This is a very interesting book about women walking. Why they chose to walk, what drove them to it, how they coped wth their sex and gender issues. Menstruation is mentioned too - something that rarely gets a mention but really hampers some women's ability to just go off and do something. An interesting set of women to focus on, I had heard of about half of them and have a book about Gatewood that has been hiding on my kindle for a couple of years now. I have ordered nan Shepherd's book about the Cairngorms. Annabel Abbs has included many fascinating facts and bits of research about the benefits of walking and also quite a bit about her childhood and formative years. Overall it's a darn good read. Wth thanks to the author, the publishers and Netgalley for the chance to read and review this title.

If you enjoy Rebecca Solnit, you’ll enjoy this - it’s in the same vein, with the added bonus of jewel-like insights into the lives of inspiring women (Olivia Laing has also done this excellently, in her recent book Everybody). My favourites were Gwen John and Daphne du Maurier (even without a chapter to herself, she shines through).

A really interesting choice of women picked here and a some great stories told. If you have a personal interest in any of these women you will appreciate this even more (being Cornish and now living in Wales Du Maurier and Gwen John I knew but good to know more.)
I didn't expect the locations chosen which made it even more interesting too.
Packed with lots of history, points of interest, fascinating locations and Abbs' own take make it even more atmospheric.
Great insight into some not usually chosen women. Great read.

Part feminist travelogue, part extreme nature walk, Windswept is a powerful memoir which addresses connecting with the natural world in an immediate and tangible way – walking through it. Nor is this merely a ramble through the deserts of Texas or the snowbound Alps. The author follows the footsteps of pioneering literary women from Nan Shepard to Daphne du Maurier. It’s astonishing how little considered merely walking is and yet as well as being literally what humans are designed to do and very beneficial exercise, it’s also one of the best ways to reconnect and appreciate the natural world. Raised in rural Wales as an experiment by her poet father, the author takes us from her car-less childhood to some of the greatest areas of natural beauty in the world, examining the link between literature and the wild. Highly recommend.

'Windswept' is a powerfully feminist travelogue-meets-art. I do not consider myself to be particularly cultured, and while I was already familiar with Nan Shepherd (though shamefully 'The Living Mountain' is still on my TBR list), the other household names in this book were really just that; names. So I thoroughly enjoyed getting to know them better, in places I could understand yearning for; from the deserts of Texas and New Mexico to the snowy Alps. With a historian's eye for overlooked details in letters, paintings, and books, Abbs seeks to recast the conventional images held of these famous women and, by extension, history's forgotten women.

It's a book that feels alive, too; Abbs spends much of the book retracing the women's steps as far as she can, relating her journeys in elegant prose. I very much connected with her musings on how making our bodies more physically powerful is a way to engage more fully with the world, and I very much appreciated the way she addressed the practicalities of being a woman walking - both in the past, and the present.

I feel both soothed and inspired, and eager to get out on a good long walk.

(With thanks to John Murray Press and NetGalley for this ebook in exchange for an honest review)

Part wild-walk, part memoir, Windswept follows an exhilarating journey from Abbs' isolated car-less childhood to her walking the remote paths trodden by extraordinary 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 Garonne, Simone de Beauvoir in the mountains and forests of France and Daphne du Maurier following the River Rhone. I really enjoyed this book, especially reading about Annabel's childhood. It reminded me of taking my children to Wales on holiday where we would walk for miles. Happy times!
Thanks to NetGalley and the author for the opportunity to read this book.