Reviews

Meredith Hall's long journey from an inexcusably betrayed girlhood to the bittersweet mercies of womanhood is a triple triumph--of survival; of narration; and of forgiveness. "Without a Map" is a masterpiece.
--David James Duncan, author of "The Brothers K and God Laughs and Plays"
"Heartbreaking, uplifting, and luminous, "Without a Map" contains some of the most lyrical and evocative prose I have I ever read. Meredith Hall's story of loss, shame, and betrayal is also a story of joy, reconnection, and survival; each memory takes us deep to the marrow of sorrow and celebration. " --Kim Barnes, author of "In the Wilderness: Coming of Age in Unknown Country"
Winner of the "Elle" nonfiction readers' pick for the month of April:
"In this stark, stunning, and devastating account of being shunned by her family and New England community after giving birth out of wedlock in the '60s, Hall writes about what was and what might have been. Particularly moving is her haunting description of wandering in Europe and the Middle East, ultimately shoeless, penniless, and utterly alone. Refreshingly, she tells about life via a collection of beautifully rendered sketches instead of a linear narrative."--Sheila McClear, NYC
"Meredith Hall is like a geiger counter ticking along the radium edge of these recent decades. She gives us self as expert witness--"Without a Map" is smart, sharp, and redemptively honest." --Sven Birkerts, author of "The Gutenberg Elegies" and "My Sky Blue Trades"
"Meredith Hall boldly charts one of the bravest of stories, the journey from disrupted youth up through that most tricky and forbidding territory, the family circle. Bone-honest and strong in its every line, this work of memory is a remarkably deep retrieval of its times and souls, thereby reflecting our own."--Ivan Doig, author of "Heart Earth"
""Without A Map" tells an important and perceptive story about loss, about aloneness and isolation in a time of great n