Backpack

Emily Barr's irrepressible first novel follows the trials and tribulations of Tansy, a Londoner who leaves behind her horrible boyfriend, too-trendy friends, and hotshot media job to find herself a continent away.

Adrift in the wake of her long-suffering mum's death, Tansy hopes her modest inheritance will help cast her in the role of glamorous "Englishwoman Abroad," as she flits from Vietnam to China. Instead, she finds ungrateful locals who treat her like the tourist she is, a climate that's hell on her skin, and a motley group of grimy back packers she likes more than she'll ever admit. But when blond Englishwomen in Asia start turning up dead, what began as a grand adventure suddenly becomes a real-life murder mystery . . . and blond Tansy wonders if she'll live long enough to tell the tale of her travels.

Brimming with romance, humor, and a slyly self-deprecating wit, Backpack is Lisa Jewell meets The Beach.