Getting Lost On My Way
Self-Discovery on Ireland's Backroads
Celebrating Irish locales and personalities, Getting Lost on My Way is an engaging travel memoir about the emotional benefit of challenging oneself and venturing down unfamiliar paths.
Diane Hartman’s engaging travel memoir Getting Lost on My Way is about finding a spiritual home in Ireland.
Hartman, a divorced children’s librarian from Indiana, first discovered her affinity for Ireland through music and books. After a fortuitous meeting with John O’Donohue, the Irish author of a book on Celtic spirituality, she decided to make her long-dreamed-of trip to Ireland. It was the first of four trips to come.
Hartman drove herself around the country in a rented car without the benefit of phone maps or email, leading to mishaps like going the wrong way in a roundabout and veering off course. Such navigational mistakes also led to precious personal encounters with others, though. A self-proclaimed introvert, Hartman developed relationships with hosts at bed-and-breakfasts and with people she’d conversed with online.
References to songs and musicians, including Luka Bloom, the Waterboys, and the Saw Doctors evoke Ireland’s cultural landscape. There are cameo appearances from the sister of singer-songwriter Luka Bloom, a prominent poetry publisher, and a hermit nun, all of whom surprised Hartman, their conversations with Hartman rendered in lilting Irish dialect. Encounters with dogs, sheep, and donkeys are also highlighted alongside alluring descriptions of the landscape, as with references to “green hills,” “fairy forests,” and “flowing streams full of trout.”
Hartman details each of her four trips to Ireland well, skipping over what happens back home in between. Through the subsequent trips, her connection with the country and its people became richer and deeper. In one case, she found herself outgrowing a relationship, a sign of emotional growth. However, the frequent descriptions of the photographs Hartman took in the course of her travels makes the absence of said images conspicuous; only a few are included.
Although the book includes references to heavy personal issues like depression, it does not dwell on struggles. Indeed, its tone is positive and lighthearted, highlighting the emotional benefit of challenging oneself and venturing down unfamiliar paths. One thread follows Hartman’s crush on Bloom, revealing vulnerability and a willingness to take risks, even as they concern matters of the heart. Earlier experiences emboldened her to pursue a long-held interest in writing. Her final stay in Ireland, at a writer’s retreat, provides a fitting climax to her story.
An informative and lively memoir about the pursuit of personal fulfillment, Getting Lost on My Way is about experiencing the cliffs, countryside, and culture of Ireland as an intrepid solo woman traveler.
Reviewed by
Suzanne Kamata
Disclosure: This article is not an endorsement, but a review. The publisher of this book provided free copies of the book and paid a small fee to have their book reviewed by a professional reviewer. Foreword Reviews and Clarion Reviews make no guarantee that the publisher will receive a positive review. Foreword Magazine, Inc. is disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255.
