The Worrier's Guide to the End of the World: Love, Loss, and Other Catastrophes--through Italy, India, and Beyond

A funny and heartwarming story of one woman's attempt to walk off a lifetime of fear -- with a soulmate, bad shoes, and lots of wine.

Torre DeRoche is at rock bottom following a breakup and her father's death when she crosses paths with the goofy and spirited Masha, who is pursuing her dream of walking the world. When Masha invites Torre to join her pilgrimage through Tuscany -- drinking wine, foraging wild berries, and twirling on hillsides -- Torre straps on a pair of flimsy street shoes and gets rambling.

But the magical hills of Italy are nothing like the dusty and merciless roads of India where the pair wind up, improvising a pilgrimage in the footsteps of Gandhi along his march to the seaside. Hoping to catch the nobleman's fearlessness by osmosis and end the journey as wise, svelte, and kick-ass warriors, they are instead unraveled by worry that this might be one adventure too far. Coming face-to-face with their worst fears, they discover the power of friendship to save us from our darkest moments.

Torre DeRoche has been published in the travel writing anthology An Innocent Abroad, alongside Cheryl Strayed, Dave Eggers, Sloane Crosley, Pico Iyer, et al. Her work has also appeared in the Atlantic, the Guardian Travel, Sydney Morning Herald, and Emirates' Open Skies magazine, as well as a range of digital publications. Her blog fearfuladventurer.com has been profiled in Nat Geo, HelloGiggles.com, and hundreds of websites around the world, including Viator's Top 25 Travel Blogs of 2015.