Journeys Home, Andrew McCarthy
Journeys Home, Andrew McCarthy
List: $19.95 | Sale: $13.97
Club: $9.97

Synopsis

Addressing the explosive growth in ancestral travel, this compelling narrative combines intriguing tales of discovery with tips on how to begin your own explorations. Actor and award-winning travel writer Andrew McCarthy's featured story recounts his quest to uncover his family's Irish history, while twenty-five other prominent writers tell their own heartfelt stories of connection.Spanning the globe, these stories offer personal takes on journeying home, whether the authors are actively seeking long-lost relatives, meeting up with seldom-seen family members, or perhaps just visiting the old country to get a feel for their roots. A foreword by the Genographic Project's Spencer Wells sets the scene.

About Andrew McCarthy

Andrew McCarthy is the author of three books, including the New York Times bestseller Brat: An ‘80s Story. He is an award winning travel writer and served for a dozen years as an editor-at-larger at National Geographic Traveler magazine. Best known as an actor for the past four decades, he has appeared in such iconic films as Pretty in Pink and Less Than Zero.

About Joyce Maynard

Joyce Maynard is the author of twelve previous novels and five books of nonfiction, as well as the syndicated column, “Domestic Affairs.” Her bestselling memoir, At Home in the World, has been translated into sixteen languages. Her novels To Die For and Labor Day were both adapted for film.

About Pico Iyer

Pico Iyer is the acclaimed and bestselling author of more than a dozen books, translated into twenty-three languages. His journalism has appeared in Time, the New York Times, New York Review of Books, the London Financial Times, and more than 250 other periodicals worldwide. His TED talks have been viewed over eleven million times. He divides his time between Japan and a Benedictine hermitage in California.

About Diane Johnson

Diane Johnson is an American-born novelist and essayist. A two-time finalist for both the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award in three different genres—essay, biography, and fiction—she is the author of a dozen novels, including Le DivorceLe Mariage, and L’Affaire. She is a frequent contributor to the New York Review of Books and splits her time between San Francisco and Paris.

About Spencer Wells

Spencer Wells is an explorer-in-residence at the National Geographic Society and the director of the Genographic Project. After studying under genetic pioneer Luigi Cavalli-Sforza at Stanford University, Wells began an unusual career that mixes science, writing, and filmmaking. His acclaimed first book, The Journey of Man, combined his own DNA research with the work of archaeologists, paleoanthropologists, paleoclimatologists, and linguists to show how modern humans came to populate the planet. He is also the author of Deep Ancestry.

About Traber Burns

Traber Burns worked for thirty-five years in regional theater, including the New York, Oregon, and Alabama Shakespeare festivals. He also spent five years in Los Angeles appearing in many television productions and commercials, including Lost, Close to Home, Without a Trace, Boston Legal, Grey’s Anatomy, Cold Case, Gilmore Girls, and others.

About Patrick Lawlor

Patrick Lawlor, an award-winning narrator, is also an accomplished stage actor, director, and combat choreographer. He has worked extensively off Broadway and has been an actor and stuntman in both film and television. He has been an Audie Award finalist multiple times and has garnered several AudioFile Earphones Awards, a Publishers Weekly Listen-Up Award, and many starred audio reviews from Library Journal and Kirkus Reviews.

About Adam Verner

Adam Verner is a stage, film, television, and voice actor and an Earphones Award–winning audiobook narrator. He holds a BS in theater arts from Bradley University and an MFA from Chicago College of the Performing Arts at Roosevelt University.

About Shaun Grindell

Shaun Grindell, actor and Earphones Award–winning narrator, was born and raised in Southampton, England. His training includes the Calland School of Speech and Drama and the Lee Strasberg Theatre and Film Institute in London. He has been seen on stage in London and Las Vegas.

About Feodor Chin

Feodor Chin, an AudioFile Earphones Award–winning narrator, is an actor classically trained at the American Conservatory Theater and UCLA. His acting career includes numerous credits in film, television, theater, and voice-over.

About Bernadette Dunne

Bernadette Dunne is the winner of numerous AudioFile Earphones Awards and has twice been nominated for the prestigious Audie Award. She studied at the Royal National Theatre in London and the Studio Theater in Washington, DC, and has appeared at the Kennedy Center and off Broadway.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Lori

National Geographic brings us this book, published in 2015, on heritage tourism. Using journalists' stories about their family history, each takes a trip to an ancestral home. Some authors followed better genealogical practices than others did. Some simply relied on family stories which may or may n......more

EVERYBODY HAS A STORY. In this book, twenty-six writers shared their ancestral stories by journeying to a country that unlocked their family history. Some of the writers had a strong spoken or written trail to that special spot and some had very little to go on. But each one persisted and connected......more

Goodreads review by lola

some of the accents are awful. some narrators sound like bots. others are excellent. the phillipine story is heartbreaking. a lot of these stories are really fascinating. plus genealogy advice at the end.......more

It’s a nice, light, and easy read. The stories are fairly intriguing and inspiring, especially for the person wanting to learn more about their family history. I’m this book won’t offer any life-changing, or thought-provoking ideas, but it’s good for a more casual reading experience!......more


Quotes

“Not only did this famed travel writer track down his own fascinating Irish roots; his success spurred him on to invite other writers to share their own personal genealogical stories…[also] inviting readers to join the genealogical quest.” Barnes & Noble, editorial review

“These twenty-six essays range from the prosaic (Illinois) to the mysterious (Tanzania).” Minneapolis Star-Tribune

“Copious information brimming with heart and soul.” Booklist

“Family secrets, mysteries, and lore are the impetus for the emotion-filled sojourns described in…twenty-six essays, covering places as diverse as Scotland, Cambodia, Mexico, Italy, Japan, and India…Whatever the story, each writer describes a moment when confusion, sadness, or detachment fell away and they knew they belonged…This poignant and information-filled travelog and genealogy primer is ideal for public libraries.” Library Journal

“The essays are read by a large cast of professional narrators; however, listeners may not realize this at first, thanks to the readers’ skilled expression of the authors’ sentiments.” AudioFile