Walking the Paths of Trailblazing Women

By Annabel Abbs

Favorite Quote: “While I’m rambling around on the plains, I think about O’Keefe’s sudden enthusiasm for being ‘little.’ I feel a version of myself, for there is something curiously emancipating about feeling so ant like, so punishingly small.

Emily Brontë, an enthusiastic walker of the moors, identified her greatest source of happiness as being outside at night, with the moon shining and the wind blowing:

When I am not and none beside/ Nor earth nor sea nor cloudless sky/ But only spirit wandering wide/ Through infinite immensity”

From the publisher: Annabel Abbs’s Windswept: Walking the Paths of Trailblazing Women is a beautifully written meditation on connecting with the outdoors through the simple act of walking. In captivating and elegant prose, Abbs follows in the footsteps of women who boldly reclaimed wild landscapes for themselves, 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 along the River Rhône, and Simone de Beauvoir—who walked as much as twenty-five miles a day in a dress and espadrilles—through the mountains and forests of France.

Part historical inquiry and part memoir, the stories of these writers and artists are laced together by moments in Abb’s own life, beginning with her poet father who raised her in the Welsh countryside as an “experiment,” according to the principles of Rousseau. Abbs explores a forgotten legacy of moving on foot and discovers how it has helped women throughout history to find their voices, to reimagine their lives, and to break free from convention.

Dimensions: 5.5 x 8.75 in.

392 pages, Hardcover