Helen's African Journey: a 1934 visit

"If I had said that I intended to fly the Atlantic alone, it would not have caused more wonderment to my friends than this proposed trip by myself. That I would die of fever, be eaten by a lion, be abducted by natives, or marry a ne'er-do-well were all expected by one or another."

-Helen Odell

In 1934, Helen Odell, thirty-two-years-old and single, defied her skeptical friends and the conventions of the day, and set off to visit an English acquaintance in Africa. She ended up meeting politicians and farmers, diplomats and artists, during a five-month adventure that took her as far away as the Cape of Good Hope.

Years later Helen's daughter discovered the trove of diaries, letters and photos detailing an extraordinary woman's solo travels. From life on three different ocean liners as well as in colonial Southern Rhodesia and South Africa, Judith G. duPont brings her mother's story to light in an engaging memoir.