Windswept
Walking in the Paths of Trailblazing Women
by Annabel Abbs
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Pub Date Sep 07 2021 | Archive Date Aug 31 2021
Tin House | Tin House Books
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Description
In this wondrous and provocative work, acclaimed writer Annabel Abbs follows the footsteps of extraordinary women who walked in wild landscapes throughout history.
Annabel Abbs’s Windswept: Walking the Paths of Trailblazing Women is a beautifully written meditation and memoir that reflects on that most fundamental way of connecting with the outdoors: the simple act of walking. In absorbing and transporting prose, Abbs follows in the footsteps of groundbreaking women, including Georgia O’Keeffe in the empty plains of Texas and New Mexico, Nan Shepherd in the mountains of Scotland, Gwen John following the French River Garonne, Daphne du Maurier following the River Rhône, and Simone de Beauvoir—who walked as much as twenty-five miles a day in a skirt and espadrilles—in the mountains and forests of France. These trailblazing women were reclaiming what had historically been considered male domains.
The stories of these incredible women and artists are laced together by the wilderness walking in Abbs’s own life, beginning with her poet father who raised her in the Welsh countryside as an “experiment,” according to the principles of Rousseau. Windswept is an inventive retrospective and an arresting look forward to the way walking brings about a kind of clarity of thought not found in any other activity, and how it has allowed women throughout history to reimagine their lives and break free from convention. As Abbs traces the paths of these exceptional women, she realizes that she, too, is walking away from, and towards, a very different future. Windswept crosses continents and centuries in an arresting and stirring reflection on the power of walking in nature.
About the Author:
Annabel Abbs is an award-winning author and journalist. She writes regularly for a wide range of newspapers and magazines and lives in London, with her husband and four children. Her novels, The Joyce Girl and Frieda, were published to great acclaim. Windswept is her first work of nonfiction.
Advance Praise
"[Abbs] connects clarity of mind, communion with land, and rejection of gender roles to this specific corporeal movement — one which many have turned to in the past year." - Buzzfeed
"A triumph . . . I felt as though I were being lifted, carried up to peaks." - Charlotte Peacock, author of Into the Mountain: A Life of Nan Shepherd
"A gorgeous and revelatory blend of memoir, travelogue, and long-forgotten history, Annabel Abbs’s Windswept tells the stories of six extraordinary women and their intertwining journeys—one accomplished by foot and the other by the mind and heart. Abbs is a witty and engaging guide, seamlessly weaving her own experience with those of her 'walking women,' all of whom discovered that the simple act of taking one step at a time can be the most powerful—and defiant—of all." - Abbott Kahler, New York Times bestselling author (as Karen Abbott) of The Ghosts of Eden Park
Available Editions
| EDITION | Hardcover |
| ISBN | 9781951142704 |
| PRICE | $26.95 (USD) |
Available on NetGalley
Featured Reviews
Michael F, Media/Journalist
Author Annabel Abbs studies and retraces the paths of several trailblazing women throughout history in her book Windswept: On The Path of Trailblazing Women. Abbs achieves a level of detail in retelling each of these accounts that provides familiarity with these historic women without recreating their entire individual biographies. We learn of the important contributions of each woman to society and their art, with a focus on specific issues and challenges that they each encountered. The primary focus of this book is the role that walking played in the lives of each of these figures, as well as the author of the book. Each character embarks on a life-defining journey of great length, breaking through barriers in doing so and emerging a different person at the end. These brave women did not all reach their ultimate goal but were invariably transformed by the journey.
These are not your average, leisurely strolls around town and this is not a passively reflective chronicle of their lives. These women walked in powerful strides and made bold steps. The tone of the book is decidedly defiant and empowering. These profiles allow us to learn of these women in motion, as they moved toward freedom and resisted the confining norms of their day. The challenges, failures, and pain of these historic women are encouraging and inspirational. They kept walking, committed to putting one foot in front of the other, in some cases even sacrificing family for their passion and desire to be free. The heroines of Windswept represent women in various geographies and time periods as well as different stages of life. From young mothers to women like Clara Vyvyan who was 67 years old when she completed her historic trek along the Rhone river.
Shannon B, Librarian
What an enjoyable read! Annabel Abbs packs up her walking shoes and follows the trail of some fascinating women who walked. Each story follows a different woman in history through their writings on walking, interwoven with Abbs own adventures – sometimes with family, sometimes solo.
I think the lives of many of the women discussed in this book were interesting because some gave up their families in pursuit of adventure. Traveling roads that are now well worn and overly constructed, were once untouched or rarely explored territories. It gives you different perspective on life back then and the strength these women had to walk away, sometimes from everything they knew.
In the end, this is a great book that I will enjoy suggesting to my friends and coworkers to check it out! As an avid hiker, it makes my feet itch for adventure. It’s well written and I thoroughly enjoyed traveling with these women from the comfort of my couch… maybe one day I will walk in their shoes as well.
Thank you Netgalley and Tin House for this ARC. I look forward to this book to our library.
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