Wayfaring Stranger: A Musical Journey in the American South

Can you feel nostalgic for a life you’ve never known?

Suffused with her much-loved warmth and wit, Emma John’s memoir follows her moving and memorable journey to master one of the hardest musical styles on earth – and to find her place in an alien world.

Emma had fallen out of love with her violin when a chance trip to the American South introduced her to bluegrass music. Classically trained, highly strung and wedded to London life, Emma was about as country as a gin martini. So why did it feel like a homecoming?

Answering that question takes Emma deep into the Appalachian mountains, where she uncovers a hidden culture that confounds every expectation – and learns some emotional truths of her own.

Emma John is a writer and editor on the GUARDIAN and the OBSERVER. She is a former deputy editor of OBSERVER SPORT MONTHLY and THE WISDEN CRICKETER and in 2008 she was the first woman to win a Sports Journalism Award. She is also a classical violinist and bluegrass fiddler.