To the Moon and Timbuktu

A Trek Through the Heart of Africa

By: Nina Sovich

Narrated by: Amy McFadden

Nina Sovich had always yearned for adventures in faraway places; she imagined herself leading the life of a solitary traveler. Yet at the age of 34, she found herself married and contemplating motherhood. Catching her reflection in a window spotted with Paris rain, she no longer saw the fearless woman who spent her youth traveling in Cairo, Lahore, and the West Bank. Unwittingly, she had followed life’s script, and now she needed to cast it out.

Inspired by female explorers like Mary Kingsley, who explored Gabon’s jungle in the 1890s, and Karen Blixen, who ran a farm in Kenya during World War I, Sovich packed her bags and hopped on the next plane to Africa in search of adventure.To the Moon and Timbuktu takes listeners on a fast-paced trek through Western Sahara, Mali, Mauritania, and Niger, bringing their textures and flavors into vivid relief. On her travels, Sovich encounters rough-and-tumble Chinese sailors, a Venezuelan doctor working himself to death in Chinguetti, indifferent French pensioners RVing along the coast, and a close-knit circle of Nigerien women who adopt her into their fold, showing her the promise of Africa’s future.

This lyrical memoir will transport you to the breathtaking landscapes of West Africa, whose stark beauty will instill wonder in even the most experienced traveler. Sovich’s journey reveals that sometimes we must pursue that distant glimmer on the horizon in order to find the things we value most.

©2013 Nina Sovich (P)2013 Brilliance Audio, Inc.

Perfect

Beautiful story. Author does not hold back and for someone who needed to hear everything, this was perfect. I leave for Africa in two weeks much better prepared.

Wonderful!

I loved this book! What wonderful adventures the author went on in search of herself really. The descriptions of where she went and all she did were wonderful. A very talented writer claiming her independence. And the narrator did a spectacular job of turning the book Into a real life adventure for the listener.