What do you think?
One Year: Seventeen countries, one van, a true story of hope and healing
297 pages, Kindle Edition
Published May 7, 2026
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
May 9, 2026
Such a heartfelt, honest and moving story! The physical journey that Susan describes so eloquently mirrors the emotional, mental and spiritual journey she undertakes with Chris as together - with Hans the campervan- they journey through Europe over One Year.
I felt that I travelled along with them as the countryside and terrain changed with each country visited.
A touching and real account of their journey transformed into a work of literary perfection.
I felt that I travelled along with them as the countryside and terrain changed with each country visited.
A touching and real account of their journey transformed into a work of literary perfection.
September 8, 2026
The yellow border of the book caught my eye as I spotted it in Dubray Bookshop in Dublin. It reminded me of the National Geographic magazine. When I opened the first pages and discovered that the book was about a couple, Susan and Chris Bennett, who travelled through 17 countries in Western Europe within one year—from the northern tip of Norway to southern Spain and Portugal—in their campervan, nicknamed Hans, I decided to buy it.
I am naturally intrigued by geographical curiosity, and I thought the book might also help me prepare a list of places I need to visit. But One Year turned out to be much more than a travel book. It is, in many ways, a philosophical reflection on how we can struggle against the fact that life is finite, dogged by illness and the health problems associated with ageing, while constantly being caught up in the boredom and meaninglessness of routine tasks.
What prompted the couple to strip life down to its bare essentials and spend a nomadic year travelling around Europe was the fact that both had been diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis. Susan had also lost her brother to cancer.
Travel could easily be seen as another form of escapism from the difficult realities of life. But such a claim does not hold when you read how Susan encounters an extraordinary diversity of nature, landscapes, people, history and art in the seventeen countries that she visits. These experiences awaken within her a sense of awe that gradually gives way to inner peace and serenity.
The book becomes almost a secular meditation on the unanswered questions surrounding God, humanity and our existence in a world of extraordinary beauty. The essence of the journey is that Susan becomes filled with hope and memories—memories that can later provide resilience against whatever setbacks life may bring. When she says that memories are what make us, I think she touches on the strongest philosophical point in the book.
Her faith in life is also enriched, although she does not present herself as conventionally religious. Ultimately, she becomes more receptive to kindness, happiness, compassion and wisdom—four qualities that perhaps allow us to cope with the knowledge that we are living on borrowed time.
In The Unbearable Lightness of Being, Milan Kundera raises an important philosophical question: should we choose lightness or heaviness in our search for meaning in life?
I think Susan Bennett makes a compelling case for choosing lightness—not as an escape from suffering, but as a way of remaining open to a contradictory world where beauty and suffering exist side by side, and which, despite everything, “remains desperately beautiful.”
Thank you, Susan, for sharing such great insights. I feel so honoured that the copy of the book I bought from Dubray Bookshop had already been signed by you.
I am naturally intrigued by geographical curiosity, and I thought the book might also help me prepare a list of places I need to visit. But One Year turned out to be much more than a travel book. It is, in many ways, a philosophical reflection on how we can struggle against the fact that life is finite, dogged by illness and the health problems associated with ageing, while constantly being caught up in the boredom and meaninglessness of routine tasks.
What prompted the couple to strip life down to its bare essentials and spend a nomadic year travelling around Europe was the fact that both had been diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis. Susan had also lost her brother to cancer.
Travel could easily be seen as another form of escapism from the difficult realities of life. But such a claim does not hold when you read how Susan encounters an extraordinary diversity of nature, landscapes, people, history and art in the seventeen countries that she visits. These experiences awaken within her a sense of awe that gradually gives way to inner peace and serenity.
The book becomes almost a secular meditation on the unanswered questions surrounding God, humanity and our existence in a world of extraordinary beauty. The essence of the journey is that Susan becomes filled with hope and memories—memories that can later provide resilience against whatever setbacks life may bring. When she says that memories are what make us, I think she touches on the strongest philosophical point in the book.
Her faith in life is also enriched, although she does not present herself as conventionally religious. Ultimately, she becomes more receptive to kindness, happiness, compassion and wisdom—four qualities that perhaps allow us to cope with the knowledge that we are living on borrowed time.
In The Unbearable Lightness of Being, Milan Kundera raises an important philosophical question: should we choose lightness or heaviness in our search for meaning in life?
I think Susan Bennett makes a compelling case for choosing lightness—not as an escape from suffering, but as a way of remaining open to a contradictory world where beauty and suffering exist side by side, and which, despite everything, “remains desperately beautiful.”
Thank you, Susan, for sharing such great insights. I feel so honoured that the copy of the book I bought from Dubray Bookshop had already been signed by you.
August 23, 2026
Inspiring.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews