The Lost Girls: Three Friends. Four Continents. One Unconventional Detour Around the World. [Hardcover]

Jennifer Baggett (Author), Holly C. Corbett (Author), Amanda Pressner (Author)

Book Description

Release date: May 11, 2010

“Brave, funny, and deeply moving.”
— Cathy Alter, author of Up for Renewal: What Magazines Taught Me About Love, Sex, and Starting Over

“Three cheers to The Lost Girls for showing us, with good humor and graceful prose, the beauty and importance of leading life astray.”
— Franz Wisner, New York Times Bestselling author of Honeymoon with My Brother

Three friends, each on the brink of a quarter-life crisis, make a pact to quit their high pressure New York City media jobs and leave behind their friends, boyfriends, and everything familiar to embark on a year-long backpacking adventure around the world in The Lost Girls.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Starred Review. Friends Pressner, Baggett, and Corbett were all busy climbing the corporate ladder of Manhattan media when they realized that, in their late twenties, they weren't sure they wanted the golden handcuffs of New York success. Reprioritizing, they decide on a rebellious, extreme course of action: quit their jobs, abandon their boyfriends, and take a year-long trip around the world. In this group memoir, the three take turns chronicling a journey from Peru to Kenya to Vietnam to Australia, and everywhere in between. Though they don't always get along, the three learn to rely on each other, keep their minds open and throw themselves enthusiastically after every adventure that comes their way. The three authors, all gifted writers (each has worked as a journalist), provide passionate, vivid descriptions of their far-flung travels, bolstered by thoughtful insights and genuine intentions, making this an intensely enjoyable read for fans of travel writing; their semi-improvisatory experience provides a broader look at travel than either a luxury tour or a backpacking trip would, proving especially resonant. This memoir should also be immediately relatable for any twenty-something unsure of his or her future (i.e., most of them).

From Booklist

After a thrilling trip to South America, Jen, Holly, and Amanda, three Manhattanites in their mid-twenties, decide to climb off the career ladder for a year to travel the world. Inspired by The Flame Trees of Thika, Jen has always longed to see Kenya, while Holly wants to study yoga in an ashram in India. Amanda has dreams of pursuing a career as a freelance travel writer, but when she takes time out from their adventures to work on articles, it grates on the nerves of Jen, who is hoping to truly immerse herself in their surroundings. Though the three encounter snafus on the way—Holly initially finds the rigors of the ashram disheartening, the girls find themselves trapped in a car with a frightening taxi driver in Vietnam—there are many rewards on the journey, most notably when the three friends organize a group of Kenyan girls to perform a play about an influential Kenyan woman. For those with similar wanderlust, Jen, Holly and Amanda’s lively accounts make for the ideal armchair journey. --Kristine Huntley

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 560 pages
• Publisher: Harper; 1 edition (May 11, 2010)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0061689068
• ISBN-13: 978-0061689062
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.3 x 1.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (61 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #609,108 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

24 of 25 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars Reviewing the Book... Not the Journey February 14, 2011

By Book Dork VINE™ VOICE

Format:Hardcover

Reviewing this book and deciding how many stars to give it was difficult. I was torn between reviewing the actual book and the threesome's journey. The idea of abandoning successful lives and embarking on a year long expedition around the globe is without a doubt 5-star worthy. I'm jealous that they had the guts to take the leap, to be honest. The actual book itself, though, fell a little flat.

What Kept Me Reading
- The book changes locales often, providing the reader with the ability to see places all over the world that are off the beaten track. If I was thinking about doing this sort of trip these probably wouldn't necessarily be the places I'd think of visiting, but it was a nice tour.
- I appreciated how the narration was done- it divided the book up well (this is actually a downfall too... see below).
- The girls are honest about burn-out and conflicting emotions about the people, places, and jobs they left back home.

Not Quite Good Enough
- The writing style really annoyed me, especially when they laid it on thick. I know it's a travel log and they want to be descriptive, but the authors frequently over did it (along the lines of, "I sipped my steaming, bitter, hot coffee from the shiny white plastic top that had been tightly placed on top of the thick cardboard cup by the boyish barista who was wearing a bright green apron with dark stains on the front." This isn't actually in the book, but you can see there is some major adjective overkill).
- The three girls each tell their different stories, but, honestly, they really don't have their own narrative personalities. Yeah, they have different back-stories and a few personality quirks, but I'd often have to look at the bottom of the page to remember whose section I was reading.
- There's nothing in the book that is truly, truly exciting. They have adventurous spirits, obviously, but I everything was just portrayed in a very-low key way that was a bit disappointing. I didn't always feel the enthusiasm that I am sure was there.
- There are no pictures! A few black and white ones of their favorite places would have been nice, at least.

Again, I really admire these three women. They are brave, strong, resourceful, and extremely adept to new situations. I think one issue too is that they are used to writing blogs and articles- a 500+ page book is an entirely different beast.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Book Club of 50-60 Year Olds Loved It August 7, 2010

By April

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase

Our book club very much enjoyed reading this travel memoir. I was surprised and pleased by the enthusiastic reactions and comments of our late-50s to early-60s members. While the book is geared toward twenty-thirty year olds, it should by no means be overlooked by those of us who are older. I found it interesting that these girls didn't take the trip with any "agenda" in mind - changing the world, writing the great American novel, etc. They simply love to travel and are willing to make it a priority in their lives. They are risk-takers who are open to meeting all kinds of people, and willing to work hard to make things happen for themselves and for others. I found it a fun book to read and hard to put down at times. I certainly hope readers of all ages, but especially young women, will find courage from the adventures in this book to begin to follow their own dreams.

14 of 16 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Warning: Will Inspire Wanderlust May 17, 2010

By Jennifer Scott

Format:Hardcover

This memoir is wonderful: Funny, smart, honest and perfectly captures that odd time in life when you're no longer an adolescent, but still wobbling into adulthood. The point where choices seem endless, where responsibilities are minimal, and where you're fully aware that one step can suddenly take you on a journey you never thought you were capable of achieving.

Holly, Amanda, and Jen were twentysomething, single women in New York City, trying to juggle romance, careers, friendships, and keeping up with paying rent when they decide to go on a trip of a lifetime: An around-the-world adventure together. The three plan profusely, cobble up funds, quit their jobs (or, in one case, are fired from a job) and take off. Along the way, they discover things about themselves, the world, and that who they want to be when they "grow up" just may be who they are right now?

I definitely need to emphasize that this is NOT a memoir simply about an amazing trip. Instead, the three women are smart writers, incredibly resourceful (they developed a budget--without financial help from family--that seemed reasonable and doable on a just-past entry level salary) and funny. They don't take themselves too seriously, and don't strive for an Eat, Pray, Love style transformation. Instead, they notice and indulge in the tiny details of living--sneaking chocolate into an ashram, having a fling with a fellow hostel-visitor, trying to smooth over the awkward friendship issues that can come up when three girls spend 24/7 together--and emerge as 3-dimensional characters who you feel privileged to get to know through the pages (and jealous that you didn't come along, too!)

The three have set up an awesome website to complement the book and to encourage readers to embark on their own adventures, and that sense of resourceful, "if we can do it, you can do!" pervades the book. That may be one of the absolute best parts: They're so encouraging and friendly and honest on the page, you really catch their enthusiasm and the travel bug. And don't be intimidated by the number of pages--it's a fast, addicting read that's perfect for the beach or the pool. The thing is, you really do feel like you're hearing these stories from your best friends--and I really hope they go on another adventure so they can write another book.

Finally, not only does it explore what travel means, it also really looks at the awkward, conflicting, yearning emotions of being in your twenties and how sometimes there are breathtaking highs and dizzying lows. Ultimately, it's a celebration of youth, a modern-girls On the Road, a fun, fearless read that's perfect for any young adult about to embark on her (or his--there's a lot of insight into the female mind, gentleman!) adventure.