True Stories of Real Events: Best Books in 2021

Bookcover of This is Chance


A great selection of true life stories were published in 2020. Check out our top picks!


1. This Is Chance! by Jon Mooallem (Random House)

- Alaska earthquake true account with a journalist at the centre who broadcast to the frightened citizens of Anchorage.


2. Paying the Land (Jonathan Cape) by Joe Sacco

- The culmination of Sacco’s reportage on the Dene peoples of the Northwest Territories of Canada, and in particular their relationships with industry in their region. 


3. Labours of Love: The Crisis of Care (Granta) by Madeleine Bunting

- Interviews capturing kindness and compassion


4. When Time Stopped by Ariana Neuman (Simon & Schuster)

- Uncovering the truth of her fathers Holocaust story.


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Hike, Drive, Stayin' Alive!

by The Raven Brothers

Out of shape and unprepared, The Raven Brothers return to the road in a collection of ten quests to travel to their dream destinations against all odds! After two decades pioneering new routes across the globe, you would expect the authors of 'Driving the Trans-Siberian' to be hotshot explorers, with a sixth sense and an ability to survive in almost any situation. Think again! With virtually zero knowledge of the workings of the internal combustion engine and very limited skills of wilderness survival, Simon and Chris struggle into their hiking boots and power across three continents by river, tarmac and trail.

Venture to the top of Norway, cruise the road to Damascus, hike the Camino trail into Spain’s Wild West, row the Ganges, explore Frida Kahlo’s world in Mexico City, hangout with the dead in Sicily’s eerie catacombs, crawl deep inside Bolivia’s notorious silver mine, seek lions in Gujarat, wellness in Berlin and journey into the Naga Hills where tribal kings still rule.

Noted by Lonely Planet for their talent to portray an “accurate view of what to expect”, 'Hike, Drive, Stayin’ Alive!' signals a return to the duo writing “buttock clenching” travel comedy with the first in a series of candid stories of adventure by The Raven Brothers.