BY THE AUTHOR OF A MAVERICK NEW ZEALAND WAY, FINALIST IN TRAVEL AT THE INTERNATIONAL BOOK AWARDS, 2018.

At twenty, Mary Jane left New Zealand for five years. A Maverick Traveller begins with an epic voyage on a Chinese junk named La Dame de Canton, and then goes on to describe her later adventures worldwide.

Mary Jane travels with no real plans and decides where to go and what to see next when she gets there. She likes to explore the culture and history of places that are off the beaten track as well as places that are well known, and to talk to the local people.

Whether she was eating dog unintentionally in Indonesia, meeting the rapper 50 Cent before he was famous at a back-packers, seeing Putin in Red Square, being followed around as a suspicious character by intelligence services and police in Russia, Turkey and the USA, or kicking a U.S. nuclear submarine in New Zealand, she shares her unique stories and experiences.

By the time she sat down to write her books Mary Jane had travelled the world, from the Arctic Circle to working as a park ranger on an uninhabited island administered by New Zealand’s Department of Conservation. She spent two years (mostly naked) on La Dame de Canton; drank hallucinogenic tea in the Amazon rainforest; and got so lost she ended up at Robin Hood’s hiding-place.

A Maverick Traveller is Mary Jane’s first book, and it introduces the other books in her series.

• "Read one of New Zealand author Mary Jane Walker's informed and richly entertaining travel books and the thirst for more adventures leads to searching for additional volumes." ~ Grady Harp, Amazon Hall of Fame reviewer, from a review of A Maverick Traveller Anthology, April 20, 2019.

• "Indian novelist Anita Desai has said, 'Wherever you go becomes a part of you somehow.' And so, Mary Jane Walker crisscrosses the globe taking a bite out of local life wherever she goes. She calls herself a Maverick Traveller, and perhaps the wanderlust is ingrained in her DNA, her surname is Walker, after all. Either way, from an early age she had the need to not just see the world, but visit it and get to know it as well. Walker records a rambling memoir filled with fascinating tidbits of information of the many cities she passed through, collecting bits and pieces to store away. While she learns about the history of each place, she absorbs the 'feel', the political climate, and the people as well as the place become part of her. The stories and experiences shape her life, guiding her to the next fork in her personal road. Walker lives the life many dream of, and while she stockpiles experiences from pit stops along the way, I think she leaves each locale a little richer for knowing her, the time spent there mutually satisfying for both the location and herself." ~ Carole P. Roman, Amazon review, November 5, 2017.

• "A Maverick Traveller is a straightforward, high-spirited account of the author's adventures traveling around the world, as she does everything from sail across the Pacific in a Chinese junk to go mountain climbing in the Alps. In between, and perhaps even more fascinatingly, it chronicles her involvement in New Zealand's politics as both an activist and a politician. Mary jane Walker's adventures are numerous, and the reader has to admire her willingness to throw herself into exciting situation after exciting situation and try all different kinds of travel adventures. The writing is simple and clear; this is basically an account of what she's done with her life instead of working an 'ordinary' job. There are also snippets of historical and geographical background, and the author's opinions on various domestic and world affairs. In fact, as an American reader what i found most interesting was Mary Jane's view on the U.S. American readers don't often get outsider opinions on our country, and so it was fascinating to see her view of America as a militaristic nuclear superpower -- and how charming she found the U.S. once she arrived and started traveling around it. A Maverick Traveller is a light, quick read that many an armchair traveller will probably enjoy..." ~ E.P. Clark, Amazon Vine Voice reviewer, January 27, 2018.

• "In the tradition of Gertrude Bell, Freya Stark, Isabella Bird and other adventurous women, Mary Jane Walker's relationship with the world is one of insatiable curiosity. She is driven to immerse herself in experience. I was happy to walk with Walker around the world, and was pulled in by her prose. Bucking opinions of what a woman should and shouldn't do, this Native New Zealander, whom one mountaineer referred to as 'a fit kiwi tramping chick', sets out to 'tramp', or 'hike', to wherever her heart calls her. The result is edifying, fun, a whirlwind of images and experiences, and hard-won advice. Applause for a courageous woman who is open about her fears and vulnerabilities! Some of the dips into Asia on guided tours -- which were mostly misguided -- were too brief and left me wanting more. What was most powerful for me was when this world-wanderer explored her home turf, especially as a volunteer hut warden in New Zealand's wilds with the country's Department of Conservation. Here the descriptions of nature were most intimate, and her respect and knowledge of the indigenous Maori and their language really shone. Mountains seem to suit her more than civilisation; they seem to be in her blood. I recommend joining Walker on the ups and downs of topography and her life." ~ Brooklyn Stooptalk, Amazon review, April 20, 2018.

Mary Jane Walker turned down literary agents and wants to be self published as she is a Maverick. She sat down only in winter of 2016 to write one travel memoir, which has turned into eight books to be released this year. Mary Jane Walker is a writer of historically well-informed travel memoirs that come with an autobiographical flavour. She has been described as a younger, female Bill Bryson, though with her own unique voice. ... More