Celebration of simple pleasures
in review
One of the most interesting aspects of the book is how the author’s love of literature often dictates, either consciously or subconsciously, her choice of destination.
HANDLE With Care: Travels With My Family (To Say Nothing of the Dog) is a delightful, fun-filled travel memoir that celebrates the simple joys of travelling, seeking out new experiences and living out one’s dreams in the most unostentatious and inexpensive manner possible. The writer Shreya Sen-handley takes readers on a most unique trip to different parts of the world, where literature meets reality and the serious and the absurd alternate to create an exciting and often hilarious experience.
One of the most interesting aspects of the book is how the author’s love of literature often dictates, either consciously or subconsciously, her choice of destination. She herself admits: “Our adventures, the ones by design and not stumbled into accidentally, have often been literary. These seemingly staid outings have led us off the beaten tract, opening us up to new experiences….” The book takes the reader to various interesting sites in literature, including the original Baskerville Hall, built in 1839, where Sir Arthur Conan Doyle was a frequent visitor. Although it was there that Conan Doyle first heard of the local legend of the curse that inspired his The Hound of the Baskervilles, he set his story in Devon— far away from Hay-onwye in Wales, near where the Hall is located—in order to protect the privacy of his hosts. Besides, Devon also has the dark and sinister moors of Dartmoor so necessary to the story. Naturally, Shreya Sen-handley and her merry and intrepid family did not leave Dartmoor out