top of page

Book Review: The Excursionist - J. D. Sumner

Updated: Mar 11, 2023


As a traveler, I was intrigued to read The Excursionist, with the mention of needing to visit as much of the planet as possible and to have well-meaning experiences when you arrive. I could relate so much to those statements and wondered what I could learn from "The anti-Eat Pray Love - A darkly comic novel about travel".

The Excursionist - J. D. Sumner

Title: The Excursionist

Author: J. D. Sumner

ISBN: 9781911195283

Available in Paperback £8.99 and ebook £4.74

The anti-Eat Pray Love – A darkly satirical comic novel about travel, the need to visit as much of the planet as possible, and the pressure to have meaningful experiences when you get there. This is a brilliant book for anyone who loves to or wants to travel.

The Excursionist is both a look at the drive to visit new places and a reminder that wherever you go you take yourself with you.

Newly single Jack Kaganagh longs to visit one hundred countries and join the Travelers' Century Club before his landmark birthday. There is just one problem: Jack's enthusiasm for travel is matched only by his unsuitability to do so. Traveling alone for the first time following the death of his partner, Kay, he flies to the Coronation Islands, fumbling around in dreamily faraway places in order to tick off his last three countries. He soon discovers that the more of the world he sees, the less he understands. A satirical, darkly comic novel, The Excursionist is about the entire travel experience and why we do it.

J.D. Sumner graduated from The Oscar Wilde Centre, Trinity College Dublin, and has a Ph.D. in Satirical Travel Writing from Royal Holloway College, University of London. J.D. Sumner lives in Buckinghamshire. All the while suffering from dromomania (an uncontrollable desire to travel, he has visited 140 countries so far).

The darkly comic novel throws up a few stark questions and realizations. Where will your next adventure take you? Perhaps "you will jump on a plane in search of white sands and turquoise waters". Have you discovered yourself, are you a member of the Travelers' Century Club?

I would love to hear from you. Please email any questions/comments to: enquiries@MDHardingTravelPhotography.com

The book is now available via Amazon and Goodreads.

Happy Travels:) x


bottom of page