London Sojourn - by Rebecca Knuth (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

For fans of Eat, Pray, Love and Without Reservations, a captivating memoir of one woman's bold leap into reinvention--trading academia for adventure, storytelling, and self-discovery in the heart of London.

What happens when a burnt-out professor trades academia for a fresh start in the city of her dreams--only to find reinvention far tougher than she imagined?

At sixty-five, Rebecca Knuth walks away from the security and status of academia, determined to reimagine herself in London. She craves more--more creativity, more stories, more life. Immersing herself in the city's literary and cultural world, she enrolls in a creative nonfiction masters program, trains as a guide, joins the prestigious London Library, and reclaims her voice as a writer. London becomes her muse, a place of transformation where shedding her old identity is inseparable from rebuilding herself as a woman. But change is never simple.

Her mother's health declines. Rebecca lands in intensive care. She's harassed on the Underground. Exhaustion takes hold. Doubt creeps in--about her ambition, her motivation, even her sense of belonging. Where exactly is home?

A memoir of reinvention, resilience, and self-discovery, London Sojourn speaks to retirees, creatives, and seekers longing to step beyond certainty into something new.

Review Quotes

"Intriguing, introspective, and densely packed with historical and observational factoids."--Kirkus Reviews

About the Author

Rebecca Knuth is a former University of Hawaii professor, an expert on censorship and cultural destruction, and the author of Libricide: The Regime-Sponsored Destruction of Books and Libraries in the 20th Century. After retiring in 2014, she transitioned into writing creative nonfiction. In 2024, she published Emily Dickinson Had to Have Curls: The Feminine Masks Forced on Women Writers; her memoir, London Sojourn (She Writes Press, 2026) recounts her experiences after moving to the UK. Now a full-time writer, Rebecca lives in Portland, Oregon, near her son and with her labradoodle.