellent writing kept me guessing as to when it would happen.

It gave me a thirst to travel and a weariness of public school boys...

[Anya Thompson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Adventure, discovery, and excess in a decade of great social change and before it was possible to access the internet for directions or post your travel content online. We follow three individuals as they travel overland in an old Land Rover to Kathmandu. Their relationships fractures as the journey they take unveils darkness, with addiction, privilege, and desire for freedom from the constraints of expectation, running through the plot. Joyce, our narrator, describes with vibrancy and fluency her travelling companions as well as providing a vivid chronicle of their journey. There was something nostalgic and thrilling about this story, a compelling addition the ‘road trip’ genre.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.

[Zoe Giles · Rating 4 out of 5]

a solid 4.5 stars.

a gripping literary fiction about a young working class woman who answers a newspaper ad to join two public school boys on a overland journey to India in the 70s.

This was gritty, grilling and insightful into class, privilege, wealth and the British Empire. our main character was unreliable and unlikeable, constantly separating herself from the ‘hippies’ and ‘freaks’ around her making the same journey. At the same time she finds herself completely wrapped up and embroiled in the life of ‘her boys’ with a fascination that borders on delusion of where she stands with them.

this book takes you on a real journey through counties and across borders, demonstrating the real good, bad and ugly that came along with that. the dirt, the drugs, the illness, the arguments, the way you can lose yourself

the whole novel works itself up to a crescendo, knowing the crash and burn is coming but you’re left guessing at how until the moment hits.

this was a brilliant book I highly recommend this year!

[Laura · Rating 2 out of 5]

i get what the author was trying to do and the premise is really a good idea but the narration didn't work for me, i wasn't emotionally invested and i couldn't bring myself to care for what was happening to the characters.

sadly a boring read.

[Sophie · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 ⭐️ rounded up

A great summer read.

Overland tells the story of three individuals on a road trip from London to Kathmandu in the 1970s. Responding to an advertisement in the local paper, Joyce, a 24-year-old divorcee who is also our narrator, embarks on a wild journey of self-discovery as she sets off with Freddie and Anton, two close friends from privileged backgrounds. Their journey is more than physical, though, as with this pilgrimage, all of the characters undergo their own unique spiritual and personal journeys.

This is a novel about friendship, adventure, finding oneself, and the haunting effects of the past. For such a small book, it does a great job at acknowledging a hinterland of themes, including mental health, domestic violence, drug use, class, race, and imperialism. But perhaps my favourite thing about this novel was the atmosphere, which felt nostalgic and for lack of a better word, hazy. Reading this book felt like watching a montage of 70s Super 8 film. The author,  Yasmin Cordery Khan, does a fantastic job of creating a real sense of time and place that has a dreamlike quality, as if being actually recalled through memory.

The only two things that stop me rating this more highly is firstly, the omission of quotation marks. It serves the stream of consciousness narration well, but at times I found it a little difficult to tell who was speaking and when, which then impacted the flow. Secondly, I failed to connect more deeply to any of the three central characters. Had I been more emotionally invested in them, I imagine I would have been more deeply affected by the outcome of the novel and rated the overall reading experience more highly.

Still, this was a very enjoyable read and one I’d recommend to those who enjoy narratives about friendships, travel adventures, and finding oneself.

Thank you kindly to @netgalley and @headofzeus for allowing me to read this advanced copy in exchange for my honest thoughts!

[em · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a rich and beautiful book. While the writing style took a little to get used to, the gorgeous narration was an instant hit for me. The way Khan described the different countries, people, and places was simply divine. There was a real sense of immersion coming off the page, it was easy to picture the dust and sand of the deserts and the atmosphere of the small towns and cities. The characters were also incredibly complex, in particular I loved Joyce. Although she tends to erase herself a little from the narrative, her quiet demeanour and motherlike way of looking after her boys was heartwarming. She was also infuriating at points, allowing her privilege and naivety to get in the way and distort her view.

The ending had me in tears, and I so desperately wanted to crawl into this book and seek out answers for myself. The commentary on racism, class and Imperialism was weaved so finely throughout, adding to the story and reminding the reader of the importance of these conversations. A masterpiece of a book that transports the reader to a different world altogether.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for kindly providing an ARC in exchange for an honest review. #Overland #NetGalley. All opinions are my own.

[Rita Egan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Overland
By Yasmin Cordery Khan

I am just old enough to remember the tail end of the Hippie trail and have always been intrigued by the possibility of rambling through Syria, Iran, Afghanistan and Pakistan en route to India. As a young one, it shimmered with freedom and adventure, so I was eagerly anticipating getting lost in this story of three young brits forging forth in their old but trusty landrover.

Although the novel is divided by country, it is less of a travelogue, focusing more on the relationship and dynamics between the three central characters, Joyce, Anton and Freddie, exploring the differences in their experiences through the lenses of wealth, privilege, gender and sexuality.

Told from Joyce's perspective, the narrative is imbued with nostalgia and hindsight, and it becomes clear that something awful happens.

This is such an easy book to fall into. The writing is clear and the impending sense of doom makes it compelling. It lacks the rich descriptions of the foreign and the exotic that I expected, but I put that down to Joyce's circumspect attitude to Freddie's flaithulach headfirst dive into the hippie scene and the arrogant and irresponsible exploitation of poorer economies by wealthier ones.

Even though this turned out to be a different story than I thought, I still loved it. I found myself humming "Down Under" by Men at Work, throughout, and 40 years later, the lyrics are more profound than ever for me. This would make a really interesting summer holiday read if you like your armchair travel with a bit more meat on the bone.


Publication date: 4th July 2024
Thanks to #NetGalley and #HeadofZeus for the eGalley

[Vee · Rating 4 out of 5]

Overland is a story about the Overland, which should have been the trip of a lifetime from London to Kathmandu in the 1970s, the time of hippies and free spirits. Joyce recounts the trip from her perspective, from when she answered an ad in the newspaper to become the travel mate to two boarding school guys eager for an adventure.

This is a story about three young people from different backgrounds who set off to explore the world and lend up learning so much more about themselves. They grow together, and they grow apart until a terrible twist of fate happens.

The writing took some getting used to, because of the lack of quotes. But this ends up being one of the winning factors for this book: Each of the characters has such a specific and unique voice that it is easily distinguishable.

Joyce, as our narrator, might be the most interesting character of all. She does not come from privilege, yet she carries the most prejudices. She believes herself to be unlike the hippies, or the freaks, despite the fact she is traveling the hippie trail with the hippies & freaks. Her growing obsession with ‘her boys’, the privileged life she so clearly envies, the need to make herself 'indispensable' to them and her closed mind made this such an interesting read.

This is the perfect literary fiction read for summer: a story of adventure, self discovery, travel, friendships and obsessions with background echo of British imperialism and privilege.

Thank you so much to Apollo and NetGallery for providing me this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

[Debbie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I very much enjoyed ‘Overland’. It’s an enlightening tale of three travellers, two of whom, Freddie (the son of an Earl) and Anton (serious academic) who are already firm friends and Joyce, a curious add on to make the journey to India financially viable.
It’s the 70’s period of free love and endless drugs, where countless hippies make this physically difficult, but well trodden route through countries that today, would be impassible - a passage through Turkey, Afghanistan and Pakistan to India. All three travellers seek to distinguish themselves from the hippy ‘freaks’ initially, but they’re share a common purpose and interweaving path, leaving their old lives behind for very different reasons

The story is told in retrospect, by Joyce a self professed ‘unremarkable twenty-four-year-old. Plain Jane’, recently separated from her husband, the circumstances of which are drip fed to us over the course of the novel. The details themselves are less important than the complex character that is revealed, one for whom fact and fiction are not always clear when told by the unreliable narrator. We come to realise, Joyce is utterly desperate for connection and identified self-importance, and lives in an often strangely delusional world. We know from the beginning that she ‘felt sorry about the way things ended up’, so we know that the ending isn’t going to be a happy one so we always have this little bit of knowledge as the story unfolds.

It an immersive rather wonderful read in my opinion, one which also examines the serious issues of class, education, privilege, Colonialism and Imperialism. It’s clearly very well researched as a piece of historical fiction, but for me its value lies in the journey of character discovery which isn’t a straight forward ride.

Thanks to NetGalley for an ARC.

[Rebecca · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 stars. If ever anyone was going to write something to appeal directly to me this is probably it. Hugely enjoyable look at the hippy trail as working class Joyce joins aristocratic Fred and middle class Anton on an overland journey from Clapham to Kathmandu. It’s partly a travel memoir and partly an investigation into class, post colonialism and 1970s counter culture. And despite it being a few decades before my time reminded me of my early years travelling abroad before the advent of things like the internet and international banking…. Recommended as a bit of escapism but with dark and complex undertones.

[Sonia Almeida Dias (Peixinho de Prata) · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a most interesting book, set in a background of which I almost knew nothing about, of young people travelling east by land in the sixties and seventies of last century. It was well written, interesting and a compelling read.

Apparently I actually like historical fiction, when its set in a time and place that spikes my interest.

[Nadine · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is such a well written and researched book with a long slow burn that leads to a few minor and one major explosion as the past creeps up to meer the present.
Will definitely have the author on my radar.

[Adam Lewis · Rating 2 out of 5]

Easy and enjoyable. Characters, context, and setting all very clear. Abrupt ending.

[Tripfiction · Rating 5 out of 5]

Novel of the overland trail from London to India, final destination Kathmandu



It is always such a pleasure to come across a novel, one that has been flagged for us because of the strength of setting; and then to discover it has a riveting, nuanced storyline, beautifully written and told. This will be joining TF’s Hall of Fame – top reads for literary wanderlust and #travelbybook.

The year is 1970 and between the 1950s and 1970s many hundreds of thousands of people, mostly young Americans and Europeans, travelled from Europe, overland through Afghanistan to India and Nepal, in any vehicle they could find, including clapped out vans – the VW Kombi being the van of choice – and even the odd London Route Master bus made its way across the various terrains. In this novel, the vehicle of choice is an ancient Land Rover. It is quite amazing to think that such journeys were possible back then, through Afghanistan and Pakistan into India without any really prohibitive paperwork. It is thought-provoking about the changes that have occurred in just 50 years and the notion of travelling to Afghanistan now absurd.

Freddie is a well-to-do aristocrat and intends to set off across continents with his childhood friend Anton. They are looking for a third person to join them and Joyce responds to their advertisement in the local paper. The vehicle – Vera – is ready to go and so are the three passengers.

The author details the subtle acclimatisation process between the trio, as they subliminally ease into the group dynamics. Joyce, as the outsider, is very keen to find her niche and soon Anton advises her to keep an eye on Freddie, which she is keen to do. There are no sexual tensions between the trio, just a striving to engage and keep things balanced and enjoy the adventure to come.

Stops along the way, including the infamous Pudding Shop in Sultanahment in Turkey (a popular stopping place on the ‘hippie trail’) where they hung out with other travellers, ‘freaks’ as they were often called, and at one point someone called Chandra hooks up with them, enthusiastically welcomed by Freddie but only grudgingly accepted with real froideur by the other two – they can sense that he is trouble. And indeed, there is trouble to come down the trail. The author also has a background drumbeat of Freddie’s family history, which he cannot outrun.

The story is told from the viewpoint of Joyce in the present, as she looks back at her days in the company of the two young men. There is a real sense of the era, as she reflects on the progress of their journey and the events that occurred. The people are well rounded and interesting, the places and landscape are beautifully brought to life. Joyce has clearly gone on a voyage of discovery in her earlier years and it is interesting to travel alongside her as the experiences mount.

This is a terrific re-imagining of the 1970s counterculture that brings to life a very different geopolitical and cultural landscape. An engrossing read and it deserves to have a wide readership.

[Sue · Rating 5 out of 5]

London, 1970. Joyce yearns to leave the drudgery of her suburban life behind. When she spots an ad in the local paper: 'Kathmandu by van, leave August. Share petrol and costs', she sees it as a golden opportunity to escape.

Joining aristocrat Freddie and his best friend Anton for an adventure in a beaten up Land Rover seems like an impossible dream for someone like Joyce. They being their journey with hopeful hearts, but as the trio cross borders on the hippie trail, Joyce and Anton are dragged into the mire of Freddie's emotional baggage, and the dream turns sour...

Told in retrospective form through Joyce's narrative fifty years after her fateful trip with Freddie and Anton, Overland is compulsive reading about a time when hundreds and thousands of travellers completed the journey overland from Britain to India in pursuit of culture, a lifestyle free of convention, and the search for spiritual enlightenment. Unfortunately for our three adventurers, rather than finding what they were searching for, they end up losing themselves in the twists and turns of a long and winding journey that ends in tragedy.

Through Joyce's now jaded eyes, the story of her coming of age from unhappy suburban housewife to the sort of person her young self could never have envisaged, totally immerses you in time and place. Khan's novel rings with authenticity about the once well-trodden, but now impossible, overland journey through Europe, Turkey, Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan and India, as Joyce gets to know her travelling companions, and their secrets - spilling her own in turn.

The pages flew by as I was pulled into the increasingly dark story, and my emotions were well and truly tugged as Joyce tries to keep a hold on the vestiges of the person she believes herself to be while acting as protector for her 'boys'. Stark clashes of culture, and the wildly differing ideologies of the fellow travellers they meet on the trail, prove to be more of a challenge than any of them anticipated. The frailties they each wished to leave behind are exposed, and while Joyce and Anton fantasise about impossible futures, self-destructive Freddie falls apart (hastened by the psychologically fracturing impact of the heavy drug culture amongst the 'freaks' they meet).

Youth, expectation, privilege, and social class are insightfully dissected, bound up in a truly impressive literary novel that has Khan subtly tempting you on with timely titbits about the mystery at the heart of the story. Her background as a historian adds wonderful substance to this tale too, obliquely exploring the scars left by British colonialism while the dramatic events between the three travellers play out in the foreground.

I adored this book from wistful beginning to shocking end, via all its shades of love, loss and hard lessons, utterly addicted to Khan's writing, and the melancholy edge of a tale all about a past lost in the mists of time. Superb.

[Nian Minten · Rating 4 out of 5]

Overland by Yasmin Cordery Khan - review

4.25⭐️

First of all thank you so much to Netgalley and Head of Zeus for giving me the opportunity to read Overland in return for a honest review 🥰.

Well I kind of had to squeeze this read in, since it was due in a couple of days and I kind of forgot that it was still on my netgalley shelve 😅.
And now having read it I regret not reading it sooner.
This was an amazing read and soo well written. If you are a fan of literary fiction than I would definitely recommend this one 🤩.

Overland is a story about the Overland, which should have been the trip of a lifetime from London to Kathmandu. Just three people looking for adventure. No one could have predicted how this adventure ended, but now 50 years later Joyce is ready to tell her side of the story.

The story is set in the 1970s, the time of hippies and free spirits. Joyce answers an ad from a newspaper, of some guys looking for a travel mate to go to Kathmandu in August. Joyce is desperate to escape life and responds. Freddie, one of the guys, an aristocrate is very happy to show her the wild life. Together with Anton, Freddie’s best friend from boarding school, they leave in a Land Rover called Vera to embark on the Overland trail from London to Kathmandu. But are they able to escape their past, or ends it up catching up on them?

Wow just wow… this was such an emotional but also beautiful read. All the topics hit soo hard. The privilege, being young, differences in class, finding yourself and coming to terms with who you are, but also in the background echoes of British imperialism… This is just such a well written novel.

I loved seeing these youngsters explore and learn more about themselves. But also grow together, and grow apart.
This is such a beautiful journey that you are taken on and so hard to explain. But the relationships are written just amazingly. How they develop and the point of view of Joyce.

The novel is written from first person point of view, which I really enjoyed. It has been some time since I read first person point of view, but I really enjoyed it, and definitely would love reading it more often. It just helps you emerge yourself into the thoughts and lives of the main character, in this case Joyce. I just loved to learn new things with her and getting to know herself better.

This is the perfect read for summer if you love a good literary fiction written from first person perspective, in which you are emerged into a story of self discovery, travel, friendships but also a background echo of British imperialism and privilege.

Overland will be released the 4th of July.

[Siobhan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Overland is a novel about three young people in 1970 who go on a road trip to India, and it doesn't go as expected. Joyce sees an ad in the paper in London for going to Kathmandu by van and before she knows it, she's off with aristocratic Freddie and academic Anton, best friends from boarding school, leaving her suburban life behind. As they travel, Joyce gets closer to the boys, but Freddie is trying to escape his family by any means necessary and he and Anton have very different ideas about their trip, as well as the secrets hiding in Freddie's father's past.

Told by Joyce looking back decades later, the narrative unfolds with an unreliable edge, with Joyce positioning herself—and even Freddie and Anton—as very different to the hippies, the "freaks", also making the overland journey. This idea of seeing yourself as different, as privileged, runs throughout the book, with class and wealth differences vital between the three main characters, but also in their interactions with everyone else. This provides a commentary on the very journey, and the idea of who is able to drop everything in their life to suddenly travel so far. The story itself meanders like their journey, with a lot of hints early on of things going wrong, and then a faster paced ending, though still quite clouded through Joyce's determination to minimise her part in anything. A lot of the hints towards the later narrative don't quite go anywhere, but with an unreliable narrator it can be hard to tell how intentional this is.

Joyce's position as narrator and character is fascinating: a narrator who wants to paint her companions as extraordinary, whilst lessening her impact on the narrative (which you later discover is very much intentional). Her narration is clouded by her own judgements, and she is purposefully a figure of conformity despite having gone on such a hippy trip, believing in imperialist narratives and not wanting to question how narratives of history have been told even as she tells her own. There's a lot of reading between the lines to do—I imagine some readers will either like Joyce or be frustrated by her opinions, rather than see the point of her character traits as something to read into—and generally the book feels less about what happens, than ideas of travel, escape, privilege, and the harsh realities of combining crossing borders with a lot of drugs.

A book that is often just as much about what the narrator isn't saying than what she is, Overland is an interesting look at a specific phenomenon that plays with perspective and storytelling.

[Jenny Cooper · Rating 5 out of 5]

It is 1970 and Joyce is desperate to break away from the pedestrian future that her family have mapped out for her. She answers an ad in a local paper for a fellow travelling companion to fill a Land Rover going on the Hippy trail to Kathmandu. And off they go, Fred, Anton and Joyce. Fred and Anton have been best friends since they met at Public School. Both are from privileged backgrounds but while Fred’s family are wealthy, Anton’s have hit hard times. Joyce grew up in a suburban semi and has just finished secretarial college. The narrative is written by Joyce many years later when she is in her 70s. The reasons for this become apparent as the book progresses.

I adored this book. It is pretty much the same journey I did 16 years later, although we had to take a slightly different route and by then it wasn’t really a hippy trail. The narrative in the book was so authentic that I struggled to come to terms with the fact that it was a novel and that the characters were fictitious. It is beautifully written and a wonderful story. Although I read it very much as a travelogue there is so much more going on if you wish to delve deeper. The book is filled with stereotypical characters (those trying to escape from privilege or mundanity, the token gay, the 60s hippies with their flamboyant outfits and their drugs, people trying to find themselves, people running away and escaping from reality etc. etc.), not to mention the allusions to imperialism, gender, sexuality and more. I am very glad that I had the opportunity to accompany them all on their journey. Literary fiction at its best.

It took me a while to get used to the way that speech was handled by the author. There was no punctuation highlighting it as speech which had the result of giving dialogue a stream of consciousness feel to it. Once I got used to it and recognised it for what it was, I actually quite liked it. Up until that point it could be a little confusing as there was no obvious way of identifying who the speakers were and which lines should be attributed to which interlocutors.

I would recommend this book to anyone and everyone. It can be read on a superficial level or in a more nuanced way, making it multi-dimensional. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

[Xio · Rating 4 out of 5]

'This is my side of the story. My recollection of these events matters, you understand? I played my own modest part in history. So, do me one thing: promise me that our overland journey won't be forgotten.'

Thank you NetGalley, and Head of Zeus for providing me with an ARC, in exchange for an honest review!

(3.75 stars)
This recounted story is narrated by Joyce, a 24 year old divorcee, who is hopelessly, unreliably obsessed with 'her boys,' as they traverse the hippie trail. From the very beginning of the book, you are aware of the pedestal she places the boys—more specifically, Fred—on.
Joyce spents their trip carrying many prejudices, that seem to be a product of her parents. She believes herself to be unlike the hippies, or the freaks, despite the fact she is travelling the hippie trail, with the hippies & freaks. Many times I found myself disagreeing with Joyce; her thoughts were truly, and honestly, maddening to read. Her character succeeds in making you think about many topics, in that way.
Early on, she decides that she is 'above' Fred's charms. She decides she must make herself 'indespensable' to him. Quite honestly, Joyce fails. Fred revolved in her mind, and that was evidently clear by how the story fucused on him, despite some events of their trip.

The writing style for the narrative took a while to get used to, and even by the end I still experienced some confusion on what was said due to lack of quotation marks. Though I almost enjoyed that fact when considering that this is, after all, a recount of 50 year old events; who truly remembers the exact quotes from such a time ago?
I became bored by some areas in this book, it felt as though it dragged around the middle, and I really craved something more.
Overall, Overland scratched the historical fiction itch that I didn't even know I had.

[Cat · Rating 5 out of 5]

An absolute page turner following a naive young trio of Londoners who embark on an overland adventure to Kathmandu in a battered old Land Rover. Joyce, recently divorced, answers a classified ad on a whim, and recounts her version of the story 50 years later, when she meets Anton, the extremely bright, historian and linguistic student and his carefree, charismatic friend from boarding school, Freddie, the heir to an Earldom. Although their vastly differing social and class backgrounds are immediately apparent, all three are eager to more forward for their own reasons. As the journey unfolds, their motivations for escaping the past are revealed and Joyce finds purpose in looking after her “boys” though she wishfully overestimates her influence and place in the life of Freddie. A vivid account of the sometimes perilous road trip along the hippie trail, encounters with the “freaks” and the despairing descent of Freddie into a drug culture which increasingly divides him from Anton and Joyce. With time for reflection, Joyce wonders if there could have been more done to help Freddie and regrets the way Anton left. The light and breezy writing reflects the joy and wonderment for a time in the lives of each traveller's journey of discovery, yet there is the realistic portrayal into the depth of the dark and uglier side of places, events and personality traits. A brilliant holiday read!

Thank you NetGalley and Head of Zeus for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

[cotcom · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the story of three young travellers in the ‘70s driving from England to Nepal. It’s the story of the infamous hippie trail and their unique adventure.

Overland is a complex story in that each character has so many sides which are slowly revealed as their journey progresses. The story is being told by the now-elderly Joyce, who was one of the original three travellers.

I enjoyed this book very much because it gives insight into an adventure that is no longer possible due to regional tensions. It was remarkable that in the 60s and 70s people actually set off, mostly unprepared, in a banged up old vehicle to do this journey. It was also fascinating to read about the hippy trail, the abundance of drugs, the camaraderie with others doing the same journey, the poverty, the interactions between the three travellers and those around them. Joyce, Fred and Anton were very different yet they bonded throughout their time together.

Without spoiling the story, I felt the ending was unexpected, crushing, and heartbreaking. It’s the kind of book where you are waiting for something unforeseen and unpleasant to happen.

My only criticism of this book is that some of the author’s descriptions along the way could’ve been a bit crisper and shorter. Having said that though, the detail helped visualise what it would have been like on the hippie trail.

A suspenseful read about a bygone era.

[Rachel · Rating 4 out of 5]

It is 1970 and Joyce wants an escape from the life that is mapped out for her, she also wants to leave a traumatic experience behind. She spots a succinct advert asking for someone to share costs and petrol on a trip to Kathmandu and this seems to be the solution, a way to break out.

Fred and Anton who are childhood friends are Joyce’s travelling companions. During the long overland journey to India the trio gradually become friends and confidants; secrets are shared and plans are made. Meanwhile Fred begins to experiment with the prevailing lifestyle too much and unravels. His actions provoke Anton into challenging Fred about the past actions of his family and privileged view of the world. Joyce is caught between affection for both, while always firmly concerned with safeguarding her own destiny. Matters come to a devastating conclusion.

A gripping read with well-rounded characters and a fascinating road trip. I was absolutely immersed in the story, always drawn to tales of the Hippy Trail I was not disappointed.

The author has included an interesting range of reading in a bibliography which I shall explore with pleasure.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read an advance copy.

3/7/24

[Farah G · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is an interesting take on a classic travel experience that many undertook in the 1970s.

As a divorcee in her mid-20s, Joyce is desperate to escape from the suburban lifestyle which she has somehow become trapped in, and now risks being defined by. So, when an opportunity comes to travel overland to Nepal with two young men - the aristocratic Fred and his friend Anton - she seizes the chance to do something different, even though she carries certain prejudices about hippies, and this is very much part of the hippie trail traversed by many in that era.

A somewhat annoying protagonist, Joyce seems unaware of just how fixated she is on her "boys", especially Fred. But she is about to find out that Fred's poshness and privilege will not protect them from the fallout of his family connections...

This novel would have benefited from some editing, as parts of it seemed to drag on unnecessarily. But overall, it provides a faithful portrait of a time that was iconic, especially wrt the hippie lifestyle, and made for an interesting and at times suspense for read.

I received a free copy of this book from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review

[Jill · Rating 5 out of 5]

Having undertaken an overland trip to Kathmandu myself in 1975, I was particularly to read of other traveller’s experiences.

The book certainly brought back memories from 50 years ago. Many of the places resonated, though our mode of transport and overnight accommodations differed. To have experienced this unforgettable trip when the international borders were open and relatively hassle free is history in the making. At that time it was nicknamed ‘The Hashish Trail’, typically undertaken by people who wanted to escape the stress of the West and lead a calmer life. Although a work of fiction, Joyce’s constant companions, school friends Fred and Anton, survived the best part of the trip as a unit, despite their very different personalities, until tragedy struck on the Agra Road and continued to a heartbreaking conclusion.

This is an unforgettable read, told with skill and knowledge by the author of days gone by.

My thanks to NetGalley and the publishers Head of Zeus for this ARC in return for my review.

[Haxxunne · Rating 3 out of 5]

A heady recreation of the hippie trail

A historical coming-of-age novel set in the 70s but with a present-day frame, Overland tries to do everything, from recreating the liberation of the hippie trail in its peak, to exploring three new adults as they reorient themselves from past to future, and the colonial gaze in both the 1970s and the 50s. This is an overstuffed yet slim novel, with three vibrant central characters who each represent a swathe of 70s Britain, class-wise, politically, in terms of gender, sexuality, trauma.

Some strands are better handled than others, but the unflinching landscapes and the grittiness of the pre-internet world are possibly the best part of this book, giving the characters somewhere real to travel through. The destination is always in sight but the journey is a travail, a Purgatorio version of the Grand Tour, and the way that each of the trio react to and are transformed by the journey are the heart of the book. Never hiding the realistic if imperfect fates of the three, Overland gives the reader a taste of the times.

[Eleanor · Rating 3 out of 5]

i am rounding it up to 3.5

a woman writes her experiences of travelling through india with two strangers.


this book feels incredibly nostalgic like you are living through the characters past with them.

it’s truly fascinating to see how the relationships develop, between each person, as they are trapped in a car together. i do wish the pacing was written a bit faster, as a times it felt a bit slice of life-y.

anyone with a keen interest in learning about other cultures, religions and country would love this. it’s really interesting to read about such a diverse topic.

however the main character was too judgmental for my liking, i really disliked her at times and preferred the side characters stories.

the story touches on topics such as drug use, addiction, mental illnesses whilst traveling and it’s a powerful read.

thankyou so much to head of zeus and net galley for the arc. all opinions are my own

[leyla · Rating 2 out of 5]

Yeah… I don’t think that literary fiction is for me.

I was hooked for the first 30 pages and then my interest quickly dwindled as soon as it got to the actual trip. Pages upon pages where nothing substantial happens and then the most predictable ‘plot twist’ ever just to put the icing on the cake.

The slight teasing between Freddie and Joyce intrigued me but it was clear that nothing was going to pass between them - no issue, not everyone has to suck face! But Anton and Freddie really bugged me; for supposed ‘best friends’ they may as well have met 2 minutes ago and it wouldn’t have made a great difference to their dynamic.

In the end, I wound up skimming the last chapter. I didn’t feel a connection to any of the characters individually and even less so of a connection between the characters themselves.




Positives (because I feel horrible being negative 😭):

+ lovely vocabulary!

+ I wasn’t bothered by the lack of quotation marks - though it took a chapter or two to get used to - I thought it actually flowed quite nicely, as if Joyce was sitting across from you and recounting the trip.