I was lucky enough to beta read Jacqueline Lambert’s upcoming new release in the Adventure Caravanning With Dogs series: To Hel in a Hound Cart. This book will be released on 9th December 2022 – just in time for gift giving!
“Go to Hel.”
The Polish local wasn’t being rude. She was describing Hel, Poland, a place well known for its fine beaches and windsurfing. Ever since Jackie and Mark packed themselves and four dogs into a hound cart to tour Europe, they’ve learned lessons about overcoming obstacles – much more than they ever imagined.
Soon after they left, everything they knew about traveling changed.
COVID-19 stranded them in Italy, where they were forbidden to set foot outside the garden of their rented apartment. Then, finally released from Italian lockdown, with borders closed and their own home rented out, they could not return to the UK. With only a rough idea where their wanderlust would take them, their adventures soon start stacking up. If you ever wanted to learn what full-time RV life really is like, this is the best place to start.
Join them as they navigate precipitous cliff-side roads, political unrest, and borders closing, and explore what it’s like to live with less, triumph over adversity, and not take things for granted.
Will they make it to Hel in a hound cart, or is that what will happen to their plans?
My Review
In Jacqueline Lambert’s latest travel memoir, To Hel in a Hound Cart her irrepressible sense of irreverent humour and quest for knowledge once more shine through. The comic asides are one of my favourite parts of her writing and this time I found myself laughing out loud as she tells of her husband’s interpretation of the French song “Sur le pont D’Avignon” and again at an imagined conversation about heraldry in Saluzzo. I also love all of her nods to popular culture such as British TV shows Brookside, Blackadder and the lyrics to popular songs.
Jacqueline has a talent for painting pictures with words when describing scenery. Her descriptions are evocative and easy to imagine, to the extent that I found myself cringing during parts of the journey on mountain roads such as the Crest of Gorges route, which sounded horrific if beautiful. I would have loved to see the griffon vultures her and her husband encountered, but I have trouble with such roads and admire people who are able to endure them without ending up cowering in the back seat (which happened to me when we took a trip up Mount Washington in New Hampshire).
I enjoyed the many wonderful and unusual little historical details included in the book. The composer, Chopin travelling with a jar of Polish earth so that he was never too far from his home was one which piqued my interest and I think the amount of historical and political detail in general throughout the novel is just enough to be educational without getting boring. Some difficult subjects such as the Jewish prisoner of war camp Auschwitz are handed over to Jacqueline’s husband to discuss as he is a history buff and his take was very interesting. These difficult subjects are handled with care.
I also found it interesting hearing how mundane tasks such as the laundry get done while living in a van.
As usual the four pups are adorable and draw a crowd of fans wherever they go. A couple of them suffer hardships during this book, but nothing too serious thankfully!
Humorous, educational and entertaining – I highly recommend this book!
About the Author
Jacqueline (Jackie) Lambert is a dedicated adventure traveller, doggie travel blogger, and author.
BC (Before Canines) she rafted, rock-climbed and backpacked around six of the seven continents. A passionate windsurfer and skier, she can fly a plane, has been bitten by a lion, and appeared on Japanese TV as a fire-eater.
AD (After Dog), she quit work in 2016 to hit the road permanently with her husband and four pooches. Initially, they were Adventure Caravanners, who aimed To Boldly Go Where No Van Has Gone Before.
Now, they’re at large in a self-converted six-wheel army lorry, with Mongolia in their sights.
Jacqueline has published five books about how she and Mark went from wage slaves to living the dream. Fur Babies In France, Dog on the Rhine, Dogs ‘n’ Dracula, It Never Rains But It Paws, and Pups on Piste all fall within one of her favourite genres; light-hearted travel memoirs. Her forthcoming books will chronicle their tour of Poland in a pandemic, and their new life as Trucking Idiots.
All Jacqueline’s books have received multiple five-star reviews and Dogs ‘n’ Dracula was a finalist in the Romania Insider Awards for Best Promotion of Romania Abroad. Dog on the Rhine has been a bestseller in Amazon’s German Travel and Rhine Travel categories, and on release, Fur Babies in France outsold Bill Bryson, albeit for a short time!
Contact Jackie here:
Sue's Musings 
I Iove the sound of this one!
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