Picador Books Series

As a fugitive from a POW camp in Northern Italy in 1943, Eric Newby spent three months hiding out in the forests and mountains south of the river Po. This story recounts his experiences and the invaluable aid given by the local people, especially the woman who became his life-long love.

The Last Grain Race

by Eric Newby

Published October 1968

At the age of 18, Eric Newby signed on as an apprentice on the four-masted sailing ship Moshulu of the Erikson line for the round trip from Europe to Australia and back, outwards by way of the Cape of Good Hope and round Cape Horn. This was to be an historic voyage, a dramatic personal adventure.

The Big Red Train Ride

by Eric Newby

Published 1 January 1978

The only continuous land route between Western Europe and the Pacific coast of the USSR, the Trans-Siberian Railway covers nearly a 100 degrees of longitude, seven time zones and 5900 miles in a journey lasting 192 hours and 35 minutes. In 1977 Eric Newby set out with his wife, an official guide and a photographer to gather a wealth of irreverent and humorous detail about life in the USSR. Eric Newby has also written "When the Snow Comes, They Will Take You Away", "The World Atlas of Exploration", "Great Ascents" and many travel other travel books.

Slowly Down the Ganges

by Eric Newby

Published November 1966

The story of the 1,200 mile journey made by Eric Newby and his wife down the holy river of India, travelling in a variety of boats, and sometimes by rail, bus and bullock carts, and staying on sandbanks, in villages and towns where they encountered an assortment of characters. Last published in 1983.

Round Ireland in Low Gear

by Eric Newby

Published 5 October 1987

When Eric and Wanda Newby decide to explore Ireland by bicycle, the first mistake they make is to set off in the month of December... This humorous account of a journey fuelled by pints of Guinness is interwoven with a wealth of information about Irish history, customs and people.

On the Shores of the Mediterranean

by Eric Newby

Published 6 September 1984

A humorous account of the travels of Eric Newby and his wife Wanda, round the Mediterranean littoral starting from Naples onwards. Last published in 1985.

Something Wholesale

by Eric Newby

Published 1 April 1970

An overview of the adventures of Eric Newby during his time as a commercial traveller working in the world of haute couture for the family firm of Lane and Newby, from his repatriation as a prisoner-of-war in 1945 until he embarked on his walk in the Hindu Kush in 1956. Last published in 1985.

A Traveller's Life

by Eric Newby

Published 17 June 1982

A chronicle of travels, some homely some exotic, from the man who can make a schoolboy holiday in Swanage as colourful as a walk in the Hindu Kush.

Eric Newby's life of travel began in 1919, on pram-ride adventures with his mother into the dark streets of Barnes and the chaotic jungles of Harrods, and progressed to solo, school-bound adventures around the slums of darkest Hammersmith. His interest piqued, Newby's wanderlust snowballed, and his adventures multiplied, as he navigated the London sewer system, bicycled to Italy and meandered the wilds of New York's Broadway. Whether travelling abroad as a high-fashion buyer for a British department store or for pure adventure as a travel writer, even when reluctantly participating in a tiger shoot in India, Newby chronicles his adventures with verve, humour and infectious enthusiasm.

After nine years as the travel editor for the Observer, Newby reluctantly gave up the post, eschewing the new form of human-as-freight travel. However, this change was certainly no pity for his readers, as the latter-day Newby continued on his unwavering quest for fascinating detail and adventure wherever he roamed, whether on two feet or two wheels. 'A Traveller's Life' chronicles the incredible adventures of one of the best-loved tour guides in the history of travel writing.

A Short Walk in the Hindu Kush (50th anniversary edition)

by Eric Newby

Published 1 December 1995

When Eric Newby, improbably earning his living in the London haute-couture trade, sent his fateful cable - CAN YOU TRAVEL NURISTAN JUNE? - it was the first step on a legendary journey from Mayfair to Afghanistan and the mountains of the Hindu Kush, north-east of Kabul. Ill-prepared and inexperienced, Newby and Carless endured a month of hardship with great good humour in one of the most beautiful wildernesses on earth.

`The most successful travel writer of his generation. It's impossible to read this book without laughing aloud' Observer

`Tough, extrovert, humorous and immensely literate' Times Literary Supplement

`Full of serendipity and surprise' The Economist

`A total success' New Yorker