WELLESLEY Magazine Reviews PATAGONIAN ROAD

Posted: August 3, 2017/Under: News/By: Kate McCahill

WELLESLEY Magazine Reviews PATAGONIAN ROAD

I couldn’t be more thrilled to read about my own book in the pages of my beloved alma mater’s quarterly magazine. I love you, Wellesley! Special thanks to Kate Erickson (@katefromky) for the thoughtful and sensitive review. 

“Patagonian Road is a sprawling tale built of present-tense vignettes and vivid flashbacks, rooting the year of discovery in deeply personal ground. Her memoir stands alone.

McCahill’s Finnish grandmother immigrated to the United States when she was 26, the same age McCahill was during her travels. With the older woman’s experiences haunting her granddaughter’s, the stories become an examination of what drives us to leave, what we are looking for when we land, and what makes a place home. The writing captures the lust and loss of our second coming-of-age, the time when we first recognize that we know enough to know that we can’t ever know everything.”

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About Kate

Starting in December 2010, I travelled from Guatemala to Patagonia, making the trip mostly overland, by bus. I'm grateful for my funding provided by Wellesley College's Mary Elvira Stevens Traveling Fellowship, and am indebted to Doug Glover, who assigned me Paul Theroux's book, THE OLD PATAGONIAN EXPRESS, and thus inspired this project. I traced Theroux's footprints through Central and South America, learning Spanish, teaching English, and writing my book, PATAGONIAN ROAD.

Here's what I learned along the way: Don't listen to those who try to talk you out of your dreams. Focus on figuring out how to get to where you want to go, and then making it happen. All is possible, as they tell you in India. Drop me a line if you've got ideas, suggestions, or questions. Happy reading!