Growing up, English-raised Noo Saro-Wiwa spent her summers in Nigeria, a place she considered gritty and unglamorous - somewhere that stripped her of all her usual home comforts and routine. When her father, activist Ken Saro-Wiwa, was executed by the country's military dictatorship in November 1995, she closed the doors on any thought of return. A decade later, however, the writer challenged herself to rediscover her roots. Spanning the chaos of Lagos to the tranquillity of the eastern mountains, Looking for Transwonderland is an enthralling read, combining elements of travelogue with meditations on corruption, identity and religion.

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An investigation into loss, A Field Guide To Getting Lost explores the difficulties of navigating uncertainty. Historian, activist, feminist and writer of more than 20 books, Solnit's exploration takes in everything from mapmaking to Renaissance paintings and Alfred Hitchcock films. A philosopher at heart, the author begins this dynamic collection of nine essays with a quotation from one of her students: "How will you go about finding that thing the nature of which is unknown to you?"

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Ever wondered what happens to abandoned places? Cal Flyn will cure your curiosity in her Islands of Abandonment. Taking us on a haunting adventure through ghost towns, exclusion zones, no man's lands and fortress isles, this fascinating book will enlighten you as to what happens when neighbourhoods become silent and nature takes its course. In doing so, the author does much to answer the most pressing question of our times: can we reverse humankind's damage to nature?

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Be it Las Vegas or Bombay, Athens or Aberdeen, leading contemporary travel writer Jan Morris has a special power when it comes to conveying the very essence of a place. In Journeys, she gifts us a collection of passionate and evocative travel essays that are both historically and politically astute. Read it and you'll be in no doubt as to why doyenne of travel writing Rebecca West called Morris "the best descriptive writer of our times" and the equally legendary Alistair Cooke christened her the "Flaubert of the jet age".

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"It was a world I thought would both make me into the woman I knew I could become and turn me back into the girl I'd once been," states Cheryl Strayed in the uplifting Wild. At the age of 26, Strayed was convinced she'd lost everything. Her mother had suddenly passed away from cancer and her marriage had fallen apart. Thinking she had nothing to lose, she decided to walk 1,700km of North America's west coast - from the Mojave Desert to Washington state - alone, and with no experience of hiking. Follow her on her incredible journey, during which she pieces her life back together.

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If you haven't heard of Elizabeth Gilbert's book Eat, Pray, Love, which inspired the 2010 film of the same name, starring Julia Roberts, we assume you've been living under a rock. Telling the tale of her bitter divorce, the author invites us to join her in the pursuit of happiness, as she sets out to nurture her own interests - pleasure, devotion and balance. It is a path that sees her falling head over heels for Italy's culinary scene, understanding the power of prayer in India and, finally, finding peace in Indonesia, where she meets her soulmate.

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Eager to get to grips with the secrets of the famously happy Danish, author Helen Russell gave herself a year to uncover the recipe. Embarking on a new life in rural Jutland, she takes us on a beguiling journey that sees her surviving a long, dark Scandinavian winter with the help of cured herring, Lego bricks and pastries. Offering an insightful analysis of the country's childcare, education, cuisine and design, The Year of Living Danishly shows us how we can all benefit from taking a leaf out of the Danes' book.

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Want to escape to the Italian countryside? Under the Tuscan Sun makes for the perfect literary getaway. When Frances Mayes set her sights on an abandoned Tuscan villa, she wasn't aware of the challenges that lay ahead. Join her in this warm, witty memoir, as she navigates cultural misunderstandings, legal frustrations and the reality of renovating a house that appears determined to remain a ruin.

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After a lifetime spent travelling, American powerhouse Martha Gellhorn - who died in 1998 in London, at the age of 89 - mined her "best horror journeys" for the purposes of this critically acclaimed, 2002-published book. From a journey through rain-sodden, war-torn China, to sailing in the Caribbean and visiting a dissident writer in the Soviet Union, the stories contained in these pages are both gripping and hilarious.

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Your 20s and 30s come with an unspoken amount of pressure. There's securing and balancing a job, watching friends purchase houses and others start families. Not ready to settle down, Kristin Newman instead chose to travel the world, often alone, for months at a time. In What I Was Doing While You Were Breeding, she introduces us to a colourful array of lovers - think Israeli bartenders, Argentinian priests and Finnish poker players - and equally entertaining landscapes. This one will have you running to book your next flight.

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