Braver Than You Think

Around the World on the Trip of My (Mother's) Lifetime

By: Maggie Downs

Narrated by: Rachel Fulginiti

Length: 10 hrs and 26 mins

Publisher's summary

At age 34, newly married and established in her career as an award-winning newspaper journalist, Maggie Downs quits her job, sells her belongings, and embarks on the solo trip of a lifetime: Her mother’s.

As a child, Maggie Downs often doubted that she would ever possess the courage to visit the destinations her mother dreamed of one day seeing. "You are braver than you think," her mother always insisted. That statement would guide her as, over the course of one year, Downs backpacked through seventeen countries - visiting all the places her mother, struck with early-onset Alzheimer's disease, could not visit herself - encountering some of the world's most striking locales while confronting the slow loss of her mother. Interweaving travelogue with family memories, Braver Than You Think takes the listener hiking the Inca Trail to Machu Picchu, white-water rafting on the Nile, volunteering at a monkey sanctuary in Bolivia, praying at an ashram in India, and fleeing the Arab Spring in Egypt.

By embarking on an international journey, Downs learned to make every moment count - traveling around the globe and home again, losing a parent while discovering the world.

©2020 Maggie Downs (P)2020 Brilliance Publishing, Inc., all rights reserved.

Critic reviews

"Downs has a fluid, conversational writing style, zooming in to particular anecdotes that illuminate her experience rather than trying to cover the entire year.... The travel sections are compelling and lively. A poignant tale of connection and disconnection through travel." (Kirkus Reviews)

"In prose so vivid that I felt the coral cutting her feet in the Red Sea, the sharp fangs of a monkey as his teeth hit her flesh, and the devastation of losing her mother, Maggie Downs proves she’s a great stylist and a great storyteller. If you want an adventure story, a love story, a story about losing a parent or about becoming one - or if you’re simply looking for a great read - Braver Than You Think is your book." (Jeannie Vanasco, author of Things We Didn't Talk About When I Was a Girl)

"Maggie Downs is Braver Than You Think - and braver than she thinks, before she sets off on the globe-trotting, culture-hopping, grief-haunted trip of her (and her mother's) lifetime. This is a book about love and loss, yes, but also about survival, about curiosity and determination, and about how to thrive when the world seems suddenly to hold no certainty. I devoured this book in one sitting and closed its last pages enriched, moved, and inspired. You will be, too." (Alex Marzano-Lesnevich, author of The Fact of a Body)

Not Ypur Typical Ttavel Destinations

I enjoyed this book and would recommend it for women who yearn to travel, or who are interested in coming to terms with a Mother's death. I learned. lot about places I wouldnt have thought to travel to. Interesting insights into little known cultures and places from the perspective of a backpacker on a budget, and a person wanting to give back to help animals.
As a someone who works with Altzheimers Residents it was a true reflection of the agony families go through. I wouldn't wish it on anyone. The book is about the Author's need to travel to reconcile her Mother's illness and find peace.
The reader did a good job. My only drawback is that it failed to grip my heartstrings, staying at a surface level narrative that at times became repetitive and self serving. I did not always feel the humanity between the Author and the cultures she encountered as much as I would have liked to. I didn't always agree with her choices but it was her journey after all.

Brilliant and Touching

Maggie’s experience drew me in from the first chapter. Her vulnerability and willingness to share the intimacy of her grief truly touched my heart. Thank you, Maggie, for sharing those moments along with her travels to places I’ve never dreamed of visiting, but long to now! I highly recommend this book to those of us that have an unquenched lust to travel during these crazy Covid days, and to anyone that has dealt with the loss of a parent or loved one.

Poignant and inspiring. Wanderlust inspired.

I listened to this twice, one after the other because it was so beautiful.

Not my usual fare but totally worth it.

I don't usually read a lot of non fiction, and I'm not one to be moved by things like this but moved I was.
I was moved by the emotion that Maggie was able to bring through. Moved by the passion that she has for travel and culture. I was moved all around the world right along with her.
Rachel Fulginiti does a great job narrating as well. Five stars all round.

What a wonderful story!

I loved this book! It was well-written, fun, and made me want to be friends with the author! It was a lovely tribute to her mother, and gave me new perspective on my relationship with mine.