I don’t read a lot of non-fiction, but being a bit of a Katherine Mansfield fan was drawn to this book. Before reading a sentence however, it was the pictures that won me over. This is such a beautiful piece of publishing. There are multiple double-page spreads showing the places that KM journeyed to in search of better health. Even before her illness, she’d always been a happy traveller, hopping on a train and popping over to Europe. What London-based New Zealander isn’t?

Katherine Mansfield’s Europe describes those journeys, beginning at the end where KM died at Avon, a short journey from Paris. 2023 marks 100 years since her death and there have been a few new books about KM, the Bloomsbury Group author from New Zealand who mesmerised so many with her stories. Yska then takes us around Europe following in her footsteps, visiting the places where she stayed, the parks and gardens, and the memorials. Along with Yska’s own impressions, which are sensitive and insightful, are snippets from KM’s own writing, helping the reader to see things through her own eyes.

The book takes us back to Germany, inspiration for the story collection In a German Pension, where KM was whisked off in a hurry by her mother when discovered pregnant by a man not her husband. There is also Paris during WWI and a flat belonging to a lover. But much of the book is KM’s search for kinder climates and better health as tuberculosis set in. So we have Menton and the Côte d’Azur, San Remo and Ospedaletti as well as the clearer air of alpine Switzerland, and Paris again where she endured an experimental new treatment.

Yska is very interesting on KM’s problematic relationships, firstly with her mother, then her husband, John Middleton Murray, and Ida, the devoted friend who put her own life on hold to act as both companion and nurse. We know KM can’t have been easy to get along with and TB isn’t kind on anyone. There are a few interesting revelations that might shock or surprise – Yska chats to many people as he goes and there always seems to be something new about KM to consider. And it seems everywhere she stayed, KM left behind a following of people determined to remember her fondly, in spite of the caustic observations that pop up in some of her stories.

Katherine Mansfield’s Europe is a lovely book, beautifully illustrated with old photographs, postcards and maps. as well as modern-day views of the places Yska visited. It’s a fascinating dive into the life of an intriguing woman, and a different era – the pre-war ebullience; the horrific war and the restraint that followed. It’s a nice book to have on hand when you revisit the stories – which I did as I read – or even just to flip through for the pictures. It’s an easy five out of five stars from me.