For the new breed of vacationer who craves meaningful trips and unusual locales, the combination of reading and travel can be a heady mix—especially if you happen to be checking into Hemingway's favorite hotel in Sun Valley, or strolling about Bath's Royal Crescent while entertaining fantasies of Lizzie Bennett and her Mr. Darcy.
Cue National Geographic's Novel Destinations—a new offering that guides bibliophiles to more than 500 literary sites across the United States and Europe.
From the moody, windswept moors that inspired the Brontës to the Old Courthouse immortalized by Harper Lee, the authors create a veritable life-list of must-see sites from literary history—and tell travelers how to visit on your own. Peppered with great reading suggestions and little-known tales of literary gossip, Novel Destinations appeals as a unique travel guide, an attractive gift book, and the ultimate browser's delight.
Shannon McKenna Schmidt's work has appeared in National Geographic Traveler, New Jersey Monthly, Arrive, Pages, PW Daily, and other publications. She is a regular contributor to Shelf Awareness, as well as to Bookreporter.com.
She held positions in marketing and promotion at several major publishing houses including Penguin, HarperCollins and, most recently, Simon & Schuster. She lives in Hoboken, New Jersey.
Joni Rendon's work has appeared in National Geographic Traveler, Travel + Leisure, Continental, Pages, BookPage, The Writer and on Literarytraveler.com. She is a contributing writer at Bookreporter.comand FocusNews for Expatriates.She currently resides in London.
"Perfect for book lovers who also love to travel... It's full of anecdotes, quotes and details." —Times-Picayune
